April 24, 2003

Nigeria non arrival means Canada will play the USA on Saturday at RFK Stadium

The U.S. National Team will play Canada this Saturday (April 26) at 12 p.m. ET at RFK Stadium, after Nigeria was unable to clear proper travel visa's in time for their trip into the United States. It will be televised live on ESPN2 and is part of a WUSA doubleheader featuring the host Washington Freedom and the Atlanta Beat at 2:30 p.m. ET.

U.S. Soccer Secretary General Dan Flynn said "We gave Nigeria every opportunity to process their paperwork with the U.S. Consulate in Lagos. They've had more than six weeks to make the proper travel arrangements since we first announced the match in early March, but their delay in the procedure has precluded them from traveling in a timely way for such an important match in our World Cup preparation.

"Every time we play Canada we know we are going to be challenged to the extreme," said U.S. head coach April Heinrichs. "The most important thing for us in looking at our Women's World Cup preparation is to play games, and there is no question that any game against a World Cup opponent like Canada will be great preparation for our players. We don't feel like we played our best against them in the tie in Portugal, so this will be a great chance to improve on that game."

Tickets for the doubleheader ranging in price levels from $20 to $40 are still on sale at all Washington-Baltimore area Ticketmaster outlets, at the RFK Stadium box office, on-line at www.ussoccer.com, and by phone at 202-432-7328 (Washington), 410-481-7328 (Baltimore), 703-573-7328 (Northern Virginia) and 800-551-7328 (out-of-state). Washington Freedom full season ticket packages (which include a ticket for the doubleheader) and group discounts are available through the Freedom at 202-547-3137.

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