USA attcaked from
the start and their speed again made the Norwegians look slow and Milbrett's
early goal perhaps lowered thedepth of focus of the U.S. squad. Norway
sprnt most of the first half in desperate physical defense of their goal,
and as aginst Germany in the semi-finals were lucky not to be three goals
down at half time. Both of the U.S. goals were brilliantly set up and
taken, whilst Norway's were mostly the result of dfensive errors. A good
game for promoting the women's game.
USA
advances to Final Game against Norway with1-0 win over Brazil
USA 1 Brazil 0
2000 Olympic Games - Semifinal
Bruce Stadium - Canberra, Australia
Sept. 24, 2000 - Kickoff 5:30 p.m. Local
Attendance: 11,000
Cool, clear, breezy - 59 °F
Officials:
Referee: Nicole Petignat (Switzerland)
Assistant: Margaret Lynn Fox (New Zealand)
Assistant: Comfort Cofie (Ghana)
Statistical
USA
China
Shots
4
2
Saves
2
3
Corner
Kicks
3
12
Fouls
23
18
Offside
0
6
Game
With a disapointingly
small crowd in attendance, that was cheering for the underdog in true
Australian fashion. and without the audience support experienced at the
WWCup'99 and 1996 Atlanta Olympics the U.S. Squad showed its class as
it methodically kept the histrionics and physical play of an improving
skilled and crafty Brazilian team in check.
Post Game quotes
U.S. Head Coach April Heinrichs
"I'm pleased and
very proud of the team. The last 20 minutes of the game showed a great
mentality on our part. The game was ebb and flow, and when you get to
this point in a world championship tournament, the result of the game
can be a matter of inches. It can be left up to something out of your
control. We really played within ourselves, kept our heads and at the
end of the day we find ourselves advancing, and that feels terrific. We
have great respect for Brazil. It's an understatement to say that they're
the most improved team. Brazil is a marvelous team, and our feeling for
the last year now, especially after the Gold Cup, is that Brazil is definitely
one of the top four teams in the world. The margin is very, very slim
and I think you saw that tonight.
Norway is a great
team and they have some great personalities in (Dagny) Mellgren, (Marianne)
Pettersen, and Hege Riise. Riise is a winner and the kind of player I
would have on my team any day. She finds ways to win. She's thoughtful
and crafty, and I love the way she plays. She's been the most consistent
player for Norway for years. They play with a great, organized defense,
the play hard and physical at the back. Bente Nordby is also one of the
best goalkeepers in the world so their defense is tough to penetrate and
it will require a great performance from our part."
Tiffany Milbrett
"I was just trying
to go for the ball. For me, I just wanted to try to wreak a little bit
of havoc in there and I did. I got in (the goalkeeper's) way a bit and
Mia was following the play and was able to slot the ball in from a tight
angle."
Brandy Chastain
"I thought we did
a good job of staying balanced. Brazil caused a lot of problems, but I
never thought we were in danger of going down."
USA
advances to semi-final game against Brazil with 3-1 win over Nigeria
USA 3 Nigeria 1
Melbourne Cricket Ground - Melbourne, Australia
September 20, 2000 - Kickoff 5:30 p.m. Local
Attendance: 24,623
Warm, breezy - 66°F
Scoring
USA Chastain (Foudy) 26th minute.
USA Lilly (Unassisted) 35
NGA Akide (Nwadike) 48
USA MacMillan (Unassisted) 56
As was to be expected Nigeria came out with blazing speed for rhe fist
20 minutes in an effort to score some quick goals. Coupled with some of
the third world (of soccer) officiating that we have seen at these games,
the U.S. showed their class and superiority by not retaliating to the
wanton physical punishment meted out by the clumsy but enthusiastic Nigerians.
At the 26 minute
mark Hamm crossed to foudy who headed it back for Chastain to run on to
and put it awayto open the scoring. Lilly made it 2-0 with an individual
show of skill slipped past Omagbemi and shootingacross and in. Nigeria's
only goal occured just minutes into the second half when Akide went by
two defenders in the box and shot above Mullinix for a fine individual
effort goal.
The U.S. came back
in the 56th minute with a well taken free kick that came from a nasty
cleats-up tackle just outside the box on Milbrett as she ran in on a breakaway.
It should have be an instant red card but a yellow was awarded. It sealed
the fate of Nigeria and the USA advance to meet Brazil in the semi-finals.
Post Game quotes
Head Coach
April Heinrichs
"If you look at the eight teams in the Olympics, probably four of the
top six teams in the world were in our bracket. So at the end of the
day, when you see that we have seven points and that we are advancing
and going to Canberra, we are as happy as can be."
Captain Julie
Foudy
"Yes, we would have loved to have another shot at China. But we've got
Brazil next, which is a very talented team, so we're only focused on
the semifinal. Nigeria is a great team. They are aggressive tacklers
and they have great team speed. But we were able to finish off three
great goals, get ahead early, stay ahead and get out of our group. They
are so athletic, like their men's team, but can get a bit disorganized
at times and we capitalized on that."
Brandy Chastain
"April told us before the game that they would just go through us to
get the ball, and that we couldn't take it personally, it was just their
style. While that doesn't make it any easier to control the anger on
those fouls, I think it did make us a little more cautious and fidgety.
Perhaps we had more time than we thought, but played a little rushed
at times and we paid for it by giving the ball away and knocking it
out of bounds a few times. But we settled down when it was necessary
and got three goals."
Tiffeny Milbrett
"Everyone was coming here expecting these to be the hardest three games
of our lives and they have been. Sometimes it hasn't been pretty, sometimes
it has been downright ugly, sometimes we have been dominated and sometimes
we have dominated. That's the just the way everyone thought it was going
to be."
Other
USA travels to Canberra
tomorrow and train sin the afternoon. If the USA's win its semifinal against
Brazil on September 24 at Bruce Stadium (Kickoff 5:30 p.m. local), the
team would arrive in Sydney on September 25 to prepare for the gold medal
game on September 28.
Match
between two super teams marred by low level officiating as China and USA
finish at 1-1 again
USA 1 China 1 Melbourne Cricket Ground - Melbourne, Australia
September, 17, 2000 - Kickoff 5:30 p.m. Local
Attendance: 58,061
Clear. -- 66 degrees F
Scoring: USA
Foudy (MacMillan) 38
China - Sun (Unassisted) 67.
China
18 Gao
2 Liping
3 Yunjie
4 Bai
6 Zhao
8 Yan (17-Zhang, 61)
9 Sun
10 Liu
11 Pu
12 Wen
13 Liu
Yellow card Fan 73)
Officials:
Referee: Nicole
Petignat (Switzerland)
Asst. Referee: Margaret Fox (New Zealand)
Asst. Referee: Marie Svanstroem (Sweden)
Statistical
USA
China
Shots
18
6
Saves
4
12
Corner
Kicks
5
7
Fouls
13
16
Offside
3
7
Game
Another exciting
game between the two top teams in the world. Unfortunately our pregame
concern about the level of officiating (see our Welcome Olympic Guide
above) has been reinforced in the matches so far and this was another
game officiated by a referee out of her league.
Scoring first with
a goal the by Foudy off a play by Chastain leading to a corner USA looked
as if they would move more smoothly though this great match up. For reasons
known only by the U.S. Coach their team rythum was broken up by the removal
of Chastain in the second half at 62 minutes to substitute Parlow. Parlow
had an immediate impact, striking a volley in the 63rd minute that flew
high. Her presence again raises the question as to why she is not there
at the start.
China came back
to tie the game with a superbly taken free kick by Sun from 33 yards after
another of many questionable officiating calls.
Another of those
calls, this time or hand ball, gave the U.S. a penalty kick which was
taken by Lilly and saved by Gao who then saved the follow up shot by Parlow.
The USA had several chances in the waning minutes but were thwarted time
and time agin by the magnicent goalkeeping of Gao.
Post Game Quotes
Coach April
Heinrichs
"We were appropriately
displeased and pleased at the same time. We created enough chances to
win that game. We had wonderful opportunities to score and possessed
the ball as well as I've seen this year against China. At the same time,
we made some mistakes. Hopefully, we'll grow from them and do a lot
of self-evaluating, and that's a healthy thing. China is just a marvelous
attacking team. They have tremendous possession and are so very crafty,
difficult and unpredictable. Without question, they bring out the best
in us. This match was a little bit like an NFL game , you just don't
really understand and appreciate how intense and physical the game is
until you get down close. I had the best seat in the house."
Mia Hamm
"China is an unbelievable
team, athletically and technically. We know they're going to possess
the ball. You just have to prepare yourself for that, not get frustrated
and make the most of your chances. I think we did some really good things
offensively. We got the ball wide and attacked the flanks and you can't
say enough about our defense, they are playing exceptionally well. That
goal by Sun Wen, well, that's why she is the player that she is. Siri
did an unbelievable job just to get a hand on it."
Tiffeny Milbrett
"What we take from
these two games is that we battled hard, played our kind of game against
two world class opponents and came out with a win and a tie. If we get
the job done against Nigeria, then we're through."
Other
China,
which started the same 11 players as it did in the 1999 Women's World
Cup Final.
After
Norway's 3-1 victory over Nigeria in the other Group F game, a win or
a draw for the USA against Nigeria on Sept. 20 at the MCG will put the
Americans in the semifinals. China and Norway square off in a huge match
that same day in Canberra, with the loser facing the prospect of being
eliminated from the tournament should the USA defeat Nigeria. A win for
China over Norway would put the USA through regardless.
The
USA will train tomorrow, Sept. 18, at Olympic Park at 5 p.m. local time,
then will take Tuesday, Sept. 19 off before facing Nigeria on Wednesday
(Kickoff 5:30 p.m. local).
Australia
and Sweden make life difficult for each other with 1-1 draw
Game
The host team looked nervous and unsettled in the first half allowuing
Sweden to control much of the play. As in the previous match Sweden was
unable to finish its chances, even with Nordlund giving fits to the Australian
defence but not finding a Swedish head for her many crosses. Ten minutes
after the half restarted Australia was awarded a free kick outside the
penalty box and Black chipped a ball for Salsbury to head in and waken
up the crowd. Sweden reacted and attacked. Alagich was caught holding
onto Ljundberg's shirt at the 64th minute in the area. Andersson converted
to even the game. Sweden went back on the attack again, but failed to
convert several chances.
Post Game Quote
Sweden Head Coach
Marika Lyfors
"I'm very disappointed.
We didn't score goals and that's the difference."
Other
With just one point
a piece the chances of either team advancing is remote since their next
games are against the strongest teams in the group.
Germany
qualifies for the Olympic semi-finals Women's with a 2-1 defeat of Brazil
September 16, 2000Germany 2 Brazil 2
Scoring
Germany Prinz (33)
Germany Prinz (41)
Brazil Raquel (73)
Game
Germany played a more
technically organized game than Brazil have been used to handling, took
revenge for their pitiful performance against the Brazilians in the 1996
Olympics. Both teams were unable to make the most of their chances and
Prinz opened the scoring with a goal from just outside the box at the
33rd. Just 8 minutes later Meinert crossed for Prinz to double the score.
Brazil were unable
to get back into the game although Racquel scred at the 73rd. Minute just
2 minutes after entering the game.
Yellow cards were given to players from each side in a physical match.
Germany
Rottenberg
Stegemann
Fitschen
Jones
Lingor
Hingst
Wiegmann
Minnert
Meinert
Prinz
Grings n 76)
Tina Nordlund, Tina
Game Report Sweden played
a rather good first half, creating chances but the shots were poor. Ljungberg
hit the post at the end of the match. Keeper Jönsson made some great
saves. Brazilian keeper Andreia celebrated
her 23rd birthday and was the big surprise for her team. Formiga and Sissi
were impressive. Brazil showed that they will have a strong presence at
the Olympics.
Referee; Sandra
Hunt, USA.
Attendance: 58,432
Scoring
Brazil Pretinha (21),
Katia (70)
Sweden
Jönsson, Caroline
Larsson, Sara
Sandell, Cecilia
Westberg, Karolina
Bengtsson, Kristin
Moström, Malin
Ljungberg, Hanna
Jane Törnqvist, Jane (Fagerström 85)
Andersson, Malin
Svensson, Victoria (Sjögran 76)
Tina Nordlund, Tina
China
win their match 3-1 against Nigeria with two second half goals from captain
Sun Wen
China started slowly
but settled down after Zhao Lihong made a clever chip over the Nigerian
defender Kudaisi and ran in clear to score in the 12th minute. Wen Sun
showed her brilliance at the 57th minute when Jin Yan put ball over the
defense for Sun to run in and put it past the keeper.
She then curled a free kick in at 83 minutes from just outside the box.
Nigeria were no competition for China but scored a late penalty kick goal
by Nkwocha 5 minutesfrom the end.
The
dervishing duo, Milbrett and Hamm, demolish Norway 2-0
USA 2 Norway 0
Melbourne Cricket Ground - Melbourne, Australia
September 14, 2000 - Kickoff 5:30 p.m. Local
Attendance:16,043
Cool, cloudy - 61°F
Scoring: USA
- Milbrett (Mullinix) 18th minute.
USA - Hamm (Lilly) 24.
Only the woodwork stopped more goals.
Norway was torn apart
in the first half by the attacking Hamm and Milbrett.
Milbrett opened the scoring after 16 minutes, knocking the ball into an
empty net after her original shot had been blocked by goalkeeper Nordby.
Seven minutes later
Hamm doubled the lead with a superb right-foot shot after beating the
Norwegians' offside trap. As the half came to an end Norway had a lucky
escape as Milbrett's dipping volley hit the underside of the crossbar
and bounced safely away.
Heinrichs felt comfortable enough to substitute Hamm with over 20 minutes
left to save her for the remaining group matches. Parlow came in and played
the perfect style of game needed keeping the Norwgians occupied and the
match under control Post game
quotes
Head Coach April
Heinrichs
"It was the best performance, against the best opponent of any opening
game in world championship, but it's our focus to remind the team that
is not where you start, it's where you finish. It was just the first step
in our climb up the mountain. I'm marvelously proud and pleased with the
team's performance tonight. It was a great way to start a tough tournament
like this and really gives us a boost of confidence. We have the ultimate
respect for Norway and the way we went after goals in the second half
was a testament to that."
Mia Hamm
"Obviously, we're very exited with the victory, but this was just one.
We knew that in order to win this game we had to play hard from the opening
whistle and I think we did that. There were definitely nerves on both
sides, and every time we play them both teams have chances, but we finished
two. I think that took some of their confidence away in the first half.
Our defense played so great tonight. They rotated behind each other, they
stepped up to win the initial pass and their tackling was great. Our midfield
did a really good job finding an attacking seam in their defensive and
midfield lines that enabled us to go forward and attack in numbers."
Other
Milbrett's goal was the 80th of her career, making her just the seventh
woman in history to reach that mark.
After a light jog and stretch tomorrow morning, the U.S. women will travel
to Sydney to march in the Opening Ceremonies at Olympic Stadium, then
return to Melbourne during the morning of Saturday, Sept. 16, and probably
train in the afternoon.
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