The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic GamesAugust 8-24 2008
(BEIJING, July 30) -- Defending Olympic Women’s Football champions USA were one of the first teams to arrive in Beijing ahead of the forthcoming Olympic Games.
The Athens 2004 champions, who were also silver medalists in Sydney 2000 and won the inaugural women’s Olympic football tournament at Atlanta in 1996, got down to serious training after brief visits to two of Beijing’s most prominent historical sites, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, where the steep steps are no less exhausting than a tough workout.
Helena Anderson, the team's Swedish fitness coach said: "We have reserved enough energy for the Olympics, so we are to do mostly tactical training in the few days left before the Games".
Anderson is one of a team of specialists brought in by her compatriot head coach Pia Sundhage, who took charge of the United States team last November when she replaced Greg Ryan as head coach after the team finished a disappointing third at the 2007 World Cup.
The US World Cup campaign ended in disappointment when they were hammered 4-0 by eventual runner-up Brazil in the semifinal.
However Sunghage has been revamped things and proved successful so far. Her team is unbeaten during her nine-month reign, including a 1-0 win against her homeland Sweden, three consecutive 1-0 victories against Brazil and tournaments triumphs at the Algarve Cup in Portugal in March and their Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCAF)Olympic Qualifying competition in April.
However the 48-year-old who was assistant coach of the China women's national team for the 2007 World Cup, knows the demands of the post.
"I was told what the expectations were when I was interviewed - a medal at the minimum. I have been in football long enough to know that if we don't reach the final I will probably be out of the job."
Sunhage has refreshed the US team by ditching their former direct style of play in preference to a more purist passing vision. "I have got them playing the ball forward through the midfield," revealed the Swedish coach. "It is challenging and it requires patience to work openings but they have embraced the change really well."
It is an approach which has the thumbs-up of the US players: "It is definitely more fun,' said team captain, Christie Rampone, who will compete in her third Olympic Games in Beijing.
"Pia has brought passion and energy to the team. We are a lot more confident about playing football now. We are scoring more goals and the team is enjoying the things that she and the other members of the coaching staff have introduced."
First-choice goalkeeper Hope Solo, who has played professionally in Europe, also likes Sundhage's style: "Pia wants to be a winner. She wants us to be the best team in the world and to play the best football too, and that is great for us. But there is no room for complacency."
However the US team will have to compete without striker Abby Wambach, who broke her left leg in a warm up match against Brazil. "We are missing a few players due to injury. It is disappointing but that is always the way with football," said Sundhage.
The US face Norway, Japan and New Zealand in their group stage of Beijing 2008 and will contest their first two games in Qinhuangdao and their third match in Shenyang.
"Norway will definitely be a tough match to start with," confessed 35-year-old Rampone, even though the US has recorded two 4-0's win over them this year – the most recent on July 2.
Sundhage believes Germany, Brazil, Sweden, Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Norway will be the teams to beat in Beijing.
