A 0-0 tie with Iceland Monday was enough to send the U.S. women into the final of the Algarve Cup and a rematch with France on Wednesday at noon ET. The French women beat the USA, 2-0, in a friendlylast month in Lorient and advanced to the Algarve Cup final by topping Japan, 3-1.
“It’s going to be another great test,” U.S. coach JillEllis said of meeting France for a second time in a month. “Everything is about making strides, so it’s another opportunity to gauge where we’re at and see how far we’ve comein a month. The most important thing of going to a World Cup is the upward trend; in terms of performance, fitness and all the components that will help us win.”
Besides the USA,France has beaten Germany, Brazil and Japan (3-1 at the Algarve Cup) to give it wins over four of the five Women’s World Cup seeds. The Bleues were the only team to win all three group games at theAlgarve Cup.
“They’re a very highly skillful team, like to move the ball, and are a tremendous attacking team with a lot of good personalities and players,” added Ellis.”They’ve shown that they’re a top quality team, and it’s going to be another fantastic opportunity to play them.”
Ellis started a mix of regulars and backups againstIceland, which managed to generate just two shots but withstood a lot of pressure to deny the Americans a goal. Iceland is the one of only three teams at the 12-team Algarve Cup that is not heading tothis year’s Women’s World Cup.
Tobin Heath, Kelly O’Hara, Heather O’Reilly, and Rachel Van Hollebeke earned their first starts of thisyear’s Algarve Cup as Ellis, mindful the Americans had one more game to play on just one day of rest, elected to rest several players. Among the six subs used were Carli Lloyd, scorer ofboth U.S. goals in the 2-1 defeat of Norway in the tournament opener, and Amy Rodriguez, who tallied off the bench in a 3-0 victory over Switzerland. Four players were cautioned, including U.S,forward Alex Morgan in the 53rd minute.
Lloyd’s entry at halftime moved Lori Chalupny from central mid to left back, where she had played during the first halfagainst Switzerland. Julie Johnston and Ali Kreiger, who had started the first two games, did not play, nor did Christie Rampone, who has been nursing a back injury and reportedto the squad during the tournament when a hamstring injury sidelined Whitney Engen.
The draw was enough to send the USA into the final against France when Germany beat Brazil, 3-1. TheBrazilians were the only team with a chance to overtake the USA for a spot in the final. Germany and Sweden, which tied for first in their group, meet for third-place.
Four other placementmatches will be played on Wednesday across the Algarve region of Portugal: Norway-Denmark (fifth place), Brazil-Switzerland (seventh place), Japan-Iceland (ninth place) and Portugal-China (11thplace). Portugal and Denmark are the other teams not headed to Canada this summer.
After their match with France on Wednesday, the U.S. women next play New Zealand in St. Louis on April 4. TheNWSL season starts the following weekend.
March 9 in Lagos
USA 0 Iceland 0.
USA — Solo; O’Hara, Sauerbrunn, Van Hollebeke,Klingenberg (Lloyd, 46); O’Reilly (Holiday, 60), Chalupny, Brian (Boxx, 76), Heath (Press, 60); Morgan (Leroux, 76), Wambach (Rodriguez, 60).
Iceland — Gunnarsdottir; A.M.Baldursdottir (Vidarsdottir 85), Viggosdottir, Kristjansdottir, Gisladottir; Odinsdottir (Fridriksdottir, 56), Gunnarsdottir, Jonsdottir (A. Baldursdottir, 70), Magnusdottir ( Hönnudottir, 56),Brynjarsdottir; Thorsteinsdottir (Oladottir, 85).
Rapinoe? And still no player ratings. I don’t know which is the more frustrating, no comment on the absence of the most skilled U.S. player or the persistnt lack of player ratings. If FIFA can deny the women grass, it’s eqyally discriminatory for SA to deny them player ratings.
You want player ratings? Here are mine with explanations. If you care. Krieger 2 – somebody teach her which way is the attacking direction; Press 3 and Heath 3 – too lazy to chase down thruballs that are 5 cm too long. Sauerbrun 3, Boxx 2 and Brian 2-klutzes totally lacking in soccer skills– Solo 8 – aptly named, since absent a defensive back line, she has to defend solo; Lloyd 4 a one trick pony whose only two plusses are aggression and the ability to kick the ball in the general direction of the goal. Rapinoe 7 – USA’s best player currently WHEN the coach lets her play, Walmbach 3 – has shown a few seconds of spark– Rodriguez 2 – teach her the offside rule, Morgan 6 – coming around, but slowly- Johnson 2 – put her on the program, not on the field Chalupny 2 – turns it over more often than the cook at Uncle John’s.