Who Doesn't Enjoy The Algarve Cup? (Crickets)

I'm not in PR so I won't sit here and try to tell you that the Algarve Cup is famous or important. Haha I honestly was spelling it wrong before I just double-checked it earlier tonight. Still, it's a good tuneup for the U.S. women's national team since it's their first tournament of the year. They meet Iceland, China and Sweden in group play on March 6-11 in Portugal. There are 12 teams and the U.S. finished in third-place last year at it, their 1-0 loss to Japan in group play turned out to be their only setback of 2012.

Today, Tom Sermanni named his 23-player roster for these matches.

U.S. Women’s National Team Training Camp Roster by Position
GOALKEEPERS (3): Nicole Barnhart (FC Kansas City), Ashlyn Harris (Duisburg), Jill Loyden (Sky Blue FC)
DEFENDERS (7): Rachel Buehler (Portland Thorns FC), Crystal Dunn (North Carolina), Whitney Engen (Liverpool), Ali Krieger (Washington Spirit), Kelley O’Hara (Sky Blue FC), Christie Rampone (Sky Blue FC), Becky Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City)
MIDFIELDERS (8): Yael Averbuch (Göteborg FC), Shannon Boxx (Chicago Red Stars), Lauren Cheney (FC Kansas City), Tobin Heath (PSG), Carli Lloyd (Western NY Flash), Kristie Mewis (FC Kansas City), Heather O’Reilly (Boston Breakers), Megan Rapinoe (Lyon)
FORWARDS (5): Lindsey Horan (PSG), Sydney Leroux (Boston Breakers), Alex Morgan (Portland Thorns FC), Christen Press (Tyresö), Abby Wambach (Western NY Flash)


The big news for the Americans is that goalkeeper Hope Solo is out since she's getting wrist surgery. The U.S. medical staff recommended she take care of that now so she'll be fine for the 2015 World Cup qualifying which starts next year. Ashlyn Harris will be looking for her first cap but she'll probably be the third goalkeeper. The other player looking for her first cap is Lindsey Horan, who is 18 but skipped college to play professionally in France. She's an interesting story which I got up to speed on today, check it out for yourself. I had no idea an American had done that in women's soccer before.

UPDATE 3/13: The injuries continue to pile up for the U.S. women's national team. Backup goalkeeper Jill Loyden broke her hand in training last week and then today it was announced that midfielder Carli Lloyd will be out 6-8 weeks after breaking a bone in her shoulder during the opening match of the Algarve Cup vs. Iceland.

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For Tom Sermanni's Debut, U.S. Women Will Play Two Games Against Scotland In February

I'm not sure if it's just a happy coincidence or that they planned it that way but for Tom Sermanni's first two games as the U.S. women's national team's head coach, he'll face the county of his birth: Scotland. You know that the U.S. will probably take on Australia (his previous team) at some point in the next year too if I had to guess.

They also represent the first matches of 2013 for the U.S. as they'll meet Scotland on Saturday, February 9 at EverBank Field (home of the Jaguars) in Jacksonville, Florida followed by Wednesday, February 13 at LP Field (home of the Titans) in Nashville, Tennessee. It will be the fourth time overall that the U.S. women have played in Tennessee and first time since 2004 (Canada). The game in Jacksonville begins at 5 p.m. and the broadcasting information for both matches will come out at a later time.

The U.S. has only faced Scotland once before, an 8-2 win by the Americans in September 2002 that included a hat trick by Abby Wambach (first of her career) and Mia Hamm (last of her career). Speaking of Wambach and Hamm, Abby is only six goals shy of Mia's record for most goals in the history of international soccer (158).

You can expect a similar scoreline this time around since the U.S. is the top team in the world while Scotland couldn't qualify for the 2012 European Championships-they fell to Spain in a two-game playoff. The Americans finished 28-1-3 in a wildly successful 2012 that included a gold medal at the London Olympics and simultaneously revenge against Japan who had beaten them at the 2011 World Cup.

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The U.S. Women Wrapped Up An Unreal 2012 (28-1-3) With 4-1 Win Vs. China

The U.S. women had an incredible 2012 so it's only fitting that their last match of the year was another one-sided beating. They rolled 4-1 over China at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. It was the 10th and final match of their Fan Tribute Tour and they went 28-1-3 in 2012.

For the second game in a row against China, Abby Wambach scored twice. Those two headers gave her 152 career international goals which moved her within six of Mia Hamm's record. Props to Wambach though for honesty as she admitted afterwards in her postgame interview on NBC Sports that Alex Morgan (assist) will probably shatter her record in no time after she retires. Her openness was refreshing, when have you ever heard a professional athlete say something like that?

Speaking of Morgan, she combined with Wambach for 55 goals this year (28 for Morgan), tying a U.S. record from 1991 with Michelle Akers and Carin Jennings. Morgan also finished with 22 assists this year, second all-time behind Hamm (23).

Sydney Leroux also set a team record, scoring her 14th goal of 2012 (all as a reserve). Megan Rapinoe had the other goal. China went down hard for the third game in a row (10-1 aggregate for the U.S.) but at least this time they got on the board-something they hadn't done before. Hen Peng cut it to 2-1 in the 45th minute after a nice move and shot into the side netting past Hope Solo.

Wambach made it 1-0 in the 18th minute after Morgan's looping cross. Rapinoe took advantage of China's goalkeeper getting caught way outside of the goal as she chipped one into the vacated net from about 40 yards out in the 36th minute. Rapinoe assisted Wambach's second powerful header, in the 64th minute. Finally, Leroux had a sparkling header of her own in the 87th minute thanks to Heather Mitts's cross.

When we next see the U.S. women-February 9 vs. Scotland in Jacksonville, Florida-Tom Sermanni will have fully taken over as the head coach. Interim head coach Jill Ellis went 5-0-2 during the tour which has to count for something.

Happy Holidays ladies, enjoy the time off. You have more than earned it after a spectacular tour and year.



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U.S. Women's National Team Names Tom Sermanni Its New Head Coach

After much deliberation and a search that reportedly included 30 male and female candidates, U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati announced today that they had hired Tom Sermanni to be the seventh head coach of the U.S. women's national team.

Sermanni is 58, he's Scottish but he's been the head coach of Australia's women's national team for 11 years (including 3 World Cup appearances) total and most recently since 2004. He will officially start work on January 1, 2013 meaning that U.S. Soccer Women's Development Director Jill Ellis (who was the temporary head coach for the Germany matches earlier this month) will also be in charge for the last five matches of the Fan Tribute Tour. The U.S. meets Ireland in Portland, Oregon (Nov. 28) and in Glendale, Arizona (Dec. 1) then Sermanni will observe the last three matches of the calendar year which should be announced in the near future.

The biggest differences between him and Pia Sundhage-the women he replaced-is that he's a man. It's a new dynamic but one that shouldn't be that strange since many women's national teams are coached by men. The fact that he's a foreigner when I was hoping that they'd hire an American likely won't be much of an issue either. There won't be the same language barrier that there was with Pia except for the regional dialect he picked up in Scotland and Australia.

If we're being real, the only way we'll judge Sermanni is how he does in World Cups. Sundhage had a nice run including back-to-back gold medals at the Olympics but her team lost in penalty kicks in the only World Cup she appeared in (2011 vs. Japan). The U.S. women are the No. 1 team in the world and as such, they have higher expectations than anybody else. Australia is always competitive which is impressive given their location but clearly, this is a huge step up for Tom. He won't be judged on wins and losses, since you could probably put almost anyone on the bench and they'd rack up gaudy win totals. This is all about what he does in the 2015 Women's World Cup.

Judging by the instant reactions of some national team members on Twitter this afternoon, they seem enthusiastic about a fresh start.
"Really pumped about @TomSermanni being the new uswnt head coach!!! Welcome. #movingforward"-Abby Wambach (@abbywambach)
"Congrats to Tom Sermanni on being named our new #USWNT Head Coach!"-Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13)
I think by the end of Sundhage's reign, they were tired of the constant questions and speculation about when she was leaving to go home to Sweden. Now they've got a guy that is committed and won't be going anywhere anytime soon. This is a dream job if you're a women's soccer coach. Over time, we will figure out his style and tendencies but for now, it's an open book for the U.S. women's national team as they head into 2013 and beyond.

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