Draw can’t get much tougher: Norway and China to open up in Melbourne
FIFA didn’t make it easy for the defending Olympic champions.
Thanks in part to the Olympic tradition of seeding the home team, in this case Australia, the United States women will play in the Group of Death.
Three of the four World Cup ’99 semifinalists – the United States, China and Norway – will square off in Group F at Sydney 2000. African power Nigeria rounds out the group.
The USA will play all three games – Sept. 14 vs. Norway, Sept. 17 vs. China and Sept. 20 vs. Nigeria – at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne.
The quality of the tournament, which consists of the top seven teams from the World Cup plus Australia, should have meant that neither of the two groups was going to be a cakewalk.
But the seeding of Australia, which earned only one point at World Cup ’99, rather than China, the ’96 Olympic runner-up, created imbalanced groups.
Brazil, the third-place team at World Cup ’99, should breeze right through group opponents Australia and Sweden, a solid if unspectacular team. Germany will provide some competition and should join Brazil as the Group E teams in the semifinals.
Indeed, Germany, a USA ’99 quarterfinalist, is the big winner in the Olympic draw. Germany is the fifth best team in the world and only has to contend with one of the top four in group play.
U.S. coach April Heinrichs, who attended the draw, said she wasn’t surprised by the outcome given the seeding.
“But the very first thing that comes to mind is, what is Australia doing there, and how is their, FIFA’s, thinking so flawed?” she said. “At the very least, you seed four teams [with two seeds going into each group] and try to balance it out.”
NORWAY. The 1995 World Cup champion will play the United States at least seven times this year, including three more meetings before the match in Melbourne.
The all-time series stands at 13-11-1 in favor of Norway, which is the only country with a winning record against the USA.
Norway still plays a direct, long-ball game but has added some possession to the mix under Coach Per-Mathias Hogmo, who took over from Evan Pellerud after the ’96 Olympics. World Cup ’95 veterans Marianne Pettersen, Hege Riise and Bente Nordby are still around. They are surrounded by a talented supporting cast including 28-year-old defender Brit Sandaune, 21-year-old midfielder Dagny Mellgren, 22-year-old midfielder Unni Lehn and 22-year-old midfielder Anita Rapp, who plays at NCAA Division I Oakland University.
Retired forward Ann Kristin Aarones, who’s played in all three World Cups, and defender Gro Espeseth, who played in China ’91 and Sweden ’95, are hoping to make a comeback in time for Sydney. The status of defender Linda Medalen is unclear.
CHINA. The Asian powerhouse is arguably the most talented team in the world, but can it win the big one?
Three times – last summer, in the ’98 Goodwill Games and in the ’96 Olympics – China reached the final of a major tournament only to lose to the United States.
The Chinese recently defeated the Americans, 1-0, on a penalty kick by World Cup ’99 MVP Sun Wen at the Pacific Cup.
The teams will meet at the DFB Centennial Cup in Germany in July and could face each other in the later rounds of the Gold Cup.
Most of China’s World Cup ’99 squad is back for the Olympics, including athletic goalkeeper Gao Hong, no-nonsense central defender Fan Yunjie, crafty midfielder Liu Ailing and dangerous forward Jin Yan.
China has the occasional slip-up, such as the 1-1 tie with Australia that China won on penalties in the Pacific Cup. China even lost a friendly to Nigeria last year before steamrolling its way to the World Cup final.
China lost, 3-0, to Norway in the Algarve Cup in March. The rout was payback for China’s 5-0 pasting of Norway in the World Cup semifinals.
NIGERIA. The draw was bad for the United States, but it was worse for the African champions. Nigeria is a talented team, one that took Brazil to overtime in the World Cup quarterfinals before falling, 4-3. The Super Falcons have talented attacking players in “Marvelous” Mercy Akide, Nkiru Okosieme and Patience Avre. But the Falcons are also weak defensively, as seen in their embarrassing 7-1 loss to the United States in the World Cup. They will be lucky to get a point out of Group F.
The situation is even grimmer off the field. A lack of cash forced the Nigerian federation to cancel a Falcons’ trip to Australia, postpone domestic friendlies and put off fixing the Falcons’ broken-down bus. The Falcons were almost evicted from the hotel they are staying at during their current training camp because the federation had trouble paying their bill.
The United States should defeat Nigeria easily, but Heinrichs may not have the luxury of resting players against the Falcons. Her team could conceivably lose one of its first two games and may need a lop-sided win over Nigeria to ensure a spot in the semifinals.
“I don’t think there is a guaranteed win in this tournament,” she said. “This draw is different than any one of the other world championship draws before. In some ways, I’m excited about that.”
by Soccer America associate editor Dean Caparaz