Following a year of intense preparation, everything will cool down for the U.S. women after the upcoming U.S. Women’s Cup.
After spending much of the past year preparing for the Women’s World Cup in Sweden, the United States women get a break.
Many of the players went from either playing or coaching during the college season last fall to training full-time with the national team and playing a series of friendlies. And then came the World Cup itself — six games in 12 days. The national team, which has been off the last month, has one more tournament before beginning a break of possibly as long as four months. The United States hosts the U.S. Women’s Cup ’95 July 29-Aug. 6 in six different cities on the East Coast. The final day will feature what is sure to be a grudge match between the U.S. and Norway at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. Norway beat the U.S. in the semifinals of the World Cup and went on to win the final.
Before facing Norway, the U.S. meets Chinese Taipei and fellow World Cup finalist Australia, which led the U.S. 1-0 before losing 4-1 in Sweden.
“It’s going to be hard to focus on those first couple of games,” said U.S. midfielder Tisha Venturini. “Everyone’s going to be talking about Norway.”
U.S. coach Tony DiCicco took a more cautious approach.
“It is a match that we’ll have some emotion going into,” he said. “[But] we can’t look beyond any of the teams, including Taipei.”
The U.S. should see plenty of familiar faces in this tournament. Norway coach Even Pellerud said that the new world champions would be bringing most of their World Cup squad — including Golden Ball winner Hege Riise and Bronze Ball winner Ann Kristin Aaroenes — for the tournament. Australia will have a roster of 16 players, of which 13 went to Sweden.
Seven absent from Olympic Festival
Most of the U.S. players will be busy before the U.S. Cup. Thirteen of the 20 in Sweden will be spread among the four teams at the U.S. Olympic Festival July 22-27 in Denver. Absent from the festival will be Venturini, Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Carla Overbeck, Carin Gabarra and Julie Foudy.
Gabarra and Foudy will also miss the U.S. Cup, and Lilly will miss the first game to attend Foudy’s July 30 wedding. Joy Fawcett may have to miss the U.S. Cup as well due to coaching commitments at UCLA.
And what about Akers? She suffered a concussion and a strained right knee at the World Cup, missing four of the six games the U.S. played. The concussion was a more immediate concern in Sweden, but it’s the knee that’s been giving Akers lingering problems.
“At this point Michelle is playing,” DiCicco said. “[Her knee is] getting better. I don’t think it’s 100 percent yet.”
With some starters missing, the U.S. will have a slightly different look. DiCicco says he hasn’t yet determined which reserves would get to start but acknowledged the outstanding play of forward Tiffeny Milbrett in Sweden.
“She would seem to be in line, with Carin not being there,” said DiCicco, who also praised Debbie Keller’s play. “But I’ll reserve that till I see who’s doing well at the [Olympic] Festival. Sarah Rafanelli didn’t get her opportunity at the World Cup, but she’ll get the chance to show her stuff.”
The U.S. will have an 18-player roster at the U.S. Cup that will include two players selected from the Olympic Festival in Denver. DiCicco says he’ll only take two goalkeepers — he took three to Sweden — this time.
Forwards Shannon MacMillan of Portland and Natalie Neaton of William & Mary, who’ll both be in Denver, could have a good shot at getting on the roster. MacMillan may have won a spot in Sweden if not for a foot injury, and Neaton impressed the U.S. coaching staff in pre-World Cup matches.
After the U.S. Cup, the national team may not get together again until January, when it plans to return to its full-time training status in Florida to prepare for ’96 Olympics. But the U.S. is trying to put together a foreign tour for sometime this fall. DiCicco says that Italy has asked his team to play a game there, while Brazil, which played here twice before the World Cup, is looking to host the U.S. The U.S. also owes China a game in Asia.
The national team is looking into playing a game and having a short training camp around the time of the WAGS Tournament in October and possibly a tour and/or camp after the NCAA final in December.
One player who won’t have to wait for the national team in order to stay active is Milbrett. She has signed with the Shiroki Serena of the Japanese league and plans to go to Japan after the U.S. Cup.
by Soccer America Associate Editor Dean Caparaz