The U.S. women's national soccer team gets a good glimpse of another Olympic opponent Wednesday night when it takes on Australia in a friendly at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn.
The Americans, who broke camp Sunday at their Olympic Residency in Southern California, will meet Australia again on Aug. 17 in an Athens Olympics first-stage finale in Thessaloniki. They've already played another Group G opponent, drilling Brazil, 5-1, April 24 in Birmingham, Ala.
The U.S. women have one further match before departing for Greece — Aug. 1 against China in Hartford, Conn. — but this is Australia's final Olympic tuneup. ESPN2 will broadcast the match live at 6 p.m. CDT (7 p.m. EDT).
The Matildas are playing their third match on U.S. soil after starting their final Olympic preparations with games in China and Mexico. Their roster features three former WUSA players — New York's Cheryl Salisbury and Joanne Peters and San Jose's Dianne Alagich — but a fourth, Washington's Kelly Golebiowski, was left off the 18-woman Olympic roster by Coach Adrian Santrac.
Salisbury, the Aussies' all-time caps (96) and goals (28) leader, will make her second Olympic appearance and also has played in three Women's World Cups.
Salisbury, Alagich, fellow defender Sacha Wainwright and midfielder Heather Garriock are all that remain from the Matildas side that finished seventh of eight teams at the Sydney Olympics four years ago. Midfielder Danielle Small was an alternate in 2000.
Twelve players, including Peters, return from the Australia team that narrowly missed qualifying for the quarterfinals at last year's Women's World Cup.
Salisbury (30 years old), Wainwright (32) and midfielder Gillian Foster (27), another '03 vet, are the only players on the Matildas roster older than 25. The team features four teens, including 16-year-old phenom Sally Shipard, who earned her first cap in a 2-0 loss to Mexico on July 11 in Guadalajara. Kylie Ledbrook, just 18, made her first international appearance July 1 in a 1-1 tie with China outside Beijing.
The team's three forwards — Lisa De Vanna and Selin Kuralay, both 19, and Sarah Walsh, 21 — have a combined 17 caps with eight goals.
''The rookies have an enthusiasm that is just so raw and untapped, and that enthusiasm can provide extraordinary results,'' Salisbury, the captain, told the Matildas' official Web site. ''We have come a long way. The young players that are in the team now were not even under consideration for the Sydney Games. It just shows how much the game [in Australia] is progressing.''
Walsh has scored six goals for the Aussies, including two in a 60-minute victory June 19 in China and two more in a 2-1 win July 9 over Mexico before an estimated 20,000 spectators at Azteca Stadium. The shortened match against China did not count as an official international game.
De Vanna scored the lone goal in second game against China, which did count.
Australia lost, 1-0, last Wednesday to FC Indiana of the Women's Premier Soccer League on Notre Dame recruit Amanda Cinalli's second-half goal. Small and Peters tallied in a 2-0 win Sunday in Milwaukee over a USASA Select team that featured former WUSA defender Ronnie Fair.
The United States has won all 14 meetings with Australia.
The match is a homecoming for U.S. goalkeeper Briana Scurry, who is from nearby Dayton, Minn. Scurry has played once in 12 prior U.S. matches in Blaine, coming on as a substitute in a 4-0 win over Norway in July 2002.
Mia Hamm, who will play her final games with the U.S. women at the Olympics and on a planned post-Olympic tour, needs one goal to reach the 150 mark.
ROSTERS
United States vs. Australia
Wednesday, July 21 at the National Sports Center (Blaine, Minn.), 6 p.m. CDT
UNITED STATES
(With current club or college affiliation or most recent college or WUSA affiliation in parentheses)
Goalkeepers 1 Briana Scurry (Atlanta Beat), 138 caps/0 goals
24 Kristin Luckenbill (Carolina Courage), 4/0
Defenders
6 Brandi Chastain (California Storm/WPSL), 177/30
14 Joy Fawcett (San Diego Spirit), 232/27
15 Kate Markgraf (Boston Breakers), 119/0
21 Heather Mitts (Philadelphia Charge), 20/1
3 Christie Rampone (New York Power), 119/4
4 Catherine Reddick (University of North Carolina), 57/4
Midfielders
7 Shannon Boxx (New York Power), 24/9
11 Julie Foudy (San Diego Spirit), 154/44
19 Angela Hucles (San Diego Spirit), 33/4
13 Kristine Lilly (Boston Breakers), 274/95
16 Lindsay Tarpley (University of North Carolina), 24/7
10 Aly Wagner (Boston Breakers), 64/14
Forwards
9 Mia Hamm (Washington Freedom), 258/149
27 Heather O'Reilly (Univ. of North Carolina and New Jersey Wildcats/W-League), 23/3
12 Cindy Parlow (Atlanta Beat), 144/69
20 Abby Wambach (New York Power), 38/26
AUSTRALIA
(With current affiliation and former WUSA affiliation, where warranted, in parentheses)
Goalkeepers 18 Melissa Barbieri (AIS/VIS), 36 caps/0 goals
1 Cassandra Kell (AIS/NSWIS), 19/0
Defenders
4 Dianne Alagich (AIS/SASI, San Jose CyberRays), 49/3
2 Rhian Davies (AIS/ACTAS), 31/2
12 Karla Reuter (AIS/QAS), 11/0
5 Cheryl Salisbury (NSWIS-Northern, New York Power), 96/28
13 Thea Slatyer (NSWIS), 14/1
3 Sacha Wainwright (ACTAS), 60/2
Midfielders
14 Gillian Foster (AIS/ACTAS), 31/1
8 Heather Garriock (QAS), 48/8
15 Tal Karp (AIS/ACTAS), 26/2
9 Kylie Ledbrook (NSWIS), 3/0
10 Joanne Peters (AIS/NSWIS-Northern, New York Power), 63/15
6 Sally Shipard (NSWIS), 1/0
17 Danielle Small (NSWIS), 27/5
Forwards
11 Lisa De Vanna (AIS/WA), 5/3
16 Selin Kuralay (QAS), 6/1
7 Sarah Walsh (AIS/QAS), 6/4
U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM
2004 SCHEDULE
Four Nations
Jan. 30 at Shenzhen, China: United States 3 (Boxx 13, Tarpley 51, 66) Sweden 0
Feb. 1 at Shenzhen, China: United States 0 China 0
Feb. 3 at Shenzhen, China: United States 2 (Tarpley 13, Fawcett pen. 81) Canada 0
CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament
Feb. 25 at San Jose, Costa Rica: United States 7 (Boxx 22, 37, 81, Lilly 25, Hamm 41, 44, Wambach 42) Trinidad & Tobago 0
Feb. 27 at Heredia, Costa Rica: United States 8 (Wagner 12, Parlow 17, 73, 87, own goal Fenelon 41, MacMillan 47, Tarpley 63, Wambach 81) Haiti 0
Feb. 29 at San Jose, Costa Rica: United States 2 (own goal Castillo 10, Wambach 26) Mexico 0
March 3 at San Jose, Costa Rica: United States 4 (Wagner 5, Wambach 26, Lilly 29, Boxx 51) Costa Rica 0
March 5 at Heredia, Costa Rica: United States 3 (Tarpley 45, Wambach 79, Foudy 84) Mexico 2 (Dominguez 9, 15)
Algarve Cup
March 14 at Ferreiras, Portugal: United States 5 (Wambach 16, Hamm pen. 27, Hucles 31, 33, Tarpley 47) France 1 (Bompastor 48)
March 16 at Quarteira, Portugal: United States 1 (Hucles 61) Denmark 0
March 18 at Lagos, Portugal: United States 1 (Reddick 85) Sweden 3 (Andersson 34, Oqvist 48, 56)
March 20 at Faro, Portugal: United States 4 (Wambach 30, 39, 51, Tarpley 42) Norway 1 (Riise 38)
Friendlies
April 24 at Birmingham, Ala.: United States 5 (Foudy 13, Wambach 31, 42, Welsh 86, Hamm 87) Brazil 1 (Marta 55)
May 9 at Albuquerque, N.M.: United States 3 (Parlow 52, Hamm 64, Chalupny 87) Mexico 0
June 6 at Louisville, Ky.: United States 1 (Wambach 59) Japan 1 (Arakawa 20)
July 3 at Nashville, Tenn.: United States 1 (Mitts 73) Canada 0
July 21 at Blaine, Minn.: vs. Australia at National Sports Center, 6 p.m. CDT (7 p.m. EDT); TV: ESPN2 (live)
Aug. 1 at Hartford, Conn.: vs. China at Retschler Field, 3 p.m. EDT; TV: ESPN2 (live)
Athens Olympics
Aug. 11: at Heraklio, Greece: vs. Greece at Pankritio Stadium, 6 p.m. EEST (11 a.m. EDT); TV: TBA
Aug. 14 at Thessaloniki, Greece: vs. Brazil at Kaftanzoglio Stadium, 6 p.m. EEST (11 a.m. EDT); TV: TBA
Aug. 17 at Thessaloniki, Greece: vs. Australia at Kaftanzoglio Stadium, 6 p.m. EEST (11 a.m. EDT); TV: TBA
Aug. 20 at TBA: Quarterfinals in Patras, Thessaloniki, Heraklio and Volos, 6 p.m. EEST (11 a.m. EDT) or 9 p.m. EEST (2 p.m. EDT); TV: TBA
Aug. 23 at Heraklio or Patras, Greece: Semifinals at Pankritio Stadium, 6 p.m. EEST (11 a.m. EDT) or at Pampeloponnisiako Stadium, 9 p.m. EEST (2 p.m. EDT)
Aug. 26 at Athens, Greece: Gold/Bronze matches at Karaiskaki Stadium, 6 p.m. EEST (11 a.m. EDT) and 9 p.m. EEST (2 p.m. EDT); TV: TBA
U.S. Record: 13-1-2.