The two-time defending champion U.S. women’s national team will be looking to add to recent success that includes a 2008 Olympic gold medal when they try to three-peat for the second time in the 16-year history of the Algarve Cup, which kicks off Wednesday in southern Portgual.
The USA begins the 12-team tournament, as well as kicks off its 2009 international campaign, with a Group A match against back-to-back Algarve runner-up Denmark on Wednesday before meeting Iceland on March 6 and Norway on March 9.
Despite holding a 35-9-7 all-time record in the tournament and recent success that includes five titles (2008, 2007, 2005, 2004, 2003) in the last six years, the U.S. wasn’t always dominant in the annual affair, not taking the top spot until its fifth Algarve Cup appearance in 2000.