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US Men and Women learn Olympic opponents via lottery

20 Apr, 2008

The U.S. Under-23 Men and Women’s National Teams were drawn into their respective groups for the 2008 Olympic Games during the Final Draw Sunday evening in Beijing, China.

The U.S. Women were drawn in to Group G and will face Norway, Japan and New Zealand in first round play, while the U-23 Men were placed into Group B along with Japan, the Netherlands and Nigeria.

The Final Draw placed all 28 teams in this year’s Olympic Football Tournaments for the men and women, which will be played from Aug. 6-23 in five venues: Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao. The 12 teams in the women’s tournament were divided into three groups of four teams each, while the 16-team men’s tournament includes four groups of four. The U.S. Women received a top seed in the tournament along with host China, which will head Group E, and Germany, which will head Group F.

On the men’s side, the U.S. will open against Japan on August 7 at 5 p.m. local (5 a.m. ET) before facing the Netherlands on August 10 at 7:45 p.m. local (7:45 a.m.), with both games taking place at the Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Tianjin. The team will then travel to Workers’ Stadium in Beijing to conclude group play against 1996 gold medalist and 2005 Under-20 World Cup champion Nigeria on August 13 at 5 p.m. local (5 a.m. ET).

“It’s a difficult group, definitely, but that’s what we expect in a tournament that includes the top 16 teams in the world,” said U.S. Under-23 head coach Peter Nowak. “They are very quality teams we will face and we have to be up to the challenge. This is a great challenge for us and we can gain a lot of experience from these kinds of games and this kind of tournament.”

The U.S. Women will open play on Aug. 6 against Norway in Qinhuangdao at the Olympic Center Stadium at 7:45 p.m. local (7:45 a.m. ET). The U.S. will then get two days of rest before facing Japan on Aug. 9 in Qinhuangdao at 5 p.m. local (5 a.m. ET) before finishing group play on Aug. 12 against New Zealand in Shenyang at the 60,000-seat Olympic Center Stadium at 7:45 p.m. local (7:45 a.m. ET). The stadium in Qinhuangdao holds just under 34,000 fans.

“I’m very excited about the challenge of the draw overall,” said U.S. Women’s head coach Pia Sundhage. “Group F is certainly the strongest of the three groups, but our group will be very good as well. We will play three very different teams with very different styles of play, which will test our ability to adapt in a world championship tournament with just a few days rest between games.”

In the men’s tournament, the top two finishers in each group will advance to the quarterfinals, while in the 12-team women’s tournament, the top two teams in each of the three groups plus the two best third-place teams after the completion of first-round play will advance to the quarterfinals. The Medal Rounds for both tournaments will be played in Shanghai and Beijing.  Due to the make-up of the draw, the U.S. Women will have to advance to the final four in order to actually play a match in Beijing.

This will be the fourth Olympic soccer competition for women. The WNT has won two gold medals (Atlanta ’96 and Athens ’04) and one silver medal (Sydney ’00) in previous Olympic tournaments.

The U.S. will be participating in its 13th Olympic Games on the men’s side, and their first since 2000 when they finished in fourth place.

Olympic Men’s Football Tournament
U.S. Schedule - Group B
Date        Opponent        Venue                                              Kickoff (Local/ET)
Aug. 7      Japan              Tianjin (Olympic Sports Center)       5 p.m. / 5 a.m.
Aug. 10    Netherlands    Tianjin (Olympic Sports Center)        7:45 p.m. / 7:45 a.m.
Aug. 13    Nigeria            Beijing    (National Stadium)            5 p.m. / 5 a.m.
 

Olympic Women’s Football Tournament
U.S. Schedule - Group G
Date        Opponent       Venue                                                                   Kickoff (Local/ET)
Aug. 6     Norway          Qinhuangdao (Olympic Sports Center Stadium)      7:45 p.m. / 7:45 a.m.
Aug. 9     Japan              Qinhuangdao (Olympic Sports Center Stadium)      5 p.m. / 5 a.m.
Aug. 12   New Zealand  Shanghai (Shanghai Stadium)                                 7:45 p.m. / 7:45 a.m.

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