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U.S. Women's National Team to face Brazil twice before Olympics

15 May, 2008

The U.S. Women’s National Team will face Brazil in its final two matches before the 2008 Olympics, starting the two-game set on July 13 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo., before traveling to San Diego, Calif., for a July 16 game at the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium.

The announcement of the appetizing matches in San Diego and Commerce City, which is home to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer, complete the USA’s pre-Olympic schedule that will also include three games at the Peace Queen Cup in June (and possibly a fourth if the U.S. makes the championship game) as well as a two-match trip to Norway and Sweden in early July. At the Peace Queen Cup, the U.S. will face Australia on June 15, Brazil on June 17 and Italy on June 19. The USA will depart for China one week after the match in San Diego.

This will be the first-ever match at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park for the U.S. WNT and the first trip to Colorado since 1999, when it played at Mile High Stadium after the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup. That match marked the first and only game in Colorado for the U.S. Women. The U.S. has played two previous games at the picturesque Torero Stadium, tying Japan 0-0 in January of 2003 and defeating Ireland, 5-0, in July of 2006.

The two games pit the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup semifinalists together again, but it will not be the first meeting since the USA’s crushing 4-0 loss in Hangzhou, China. The two nations will meet in group play at the Peace Queen Cup in Suwon, South Korea on June 17. The USA last played Brazil in the United States less than a year ago, winning 2-0 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

“It’s always good to get great games before you go to the Olympics and what better team to play than Brazil,” said U.S. midfielder Shannon Boxx, who has started 12 of the 14 games the USA has played this year. “It’s always an exciting game playing Brazil so these will be good tests to give us confidence heading into the Olympics. Obviously, we didn’t do well against them in the World Cup so it will be beneficial for our team to play them a few times beforehand in case we do meet them in China.”

The U.S. women have had great success against Brazil throughout the years, winning 19 games while losing two and drawing two. Brazil has qualified for the 2008 Olympics, but had to do a little extra work. The Brazilians stumbled at the end of 2006, falling to Argentina in the championship game of the South American qualifying tournament for the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a competition that also qualified the winner to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The loss forced Brazil into a playoff for the final Olympic berth, but the Canarinhas cruised past Ghana by a 5-1 score on April 19 in Beijing to earn the 12th and final spot in the Olympic tournament.

“I’m excited to play Brazil because we have such a different style now than when we played them in the World Cup,” said Boxx. “With the way we are playing combined with their individual talents on the ball and their style, it’s just going to make for great games for the fans in Denver and San Diego.”

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