U.S. Women open Algarve Cup Wednesday, favored to win again

The reigning Olympic champions kickoff the 2009 schedule on March 4 against Denmark in what could be the USA’s most difficult Algarve Cup opening match in years.

During the last three tournaments the USA has opened against China, a team that has struggled in recent years. In the two years before that, the USA opened against France, which is certainly a strong side but not among the current European elite.

This time the opening match of Group B will pit the countries who have met in the last two Algarve Cup Finals, both won by the USA (2-0 in 2007 and 2-1 in 2008). The Danes were certainly not favored to win their group the last two years over Germany and Sweden, but did so both times to earn a place in the championship game.

Denmark will likely have to slay the U.S. team this time to keep their title hopes alive, and vice-versa. The USA-Denmark clash kicks off at Noon local time (7 a.m. ET) in Lagos, a venue that has not been kind to the USA. You will be able to read more about the Curse of Lagos in the pre-game notes before the match. Fans can follow USA-Denmark and all the U.S. games at the Algarve Cup on ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker.

This will be the 14th Algarve Cup for the U.S. women, who have gone 8-1-4 in openers of this annual March tournament. The only opening game loss came in 2001 when the USA brought a very young team to the Algarve during WUSA pre-season camps.

In 2007, the USA won all four games of the tournament for only the third time in 12 previous appearances, a testament to the difficulty of this competition. The USA then came back in 2008 and won all four games again, giving the Americans an eight-game Algarve Cup winning streak, matched only by China over 1998, 1999 (when China beat the USA in the final) and 2000 tournaments, and Norway over the 1996 and 1997 tournaments, which just happened to be the only two Algarve Cups in which the USA did not participate.

USA Group Play Schedule:

March 4 vs. Denmark (12 p.m. local / 7 a.m. Eastern)
March 6 vs. Iceland (3 p.m. local / 10 a.m. Eastern)
March 9 vs. Norway (3 p.m. local / 10 a.m. Eastern)
 

[+ read preview of Algarve Cup on ESPN SoccerNet]