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Women's Olympic qualifying roster named, tournament starts Friday

31 Mar, 2008

U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Pia Sundhage has chosen the 20-player roster to travel to Ciudad Juarez , Mexico, for 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying as the USA attempts to earn one of two berths to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

All 10 games of the qualifying competition will be held at the Estadio Olímpico Benito Juarez. The U.S. is in Group A and will open the tournament on April 4 vs. Jamaica at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time before facing Mexico on April 6 at 12:30 p.m. PT.

The top two teams from Group A will advance to the semifinals, where they will cross over to face the top two teams from Group B, which features Canada, Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago. The winners of the April 9 semifinals will qualify for the 2008 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in Beijing.

Sundhage will be allowed to suit up 18 players for each match, but can rotate her active roster from game to game.

“We’ve had a good week of training in Los Angeles and the team is excited about the challenge of playing important matches that represent our path to the Olympics,” said Sundhage. “It’s always a good thing for a team to play games that mean so much and that pressure will help us continue to develop the style we want to play. We’ve tried different things in China at the Four Nations Tournament and at the Algarve Cup, so now it’s about finding our best combinations of players for these qualifying matches.”

The U.S. will be looking for a berth to its fourth consecutive Olympic Games. In 2004, the U.S. won the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Costa Rica, and went on to win gold at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The U.S. qualified for the 1996 Atlanta Games as host, and for the 2000 Sydney Games as a top-seven finisher at the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Nine players named to the U.S. roster for qualifying in Mexico played in the last Olympic qualifying tournament in 2004.

Eight teams have qualified thus far for the 12-team Olympic Football Tournament. Japan, North Korea and China (hosts) from Asia, Argentina from South America, Nigeria from Africa, and Germany, Norway and Sweden from Europe have already booked tickets. In addition to the two teams from CONCACAF, one team from Oceania has yet to qualify. Brazil, who finished second in South American qualifying will face African runner-up Ghana in a one-game playoff for the final Olympic berth on April 19 in Beijing, one day prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics Final Draw.

U.S. Women's National Team
2008 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Roster
April 2-12, 2008

GOALKEEPERS (2): Nicole Barnhart (Gilbertsville, Pa.), Hope Solo (Richland, Wash.);

DEFENDERS (6): Rachel Buehler (Del Mar, Calif.), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis, Mo.), Stephanie Cox (Elk Grove, Calif.), Kate Markgraf (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Christie Rampone (Point Pleasant, N.J.), Cat Whitehill (Birmingham, Ala.);

MIDFIELDERS (7): Shannon Boxx (Redondo Beach, Calif.), Tobin Heath (Basking Ridge, N.J.), Angela Hucles (Virginia Beach, Va.), Carli Lloyd (Delran, N.J.), Leslie Osborne (Brookfield, Wis.), Lindsay Tarpley (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Kacey White (Arlington, Texas);

FORWARDS (5): Lauren Cheney (Indianapolis, Ind.), Natasha Kai (Kahuku, Hawaii), Heather O’Reilly (East Brunswick, N.J.), Amy Rodriguez (Lake Forest, Calif.), Abby Wambach (Rochester, N.Y.).

Note: In Mexico, Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. local time on the first Sunday in April, which would be April 5, meaning the matches on April 2 and 4 are the same as Pacific Time while the matches on April 6, 9 and 12 will be played on Mountain Time.

USA Olympic Qualification Schedule – Group A
Date           Match-Up                   Kickoff Local / Pacific Time
April 4        USA vs. Jamaica         7:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. PT
April 6        USA vs. Mexico         1:30 p.m. MT / 12:30 p.m. PT

2008 CONCACAF WOMEN’S OLYMPIC QUALIFYING SCHEDULE
Group A
Date        Match-up                         Kickoff (Local)
April 2     Mexico vs. Jamaica          7:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. PT
April 4     USA vs. Jamaica              7:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. PT
April 6     Mexico vs. USA              1:30 p.m. MT / 12:30 p.m. PT

Group B
Date       Match-up                                            Kickoff (Local)
April 2    Trinidad & Tobago vs. Canada             5 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. PT
April 4    Costa Rica vs. Trinidad & Tobago        5 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. PT
April 6    Canada vs. Costa Rica                         11 a.m. MT / 10 a.m. PT

Semifinals Kickoff (Local)
April 9    Winner Group A vs. Runner-up Group B      5 p.m. MT / 4 p.m. PT
April 9    Winner Group B vs. Runner-up Group A      7:30 p.m. MT / 6:30 p.m. PT

Final/Third-place Game Kickoff (Local)
April 12    Third-Place Game                                       5 p.m. MT / 4 p.m. PT
April 12    Championship                                            7:30 p.m. MT / 6:30 p.m. PT

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