July 12, 2002
U.S. Women's National Team head coach April Heinrichs has named the 23-woman roster that will participate in a four-day training camp prior to the USA's match against Norway on July 21, 2002, at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn.
2001 Honda Player of the Year Aly Wagner and Danielle Slaton, the WUSA's No. 1 draft pick this past spring, were named to the roster, as were alumna Brandi Chastain and Kyle Bivens. Bronco men's soccer assistant coach Eric Yamamoto will also be traveling with the women's team as the goalkeeper coach.
The match will be televised live on ESPN at 11 a.m. Pacific Time. The team will arrive in Minnesota on July 16 and Heinrichs will use the training camp to pick 18 players from this roster to face Norway. Tickets are available at all TicketMaster outlets and can be charged by phone at 651-989-5151 and online at www.ussoccer.com.
The U.S. women will be looking to break a frustrating four-game losing streak to the Norwegians, all on foreign soil, which has seen the USA play equal to or better than Norway over the four matches, dating back to the 2000 Olympic gold medal game in Sydney, Australia, a crushing 3-2 sudden death overtime loss. In the next meeting, a young U.S. team fell 4-3 to Norway at the 2001 Algarve Cup in Portugal. The USA has also lost to Norway twice this year, 1-0 at the Four Nations Tournament in China in January and 3-2 at the 2002 Algarve Cup. Norway remains the only team in the world with an all-time winning record against the U.S. women, who are 13-18-2 vs. the Scandinavians.
The U.S. women have played Norway more times than any country. This match will be the first time the USA has played Norway in the United States since February of 2000. The teams have met the last nine consecutive times outside of the USA.
The match marks just the third domestic game of 2002 for the U.S. women, who defeated Mexico, 7-0, in Charleston, S.C. on January 12 and downed Finland, 3-0, in San Jose, Calif. on April 27.The USA-Norway game will be an important one for Heinrichs as she continues the process of selecting the team that will attempt to qualify for the 2003 Women's World Cup in China. The USA's qualification tournament will be the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup, being held from Oct. 27-Nov. 9, 2002, at four west coast venues.
Norway, which will play Canada in Toronto on July 17 before dropping down to Minnesota, will bring most of their stars, including Hege Riise and Unni Lehn of the Carolina Courage and Anita Rapp and Linda Ormen of the New York Power.