Fab Five looks for a golden finish

Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly and Julie Foudy have all been together since the 1991 Women's World Cup. AP

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The Fab Five and the rest of the U.S. women's soccer team want to ride their emotions to the gold medal, rather than have those emotions get in the way.

It's a difficult balance to strike: The young players wants to send Mia Hamm & Co. out as winners, but many similarly inspired teams have fallen short because they were simply trying too hard.

"I don't want them to feel that I'm putting pressure on them to have to do it for me, or for us," Hamm said. "Let's do it for each other."

The long goodbye ends for the Fab Five on Thursday when the United States plays Brazil for the Olympic title. It will be the long-anticipated chance for Hamm, Julie Foudy, Joy Fawcett, Kristine Lilly and Brandi Chastain to end their time together as world champions, a bragging right they haven't been able to claim for five years.

Even though the vets have played down the send-off angle, coach April Heinrichs said she will again appeal to the team's youngsters to make sure the goodbye party at Karaiskaki Stadium is a happy one.

"If we play as a team, if we play for each other, and if we both love and are serving these players who are playing in their final game, then I think things will come together for us," Heinrichs said.

The five players are the last remnants of the 1991 World Cup team, a group that helped a sport grow from ragtag obscurity to a legit place on the international stage in less than a decade. Hamm, Foudy and Fawcett are retiring from the national team, and the end isn't far off for the other two.

Foudy, in fact, might have already played her last game. Her status is uncertain after spraining her ankle in the semifinal victory over Germany.

"I'll miss being here with these players," said Hamm, the game's all-time leading scorer and most recognizable face. "And learning from them, and growing and experiencing the greatest of times and the worst of times."

The Americans dominated the sport throughout the 1990s, winning the 1991 and 1999 World Cups and the 1996 Olympic title, but their success prompted other nations to invest in women's soccer for the first time. Those countries are catching up; Norway won gold four years ago in Sydney, and Germany won the World Cup on U.S. soil last year.

Brazil is another emerging women's program, one that has fought for attention in the shadow of the country's five-time World Cup champion men's team. The mayor of the poor Sao Paulo suburb of Osasco, home of star player Cristiane, is expecting thousands of people to watch Thursday's game on two huge televisions he has installed in the streets, the type of scene usually reserved for the men.

Brazil gave the Americans their toughest challenge of these Olympics, dominating them in the scoreless first half of a first-round game last week. Fortunate not to be trailing by a couple of goals, the U.S. team rallied in the second half for a 2-0 victory.

This week, Brazil's players said their strong early showing in that game has given them hope they can beat the U.S. team for only the second time ever. The other legacy from that game is coach Rene Simoes' accusation that the Americans tried to deliberately hurt his players with rough fouls in the second half.

The Americans say they weren't as rough as the Brazilians. They also know the rematch could get nasty.

"It's not the first time they've talked like that," Foudy said. "They can come hard, they always do. But at the same time you can use that against them. They come so hard, they're easy to beat."

Win or lose, there are certain to be tears amid the final hugs as the American players leave the field.

After 17 years in the international game, Hamm wants to start a family with her new husband, Chicago Cubs shortstop Nomar Garciaparra. Foudy is also thinking about kids, but she expects to remain active in social and political issues. Fawcett already has three children to raise.

Chastain says she'll keep playing "as long as they let me," but she's 36 and unlikely to last until the next World Cup in 2007. Lilly, who has played in more international games than any man or woman, has already said she won't make it to 2007 -- and maybe even to next week, for that matter.

"Who knows?" Lilly said. "I'm so excited for Thursday's game. I just really want that to finish, and then if it suddenly it hits me that I'm done, I'm done."