|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Mia or M.I.A.? U.S. women face too many questions Down Under
Despite being the only country to be the defending champion in the Women's World Cup and the Olympics at the same time, the U.S. women's national team has a lot of questions to answer entering the summer Games. With Michelle Akers retiring from international soccer, veteran defender and team captain Carla Overbeck struggling to come back from a knee injury and a new face and pair of hands (Siri Mullinix) in goal, this is the beginning of the transition for the team. Can the Americans survive the first round? Can they thrive in the medal rounds? What impact will the loss of Akers have? And can they win yet another major championship? Those are just some of the questions we're all asking these days.
Mia Hamm enters the tournament with an all-time international record of 125 goals, an outstanding total. But despite her success -- two world championship teams and a gold medal -- Hamm has yet to leave her mark on an entire tournament. In the big four tournaments, Hamm has accrued seven goals and awarded assists on eight others in 22 games, certainly some creditable numbers for most players in the world. But then again, Mia Hamm isn't just any player. She has never recorded a multiple-goal game in one of the major tournaments. Moreover, Hamm has greatly underachieved beyond the first round. She has exactly one goal in 11 matches, and that was against China in the third-place game at Sweden '95. There have been extenuating circumstances at each tournament. The 1991 Women's World Cup was dominated by Akers, Carin Jennings and current U.S. coach April Heinrichs. After Akers and Jennings went out with injuries, the opposition was allowed to gang up on Hamm at Sweden '95. Hamm, the consummate team player, enjoyed an excellent tournament at the '96 Summer Games before an ankle injury severely hindered her effectiveness. At USA '99, Hamm played well in the team concept, but never lived up to her pre-tournament hype. I still suspect she was bothered by injuries, although the U.S. obviously didn't want the world to know. Hamm managed to set up both goals in the gold-medal confrontation in '96. Shannon MacMillan tucked in a Hamm rebound off the Chinese goalkeeper and the post for the first goal. For the game-winner, Hamm fed overlapping defender Joy Fawcett, who raced into the penalty area on the right side and dished to Tiffeny Milbrett. Perhaps Sydney will be a breakthrough tournament for Hamm.
Well, they certainly did this year, while Akers was trying to recover from shoulder surgery. But world championships and Olympics are different animals from international tournaments and friendlies. Akers brought a lot of intangibles to the team. With a healthy Akers in the lineup, the U.S. captured Women's World Cup titles in 1991 and 1999 and an Olympic gold medal in 1996. When she went down with a knee injury in the opening match of the 1995 Women's World Cup -- a wild, 3-3 draw with China -- the U.S. was never the same and finished third. What the inspirational Akers brought to a team cannot be measured. No one questions the work ethic of the Americans players. But Akers raised hers to a ridiculous level and threw her body around as though each game was her last. I can't think of any other player on the American team or the seven other finalists who plays like that game in, game out.
Siri Mullinix, who had many only one international appearance before this year, has played extraordinarily well, but has yet to face the pressure of an Olympics or world championship. At 22, she is the youngest goalkeeper among the eight projected starters. In fact, of the big four women's tournaments (the three World Cups and the Olympics), the youngest goalkeeper to win a championship was Bente Nordby, who was just about 21 when Norway took home the Women's World Cup trophy in 1995. Five years ago, coach Tony DiCicco decided to go with an inexperienced Briana Scurry over Mary Harvey, who backstopped the United States' championship effort in 1991. Scurry didn't make her international debut until 1994, a little more than a year before the Women's World Cup. Scurry, 23 at the time, wasn't the reason the U.S. lost to a superb Norwegian side, but you have to wonder if history will repeat itself. The spotlight will be on Mullinix from the opening whistle, on how she keeps her composure in tight situations and if she can come up with the big save. Scurry did it against Brazil in the semifinals last year. Translated: If she plays well in Australia, Mullinix will establish herself as the keeper of the future.
It's one thing when you're an assistant coach or the coach of the Under-21 national team. It's another if you're pushing the buttons for the best women's soccer team on earth. Heinrichs has acquitted herself well so far but faces her greatest challenge in the Olympics, particularly in the opening round against such toughies as Norway and China. Needless to say, her decisions will be scrutinized and put under the microscope. One mistake, whether it is placing the right player in the starting lineup or making a late-game substitution, could determine the outcome. John Ellis, her mentor and assistant coach, has forged a reputation as a knowledgeable bench coach and can offer some cogent advice. It will be up to Heinrichs to take the advice and make the best possible decision.
The Americans played in 33 games six tournaments -- five under Heinrichs, winning them all. Several players felt that all those games weren't a problem and that they will peak at the right time. A pair of back-to-back 1-1 draws with Russia and Canada sparked worries of their finishing ability, but the 4-0 triumph over Brazil last week buried some of those fears. But there are some doubts. Asked about whether the team had participated in too many matches, U.S. defender Brandi Chastain gave a candid response. "We don't know," she said. "We'll see when the tournament is over. It's a tough question. We'll look at it in hindsight."
Ah, the $64 million question (sorry, it's inflation). The way the groups were set up by FIFA's botched draw, getting out of the first round could be a greater achievement than performing in the medal round for the U.S. In fact, the U.S. can just as easily win the gold as it could get eliminated in the opening round. Remember, only two teams advance into the semifinals from each group. Surviving Norway and China will be more difficult than playing probable semifinal opponents Brazil and Germany. After that, it's all gravy. I'll go out on a limb with another one of my famous gut feelings: Arch-nemesis Norway takes the gold over the U.S., 2-1. I hope I'm wrong, but I think there are too many question marks for the U.S. to overcome. The rivalryThe best rivalry in women's soccer? Easy. The U.S. vs. Norway. It goes back all the way to July 5, 1987, when the U.S. registered a 3-0 victory in Blaine, Minn. The Norwegians are the only side to own a winning record vs. the Americans (14-12-2). Moreover, they don't like each other. It was a battle when Michelle Akers sometimes went head-to-head -- literally -- with Norway's Linda Medalen, although both players have retired from international soccer. Too bad. Medalen remembered the disappointment on the faces of the American players after Norway handed them a crushing 1-0 defeat in the semifinals of the 1995 Women's World Cup. "We were so happy when we saw the disappointment in the American's eyes," she said. "It was like, 'God, they couldn't believe it was true.' That gave us the spirit to win the final when we saw how disappointed they were. It lifted us up. "These girls are nice girls outside the game, but inside the game we hate them and we are going to beat them. We don't like them at all when we play." U.S. defender Fawcett agreed that there is no love lost between the teams. "We definitely get pumped up to play them every single time," she said. "It's a very difficult game to play that style. To me personally, those air balls and facing eight-foot women is very tough. We hate to lose to them." Three times these teams have met in either the Women's World Cup or the Olympics, and three times the results have been classics. In the 1991 WWC final, the Americans prevailed 2-1 on a late Akers goal. In 1995, the Norwegians avenged the loss by ousting the U.S. in the semifinals 1-0. The Americans launched a late attack with a flurry of shots that the Norwegians withstood. And in 1996, the U.S. outlasted Norway in the Olympic semifinals 2-1 on Shannon MacMillan's "Golden Goal." These two sides didn't lock horns at USA '99, but they'll meet on Thursday, Sept. 14 in an important first-round encounter. Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News. His third book, Soccer For Dummies, was published this spring.
| |||||||||||||||||||||
