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Reverse gender inequality U.S. men playing well, but women get the attention
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- A good study on reverse gender inequality was offered Monday when the U.S. men's and women's soccer teams shared a practice field for the only time at these Olympics. The women have played well in their first two games. So have the men. Back home, however, there's a much bigger interest in Mia Hamm than in Conor Casey. "Our result against Cameroon was every bit as good as the women's result against China," men's coach Clive Charles said after the morning workout at Olympic Park. "The only problem is we can't get people to see that. "I'm not running down the women. I'm just saying we've had two great results. Cameroon have people who play for Arsenal, Real Madrid, so for us to go in like we did, that's an unbelievable performance. It's not my fault if people don't realize it. I have to tell the guy whose daughter is watching the game. They don't know. They see where we tied with Cameroon, so what?" The men have tied the Czech Republic 2-2 and Cameroon 1-1. A victory in the final group game here Tuesday against Kuwait would advance the United States beyond the first round of an Olympic tournament for the first time ever. "We've outplayed two teams that were fancied for medals coming in," Charles said. "We played probably the most potent offense here, and we held them to one goal." The men's team arrived in Melbourne on Sunday in time to watch the women, the reigning Olympic and World Cup champions, tie China 1-1 in a rematch of last year's World Cup final and a likely preview of next week's gold medal game. The U.S. women, who had a late practice Monday at Olympic Park, also beat Norway 2-0 last week. They need at least a draw against Nigeria on Wednesday to advance to the semifinals, and they could also advance with a loss depending on other results. "There's no chance this team thinks a draw is going to be enough," coach April Heinrichs said. "We're going to go after Nigeria. In our opinion, this is now the quarterfinals of the Olympics, so we will go after the Nigerians with everything we have." The popularity of the women's team has done little to lift the men's game in the United States. Attendance at Major League Soccer games fell again this year, although there have been good crowds at the men's World Cup qualifying games. Of course, the obvious discrepancy lies in the team's expectations. For the women, only a gold medal will do. For the men, any medal would be cause for celebration -- their stated goal was to make it out of the first round, which they'd never before accomplished -- although Charles isn't sure how much there would be. "If we win a gold medal, it's the same as anything else," Charles said. "People will write about it for a week and then it'll go away because our sport isn't where the other sports are. I think this team is going to make a statement." Another difference: The women's team here is the full U.S. national team with all its stars, while Olympic rules restrict the men's team to players under 23, with three exemptions. "It's totally different teams," said defender Jeff Agoos, one of the three over-23s. "I think it'll help soccer in our country if we win. I don't know how much because we're in another time zone, but going through would be a positive thing, and we want to show people that we've got a good team here." Charles and Heinrichs have similar challenges preparing for their final first-round games. The Kuwaiti men's team and the Nigerian women's team are relative unknowns on the international scene. Fortunately, these games came last, so both coaches have been able to watch the tapes from earlier matches here at the Olympics.
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