U.s. Women's Soccer Update

SI PLAYERS, OCT. 29 The last time the U.S. women's soccer team was looking for a coach, in 2004, Pia Sundhage (below) was the first choice of many players. That support likely cost her a shot at the job; April Heinrichs had just been ousted in a players' revolt, and the U.S. Soccer Federation wasn't about to let the team pick her successor. So Heinrichs's assistant Greg Ryan was promoted.

But after the debacle that was the 2007 Women's World Cup—which featured a 4--0 drubbing at the hands of Brazil and a well-documented goalkeeper controversy—it became apparent that someone with fresh ideas was needed. Last week, a month after it was announced that Ryan wouldn't be retained, the USSF did something it had never done: It hired an outsider to run the women's program. A legendary player in her native Sweden and a successful coach in the now defunct WUSA, Sundhage, 47, is also the team's first foreign coach. She vowed to inject some pizzazz into a U.S. attack that has grown predictable, even moribund.

The team was supposed to be off until January, but Sundhage will hold a camp next month. Timing is of the essence for both the team and its new coach. Olympic qualification begins early in 2008, and Sundhage's contract is only for one year.