Back in Goal!

As the US Women prepare for their second game of the Four Nations Tournament, meeting Finland in the next few hours, Hope Solo took a few minutes to share her thoughts about being back in the goal.

Well it's been a long 3 1/2 months since I've stepped inside the goal mouth, at least in an actual game. A lot can change in that time. September I was at my peak, playing some of my best soccer. Now after a long needed break for many of us, we are starting over, starting from scratch, trying to get ourselves back in shape, and mentally trying to get our competitive spirit back.

The intensity leading up to the game wasn't quite the same, but I was still nervous about how I'd respond, but the moment I set foot on that field, the reasons why I play came rushing back. It felt good to be back out there. It was fun, which is why we are out there, to play and have fun?

Organizing the back line, coming out for crosses in crowds of people, and doing everything to keep the ball out of the back of the net was a challenge, and I’ve always welcomed challenges. That’s what makes sport so enjoyable. We had smiles on our faces, and we played relaxed. We enjoyed ourselves. We connected from the backline to the midfield up to the forwards. It was soccer with all 11 players on the field being apart of every play.

Of course there are things that could have been a little sharper. Our passing is still a little rusty after our long break, but those things will come. It's nothing to stress over. It's the ideas that we can be proud of. This is a new system of play for us, so we didn’t do things perfectly, but it's nice to see us thinking of new ways to attack, it's nice to see us being confidant in playing out of the back, making small passes in the midfield, and taking chances. It's just nice to see us play as a team.

It couldn't have been a more fitting first game in 2008 under our new leader Pia. Not only did we want the victory for our own selves and for our country, but for our coach as well. It looks as though she's already got 20 followers behind her! It’s just a few short months until qualifying, but I am certain we are all committed to being the best team we can be.

A Great Start to '08!

The Four Nations Tournaments marks the start of a new season and the US Team exploded in the 2nd half of their initial game of the year against Canada.

Leslie Osborne has sent us some of her thoughts from the first week in China!


Ni-Hao! Greetings from China!! We have now been here in China for 8 days! The trip has been great so far, we are enjoying ourselves here!

With several new members on the team, we are really enjoying getting to know each other!

There was a big teammates game a couple nights ago called "Fact or Fiction." I created this game a couple years ago and it's a great way for our team to get know each other and find out more about each other. It was a great night; Hayo (Heather O’Reilly) stepped up to win the game answering questions about Angie Woznuk.

Everyone likes to enjoy there free time differently. Whether it's playing with Rylie, studying, reading, watching DVD's, doing yoga, surfing the net or getting treatment, China has been great.

Yesterday was game day and it felt great to have a game. The weather here in China has been different each day. We were excited to wear our new long sleeve jerseys and they def. came in handy since it was cool and crisp! Beating Canada was great but how we played yesterday, as a unit was even better. We stay composed and kept attacking the whole game; the 2nd half was great because we finished a lot of our chances.

It was a great day for our team and Pia our new coach. It's a great way to start off the new year and we will look to get better every day.

The tournament games are being played every other day, which makes it very important for us to stay healthy, rested and sharp. Our next game is tomorrow against Finland, who just lost to China 2-0. We are looking forward to our game and are preparing now! Wish us luck! GO USA!


Be sure to check out Leslie's website osbornesoccer.com

New Minds, New Coaches and New Teammates -

Although I am in Northern Minnesota, with blue skies, bald eagles and Nordic skiers, the Women's National Team is preparing for their first competition of 2008. Defender Cat Whitehill has sent us some thought about how it feels to be back in China.

Wow, I can’t believe I am back in china already. It has been four months now since the World Cup, but it really feels like it was yesterday. When I look around Guangzhou, I definitely think about what happened last September. I don’t know if I will ever be able to forget the 2007 world cup. It was quite an up and down tournament that thankfully ended with our team making its best performance.

Just being surrounded by the Chinese culture makes me think of the dreadful Brazil game yet remember our team feeling a huge sense of relief once we beat one of our biggest rivalries, Norway, 4-1.

Sitting here on my computer writing these thoughts makes me realize how much I want to get back on the pitch and play again. I just want at least one more shot at giving this team a chance to stand on the right podium. I will never forget when I was blasting our national anthem when we won the gold medal (beating Brazil nonetheless), and standing at the very top and I know that we are all aiming towards that same goal. It is good to be back. It is good to know that the Olympics are so close to the World Cup so we are easily reminded of what happened.

Being here with the team, anyone can feel the renewal that is going on in all of us. New minds, new coaches, and new teammates are just the beginning. I believe you will see a new US team out there and I am excited to see the final product.

We are here as a tune up for the Olympics so there is definitely going to be some rust, but we are going to work out the kinks and be ready for qualifying this April and hopefully the Olympics this summer.

We are all so excited, we want the rest of America to have this same sense of renewal and cheer our great country to victories. I guess I get carried away with the Olympic talk, but the Olympics is one of the greatest times for the country to come together and put away all differences and focus on a single goal. I am grateful to have experienced that thrill and looking forward to having it again this August.

The four nations tournament is just the beginning and none of you will see it on TV, but I know we are working really hard so we can represent the United States as best we can! Check back here for updates!

Back to China

Although most of the roster for the Four Nations Tournament spent last September in China at the FIFA Women's World Cup, there are six young players here for the first time. After a short, but intense camp at the Home Depot Center just south of LA, the Women's National Team heads to their first series of games under new coach Pia Sundhage.

As they get ready to board the plane, forward Heather O'Reilly sent us the following:

After a brief weight training session today with Helena, our new fitness trainer, we had the rest of the day off to take care of some last minute pre-China errands. For some people this meant buying snacks for the trip, running over to Barnes and Noble for some new reading material, or just getting in touch with friends or family before the 2 week trip. Everyone is on their own, taking care of what they need to do!

But we regroup just in time to make it over to the airport for our red-eye flight to Guangzhou. This trip over shouldn't be too bad because it coincides with our sleep schedule. We will be able to sleep on the flight, and when we get in, it is 6:00 am in China. The sooner we can acclimate the better, and the less cranky people are!

We are looking forward to our first trip of 2008, and having our first matches with our new coaching staff.

The girls' first game is one week from today, needless to say, we will all be watching!

Just a bit sore -

Lindsay Tarpley gives us today's update from the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA.

Well, camp is in full force. Usually it is sunny everyday here in LA, but the last few days have been cold and rainy. We have been training twice a day and we started lifting as well. You can imagine that we all are a bit sore.

Yesterday, our general manger made an announcement on the bus that our second session was cancelled and the team went silent.

Since we have a new coach we are still trying to get a feel for things so we didn’t know how we should respond to the news. We all saw our new coach look back at us; and then the entire bus erupted into cheers.

Today we have an inter-squad scrimmage and tomorrow we leave for the Four Nations Tournament in Foshan, China. We open the tournament against Canada on January 16th , followed by Finland on January 18th and finally China on January 20th.

It has been nice being in camp again and catching up with everyone after the break. We are enjoying our new coach and we are learning a lot. This year is very important for us and we are all looking forward to working hard and being the best that we can be.

Be sure to check out Lindsay's website at www.lindsaytarpley.com

California Gloom

Lori Chalupny reports on day 2 of training camp!

Well, unfortunately we woke up to another gloomy weather day here in California but we didn’t let that get us down. The team is all smiles in this New Year as we continue our preparations for the 2008 Olympics. Its been really fun getting to know our new coaching staff. As with any new coach there are new philosophies, new drills, and the opportunity show what you can do. Today was a pretty typical day in the life of a US National Team member. We had breakfast, a training session and lunch followed by a little rest, another training session and dinner. In the training session this morning we focused on all aspects of defending. We did some 1v1s to work on individual defending, 2v2s to incorporate more of the team and 5v5 to focus on team defending and shape. It was a fairly demanding session but I think we really got some things accomplished and we each got better as players.

Between sessions there was time for some relaxation and some football watching where it became clear that this is a very competitive group. We have some die-hard Seahawks and Redskins fans on the team so it was fun giving them a hard time. The afternoon session was pretty light. We did some skill and technique drills and had a lot of fun competing with each other. A couple of us ended the day with an ice bath in order to help us recover for tomorrow when we get to do it all over again. Indeed it’s a good life!

Be sure to check out Lori's website at www.lorichalupny.com

Ready for a New Year!

As the Women’s National Team opens their 2008 drive to the Beijing Olympics, Leslie Osborne checks in from the first day of practice at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Leslie writes:

Well it's 2008 and we are more than excited to start off the new year. We have had a good amount of time to rest and recover after an exciting yet interesting year in 2007. Having a mini camp in December gave us a great opportunity to meet our new coach Pia. Yesterday was our first day together, we will be having a short yet intense mini camp until January 9th (when we leave for China). Hopefully the weather continues to hold up, we hear that there are flood alerts in LA for a couple days.

We opened up camp yesterday with a good long technical practice after flying across the country. There is a variety of players in camp, from college to players playing overseas. This morning we had a tough practice that involved the yo yo fitness test. We are looking forward for a great 5 days together...

Be sure to check out Leslie’s new website at www.osbornesoccer.com