U.S. looking for third Cup victory

By JEN SEAVEY

Journal Sports Editor

Tough competition and enthusiastic fan support in huge venues will be an explosive combination in the 2003 Women's World Cup, thanks to a lot of talent and a little luck for the United States.

The U.S. women's national soccer team, traditionally the strongest women's national team in the world, will need to use their power and talent to overcome tough competition, not just in their group, but all 15 teams.

Sitting at the top of FIFA's list for women's soccer world rankings is the U.S., which Thursday drew into a grouping with Sweden, North Korea and Nigeria. This grouping will produce some of the best soccer that the first round of the World Cup has ever seen.

FIFA, the Federated International Football Association, announced Wednesday that the U.S. held the top ranking in the world, followed by Norway in second, Germany at third, China at fourth, and Sweden fifth. Brazil and North Korea were sixth and seventh.

This means that the U.S. will beat the fifth- and seventh-ranked teams before even advancing to the next round. Thank goodness the Americans will have the advantage of being the crowd favorite.

The U.S. is hosting the fourth ever Women's World Cup by default, after FIFA pulled it out of China and granted it to the United States, which hosted the World Cup in 1999 with dramatic results. According to the FIFA World Cup website, the 1999 World Cup set a world women's sporting attendance record, with over 90,000 fans. The games themselves were held in big stadiums in big cities for the first time.

And the U.S. women certainly provided the entertainment, enthralling thousands of people who had never before been soccer fans. Defender Brandi Chastian shared a Kodak moment with the 40 million Americans watching on television when her penalty kick rocketed past the Chinese goalie and she slid to her knees, ripping off her jersey and whipping it around in celebration.

Chastian's tie-breaker earned the U.S. team its second World Cup victory; although Norway had defeated the U.S. in Sweden in 1995 in the semifinals before going on to win, the Americans had dominated the first Women's World Cup in China in 1991, with 20 of the team's 25 goals coming from three women, including Michelle Akers, whose dominance has been replaced by the talent of Mia Hamm, Chastian and Julie Foudy, amongst others.

This year, when the U.S. team fights its way to the top of Group A, the team will have a couple more obstacles before it -- the main one being Norway.

Norway has experience in midfielder Hege Riise, who has been integral in Norway's success in the World Cup, and Carolina Courage teammate Unni Lehn. After the United States first-place ranking with 2,169 points, Norway had 2,159, and Germany was a very close third with 2,152.

Remembering the last World Cup, we Americans may want to believe that our charismatic team will run away with its third championship, but the players know they have more competition than when the World Cup began 12 years ago. It would be exciting to see a showdown in which the United States stomps on Norway for the World Cup championship, but a 1-0 victory wouldn't disappoint, if it ends like it did last time.