Hamm Celebrates Birthday Usual Way: With Hat Trick
The finest soccer player the United States has ever produced turned 26 last Tuesday and celebrated as only she can.
Mia Hamm noted the passing of another year by blasting three goals past China as the U.S. women’s national team rolled to a 4-1 victory at the Algarve Cup in Loule, Portugal.
The one-woman show marked the latest hat trick of Hamm’s international career and brought her record goal haul to 85 in 141 games for the United States.
“China had no answer for her,” U.S. Coach Tony DiCicco said. “She played great defense, held the ball well in the attack and took on defenders all game.”
The Americans and Chinese have played each other 17 times since 1986, and the four goals were the most the U.S. team has ever scored against China, which it defeated in the Olympic gold-medal game in August 1996.
“Any time you beat a team as talented as China by that score, it definitely gives you confidence,” Hamm said. “Our midfield and defenders did a great job dealing with the tough conditions, the wind and the bumpy field, while still maintaining their composure.
“I’m happy with the goals because I think I only got three good opportunities.”
BROUGHT TO EARTH
The victory over China in the eight-nation tournament was preceded by a 2-0 shutout of Finland in the opening game, with Michelle Akers and Brandi Chastain scoring the goals at Olhao, Portugal, last Sunday.
It was followed by the worst defeat the U.S. team has suffered in its 13-year history.
On Thursday, defending world champion Norway took apart the American defense, and goalkeeper Briana Scurry in particular, with a 4-1 victory at Lagos, Portugal.
The loss marked only the second time in 168 games that the U.S. had given up four goals in a match. The previous occasion was May 28, 1991, in a 4-3 loss to the Netherlands at Vianen, Holland.
It was the first time the U.S. has lost a game by three goals.
Marianne Pettersen scored twice and Hege Risse and Unni Lehn added one each for Norway, which the U.S. had defeated, 3-0, in the championship game of the Guangzhou tournament in China in January. Chastain scored the only American goal on a penalty kick.
“Norway was a different team than the one we saw in China,” DiCicco said. “They were much quicker, much more organized and more aggressive. It’s a very, very disappointing result.
“We took the game too lightly. At this level, against this kind of competition, it’s a game of mentality, and we did not have it today. We had some bad mistakes in the back and it cost us a place in the final.”
Norway rolled over Denmark, 4-1, in the Algarve Cup’s title game on Saturday while the U.S. defeated Sweden, 3-1, in the third-place game on goals by Julie Foudy, Chastain and Kristine Lilly.
COMING TO THE USA
With the trip to Portugal behind it, the U.S. team’s next stop on its journey toward the 1999 Women’s World Cup in the United States is at Cal State Fullerton on April 24.
There, the Americans play Argentina in the first of a two-game weekend series. The teams also play April 26 at San Jose.
Argentina probably will be an interesting opponent. In the recently completed South American qualifying tournament for the 1999 World Cup, Argentina outscored its early opponents, 17-2.
Then it ran into Brazil in the final at Mar del Plata, Argentina, and was beaten, 7-1.
The Argentines should have known they were in for a rough time, even on their home soil. Brazil overwhelmed its opponents, 59-2, en route to the championship game, including a 15-0 whitewash of Peru, a 14-0 shutout of Venezuela, a 12-1 drubbing of Colombia and an 11-1 rout of Ecuador.
Like their male counterparts, Brazil’s top women players also go by a single name, and while Katia, Elena, Sissi and Roselli are not perhaps as evocative as Pele, Romario and Dunga, each scored a hat trick against Peru, surely a record of some kind.
The tournament victory made Brazil the fifth team to qualify for Women’s World Cup in June and July of 1999, joining host United States, China, Japan and North Korea.
Qualifying currently is underway in Europe, where 16 countries are competing for six places. African, CONCACAF and Oceania qualifying takes place in October.
Argentina, as the South American runner-up, still has a chance to make the 16-team World Cup field by defeating the CONCACAF runner-up this fall.
TOWARD A LEAGUE
The Women’s World Cup next year is supposed to be the catalyst for a women’s professional league in the United States, and toward that end Alan Rothenberg, the president of U.S. Soccer and founder of Major League Soccer, last week appointed a seven-member development committee to lay the groundwork for such a league.
Appointed were Bob Contiguglia, David Askinas, Bill Goaziou, Sunil Gulati, Pam Kopple and Marla Messing.
Oh, yes, and one member who actually knows something about how the women’s game is played--Mary Harvey-Copobianco, the United States world championship-winning goalkeeper from 1991.
HALL OF FAME
There is little question that most of the members of the 1991 world championship team and the 1996 Olympic gold medalists will one day wind up in the Soccer Hall of Fame at Oneonta, N.Y.
This summer, they have the chance to preview the site.
One June 2, two days after playing New Zealand in the first U.S. men’s and women’s doubleheader at RFK Stadium in Washington, (the men play Scotland) the American women again will play the Kiwis at Oneonta.
The game will be part of the Hall of Fame’s 1998 induction ceremonies and will be played at 7:30 at Hartwick College’s Elmore Field.
The Hall of Fame is engaged in a $32-million fund-raising campaign to build a National Soccer Museum and Stadium complex at Oneonta. Rothenberg last week agreed to spearhead the drive.
GOODWILL GAMES
Women’s soccer will be a part of the Goodwill Games for the first time with the addition of a four-nation tournament featuring China, Denmark, Norway and the United States.
The U.S. will play Denmark and Norway will play China on July 25, with the winners meeting in the championship match July 27 and the losers playing for third place earlier that day.
New York is the host city for the Goodwill Games, but the soccer matches will be played on Long Island.
SHORT PASSES
The Algarve Cup is the most prestigious women’s tournament after the World Cup and the Olympic Games. All the same, the United States, a former world and reigning Olympic champion, has not won it in four attempts. . . . Lilly, who had a goal and two assists in the rout of China, continues to move toward a record she has pursued since her national-team debut in 1987. Saturday’s game was her 146th for the U.S., leaving her only five shy of the world record held by Norway’s Heide Stoere, who played 151 games for her country and is now retired. . . . Lilly’s goal against China was her 54th, moving her ahead of Carin Gabarra on the all-time U.S. list but still well short of Hamm’s 85 and Akers’ 94.
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U.S. Women’s Team 1998 Schedule
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Date Site Result/Opponent Jan. 18 Guangzhou, China USA 3, Sweden 0 Jan. 21 Guangzhou, China USA 0, China 0 Jan. 24 Guangzhou, China USA 3, Norway 0 March 15 Olhao,Portugal USA 2, Finland 0 March 17 Loule, Portugal USA 4, China 1 March 19 Lagos, Portugal Norway 4, USA 1 March 21 Quarteira, Portugal USA 3, Sweden 1 April 24 Fullerton Argentina April 26 San Jose Argentina May 8 Indianapolis, Ind. Iceland May 10 Bethlehem, Pa. Iceland May 30 Washington, D.C. New Zealand June 2 Oneonta, N.Y. New Zealand June 25 St. Louis, Mo. Germany June 28 Chicago, Ill. Germany July 25 Long Island, N.Y. Denmark July 27 Long Island, N.Y. China or Norway
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