June 2, 2000
SYDNEY, Australia - After a disappointing 1-0
loss to
China on Wednesday in its opening game of the Pacific Cup, the U.S.
Women's
National Team took out its frustrations on Canada, defeating its
northern
neighbors for the 20th consecutive time with a 9-1 thrashing at Sydney
Football Stadium.
When the two teams met just four weeks ago in the championship game of
the NIKE U.S. Women's Cup in Portland, Ore., Canada held the USA
scoreless in
the first half before the Americans exploded for four goals in the
second
stanza. On a damp and chilly night in the stadium that will host the
women's
soccer gold medal game in the 2000 Summer Games, the Americans provided
the
heat, scoring four times in the first half to put the match away before
the
halftime whistle.
Just four players shared the nine goals as Cindy Parlow registered her
first career hat trick and Tiffeny Milbrett lit up the scoreboard for
her
second career three-goal match. She also owns one four-goal performance.
Lorrie Fair added two goals within three minutes of each other in the
second
half and Shannon MacMillan added one score to celebrate her 100th career
appearance for the national team.
The USA picked apart the Canadian defense with tremendous ball
possession
through quick connections and dynamic runs, producing 30 shots and a
shell-shocked night for goalkeeper Nicci Wright. The U.S. ran at Canada
with
a 3-4-3 lineup that featured the 1999 Women's World Cup striking trio of
Milbrett, Mia Hamm and Parlow, who put on a gorgeous display of
playmaking,
and finishing, from the forward line.
The USA's first goal came in the 17th minute when Milbrett dropped a
one-touch pass back to Hamm in the midfield and took off running. Hamm
chipped a beautifully-weighted pass over the Canadian defense and
Milbrett
out-ran her mark to shoot from 19 yards off the left post and in.
The Americans made it 2-0 just two minutes later when Parlow shook
herself free from a defender in midfield and Canada's offside trap once
again
betrayed them, as it would all game, as she put MacMillan clear behind
the
defense on the right flank. The scrambling defenders arrived too late as
MacMillan raced in from an angle and bent her seven-yard shot just
inside the
left post with the outside of her right foot. MacMillan captained the
team
for the first time to honor her entry into the century club and the goal
was
her 27th internationally.
Parlow got on the board in the 37th minute as MacMillan put Joy Fawcett
free down the right flank with a velvet touch over the defense. In a
play
reminiscent of Fawcett's assist to Tiffeny Milbrett in the 1996 Olympic
gold
medal game, she streaked down the wing and cut hard to the net, gluing
Wright
to the left post, before cutting a perfect pass back for the trailing
Parlow,
who finished easily into the open net from six yards out.
Milbrett capped the first half scoring with a cracker of a goal as she
took a short corner from Hamm in the left side of the penalty box,
squared up
on Christine Sinclair and then juked the 16-year-old out of her path
with a
nifty inside-out dribble. Milbrett then whipped her 16-yard shot over
Wright
and under the cross bar as two Canadian defenders standing on the goal
line
could only watch as the ball stretched the roof of the net.
Fair got her first goal just four minutes into the second half as a
Wright save off a Hamm breakaway produced a corner kick. Hamm played it
short to MacMillan, who crossed from the right and Fair out-jumped
Andrea
Neil, a player five inches taller, to redirect the ball from the elbow
of the
six-yard box, over Wright, and into the upper left corner. Hamm provided
the
service two minutes later when she chipped a pass into the middle.
Milbrett
flicked the ball with her head over the defense to Fair, who brought the
it
down beautifully on the instep of her fight foot and then blasted her
shot
through Wright's legs from eight yards out. Milbrett added her third in
the
58th minute when she deftly redirected Whalen's cross from the right
flank
into the right corner for her 73rd international goal.
Hamm terrorized the Canadian defense all night, but found a cover on
goal, as three of her solo chances were spectacularly saved by Wright,
and a
fourth hit the left post for the trailing Parlow to finish in the open
net
>from eight yards straightaway. Hamm did dish off three assists.
The final U.S. goal came as Whalen streaked down the right flank and fed
Parlow with a perfect bending ball behind the defense on the ground.
Running
hard to the near post, Parlow spun a shot that Wright got a solid hand
on,
but in a microcosm of her night, then rolled slowly over the goal line.
It
was Parlow's 33rd career goal.
Canada avoided the shutout when Sinclair finished a rebound off a
Christine Latham shot that had been smartly pushed away the diving Jen
Branam. The 19-year-old Branam picked up her second cap for the USA as
well
as a bloodied mouth and a sore back when she dove at the feet of a
Canadian
player to make a spectacular save in the 79th minute. With the ball
cradled
in her arms, she then took the full brunt of the falling Latham's knee
in her
back and lay motionless on the field for a few moments before rising and
finishing the game.
It was the fifth time in U.S. history that the American women have won a
game by an eight-goal margin. In the other matches, Australia thrilled
the
largest crowd ever to watch a women's soccer game in Australia, battling
China to a 1-1 tie in regulation and through 20 minutes of sudden death
overtime before succumbing in penalty kicks, 5-4. A win for the Matildas
would have opened the door for the U.S. women to win the tournament, but
now
they must hope for a Canadian upset of the powerful Chinese. Japan came
from
behind to defeat New Zealand in overtime, 2-1, on a "golden goal" as the
Kiwis squandered their second straight one-goal lead.
The U.S. team will attend the Olympic Draw tomorrow at Sydney Town Hall
where they will find out who they will face in the first round of the
tournament. The USA then faces New Zealand on Sunday, June 4, at
Campbelltown Sports Stadium (2:30 p.m. local/12:30 a.m. ET) as the
Pacific
Cup continues.
U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM GAME REPORT
Participants: United States National Team vs. Canada National Team
Competition: 2000 Pacific Cup
Venue: Sydney Football Stadium -- Sydney, Australia
Date: June 2, 2000 - Kickoff 5:30 p.m. Local/3:30 a.m. ET
Attendance: 10,049 (Record for women's soccer match in Australia)
Weather: Wet, cold -- 49 degrees
Scoring Summary:
1st 2nd Final
USA 4 5 9
CANADA 0 1 1
USA -- Tiffeny Milbrett (Mia Hamm) 17.
USA -- Shannon MacMillan (Cindy Parlow) 19.
USA -- Cindy Parlow (Joy Fawcett) 37.
USA -- Tiffeny Milbrett (Mia Hamm) 40.
USA --
Lorrie Fair (Shannon MacMillan) 49.
USA --
Lorrie Fair (Tiffeny Milbrett) 51.
USA -- Tiffeny Milbrett (Sara Whalen) 58.
USA -- Cindy Parlow (Mia Hamm) 69
USA -- Cindy Parlow (Sara Whalen) 77.
CAN -- Christine Sinclair (Christine Latham) 81.
Lineups:
USA - 24-Jen Branam, 6-Brandi Chastain (19-Danielle Slaton, 46th),
20-Kate
Sobrero (3-Christie Pearce, 46th), 14-Joy Fawcett, 13-Kristine Lilly
(7-Sara
Whalen, 46th), 2-Lorrie Fair, 11-Julie Foudy (5-Nikki Serlenga, 46th),
8-Shannon MacMillan, 12-Cindy Parlow, 9-Mia Hamm, 16-Tiffeny Milbrett
(22-Christie Welsh, 63rd).
CAN - 1-Nicole Wright, 6-Cindy Walsh (4-Liz Smith, 55th), 7-Isabelle
Morneau
(17-Silvana Burtini, 68th), 8-Marie-Claude Dion, 3-Breanna Boyd,
5-Andrea
Neil (11-Rendee Hermus, 59), 13-Amy Walsh, 10-Christine Sinclair,
12-Isabelle
Harvey, 15-Christine Latham, 18-Kristina Kiss.
Misconduct Summary:
CAN -- Andrea Neil (caution) 57th minute.
CAN -- Marie-Claude Dion (caution) 68.
Officials:
Referee: Tammy Ogston (AUS)
Referee Assistant: Jacquie Leleu (AUS)
Referee Assistant: Krystina Szokolai (AUS)
U.S. Quotes
MIA HAMM
"Sometimes you can't buy a goal. But what I have to concentrate on is
that
the team is playing well. There are players out there who can carry me,
and
have carried me, and it's just fun to watch. Maybe that's why I couldn't
score, I was having too much fun watching my team tonight."
HEAD COACH APRIL HEINRICHS
"Our team was working together and pursuing excellence tonight. In no
way
does it make up for the loss (to China last Wednesday), but I thought we
played well in both games."
"Sometimes the ball goes in and sometimes it doesn't, but I thought our
team
came out tonight to be assertive, but also with the goal of keeping it
simple. In a game like this, it may happen that players take too many
touches and that slows down the play. They never slowed down tonight.
The
ball was moving quickly the whole time."
"We want to be able to play out of several systems. We don't want to be
predictable and we want to be able to make adjustments based on what we
feel
is good option for our team. We don't want to limit ourselves, but there
is
a lot of soccer left for us before the Olympics."
"We don't have a league yet, so although we are going to play about 30
matches this year, that's the only games our players get. They don't get
a
90-minute game unless they are with the national team so we feel the
amount
of games we have is tremendous. It helps us get connected and it helps
us as
year-round players."
TIFFENY MILBRETT
"We all played for each other, there was never a lack of support or
options.
Sometimes you had four players running for you that you could have
passed to.
It helped create a lot of opportunities, a good rhythm, and quick play.
I
know we all felt connected out there.
"I think all the games we play are great. We get sick and tired of
playing
against the same people every day in practice. I think the real test,
and
the real show for the coaches to see how we are progressing, is in the
games.
Seeing how we respond to game pressure helps us improve and helps the
coaches in their evaluation."
"We love to play in the enclosed stadiums. There wasn't a huge crowd out
there by any means, but they were still loud. If you sell this place out
it
will be a rocking stadium."
2000 Pacific Cup Standings
Team GP W L T GF GA PTS
China 2 2 0 0 2 1 6
USA 2 1 1 0 9 2 3
Australia 2 1 1 0 2 1 3
Japan 2 1 1 0 2 2 3
Canada 2 1 1 0 3 10 3
NZL 2 0 2 0 2 4 0
Pacific Cup Leading Goal Scorers
Player, Team Goals
Cindy Parlow, USA 3
Tiffeny Milbrett, USA 3
Lorrie Fair, USA 2
Amanda Crawford, New Zealand 2
Christine Sinclair, Canada 2
Sun Wen, China 2
Kristina Kiss, Canada 1
Bryony Duus, Australia 1
Kae Nishina, Japan 1
Yasuyo Yamagishi, Japan 1
Shannon MacMillan, USA 1
Heather Garriock, Australia 1
2000 Pacific Cup Results
May 31
Canada 2, New Zealand 1
China 1, USA 0
Australia 1, Japan 0
June 2
Japan 2, New Zealand 1 (OT)
USA 9, Canada 1
China 2, Australia 1 (PKs 5-4)
June 4
Japan vs. China
USA vs. New Zealand
Australia vs. Canada
June 7
Australia vs. New Zealand
June 8
China vs. Canada
USA vs. Japan
June 10
Canada vs. Japan
China vs. New Zealand
June 11
USA vs. Australia
