Dog Days of...Spring

The days are getting longer, the sun is getting hotter and the U.S. Women's National Team is doing double-days. Today, it was a team training in the morning which included some absolutely stupendous games of 5 v. 5 on big goals, plus 15 minutes of 11 v. 11 full field. In the afternoon, the squad was split into two groups for some technical training. The intensity and crispness of the practices has been consistently high as the team gears up for Olympic Qualifying. Tomorrow will feature just a morning training and then the afternoon is off, except for about a dozen players who will be shooting a comercial for U.S. Soccer airing later in the year to promote the upcoming domestic games. (In case you didn't catch that press release, first up at home is a two-game set vs. 2007 Women's World Cup quarterfinalist Australia on April 27 in Cary, N.C. and then on May 3 in Birmingham, Ala.). The USA hasn't played Australia since October of 2006, a 2-0 win at the Peace Queen Cup in South Korea.