Takin' a Breather

Today was an almost complete day off for the U.S. (except for a meeting at 9 p.m.), which meant different things to different players. More than half the team took a day trip to Seville, Spain, spending part of the day in the beautiful city. The players that stayed behind at the hotel caught up on sleep, sat by the pool, walked around the city of Albufeira or went sight-seeing a bit closer than Spain. The team's Soccer Moms went to the local mall with their kids. The day trippers were back by dinner time and everyone went out to local eateries for a nice meal. All-in-all, a great day to recharge the batteries after an intense week of training. Tomorrow, it's back to work on the field (morning weights, afternoon soccer) and final preparations before facing China on March 5 to open the 2008 Algarve Cup. The USA was by far the first team to arrive in the Algarve, but now the others are starting to stream in. We saw a few Norwegian players in the lobby, meaning the USA's third group game opponent is in the house as well. Must be almost time to kickoff this tournament!