Long Day, Nice Ending

The U.S. team left Fredrikstad, Norway at 5:30 a.m. this morning and didn't get to Skelleftea, Sweden until 13 and a half hours later. No, it's not that far. Only about 500 miles, a little more than from San Diego to San Francisco, but there were some travel issues that made it a very long day. The team finally got to this beautiful town of 79,000 here in northern Sweden, had a nice dinner and went on a walk by the Skelleftea River. U.S. sports science and fitness coach Helena Andersson is from Skelleftea, and she served as an excellent tour guide. The U.S. players got to stretch their legs and see some beautiful scenery (see Ali, Abby and Rachel above), and since sunset isn't until past 11 p.m. here, it was certainly light out for the stroll. (By the way, Sunrise is at 2:06 a.m. That's less than three hours of "night" for those keeping score at home). Tomorrow, the team will hold its only training here before facing Sweden on July 5, and there will also be a press conference featuring both teams as of course the return of Pia Sundhage to her home country is a big, and interesting story. More tomorrow when the WNT Blog is not so travel fatigued.