Norrvalla is Ready

The U.S. team had training this morning at Norrvalla Stadium, the venue for the match tomorrow evening. The field is a bit soft, but in excellent shape, and the atmosphere should be electric as the front page of the local newspaper today shouted out: ONE DAY TO GO. Needless to say, the locals are excited to get an international match in this northern Swedish town of 79,000. The game will be broadast nationally in Sweden, which like the USA, is preparing for the 2008 Olympics. It could be a little chilly for the match tomorrow, and a little windy, but otherwise the conditions should be perfect for the USA's first-ever match against Sweden in Sweden.

A-Rod: Trendsetter

If you watched the NCAA Final Four last fall, you heard what seemed to be an unusual amount of analysis of Amy Rodriguez' lucky green headband. Well, she's back at it. Rodriguez thinks she lost the green one, but she did bring a few different colors on this trip and sported the blue with white stars for the Norway match. She did extremely well coming off the bench against Norway, getting an assist on Abby Wambach's goal, so perhaps she'll bust out the stars again tomorrow. It surely would be appropriate for the July 4 weekend.

72 and 71

Two Swedish Greats

Hanna Ljungberg and Pia Sundhage at a press conference today to publicize the match

For years, Pia Sundhage was the all-time leading scorer in Swedish National Team history (well, actually tied with Lena Videkull). Pia's record of 71 goals was broken by sparkplug striker Hanna Ljungberg this past March at the Algarve Cup in Portugal. Hanna currently has 72 goals, and at age 28, will surely get a few more, rending moot the rumors that Sundhage might be coming out of retirement and try for a few more goals. (Ok, there are no rumors. We just made them up. Pia is 48 and has as a bad knee, but her services in training are still spot on and do not mess with her in soccer tennis). The humble Ljungberg, who plays for Swedish power Umea, has been one of the world's top strikers for quite a few years now. She and running mate Victoria Svensson form one of the best striker tandems in the women's international soccer. Better than Sundhage and Videkull? Well, we'll let the old-timers debate that one.

Oh Say Can You See...

In a rarity, the National Anthems for both teams will be sung live at the match tomorrow. The singer is none other than a member of the local women's club, Sunnanå's star midfielder Kicki Wiklund. The USA's team liasion, former Duke star Rebecca Smith, who is Sunnanå's lone American (well, she plays for New Zealand, but that's a whole other story), has been working with Kicki on the words. We expect her to rock both anthems. U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage, an excellent singer and guitar player, will surely appreciate the dual athems.

Welcome Home

The U.S. team will only be in Sweden for about three days, but it has been a very nice visit for U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage and U.S. fitness coach Helena Andersson, who grew up in Skelleftea. (Her parents are coming to the match!). Sundhage is from outside of Stockholm, but it seems that everyone knows Pia here in Sweden. Maybe its the postage stamp. The what? Perhaps the most famous female soccer ever in Swedish history, Pia was featured on a postage stamp in the mid-1980s. How good are the WNT Blog researchers? See below.

Travel Day

The USA's travel day yesterday was a mixture of stops and starts. The team boarded a bus for Oslo at 5:30 a.m. the morning after beating Norway, 4-0, in Fredrikstad. The team got to the airport in plenty of time for the 10 a.m. flight to Stockholm, but due to some snafus, about a quater of the team had to wait until 3 p.m., when they could hop a direct flight from Oslo to Skelleftea, Sweden. They turned out to be the lucky ones. The rest of the team got on the flight, only to sit there for a long time as all of the team luggage was loaded (sorry other passengers) and then the flight was cancelled (mechanical issues). Everyone de-boarded the plane and had to wait until 2 p.m. to catch the flight to Stockholm. (But everyone did get a 150 Kroner food voucher! We won't say who used it all on gummi candy). The USA's connecting flight from Stockholm to Lulea in the north of Sweden was so tight that the team literally had to speed-walk/jog to baggage claim, collect all the team gear and then speed-walk/jog to the gate. The airline personnel were excellent in helping and giving information and they actually held the plane as the U.S. team all got on the flight (sorry other passengers). Then, the flight was delayed ever more as all the bags were loaded (sorry other passengers). Finally, it lifted off and the flight to Lulea was short. Still, that's about an hour and a half north of Skelleftea, so the team packed the bus and drove down on a beautiful afternoon. For the record, there was a reindeer sighting during the drive. The hungry players finally got the hotel, hit dinner and a few minutes later, the other group walked in. The highlight of the long day? Well, it could have been Shannon Boxx and Natasha Kai seeing a replica of largest salmon ever caught in Norway (above) at the Oslo airport, and the delay did give Lindsay Tarpley time to buy some candy, but the highlight was probably the nice walk the team took in the evening in a local park. (Christie Rampone and Heather Mitts relax below).

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.