Soccer Specific Summer

With today's announcement of two more friendlies, the abbreviated 2009 WNT domestic schedule is now set. The U.S. will be playing, in order: in Frisco, Texas; Sandy, Utah; Rochester, N.Y.; and Charleston, S.C. Olympic semifinalists Japan will be the opponents for the first two matches in late May, while Canada will head south for a pair of matches in July.

The common thread between all of these cities? They house stadiums built for a soccer team as their primary tenant. As far as we can tell, this is the first time that in any one year the WNT or MNT has played in only soccer specific stadiums.

The even better news is that three of the four games wedged into the middle of the WPS season will be televised. Complete details are below.

2009 WNT Domestic Tour
USA vs. Japan - May 20, 2009 - 7:30 p.m. CT
Pizza Hut Park - Frisco, Texas - Tickets

USA vs. Japan - May 23, 2009 - 4 p.m. MT
Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy, Utah - Tickets
Live on FSC & Fox Sports en Espanol

USA vs. Canada - July 19, 2009 - 3 p.m. ET
Rochester Rhinos Stadium - Rochester, N.Y. - Tickets
Live on ESPN

USA vs. Canada - July 22, 2009 - 8 p.m. ET
Blackbaud Stadium - Charleston, S.C. - Tickets
Live on FSC & Fox Sports en Espanol

Which game will we see you at?

Out from the Algarve

Well, that's it from the beautiful coast of Portugal. Thanks very much for reading the WNT Blog over the past few weeks as well as following the tournament on ussoccer.com. The WNT Blog is going to take a long hiatus and we hope you won't miss us too much, but you'll have the chance to follow your favorite players with their WPS clubs as this historic inaugural season for the new women's pro league kicks off in a few weeks. As always, we've enjoyed our stay in the Algarve and the tournament featured fantastic competition, but it's time to head back to the USA as the players will be reporting almost directly to their WPS clubs. We'll be announcing the next set of WNT matches soon so keep checking ussoccer.com and hopefully the team will be coming to a city near you. So for now, Obrigado Portugal. We are out.

Drama in the Algarve

Wow. Pretty dramatic stuff in today's Algarve Cup Final, but unfortunately the USA came out on the painful end of the risky business known as the Penalty Kick Shootout. Huge credit goes to the U.S. for battling back from a poor first half to pound away at Sweden in the second 45 and finally get a 90th minute equalizer, which was the USA's second last minute goal of the tournament. (Who does that?). But missing four of seven penalty kicks was not going to get it done, with two agonizingly hitting the left post. Love'em or hate'em, penalties are pretty exciting and today was no exception as the teams went seven shooters deep before this one was over. Keep in mind, the U.S. team allowed just one goal in this year's Algarve Cup -- and that was a gift to Sweden today on a poor back pass. However, if Hope Solo hadn't have been HUGE in the U.S. goal during the match, it would have never gotten to penalty kicks, but that's what a great goalkeeper can do for you. All-in-all, a good tournament for the U.S. as a bunch of young players got to play some quality minutes, players played some different positions and the team is starting to set a good base for its run to qualifying for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. After getting a close-up look at the 2009 versions of the top European squads, the U.S. team can sit back and watch what should be a fantastic European Women's Championships this fall in Finland. Who is the favorite? Germany? Sweden? Denmark? England? A dark horse perhaps? After watching the Swedes today, the WNT Blog likes their chances.

Get Pumped Up: Algarve Final

The Algarve Cup Final vs. Sweden kicks off at 12 p.m. ET today, so don't forget to follow along via ussoccer.com's MatchTracker. Here's a look at the highlights of the last game vs. Norway as we all get psyched up for today's match. And Mirela, as requested, Hope Solo's sick save in the first half is at the 1:05 mark.

Mitts 100

We can't release the USA's starting lineup for the Algarve Cup championship match just yet, but we can confirm that defender Heather Mitts will be in it. That means that Mitts will become the 25th female player in U.S. history to earn her 100th cap. It's been a long road for Mitts to the century mark as she earned her first cap in 1999, but didn't break into the National Teal full time until 2004. Through a broken leg and an ACL injury, she has persevered to earn two Olympic gold medals and leave her mark as one of the top outside backs in U.S. history. So, congrats to Mitzy on cap 100!

You can read about Heather's thoughts on her 100th cap in this Q&A on ussoccer.com

Venue for The Final

Here are a couple of good looks at the Stadium Algarve, which was built in 2003 for just $34 million. We think Jerry Jones spent that on just the owner's suit at the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. The 30,000-seat venue is absolutely perfect to watch a soccer match and hosted three games of the 2004 European Championships. One of those was a 0-0 draw between Sweden and the Netherlands in the quarterfinals that Sweden eventually lost in penalty kicks. The Sweden women have had a bit better fortune at Stadium Algarve, taking third place in the Algarve Cup there in 2006 with a 1-0 victory over France on a goal by Lotta Schelin, but finished fourth there in 2005 with a 3-2 loss to France.

Last Practice (Swim?) in the Algarve

Today was the USA's last training in Portugal and it only featured six players who went to the field while the remainder of the squad did a pool workout to rest and regenerate the legs in advance of the Sweden match. The U.S. team will have played four tough games in eight days by the end of this tournament and winning the Algarve Cup is often a battle of team depth and attrition. Above are the six players who had a fun, albeit short training. We have to give the GKs props for winning two of the end of training finishing competitions while the field players won one. Below are the other players heading to the pool. It seems you have to wear swimming caps at this pool, so the U.S. players did. Michael Phelps, look out.