72 Hours to Kick

The U.S. team will hold its one allowed stadium training tomorrow, Sunday, Sept. 9, at the Chengdu Sports Center Stadium, site of the USA’s first two games. You know that the beginning of the Women’s World Cup is close when the team steps onto the game pitch. The U.S. team usually holds its stadium training the day before the match, but will get one last run in at the Chengdu Institute of Information Technology on Monday, Sept. 10, before opening the tournament the next day against North Korea. U.S. head coach Greg Ryan and Kristine Lilly will attend a press conference at the stadium before training tomorrow. The stadium holds just under 39,000 fans and refurbishments were completed in November of 2005.

Pandamonium!

We should have saved this headline until after the U.S. team visited with the pandas, but we couldn’t help ourselves. Tomorrow the U.S. team is scheduled to go and see the giant pandas at the Chengdu Panda Breeding Research Center. The very rare and globally adored animals are a Chinese national treasure and are only found in the Sichuan (where Chengdu is located), Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. Although it is a bit expensive, apparently, you can pet a giant panda, one of the few places in the world where a someone who is not a panda researcher can do so. U.S. midfielder Leslie Osborne has her heart set on holding a baby panda. If you too are a panda-lover, make sure to check ussoccer.com in the coming days for what is sure to be plenty of panda pics and panda videos.

Happy Birthday to Briana

September 7 marked the 36th birthday of U.S. goalkeeper Briana Scurry. While Bri was getting warm birthday wishes from her teammates throughout the day, it seemed to catch her a bit by surprise when the lights suddenly snapped off in the meal room during dinner and the hotel staff wheeled in a big cake with chocolate writing that said: “Happy Birthday Briana Collette Scurry!” The U.S. legend, who is at her fourth Women’s World Cup, second most on the team behind Kristine Lilly, was then serenaded with a particularly rousing rendition of the Happy Birthday song, blew out the few candles (definitely not 36 on there) and proceeded to cut cake for her teammates. Best of Birthdays to Bri from the Blog!

Lilly on MNF

U.S. captain Kristine Lilly took a short excursion to the historic Jinli Street in Chengdu today to shoot an interview for ESPN. It is scheduled to air at halftime of the second of two Monday Night Football games on Sept. 10, featuring Arizona at San Francisco, about nine hours before the USA kicks off its Women’s World Cup against North Korea in Chengdu. Dating back to the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC), in ancient times Jinli Street was one of the busiest commercial boulevards in the Kingdom of Shu. Renovations on the street were completed in 2004 and it has managed to retain iconic old China mixed with vibrant new shops, restaurants and vendor kiosks.

Koi Love Lilly

One of the most popular features of Jinli Street is a large pond filled with massive and colorful koi fish. For two yuan (about a quarter) you can buy a small bag of fish food and feed the koi, who aggressively swarm to the edge of the pond and wiggle over each other in their attempts to gulp a tasty fish pellet. Lilly had the rapt attention of a huge gathering of koi fish, until she ran out of food.

Laws of the Game

The U.S. team had an hour meeting with FIFA referee instructor Sandra Hunt, an American who was in the middle for many domestic U.S. Women’s National Team matches over the years. The always entertaining Hunt showed a detailed power point presentation on what to expect from the applications of the Laws of the Game in this tournament, as well as showing video clips of various scenarios in matches. The presentation was interesting, educational and certainly pertinent, as refereeing always plays a big role in FIFA tournaments. The all female FIFA referees for this tournament have undergone a rigorous three-year process to make it to China and the quality should be good. Here’s hoping that opposing teams are not allowed to chop at Abby Wambach like a lumberjack taking down an oak tree.

Swiss Whistle

The referee assignments have been made for the first eight matches of the tournament and Australian Tammy Ogston will officiate the opening game of the tournament on September 10 featuring Germany and Argentina. It will be the third Women’s World Cup for Ogston. Nicole Petignat of Switzerland will handle the U.S. game vs. North Korea in Chengdu. Astute women’s soccer fans will know her name. She officiated the historic 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final and is widely considered one of the top few female referees in the world.