Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
September 14, 2007, Washington Post

Women's World Cup: Who's No. 1?

The United States is playing for the Women's World Cup soccer championship this month in China. The U.S. team is ranked No. 1 in the world, so it should win the title, right?

Not so fast. The United States is definitely a soccer powerhouse. The American women have a record of 39 wins, 0 losses and 7 ties in international matches in the last 2 1/2 years. They also have Abby Wambach, the former Washington Freedom forward, who is probably the most dangerous scorer in the game. Wambach has scored 78 goals in 97 international matches.

And Wambach is not alone. The U.S. team has a bunch of top players, including veteran forward Kristine Lilly, who has played in more international matches (332) than any other player -- man or woman -- in the history of soccer.

But, believe me, the United States is not a sure thing to take home the World Cup. For one thing, the Americans are in the toughest group. The Women's World Cup is like the men's except that it has 16 teams instead of 32.

Those 16 teams are divided into four groups of four teams each. Each group gets a letter designation, A to D. The teams in one group first play each other, and then the two top teams from each group move on to the quarterfinals. In that round, the World Cup becomes like the NCAA basketball tournament and the NFL playoffs -- win or go home.

The United States is in Group B with North Korea, Sweden and Nigeria. The United States tied North Korea, 2-2, in a seesaw opener on Tuesday. That made the Americans' second game, against Sweden, crucial if they hope to win Group B. (Because of the time difference between China and the United States, that game was played early this morning, Washington time. Check http://www.washingtonpost.com for the score.)

The United States wants to win Group B because the runner-up probably will face Germany in the quarterfinals. The Germans are the defending World Cup champs and are led by three-time player of the year.

Birgit Prinz, who has scored more than 100 goals in international competition.

Other teams that might give the Americans trouble include China, Norway and Brazil. Brazil has maybe the best female player in the world, the magical Marta, who scored three goals in the 2003 World Cup when she was just 17.

Finally, as kids who play the world's most popular game know, lots of soccer games are close and low-scoring. One goal or one play can make a huge difference. The U.S. team will have to hustle and play heads-up soccer to win.

Of course, close, hard-fought games are what make soccer and the World Cup so much fun.

Fred Bowen writes KidsPost's sports opinion column and is an author of sports novels for kids.

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