U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Bid For Unbeaten Year in Orlando on Sunday

The U.S. Women’s National Team wraps up its 2013 schedule against Brazil on Sunday, Nov. 10, at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando. The match kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on NBC, Univision Deportes Network and NBCSports.com.

The meeting of the world’s top-ranked U.S. team against fourth-ranked Brazil marks the first match between the countries in the United States since 2008, when the USA pulled out a 1-0 victory in San Diego during the game in which Abby Wambach broke her leg. The teams have played three times since – in Beijing, China, at the 2008 Olympic gold medal game; in Dresden, Germany, during the historic 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup quarterfinal; and in Chiba, Japan, during an international tournament in April 2012. The match will be the USA’s first visit to Orlando and the Citrus Bowl since May 22, 1999, when the U.S. also played Brazil. That 3-0 U.S. victory featured Mia Hamm scoring her 108th-career goal to break the international scoring record.

The USA heads into its last match of 2013 with a 12-0-3 record. The draws came against European champion Germany and Sweden, which lost to Germany in the semifinal of last summer’s UEFA Women’s Championship, and most recently a 1-1 tie with New Zealand on Oct. 30. The U.S. Women are riding a 38-game unbeaten streak since their last loss, a 1-0 defeat to Japan on March 5, 2012, at the Algarve Cup in Portugal. (The U.S. record for an unbeaten streak is 51 games, set from Dec. 8, 2004, through Sept. 22, 2007). Over the past 38 games, the U.S. has 32 wins and six ties, scoring 126 goals while allowing 28. The USA is also in the midst of a 76-game home unbeaten streak that includes 66 wins and just 10 draws. The last loss for the USA on home soil came on Nov. 6, 2004, a 3-1 setback to Denmark in Philadelphia. It is one of only two losses the USA has suffered when Abby Wambach scores a goal.

The U.S. WNT holds an 8-0-0 record in Orlando, Fla., with its most recent match a 3-0 victory against Brazil on May 22, 1999, at the Florida Citrus Bowl. The USA is 4-0-0 at the Citrus Bowl, which includes two matches at the 1996 Olympics, and has outscored its opponents 12-1 in that venue. The USA’s first match in Orlando took place on Feb. 24, 1995, with a 7-0 win against Denmark at Showalter Field. Sunday’s match will be the U.S. WNT’s 21st in the state of Florida, having also played in Boca Raton, Jacksonville, Pensacola, Tampa and Miami (also during the 1996 Olympics).

U.S. WNT forward Abby Wambach, pictured above, who was named the 2012 FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year at the 2012 FIFA Ballon d’Or gala in Zurich, Switzerland, in early January of 2013, added a few more lines to her legendary resume on June 20 when she pounded in four goals against South Korea to pass Mia Hamm on the world’s all-time international goal scoring list. Hamm, the 2001 and 2002 FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year, who had 158 career international scores from 1987-2004, will now be forever looking up at Wambach, who sits at 162 and counting. Wambach scored her 162nd goal against Australia on Oct. 20, marking the 103rd win for the USA in a game in which Wambach has scored at least one goal (103-2-8). Wambach has scored 37 goals in her past 44 games over 2012 and 2013. She is also third all-time in assists with 65, behind only Kristine Lilly (105) and Mia Hamm (144).

Of Abby Wambach’s world-record 162 career goals, she has scored the most against Mexico, peppering El Tri with 20 goals in 20 games. Heading into the USA’s final match in 2013, Wambach has scored six goals against Brazil, which ties for 11th on her goal scoring list with Iceland. Sixty-nine of her 162 goals (43 percent) were scored with her head.

2013 U.S. WNT SCHEDULE:

* Algarve Cup

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U.S. ROSTER NOTES:

• U.S. head coach Tom Sermanni named a roster that includes a good mix of veteran leadership along with five players who have either one cap or are looking for their first WNT appearance.
• Uncapped Alyssa Naeher of the Boston Breakers joins the goalkeeping corps alongside Hope Solo and Nicole Barnhart.
• Midfielder Amber Brooks also is in search of her first cap. She and Erika Tymrak are teammates at Germany’s Bayern Munich. Tymrak earned her first WNT cap and start on Sept. 3 during a 7-0 victory against Mexico. Brooks has previously trained with the USA in April and June.
• Defender Leigh Ann Robinson out of FC Kansas City made her lone WNT appearance in that Sept. 3 match against Mexico.
• Forward Lindsey Horan, the USA’s youngest player on the roster at 19 years old, earned her first cap at the Algarve Cup in March. This is her second call-up to the senior team. Horan plays for France’s Paris Saint-Germain, and she is still age-eligible for the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
• Defender Stephanie Cox, who was with the USA squad for the Oct. 20 match against Australia, is still looking to make her first appearance since a 3-0 win against Brazil on April 3, 2012, in Chiba, Japan. Cox, a veteran of two Women’s World Cup teams (2007 and 2011) and one Olympic team (2008) had her first child on April 7 and returned to the field during the inaugural NWSL season for Seattle Reign FC.
• Midfielder Megan Rapinoe is unavailable for this game as France’s Lyon faces Germany’s Turbine Potsdam on Nov. 10 and 14.
• Four other U.S. players are unavailable because of UEFA Champions League Round of 16 matches. Ali Krieger, Meghan Klingenberg, Christen Press and Whitney Engen all play for Sweden’s Tyreso and face Fortuna Hjorring of Denmark on Nov. 9 and 14.
• Among the familiar faces on board for the Brazil game, the U.S. has the major award winners from the 2013 NWSL season. Lauren Holiday was the NWSL MVP, Becky Sauerbrunn won NWSL Defender of the Year and Barnhart was named NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year.
• Forward Abby Wambach leads this team with 10 goals. Sydney Leroux is tied for second with eight goals alongside Press. Wambach and Leroux each have had four-goal games this year, with Wambach leading the USA to a 5-0 victory against the Korea Republic on June 20 and Leroux scoring four in the 7-0 rout of Mexico on Sept. 3.
• U.S. head coach Tom Sermanni has given eight players their first cap in 2013: Morgan Brian, Crystal Dunn, Ashlyn Harris, Lindsey Horan, Julie Johnston, Kristie Mewis, Press and Tymrak.

IN THE RECORD BOOKS:

• The U.S. extended its record home unbeaten streak to 76 games with the 1-1 draw against New Zealand. The next-highest streak is 50 games (48-0-2) from Feb. 10, 1996, through April 22, 1999. The USA tied the record on May 14, 2011 (2-0 win against Japan at Columbus Crew Stadium) and broke the record with the 51st game on May 18, 2011 (another 2-0 win against Japan at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.).
• If the U.S. WNT wins or draws against Brazil, the USA, for just the second time, will post an unbeaten record during a year that featured double-digit fixtures. The U.S. is currently 12-0-3 for 2013, and the only previous occurrence of this undefeated mark was in 2006, when the USA went 18-0-4. There are four other instances when the U.S. went unbeaten while playing less than 10 games during the calendar year.
• Heather O’Reilly, the third most-capped player on the roster with 192 games played, tied Brandi Chastain for ninth place on the all-time career appearances list following the Oct. 30 match against New Zealand. O’Reilly will have an opportunity to move into sole possession of ninth place with her next cap.
• In addition to breaking Mia Hamm’s world scoring record, Abby Wambach’s June 20performance against the Korea Republic also made her the USA’s all-time leader in multiple-goal games with 39 for her career. She has 32 two-goal games, five hat tricks, one four-goal game and one five-goal game.
• Alex Morgan made her U.S. debut on March 31, 2009. With 41 goals heading into the Germany match last April 5, she had the most goals of any player in U.S. history by the third anniversary of her debut; Wambach had 32 and Natasha Kai had 24. Morgan currently has 44 international goals.
• Carli Lloyd’s goal on Oct. 27 against New Zealand gave her 46 goals in her career and moved her past Julie Foudy into ninth on the all-time scoring list. Lloyd is also the highest-scoring player in U.S. history who has played exclusively in the midfield.
• U.S. captain Christie Rampone is currently the second most-capped player in U.S. history and the most-capped active player in the world with 286 career games played. Only Kristine Lilly is ahead of her at 352, but even if Rampone plays through the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, she would not catch Lilly.

BY THE NUMBERS:

• 0.67: Goals per game that the USA has allowed in 2013
• 1: USA’s FIFA ranking
• 3.47: Goals per game the USA has scored in 2013
• 6: Assists by Lauren Holiday in 2013, best on the team
• 8: Goals in 12 career games for U.S. forward Christen Press
• 30: Players that have earned a cap this year for the WNT
• 38: USA’s current overall unbeaten streak dating back to 2012 (32-0-6)
• 67: Career shutouts by Hope Solo, just four behind all-time leader Briana Scurry
• 90.8: Minutes on field per goal averaged by Alex Morgan in her career
• 102.2: Minutes on field per goal averaged by Abby Wambach in her career
• 103: U.S. victories when Wambach scores a goal (103-2-8 overall)
• 130: Minutes on field per goal averaged by Mia Hamm in her career
• 286: Caps by Christie Rampone, second all-time to Kristine Lilly

TOM SERMANNI FACT FILE: Tom Sermanni was named head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team on Oct. 30, 2012, becoming the seventh head coach in the team’s history. Sermanni came to U.S. Soccer after eight years as the head coach of the Australia Women’s National Team, which he coached to the quarterfinal stage of both the 2007 and 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cups. Sermanni officially started the U.S. WNT position on Jan. 1, 2013, after interim head coach Jill Ellis managed seven games (5-0-2) in 2012. Sermanni took over for Pia Sundhage, the 2012 World Coach of the Year for women’s soccer, who accepted the head coaching position for her native Sweden. Below are some of Sermanni’s accomplishments:

• Sermanni was the 2007 Asian Football Confederation Coach of the Year, leading Australia to a runner-up finish at the 2006 AFC Women’s Cup, where the team fell to China in penalty kicks, and to the championship of that tournament in 2010, when the Matildas downed Korea DPR in penalties.
• Sermanni coached all three seasons of the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA), serving as an assistant for the San Jose CyberRays during the inaugural season, in which he helped the club to the league championship. He was also an assistant for the CyberRays in 2002 before taking the head coaching job of the New York Power in 2003, where he coached U.S. Women’s National Team legends Christie Rampone, Shannon Boxx and Tiffeny Milbrett.
• Sermanni’s coaching career in both men’s and women’s professional soccer has taken him all over the world, including stints in Japan, the USA and Malaysia. Sermanni began his coaching career in men’s soccer in the late 1980s, when he transitioned from player-coach to head coach of the Canberra Croatia/Metros in the New South Wales State League from 1988-1991.
• He coached the Australia Schoolboys side from 1989-1991 and coached the men’s program at the Australian Institute of Sport from 1991-1993.
• He coached Sydney Olympic FC in the Australian top flight – the National Soccer League – in 1993-1994 before taking his first women’s job with the Australian National Team in 1994.
• After stepping away from the Matildas in 1997, Sermanni transitioned back to men’s soccer, traveling to Japan to coach J-League side Sanfrecce Hiroshima from 1997-1999. He then had a stint with the Canberra Cosmos in the NSL from 1999-2001 before moving to the USA to coach in the WUSA.
• Sermanni, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, had a long playing career as a midfielder from 1971 through 1989, when he retired after playing two years with Canberra Croatia and became a player-coach and then head coach.
• Prior to that, he played from 1984-1987 with Canberra City and in 1983 with Marconi. From 1971 through 1983, he played in England and Scotland, representing Dunfermline Athletic (Scotland) in 1983, Torquay United (England) from 1979-1982 and Blackpool (England) from 1978-1979.
• He turned professional in 1973 and played six seasons for Albion Rovers from 1973-1978 in Scotland after playing amateur soccer for Cumbernauld United from 1971-1973. Overall, Sermanni played more than 300 professional matches and scored more than 50 goals.

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IN FOCUS: BRAZIL
Brazilian Football Confederation
(Confederação Brasileira de Futebol)
Founded: 1914 (joined FIFA in 1923)
Head Coach: Márcio de Oliveira
FIFA World Ranking: 4
Best FIFA World Cup Finish (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011): Second place (2007)
Best Olympics Finish (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012): Second place (2004, 2008)

BRAZIL ROSTER BY POSITION:
GOALKEEPERS (2): 1-Thais (Centro Olimpico), 12-Luciana (Ferroviaria)
DEFENDERS (7): 2-Rilany (Ferroviaria), 3-Tayla (Ferroviaria), 4-Andreia Rosa (Avaldsnes), 5-Thaisa (Ferroviaria), 6-Rafinha (University of Mississippi), 13-Calandrini (Centro Olimpico), 16-Tamires (Centro Olimpico)
MIDFIELDERS (6): 8-Laylla (University of Texas-San Antonio), 10-Rosana (Avaldsnes), 14-Maria (Centro Olimpico), 15-Bia (Ferroviaria), 18-Gabi Zanotti (Centro Olympico), 20-Andressa (Ferroviaria)
FORWARDS (5): Debinha (Avaldsnes), 9-Thaisinha (Red Angels), 11-Cristiane (Centro Olimpico), 17-Nene (Ferroviaria), 19-Raquel (Ferroviaria)

BRAZIL ROSTER NOTES:

• The majority of Brazil’s roster features players with less than 10 international appearances to their name, but there are two familiar faces in midfielder Rosana and forward Cristiane. Rosana leads this roster with 88 career caps and Cristiane has appeared in 85 matches while scoring 64 goals.
• Rosana, who was a member of Brazil’s silver medal-winning team at the 2004 Olympics, played professionally for New Jersey-based Sky Blue FC from 2009-11.
• Cristiane also played for the runner-up squad at the 2004 Olympics and tied with Germany’s Birgit Prinz with five goals to lead the tournament field. Cristiane was third in the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year voting, and she formerly played for the Chicago Red Stars of Women’s Professional Soccer, where she became the first player to tally a hat trick in the league’s history in 2009.
• Brazil’s roster includes two current collegiate players – defender Rafinha out of Ole Miss and midfielder Laylla at the University of Texas-San Antonio.
• Through Mississippi’s first game of the SEC Tournament on Nov. 6, Rafinha is the team’s leading goal scorer with 19 tallies in 21 games in her senior season, and she is tied for the team lead with six assists. Rafinha tied an Ole Miss career record with her 41st goal during the 2-0 win against Kentucky to open the SEC Tournament.
• Laylla, who wrapped up her senior season this fall with UTSA, made 14 starts in 15 games played and tallied a goal.
• Six players on Brazil’s roster are looking for their first international cap: goalkeeper Luciana, defenders Rilany, Tayla and Calandrini, Laylla and forward Raquel.
• Brazil took third place at the Valais Cup in Switzerland, defeating Mexico 4-0 in its final match with two goals from Debinha and tallies from Fabiana and Tamires. Brazil lost 1-0 to New Zealand in its tournament opener.
• In November of 2012, Márcio de Oliveira was named Brazil’s new head coach, replacing Jorge Barcellos.

USA VS. BRAZIL SERIES:

• The USA has an all-time record of 24-2-3 against Brazil and the two countries have faced each other eight times in World Cup or Olympic competition.
• The USA has played just three South American teams in its 28-year history: Brazil (29 games), Argentina (two games) and Colombia (two games).
• Before the 3-0 victory against Brazil in Chiba, Japan, in April 2012, the USA had played five consecutive tight games with the perennial South American champion. The USA drew 2-2 at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup quarterfinal before winning in penalty kicks, and had four straight 1-0 wins before that.
• Three of the most important and historic goals in U.S. WNT history have been scored against Brazil: Abby Wambach’s overtime header that won the 2004 Olympic gold medal, Carli Lloyd’s overtime game-winner that won the 2008 Olympic gold medal and Wambach’s famous header in the dying seconds of overtime that tied the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup quarterfinal match at 2-2 after the USA had played more than an hour with 10 players after the ejection of Rachel Buehler.

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LAST TIME:
On the field for the USA:
Oct. 30, 2013 – Columbus Crew Stadium; Columbus, Ohio – International Friendly

USA   1  Sydney Leroux 42
NZL   1  Hannah Wilkinson 87

Lineups:
USA: 1-Hope Solo; 11-Ali Krieger, 4-Becky Sauerbrunn, 3-Christie Rampone (capt.) (16-Rachel Buehler, 46), 8-Kristie Mewis; 7-Yael Averbuch (10-Carli Lloyd, 70), 15-Megan Rapinoe, 12-Lauren Holiday; 9-Heather O’Reilly, 20-Abby Wambach, 2-Sydney Leroux (23-Christen Press, 78)
Substitutions Not Used: 13-Alex Morgan, 18-Nicole Barnhart, 22-Meghan Klingenberg, 26-Leigh Ann Robinson
Head coach: Tom Sermanni

NZL: 21-Erin Nayler (1-Jenny Bindon, 46); 5-Abby Erceg (capt.), 2-Ria Percival, 7-Ali Riley, 15-Rebekah Stott; 11-Kirsty Yallop (13-Rosie White, 79), 4-Katie Hoyle, 16-Annalie Longo (12-Betsy Hassett, 60); 10-Sarah Gregorius (20-Hellen Collins, 67), 9-Amber Hearn, 17-Hannah Wilkinson (18-Megan Lee, 90+2)
Substitutions Not Used: 3-Anna Green, 6-Meikayla Moore, 14-Elizabeth Milne, 19-Stephanie Skilton
Head coach: Tony Readings

On the field against Brazil:
April 3, 2012 – Fukuda Denshi Arena; Chiba, Japan – Kirin Challenge Cup

USA   3   Carli Lloyd 18, Shannon Boxx 23, Amy Rodriguez 83
BRA   0

Lineups:
USA: 1-Hope Solo; 6-Amy LePeilbet (14-Stephanie Cox, 32), 3-Christie Rampone (capt.) (4-Becky Sauerbrunn, 46), 19-Rachel Buehler, 5-Kelley O’Hara (2-Heather Mitts, 83); 12-Lauren Cheney, 7-Shannon Boxx, 10-Carli Lloyd (17-Tobin Heath, 62), 9-Heather O’Reilly (15-Megan Rapinoe, 46), 13-Alex Morgan (8-Amy Rodriguez, 71), 20-Abby Wambach
Subs Not Used: 16-Lori Lindsey, 11-Sydney Leroux, 18-Nicole Barnhart, 21-Ashlyn Harris, 23-Meghan Klingenberg
Head Coach: Pia Sundhage

BRA: 12-Barbara; 6-Maurine, 4-Daiane, 5-Erika, 20-Daniele; 7-Ester (13-Beatriz, 88), 8-Formiga (3-Aline, 46), 17-Francielle; 15-Thais (16-Grazielle, 46), 18-Rosana (19-Maria, 78), 11-Cristiane
Subs Not Used: 1-Andrei, 9-Renata, 21-Gabriele
Head Coach: Jorge Barcellos

More photographs from training at www.FloridaLeisurePhotography.com

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