The Women's National Soccer team roster for the 2007 Women's World Cup was named yesterday. Led by the all-time most capped player in history (men's or women's) Kristine Lilly, the U.S. has a strong squad more than capable and ready to win the WWC again. The team is a mix of veterans and younger players, but all have impressive international credentials. Lilly, with 327 international appearances, has been a mainstay of the Women's National team for 20 years and will celebrate her 36th birthday in a little less that two weeks. Lilly is the oldest player on the team and Stephanie Lopez is the youngest at 22.
What is interesting is that the defendsive line is perhaps the United States weakest line and could very well be the best defensive line ever put together. Anchored by Kate Markgraf (nee Sobrero) and Cat Whitehill (nee Reddick), the players currently listed as defenders boast an average of 95 international appearances. The speed of Christy Rampone and Tina Ellerton (the two fastest players on the U.S. squad) would make beating the U.S. back line very difficult indeed.
The United States has routinely produced some of the best goalkeepes in the world on both the men's and women's side. U.S. Coach Greg Ryan has what has to be the best possible position to have when it comes to naming a starting goalkeeper. Both Brianna Scurry and Hope Solo could claim the mantle of best goalkeeper in the world and Ryan could choose either an be assured of a world class performance. Scurry is a veteran of three previous WWCs and is 14-2-1 in her WWC career. Scurry is probably the most capped goalkeeper in world history and has a record (by far) of 76 shutouts in in 162 games for the U.S. Solo, while not as experienced as Scurry, has 23 career shutouts in just 44 international appearances.
But the pride of the American squad has got to be the attacking front. U.S. Coach Greg Ryan has on his squad two of the most prolific goals scorers still active. The aforementioned Kristine Lilly has 123 goals in her career and sits only behind the greatest goal scorer in women's soccer history Mia Hamm in number of goals scored. Lilly's presence alone would be a major scoring threat, but when paired with Abby Wambach, the duo has to give defenses absolute fits. Wambach is an even more proflic scorer than Hamm. Abby Wambach has put the ball into the net an amazing 74 times in 92 international appearances. Wambach, at nearly six feet tall, is a threat from the air and from the ground. Her size and strength means that defenses cannot push her around like they used to do with Mia Hamm and to some extent Lilly. Rounding out the striker are two young players with lots of international experience. Heather O'Reilly and Lindsay Tarpley, 22 and 25 respectively, who have loads of internatioal experience.
Coach Greg Ryan still has three players to name to the squad and a couple of alternates in case of injury.
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