Olympic women's soccer preview: U.S. meets toughest group opponent Norway

Olympic women's soccer preview: U.S. meets toughest group opponent Norway

The United States women's soccer team is looking forward to retaining their Olympic title, but on the way to snatch the gold, they will meet their first but also one of the toughest opponents, the Vikings.

Being well aware of Norway's counterattacks, the U.S. head coach, Pia Sundhage, said: "The Olympic Games are usually more difficult than the World Cup, and the first match is always the toughest."

"Our three group opponents represent three different cultures," she said, referring to another two group competitors, Japan and New Zealand. "I love this kind of challenge."

Led by co-captains Christie Rampone and Kate Markgraf, the U.S. is still the No. 1 women's team in the world and one of the favorites in the Olympics.

They are likely to rely on eight veteran players who were part of the victory over Norway in last year's Women's World Cup, including midfielder Shannon Boxx and Carli Lloyd, who scored four goals in four competitions in the Algarve Cup in 2007.

"There are a lot of great teams in the Olympics, but we are going to take them one by one. Norway is going to be the first," Natasha Kai, a 25-year-old striker, said.

Born in Hawaii, she has got 19 tattoos on her body, and is looking forward to putting on a 20th to memorize the Olympics. "I am thinking about it, and let's see what will happen in the Olympics."

However, an unexpected injury of Abby Wambach was a pain to the team. One of the world best strikers, who scored 99 goals in her 127 international matches, broke her leg in a warm-up match against Brazil last month, only a few days ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

"Abby can't play for the U.S. is like Brazil without Marta or Germany without Prinz," Pia said. "She is Abby, and she is not replaceable."

"Without Abby, we will make some adjustment to our attacking, but our defense will remain the same," she added.

On the other side, the Vikings are ready for their toughest challenge.

"We had bad results against the U.S. last year, but I hope we can surprise them," Norway's head coach Bjarne Berntsen said.

It lost to the U.S. 4-0, 4-0, and 4-1 in the previous three encounters. The Olympics, however, would be the best stage to win back their reputation.

"We beat Germany 2-0 in a warm-up match in July, and we showed them we can fight the best team in the world," Berntsen said, while stressing that the whole team was fit and healthy and nobody had any injuries.

Norway still has Solveig Gulbrandsen, the only survivor of the 2000 World Cup final victory over the U.S..

Also sister duo Marie Knutsen and Guro Knusten, both playing for Norway's Roea, are looking forward to the game. "We are going to give them a good match," the Knutsens said.