New crew leads U.S. women's soccer team

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Mia Hamm and her friends are gone.Brandi Chastain, Kristine Lilly, Julie Foudy, Joy Fawcett and Hamm have hung up their sneakers after leading the United States to a World Cup title in 1999 and Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2004.And Briana Scurry, a goalkeeper on all those teams, did not make the Olympic cut this year.Then Abby Wambach -- the player who scored the golden goal in Athens -- broke her leg in a the team's final game before leaving for Beijing.But eight players who were on the gold medal roster in Athens four years ago will be trying for a repeat in Beijing, including three-time Olympians Christie Rampone and Kate Markgraf."You know, I think people on the outside view it as a struggle, with the old guard passing, with Mia and Julie first retiring, and then with Kristine Lilly pregnant and taking a break from the game. We look at is as a great opportunity," Markgraf said."There are some voices that haven't been heard on the team because we had such strong dominant personalities that were there before. And someone like Christie Rampone, is one of the best defenders in the world -- you would never have heard her voice before, and now she is one of the dominant voices on the field. When things change, opportunities arise."The biggest change from old to new may be coaching.Pia Sundhage, most recently an assistant coach for the Chinese team, has the Americans playing "a totally new and exciting brand of soccer.""What we try to do is to sharpen up the defense a little bit, and we talk about zone defending. That's one thing. The other thing is to keep stretching the attack," Sundhage explained. "The midfielders have to step up and dictate the tempo."So far it has worked as the Americans were undefeated in 22 international matches this year, despite losing two players -- defender Cat Whitehill and midfielder Leslie Osborne -- to ACL tears this summer.That leaves Shannon Boxx, Angela Hucles, Heather O'Reilly, Lindsay Tarpley, Aly Wagner, Heather Mitts, Markgraf and Rampone as the players on the roster with Olympic experience.Goalkeepers Nicole Barnhart and Hope Solo are among the nine newcomers. Others are defenders Rachel Buehler, Lori Chalupny and Stephanie Cox; midfielders Tobin Heath and Carli Lloyd and forwards Natasha Kai. Amy Rodriguez and Lauren Cheney, the late replacement for Wambach.The team had internal problems during last year's World Cup when coach Greg Ryan surprisingly pulled Solo, who had been the starter for most of 2007 and replaced her with Scurry. The Americans lost 4-0 to Brazil, and Solo criticized Ryan, saying she would have made the saves.She was dropped from the team but is now back for the Olympics, while Scurry isn't.And Sundhage replaced Ryan."It was a difficult time," Markgraf said. "We stuck together as a team. Even though it came across as fracture in the media, we worked really hard to get back to a place where the old and new can mix."Nick Gholson writes for the Wichita Falls (Texas) Times Record News. He can be reached at gholsonn(at) timesrecordnews.com