I just noticed this notice on womensoccer.com "As part of the preparation for the the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, the Greek Soccer Federation has decided to include on the Olympic Women's Soccer team players of Greek ancestry living outside Greece who would be interested in participating. For more information interested players should contact the Technical Manager of the Greek Soccer Federation Mrs Xanthi Konstantinidou by email at xanthi@compulink.gr, or at +30 944 874281 (phone), +30 31 845581 (fax)." Are there any players in the U.S. (Colleges/WUSA) who you all think might fit this category? I guess a lot of countries do this to strengthen their sides (Mexico, etc)
There was something very similar to this in USA Today several days ago but it was for softball players living and playing in the US but of Greek ancestry..... http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/summer/2002-10-02-softball-cover_x.htm I wonder if this applies to soccer players as well...
Uhhh...in other words Greece doesn't have any real women's team sports. Now it could turn out to be an embarassment that they are hosting the Olys. I don't know if they get an automatic invite for soccer, but imagine HAVING one but not having a team! OOPS!
Maybe they should expand their criteria to include "women who ate at a Greek restaraunt last week". In that case...I would qualify!HAHA! Actually the sad thing is that if Greece fields a soccer team with an auto invite, some other team that deserves to go won't make it. That's what happened to Russia. They made the quarter finals in the 99WWC but got bumped out of the 2000 Olys by Australia.