http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=281207&cc=5901 Thursday, October 23, 2003 Team USA goes 16-2-4 in 2003 In its first outing since a disappointing performance in the World Cup, the U.S. women's national soccer team played to a lackluster 2-2 draw with Italy at Arrowhead Stadium on Wednesday night. Played before an estimated 15,000 fans, the game was supposed to be a victory celebration. Instead, it was a bitter reminder of how badly the favored national team stumbled just two weeks ago. "It's tough to get motivated to play so soon after the Women's World Cup, and everyone is still disappointed from the loss to Germany," U.S. captain Julie Foudy said. "But you can react in one of two ways, you can keep being angry or you can move on and focus on the Olympics, and that's what we are going to do. This game was the first step towards that." The Americans, now 16-2-4 in 2003, entered the match reeling from arguably the biggest loss in their history -- a 3-0 shellacking in the World Cup semifinals to the eventual champions, Germany. That loss exposed the deep fissures in the American side, from tactical issues to their inability to finish chances. "We weren't really pleased with how we played, but we need to find positives in everything," Abby Wambach said. "But we are professionals, and if we want to be the best team in the world in 2004, then we have to play like it."
Looks like the USA women are really on the decline. They need to get rid of April and the vets and start over. 15,000 is not a lot of people for a game that was advertised and hyped in the soccer community.
I definitely think that April has taken the team down. If you remember from the Germany match, Tony was giving tactical info. The WUSA also helped the other teams get a lot better, more on par with what the US was.