US Women Take the Algarve Cup

March 16th, 2008 | by: Laurie | View Comments

It wasn’t so long ago that the US women were making headlines for their sorority-esque exclusion of outspoken goalkeeper Hope Solo after the team flamed out in the Women’s World Cup. This week, though, they’re in the headlines for a much more positive reason.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet your new Algarve Cup winners, the US Women’s National Team. This is the second year in a row that they’ve taken the title, and the third year out of the past four.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Algarve Cup, it’s an annual invitational competition held in the Algarve region of Portugal. Wikipedia, the blogger’s best friend, calls it “one of the most prestigious women’s football events, alongside the Women’s World Cup and Women’s Olympic Football.” And I learned long ago never to question Wikipedia.

The US took the Cup with a 2-1 win against Denmark. Abby Wambach scored the winning goal, her 88th in international competition. The goal by Denmark was the only one goalkeeper Hope Solo allowed in the entire tournament.

Looks like the women are at last putting China behind them. Good thing, too, because Olympic qualifying starts next month.