The U.S. women's soccer team faces a bumpy way to defend the Olympic title after losing its first group match 2-0 to Norway on Wednesday.
After humiliated by the Vikings' two quickest ever goals in women's history in the opening four minutes, the U.S. must take down next opponent Japan to ensure three points.
If it can advance to next round, most likely as the second in Group G, it's likely to compete against either Germany or Brazil for a semifinal berth.
However, both teams, boasting of talented striker Birgit Prinz and two-time FIFA Women's World Player of the Year, Marta, respectively, are also strong contenders for the title.
"We have a choice. We can look at the bad part that we lost the game (against Norway), or we can look at the good part where we created a lot of chances," head coach Pia Sundhage said in a press conference after the loss to Norway.
"I'm still confident we can win the gold," she said.
Sundhage insisted that there were no "stronger or weaker" teams for the U.S., but only in different styles. "We will play differently against these three different opponents," she said.
U.S. still has advantages over Japan in history. It eliminated the Asian powerhouse in the quarter finals four years ago in Athens, and now looked to repeat the victory.
But for Japan, the remaining two matches are do-or-die battles.
It almost lost to New Zealand in its first match, but struggled to level the scoreboard 2-2 with less than 5 minutes remained.
Japan is likely to put veteran Eriko Arakawa and Homare Sawa in the starting lineup in Saturday's match, although both were substituted playing against New Zealand.
Arakawa missed the first training after they arrived in Qinhuangdao due to injuries, despite head coach Norio Sasaki reassured the media that she was fully recovered.
Sawa, however, also got injured in the last minute against New Zealand. "Sawa is a key player... It is important that she will show up in the next match," Sasaki said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2008)