“Here we come with fast players, skillful players.”

By Kara McDermott

The US Women’s National team will kick off their Algarve Cup campaign on Wednesday against Denmark in Group B. After going undefeated in back-to-back years in 2010 and 2011, they will look to build off these last two lucrative years while going up against some of the best competition the world has to offer.

The United States’ history with this tournament is certainly one of success. They have won the most cups of any team – eight overall – and have conceded only 51 goals over 16 years of the tournament while tallying 136.

Coming off the relatively soft competition of the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the Americans are going to hit a much harder wall when they run up against Denmark, Japan and Norway in Group B.

The US has collectively played against these three competitors a total of 23 times in the Algarve Cup with a record of 17-6-1, scoring 49 goals and allowing 25. They have played against Norway more than any other competitor: a total of 13 times (8-5-0).

The experience should help the American squad, especially considering some unique rules in the tournament. The Algarve Cup allows for extra subs: six per game. For a team with the US’ depth and fitness, this would seem to be a real advantage, but this also means that coach Pia Sundhage will have a lot of puzzle pieces to fit together to create the right combinations of athletes to play against fierce opponents.

“The first thing we are going to do is look at the back four. It’s a balance between giving all the players playing time and find our way to play 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1.”

The back line has been a constant question since Ali Krieger tore her ACL against the Dominican Republic in January. This tournament will give the US the necessary stage to test different line-ups in preparation for the Olympics, where they will be joined by Sweden and fellow Group B competitor Japan.

After scoring a total of 38 goals in recent Olympic qualifiers from 11 different players, the US has established itself as a massive offensive force where goals can come from all over the field and from a variety of situations. Sundhage, in her naturally gleeful way, has cultivated this dangerous creativity in preparation for this tournament.

“My dream is, our dream is to dangerous, to get behind the back line. Everybody wants to protect the space behind the back line and here we come with fast players, with skillful players. But also at the same time –no, no, no – we’re going to play in front of the back line. In order to do that we need to read the game well and we need to be comfortable with the ball. And that’s what we’re working on, every single day.”

The US will play Denmark to open group play on February 29th, followed by Norway on March 2nd and finishing group play against Japan on March 5th. The games will not be available by broadcast, but fans can follow the progress of the tournament here on Prost Amerika and live via US Soccer’s matchtracker.