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SANDY — Just under a month prior to the 2012 London Olympics, the U.S. Soccer Women’s National Team brings a unique and rare opportunity to Utahns, an Olympic send-off match played right in our own Rio Tinto Stadium.
With Real Salt Lake on the road this weekend, it was the perfect opportunity for the Women’s National Team to schedule the venue for a friendly match and bring rival Canada to Utah, where the U.S. women have a large fan base.
“Sometimes we play in big stadiums and there is like 5,000 (fans) and that’s great, we appreciate those 5,000, but to play in almost packed stadiums or sold-out stadiums is amazing for us to see how much the game has grown in areas like Utah where maybe people don’t know or soccer isn’t that big, but there is an amazing fan base here that we’re happy to have as ours,” said Women’s National Team midfielder Megan Rapinoe.
And the Women’s National Team couldn’t be happier to have the opportunity to play in front of so many fans, let alone play an Olympic send-off match.
“We’ve had an amazing fan base since we got back from the World Cup,” said Women’s National Team goalkeeper Hope Solo. “It’s inspiring because I truly believe the sport is coming into its own, the women’s game is coming into its own, we’re right in the wave after the World Cup, and we’ve had great support in every city we’ve played in, so I expect no less here in Sandy, Utah.”
Women’s National Team forward Abby Wambach agreed with her teammate.
“It’s really cool for us to be able to travel around the country, go to different sites, especially ones that have soccer specific stadiums, of course, and MLS teams,” said Wambach. “There’s already a built-in history here, and we know that playing here will help us in the Olympics with the altitude, so it’s kind of a win-win-win, the community gets something, we get a couple of great things.”
With the 2012 Women’s National Team Olympic roster named just under a month ago, fans can expect to see the Olympic spirit alive in the team as it plays its final match before jetting off to London.
“There has been Olympic spirit amongst us for a couple weeks,” said Solo. “The roster was named last month, and you feel the vibe once the roster is named, you kind of stop competing for the roster spots and you start to work toward that first game.”
Solo added, “We’re already gearing up for the London Games, so the spirit is well within us for several weeks now.”
The Women’s National Team is taking its match against rival Canada seriously, and fans can expect to witness a hard-fought game with plenty of action.
“We’re always competitive, even though it’s a friendly. There’s not really a friendly anymore, that’s just what we call them. So we want to show well, we want to play well going into London and bring that confidence and let all the teams around the world know that we’re looking pretty good right now,” Rapinoe said.
With ticket sales for Saturday’s noon match continuing to rise and having already surpased 15,000 early Friday, fans headed to Rio Tinto Friday morning and lined the sidewalks of the west entrance waiting to be able to see the Women’s National Team in an hourlong public training session.
And the Women’s National Team couldn’t have been happier to see so many people come out for the public training session.
“It means a lot to the team, especially for our last game heading over to the Olympics, but overall just to know that women’s sports is continuing to grow,” said Women’s National Team captain and veteran defender Christie Rampone.
Women’s National Team head coach Pia Sundhage was thrilled at the turnout for the public training session and said, "It’s good for women’s soccer the fact that you have one of the best teams in the world and you have people watching training — that didn’t happen back in the good old days.”
