Chalupa Chat

We have settled in nicely to our new surroundings in Fredrikstad, Norway, a small town about 1.5 hours outside of Oslo. This part of the world is one of my favorite places to visit, especially during their summer months. The weather is perfect right now, in the seventies during the day and the sun stays out for most of the day. They only have a couple of hours of semi-darkness during the middle of the night. I love the wide open fields and the cute little towns. Things seem to really slow down here.

We have had a few training sessions since arriving on Saturday. We play against Norway on Wednesday and then travel to Sweden to play against their team on the 5th. We have just a few games left before we leave for China so every game is so important but we will want to play especially well against Norway who is in our group for the Olympics.

I’m sure our bodies are pretty confused about our sleeping patterns lately. We returned home from South Korea for just a couple of days before heading off to Europe. One good thing is that the 7 hour flight over here was a breeze after the previous 12 hour flight to Korea.

Our trip to Korea was a really successful and productive one for us. We played four tough matches against great teams and won each of them. It was a challenge to play that many consecutive minutes in tight games but that was just the preparation we needed for the Olympics.

I’m sure we will have two more great matches here in Europe. I’ll keep you posted.

We just finished up a two week camp in California, our last training camp before the Olympics. We will get together for the Peace Queen Cup in South Korea in a few days and then head to Sweden and Norway for some games there before coming back to the US for our send off matches against Brazil. We will be playing a lot of games in the coming weeks in order to polish up some things so we are all on the same page come August. The focus of the last camp was on fitness. We played a lot of small sided games and a few games against some local boy’s teams. We got a lot of fitness out of the last two weeks yet we never had to “get on the line” and run. It is very nice to know that everyone around you is working so hard and holding themselves accountable so you can get fitness out of just playing soccer. Believe me, it is so much more fun that way!! We go home for just a few days before heading over to South Korea which was one of my favorite trips. I’m excited to go back there and play some games against some really tough opponents. I’ll keep you updated from Seoul!

This is an exciting time for the team in our quest for the gold medal. We have taken care of the first step in our journey by qualifying for the tournament. We beat Costa Rica 3-0 with 3 second half goals. It was a bit nerve racking to go into half time tied 0-0. It felt like the ball just wasn’t bouncing our way. We had many chances but couldn’t finish them off. The second half we made some great tactical changes and began using the flanks more effectively. We are now looking forward to the championship match against Canada tomorrow.

We have again used our days off between games to not only rest up but also to have a lot of fun. Today we went to the fields and had some intense games of soccer tennis. I don’t know of any game in which this team doesn’t get ultra competitive. The rules have to be explained down to every last detail. Although my team, consisting of Lindsay Tarpley, Kacey White, Leslie Osborne and I went 8-1 we missed out on the final. The big winner of the day was “team annoying” (self-described, by the way). I won’t name who was on that team but they were definitely trying to get into our heads by trash talking and taunting.

Later in the day the team took a trip to the bowling alley for some more competition. We were split up into groups of four based on our position. I am proud to say that the two defender teams ended up in first and second place with my team being crowned the champions. To add to the fun, each team choreographed their outfits. My team (Hope, Stephanie Cox, Nicole Barnhart and I) dressed in one of Hope’s big trucker hats and white tank tops plus we accessorized with bandanas around our arms. Kacey White had the highest individual score with a 183 but I am still pretty happy with my 155. Our good scores must have something to do with the bowling class we took together at UNC. Sadly though, I don’t think the class helped Lindsay Tarpley much. She was in bowling 101 with us but scored in the low 90s today (sorry Tarp).

We had a great day but now we are focusing for our game tomorrow. The games against Canada are always a battle. We hope to end this trip well.

On another note, qualifying for the Olympics means a very busy summer schedule. I have tried to make plans for a summer camp this year but unfortunately there is just no time to fit it in between now and the tournament August. I want to make sure I am using my few days home to rest and recuperate so that I am at my best. I hope to return to St. Louis in September with a gold medal and will definitely celebrate that with everyone at home so check back then for more information.

We are now just one win away from qualifying for the Olympics. We beat Jamaica 6-0 on Friday and beat Mexico 3-1 on Sunday. The atmosphere for the games has been amazing. The fans were especially fired up for our game verses Mexico a few days ago. It is always so fun to play in a packed stadium. Although it is much easier to play when the fans are cheering for you instead of jeering and boo-ing your every touch, it is great to see so many people show up for a women’s soccer game. It is also priceless to be able to prepare in an environment like that. It can be quite intimidating and makes communication on the field a little tricky so it is important for us to get more practice in environments like that. It was great for us to get out of both of those games with wins. Now we are looking forward to our next game against Costa Rica tomorrow night.

The last two days have provided us with the down time to get out and see some of our surroundings. Yesterday we went for a walk/jog in a nearby park. I had heard rumors of a giraffe living there but didn’t believe it until I saw with my own eyes. A full sized giraffe in a local park in Juarez, Mexico (a bit random but pretty cool nonetheless). For dinner we went out to a local bar/restaurant for some Mexican food and watched the Kansas-Memphis game. It is a little strange to watch basketball with a mariachi band playing in the background but the team got really into the game. There was quite a lot of shouting and hair pulling. Today we drove into El Paso to train and had a great bar-b-que lunch. We all stuffed ourselves with ribs, pulled pork and brisket. It was a nice change of pace from hotel food.

Now we are all narrowing our focus and preparing our minds and bodies for tomorrow. We are excited to get the game under way!

We have just wrapped up a 10 day preparation camp in California and are now in Mexico for the Olympic Qualification Tournament. Since our CONCACAF region is allowed two teams in the Olympics we must finish either first or second in this tournament to go to Beijing. It is both exciting and nerve racking to reach this point in the journey. We arrived in El Paso last night and took a bus across the border to our hotel in Juarez, Mexico. After hearing all of the stories in the news lately about this region we didn’t really know what to expect but things have been great. Our hotel is nice, the weather is great and we have been taken care of (so don’t worry mom). We are looking forward to our first game against Jamaica on Friday. Wish us luck!

After another great trip to the Algarve Cup we are all home rejuvenating for about a week before coming back together in California to train for a few days and depart for the Olympic Qualification tournament in Mexico. It felt great to end this trip on a high note heading into Qualifiers. The Norway game was a great test for the team. We didn’t feel great going into half time of the game after being somewhat outplayed and out chanced but the team worked through some problems and came out strong in the second half. The great thing about a game like that is we learned a lot and in the future can hopefully recognize earlier in the game how to solve the challenges we faced. The final game was a rematch of the Algarve championship game last year. We played Denmark in a tight 2-1 battle. It was a great game and went back and forth for 90 minutes. The result topped off the Portugal trip. We had great games, great weather and lots of fun. We will hopefully carry this momentum through to the next tournament. It will be important for us to play well together. I’m sure we will have some good battles. Can’t wait!

We are off to a great start here at the Algarve Cup. In our first game we played China and won by the score of 4-0. We scored some great goals including the first goal of Tobin Heath’s full national team career. Rachel Buehler also earned her first cap by playing a tough full 90 minutes. We were very happy about that win against a very good China team. We then had a day to rest and recover before playing Italy last night. Italy holds a special place in my heart because I earned my first cap against Italy in Reiti, Italy back in 2001. This time we beat Italy 2-0 with goals by Lindsay Tarpley and Heather O’Reilly. The first goal came early in the first half when Tarp tucked away a rebound from close range. Late in the second half Heather scored on a great individual effort and perfect finish from inside the box.

Now we have two days to rest before facing Norway on the 10th. We will have some light training and some pool recovery sessions to make sure our bodies are ready for the rest of the tournament. I’m sure we will also have some time for Guitar Hero and ‘American Idol’ Karaoke on Playstation. Angela Hucles sacrificed some space in her luggage to bring her Playstation which has been a big hit here in Portugal. We have had quite a few laughs as people try to sing along to the songs on the ‘American Idol’ game. I stick to Guitar Hero because the comments by Paula, Randy and Simon can be crushing. Simon told someone (I’m not going to name names) that he would rather have all of his teeth pulled out without anesthetic than listen to them sing again. (OUCH)

Things are going great here in Portugal. We are finally getting to the really fun part of the trip, the games. Tomorrow we play our first game of the Algarve Cup against China. We have played them once already this year at the Four Nations Tournament where we won 1-0 on an amazing header goal by Shannon Boxx. It will be a good challenge to play them again because they play with a very organized and compact defense.

We have done some fun things lately in our down time. On Sunday we had the whole day off from soccer so a bunch of us piled into vans and drove two hours to Seville, Spain. We ate lunch there and walked around a bit in the center of the town. It was fun to be able to see a bit of our surroundings and be a tourist for a day. Although I was looking forward to experiencing new things, I did spend quite a bit of time in and around the Starbucks we found there. I just couldn’t resist!

Today after practice we went pottery shopping. Portugal is known for their pottery and has some really unique and fun stuff so we find time every Portugal trip to go shopping for pottery. I started collecting a set last year and found the same pattern this time. I added some great pieces to my collection which I am very happy about. Hopefully I can get it all home safe and sound as pottery doesn’t travel too well.

We have all safely arrived in Lisbon, Portugal our home away from home for the next 18 days. We landed yesterday without two players and 60 (yes 60) bags. It sure seems like someone fell asleep on the job to just forget that much luggage. Luckily, both Stephanie Cox and Tasha Kai who missed the connecting flight due to flight delays made it in today along with the rest of the bags.

It seems like every flight after the one to China is a walk in the park. Just a quick 6.5 hours of flying time. Not even worthy of a sleeping pill. We arrived at the hotel around 1pm, plenty of time to fit in a quick practice but without balls, cones or training gear we substituted practice with a walk to the beach…pretty tough life we lead. Once we got to the beach we started up a quick game of quarter toss (for lack of a better name). I don’t know what they call it in Sweden but for a while there it seemed like Pia was making up the rules as she went and was gathering quite a few of our quarters. Basically, you had to toss your quarter closer to the line than the person before you but not over, or you lost. It came down to a tense battle between Cat and Hope who, let me tell you, were both excellent coin tossers but in the end Hope walked away the champion.

Today we lifted weights and had practice in the afternoon. The weather was beautiful and we are looking forward to a great tournament this year.

We are just wrapping up a great two weeks in California. On Sunday we head home to get a few days of rest before the team heads to Portugal for the Algarve Cup. We have done a lot the past two weeks. We have definitely improved our fitness and gotten stronger and more explosive plus we have gotten to play a lot and have had some good scrimmage games. Personally, I have really enjoyed the sunny weather. Being able to walk around in shorts and a t-shirt has been a nice change from the St. Louis cold.

So far we have had a great start to 2008. We were proud to win the Four Nations Tournament as a team and to have so many players win individual awards was exciting as well. During our final day in China we were actually able to be tourists and see a little bit of the country. It felt very much like a school field trip as we visited two museums and a park but seeing that I have yet to graduate from college I guess I better keep my brain working. After another long travel day back to the States we spent a few days in Los Angeles before traveling to San Francisco for the Olympic Ambassador Program which all 2008 Olympians and Olympic hopefuls attend. The two-day program was filled with banquets and small group meetings where we got to hear stories from previous Olympic competitors, sponsors, and organizing committees as well as visit with our fellow USA athletes. I have to admit though that we got a little bit flustered when we were served Chinese food for our first meal. That is the last thing we wanted to see after arriving back to the U.S.

I am now looking forward to getting back home and spending a few days with friends and family before reconvening on February 1 for a camp at the Home Depot Center.

Also during the trip to China we received a tentative schedule for the year so I can begin preparations for my summer camp. This will be a very busy year but it looks like I will be able to fit in a short camp/clinic some time this summer. If you are interested in receiving camp information as soon as it becomes available please sign up in the “Summer Camp” section of the site.

I’m back again after another big win, this time over Finland. We had some more “firsts” in this one…Tobin with her first cap, Angie Woznuk with her first goal, and Tina DiMartino with her first assist. The new players bring so much energy and enthusiasm to the trips and its nice when they are able to contribute to the team’s win.

We had a recovery day today which included a pool workout in an outdoor (definitely NOT heated) swimming pool, a scavenger hunt around our hotel and dinner out at Pizza Hut. We had quite a few laughs during the scavenger hunt. We each got into groups of four and were given a sheet with about 30 things to look for in the area around our hotel. Each group had to bring a camera to capture the image. We had to do things like take a picture of two players and two Chinese people doing tai chi, take a picture of one player and a smiling taxi cab driver, take a picture of two players and a Chinese woman wearing socks with high-heels (a real fashion statement), and many more. We had about two hours to search and got some great pictures and some even better stories. We will have a meeting later to share what we found. Kudos to the staff who came up with this great game. It may become a tradition in every country we visit.

My team consisting of Tobin, Lauren Cheney, Hope and I got a little sidetracked with DVD shopping while we were searching. Although one of the tasks was to take a picture of two players bartering for DVD’s, I think we spent a little too much time at the DVD stand. We did come out of it with some great movies so I was so excited to get back and watch them. Tobin and I got back to our room and decided to watch “I am Legend”. We started watching and were so happy with the quality of the movie when, at the climax of the movie, the DVD froze. We were really left hanging. We tried everything but couldn’t get it to work. We heard that Hope also purchased an “I am Legend” DVD but hers didn’t work either. We were about to give up when we heard that Carli had also gotten the movie. Luckily hers did work and we were able to finish. Great movie, by the way.

Tomorrow we face China in what will likely be a very exciting match. It is always fun to play a home country when you have all of the fans rooting against you. It adds to the atmosphere and gets us fired up. Can’t wait!

Yesterday we had our first game of 2008 and our first game under our new coach, Pia. We felt very good about the 4-0 win over Canada. Our system and style of play reflected the changes we have been working on. We did especially well at moving off the ball and switching the point of attack. We went into half time scoreless but things started clicking and our final pass became a bit more crisp in the second half and we scored 4 great goals. Amy Rodriguez scored her first two goals with the National Team and Lindsay Tarpley came on as a “super sub” and scored two goals herself. This game was also a memorable one for Becky Sauerbrunn and Aly Krieger who each earned their first cap. We play our next game on Friday against Finland. We hope to keep things rolling with another big win.

Now that we are in China and are approaching the games we have just been training once a day which leaves a lot of time to fill. So far that hasn’t been a problem. Whenever Christie’s daughter, Rylie Rampone is around we all have instant entertainment. Whether it’s chasing her around the hotel or singing “the itsy bitsy spider” she brings a lot of enjoyment to our day.

If I’m not playing with Rylie, you will probably find me in our team coordinator, Chery’s room playing the Nintendo Wii. My roommate, Tobin and I have had some pretty intense tennis and bowling matches. Hopefully we don’t have any “Wii injuries” as you really do need to warm up before playing. I did win my first game but it must have been beginners luck because it’s gone downhill from there.

Free wireless internet can also kill some time. Although calling it “high speed” is not entirely accurate. We are all glad that it works well enough for “skype” which is the program we use to call friends and family back in the States. Using the speakers and microphone in our computer we can actually talk to people at home just like a telephone. Gotta love technology these days!

Training is going great. We have had some intense sessions the past few days and now we will begin our taper for the Canada game. It will be a lot of fun to finally compete against another team. We are looking forward to it.

We have arrived safely in Guangzhou, China and are settling in nicely to our new surroundings. The flight, although long, was pretty uneventful. Direct flights are very nice but I do kind of miss the chaos that layovers sometimes bring. We had no sprinting to the gates, lost luggage or canceled flights…how boring. After landing though we did have a little confusion. We all got our luggage and loaded it onto individual carts and proceeded to the bus. I was at the end of the pack so I cannot take any blame but someone in the front must have still been groggy from their sleeping pill because we started toward the exit and stopped at an elevator where we all waited patiently to cram in two at a time and ride up a level then all walked a couple of minutes across a bridge to another elevator where we again crammed in and rode down a level. Quite a way to cross the street!

We were very happy to get to the hotel where we will be staying for the next 12 days. The food has been very good, the beds are nice and soft and the hotel staff has been very accommodating plus we have a free wireless connection in our rooms which is always greatly appreciated. We are beginning to settle in and become very comfortable in our new surroundings. Practice has been going great although I have been nursing a strained quadriceps muscle and haven’t been participating in all of the drills. I have logged a good number of hours in the training room but hopefully everything will be fine come game time. The weather has been nice as well. We even had to get out the sunscreen yesterday which is a rare thing in China. We might even hit the hotel pool this afternoon! I know one thing for sure Rylie Rampone is up for it.

After a light weightlifting session this morning we are getting our last minute things together for the trip to China. We will be boarding the plane in just a few hours and will be on our way to Guangzhou. We are very glad to hear that although the tournament will take place in the same city as the past few years, we will be staying in a different hotel where the food and attractions will hopefully be a step up. This will be my fourth time competing in the Four Nations Tournament. I am really looking forward to playing our first games under Pia. We have had some really great training sessions so far. Hopefully we will see our hard work pay off in these early matches. This is a relatively short trip, only 12 days in China but I have brought many books and DVD’s to keep me busy. I am going to begin with the first season of “Entourage” while I am there and I also hope to jump into “Eat, Pray, Love” and some other books. If we’re lucky there will be a good internet connection at the hotel there and I will keep you updated with how things are going.

The team is back training in California and 2008 is off to a great start. We are here for a short camp before a roster is named and the team heads off to China for the Four Nations Tournament. So far training has gone very well. Despite some gloomy weather conditions the team has been working really hard we are having a great time. It has been really exciting getting to know Pia and our new training staff. Any time you get a new coach there are new philosophies, new drills, and the opportunity to prove what you can do. We are all enjoying the fresh start to the New Year.

This camp we got right down to business. In just our second training session we ran the “beep test” which gives the coaches an idea of our fitness level. Everyone did great but the big winner for the day was Tina DiMartino who completed more of the test than anyone else. The team will run the test periodically up until the Olympics in order to monitor our fitness level. We have also been using heart rate monitors during fitness tests and practice to keep an eye on our work rate. If we are working too hard or not hard enough the practices can be modified so we achieve the most from our time.

We have also accomplished a lot on the field. We are working on being better at dictating the tempo of the game and keeping possession. It takes a lot of communication and chemistry to figure out as a team when to hang back and when to attack together. We have also done some work on defending. We have talked about both individual and team defending which has been great.

Tomorrow we have an inter-squad scrimmage which is always very intense. Hopefully the weather cooperates and we have a great game.

We finished off our fan appreciation tour in Albuquerque with a 1-1 tie against Mexico. We would have loved to finish off the year with a big win but I think our bodies are feeling the effects of a busy last three years. We are a little worn down and are looking forward to some time off. I am excited to spend some time with my family and my dog, Eko. I am also happy to be able to spend thanksgiving at home for the first time in about 8 years.

I want to take time now that our 2007 schedule is wrapped up to thank all of you for supporting me over the last year. I didn’t have time to thank everyone individually for their letters of encouragement over the past few months but I did get them and really appreciated reading them.

I would also like to thank US Soccer for all they have done for this team, Adidas for their tremendous support, my family and friends for their unconditional love, and my teammates who I treasure playing with and playing for every day.

I would also like to open up the invitation for individual, small group, or team training sessions now that I will be home for a while. Hopefully the weather cooperates and I can get in some training sessions for anyone who is interested. If you are in the St. Louis area and would to train for an hour on whatever skill you would like more practice with, e-mail me at contact@lorichalupny.com and I will send you more information.

Well my first World Cup is over and I have returned back to the States. I have gotten some good sleep and eaten some good meals so I am a happy camper. Looking back over the last five weeks it is amazing how fast it flew by. Although I had hoped to be returning as a World Champion, I am proud of what we have accomplished. We hold ourselves to such a high standard that anything less than first place is a real disappointment. I can’t help the bitter-sweet feeling I have but 3rd place is nothing to be ashamed of. Now our focus is on the 2008 Olympics and bringing home the gold!

We are in Portland now, the second leg of our fan appreciation tour. Our first game was yesterday in my hometown of St. Louis. I was so happy to be able to show the rest of my team the city where I live. The game was amazing and I am so thankful to the fans who came out to show their support. In true St. Louis style, everyone in attendance was cheering and chanting the whole game and I am so proud to be able to say I am from this city. While we were there I got to show some of my teammates where I live and they even got to meet my black lab, Eko. Hopefully by the next time they come to visit my hometown Eko will be trained. A bunch of the girls walked over to the arch, some went to the zoo, we went out to dinner so they could taste toasted ravioli, and I even brought them some Imos pizza to try. I hope the team can come back another time for a longer stay to see and taste some other great St. Louis spots.

Now I am looking forward to our short visits in Portland and New Mexico and our games there. Hopefully we can put on a good show for our fans and give them some great moments to cheer about.

Well we now have four days until the games and have arrived in Chengdu, the site of the first game and the excitement just keeps building. We had a bit of an eventful plane ride over here from Shanghai. After boarding the plane for our 2.5 hour flight, we were informed that the airport in Chengdu was overloaded and we had to wait an hour before taking off. The first problem was that when flying Air China, the announcements are in Chinese so we sat there for a good 20 minutes before realizing what was going on. When the beverage carts began coming down the isle to serve us some refreshments we realized that something was wrong. Cheryl, our team coordinator had fallen asleep during the whole fiasco so while everyone was standing in the isle stretching their legs, we woke her up and told her we had landed. We tried to convince her that she was sound asleep and the flight was incredibly smooth but she caught on to our joke. The second problem was that while parked at the gate air conditioning was deemed unnecessary. Being crammed on an airplane, parked at the gate for an hour with no air conditioning is not a really comfortable place to be but we took off soon enough and landed in Chengdu safely.

Soon after that we were again thrown into an unusual situation. After leaving the secured area at the baggage claim we were met by about 30 cameras and reporters trying to get a glimpse of the team. We were shuffled onto the bus by security guards and had quite a few police officers with bullet proof vests and AK-47 automatic guns keeping a watchful eye. We arrived at the hotel after a short 20 minute bus ride and settled into our new home. We were pleasantly surprised by the accommodations. We didn’t think it could get much nicer than our hotel in Shanghai but the first few hours have me thinking that it has. The new location and the upgrade in the intensity of media and security is an exciting sign…we’re getting closer to the games!! I can’t wait!

Ni Hao!

Things are going great here in China. I can’t tell you how excited we are for the games to begin. We have just one more week of fighting off boredom before the real fun starts. Hopefully Lindsay Tarpley and I can survive another 10 days of stop and go bus rides before then. The two of us, who have been known to get a little woozy on busses have been forced to relocate to the very front seat of the bus on the way to and from practice in order to avoid getting sick. We have learned from previous China trips that this was a likely scenario. We have also learned from our previous China trips that traffic signals, police cars (with or without sirens and lights blaring), and white lines mean very little, as do small cars and pedestrians. While sitting in the front seat does significantly help our motion sickness it doesn’t do much for our nerves. With 800 accidents occurring in Shanghai each day, Tarp and I get way too good of a view of how close we are to becoming part of that statistic.

Today we had the day off to rest our legs and recuperate from a long travel day and a few intense work outs. Of course on the one day where we have plenty of time to get out and explore the city, it rained. But a few of us did find about an hour of sunlight and found a Coffee Bean and a McDonalds. I’m sure the employees will see a lot more of us in the next few weeks. Tonight we are going out to an Italian restaurant for some good steak and pasta. Our stomachs are looking forward to a full meal although I have to compliment the hotel for serving us some great food. The hit seems to be the pretzel dough buns with the assortment of cheese and soup. The hotel staff is extremely friendly and are bending over backwards to meet our needs. I’ll check back with you soon!

Well now that we are here and settled into our new home, things pretty much feel like business as usual. We lounge around the hotel watching DVD's and movies most of the time and get outside to practice for a couple of hours each day. The last two days have really been a tale of two different Chinas. Yesterday we got to practice and had to endure a complete downpour while watching our every move, careful not to step on any tiny little frogs which were prancing around on the field. Today we practiced in suffocating heat and humidity while keeping our eyes out for the thousands of dragonflies which had taken over the pitch. We're not exactly sure what tomorrow will bring but the anticipation is killing me.

In order to keep us awake and moving this afternoon the coaches took us on a long walk to Nanjing road, an upscale shopping strip and to a lookout point into Huangpu river. We had a good time dodging the street vendors who were very adamantly trying to get us to buy their goods. On our walk we got clarification on a really important translation from our lesion, Adora; No is a universal word, despite the fact that none of the men trying to sell us stuff responded to it.

I guess tonight its back to my paint by number and my DVD player to see if Jack Bauer can get himself out of another sticky situation. Talk to you soon.

After a long but quite easy 20 hours we have made it to our new home in China. The travel day began with a short flight to San Francisco where we had a little over an hour layover before boarding our overseas flight. While an hour seems like plenty of time to grab one last meal and prepare ourselves, a broken elevator and a spunky but not so knowledgeable airport worker made our connection very tight. Efficiency in moving from the domestic to international terminal at the San Francisco airport is obviously not a top priority. After landing, all international passengers were shuffled down a set of stairs and crowded onto little shuttle busses which took us across the airport to an elevator. The idea is to shove a few people onto the elevator, send them up, and repeat. Even had the system been working correctly, it seemed like such a process that you couldn’t help but feel like you were being ‘punkd. Unfortunately for us, the elevator quit working just as the first bunch of the team was boarding. We waited about 10 minutes for the elevator door to close before the attendant took serious our warnings that the machine was not working. Then, if things couldn’t get any weirder, we were taken in a single file line around the back of the airport to a freight elevator. By this time there were at least 200 annoyed people who were also about to miss their flight so when I say we crammed onto the freight elevator, I mean it. After the longest 30 second elevator ride I have ever taken we were able to grab a burrito at the very popular Andale restaurant. We walked briskly to the gate and were able to board right on time. The plane ride was surprisingly easy. The hardest part of the whole thing was putting on these tight legging things they had us wear in order to prevent the dreaded cankles. I tried putting them on the first time but was sure that I was handed the wrong size. I did finally get them on while sweating and feeling like a sausage. After a few episodes of “24” and a sleeping pill, we had landed in Shanghi. Luckily for us, our wonderful staff took care of all of the luggage so we headed straight to the bus and got comfy for a hour long ride in traffic to the hotel. We arrived, ate some dinner and got to check out our surroundings a little before hitting the bed and getting some rest. I would like to say a special thanks to our staff who took care of everything for us from our luggage to food to our player lounge set up with board games and a Wii video game. We are truly the luckiest team in the world!

Today we are all enjoying our last day in America. We head over to China tomorrow morning. If only there was a way to blink and already be there so we could avoid the long plane ride. Luckily we have plenty of books and movies plus Tasha Kai to keep us entertained. I think I’m ready to get over there. I spent today doing laundry and catching up on e-mails and phone calls. The only thing I have left to do is get a nice steak dinner. I don’t think it will be a problem recruiting some other teammates to join me as good food is always on our minds. About three days into any overseas trip the most thought provoking question is always “What are you going to eat for your first meal back in the States?” People often get homesick over Chipotle, Sushi, and Steak. We did get some promising news from the staff members who went over to China early. We have free internet access!! I hope to be able to fill you in on our journey every few days so check back often.

We all arrived in California Saturday for our game against Finland on the 25th. It was an exciting break for me because it was my last time in St. Louis before leaving for China and because I got to announce the international friendly that will be played in St. Louis on October 13. It will be the first game for the team after the World Cup so hopefully fans will get to watch the World Champions for the first time back on home turf. This will be the first game I get to play in my hometown in a really long time so I’m really looking forward to it. For now I have to put that game in the back of my mind because we have a lot to focus on between now and then.

Right now we are preparing for our game against Finland as well as working on some small improvements for the World Cup. We can’t wait for the games to begin!

Hi!

Welcome to the site. Bear with me as we get everything set up. This is my first journal entry. I will try to write as often as possible to keep you updated with what’s happening. If you have any questions remember to post them in the “Ask Lori” section in the “Fan Zone” and I will try to answer them.

We have had a busy few weeks. On June 16th we played China in Cleveland and then traveled to NJ where we played Brazil. We won both games 2-0 but I think we could have played better. We have played China a lot in the past year but they came out last week in a much different formation and style of play which took some getting used to. Thanks to two amazing goals by Abby Wambach, we came away with a victory. We all really enjoyed our week in Cleveland. We were lucky that we were there for the NBA finals and a bunch of the girls were able to go to the games. We stayed right downtown so we got to see all of the rally’s and began to feel a little connection to the team. We were all bummed that they lost. Maybe next year.

We then traveled to the NY/NJ area which was really fun. I had a really good time although all of the craziness of Downtown NY made me realize just how much of a Midwest girl I am. We did have some downtime and I got to see Hairspray on Broadway which was really good. On Saturday we played Brazil in a rematch of the of the 2004 Olympic final. It was a really good game for us in our preparation for the World Cup because we haven’t played a team that aggressive in a while. It was a good refresher on how to beat an overly aggressive team. When we moved the ball quick and created chances on free kicks we did pretty well. It also helps to have Kristine Lilly bend one into the back of the net in the opening minutes.

Our World Cup preparations are coming along great. We are working hard but also having a lot of fun. Our next game is in Hartford, Connecticut on July 14, 2007 against Norway. You can watch on ESPN2 at 6:00 p.m. ET.