WORLD CUP / NOTES

Is the United States a team of destiny in the Women’s World Cup?

Julie Foudy fielded that question Friday afternoon when the Americans arrived in Palo Alto after a charter flight from Washington and Thursday night’s dramatic 3-2 quarterfinal victory over Germany.

“I think [about] how many years we’ve been playing soccer and training and sweating and killing each other in practice,” Foudy said.

“You grow up watching World Cups. The Olympics [in 1996] was fantastic, but as a soccer player, you obviously grow up with the World Cup being the pinnacle of your success. So for us to have it here in the United States, we feel like we have the possibility of winning this thing. That’s what we were talking about as being our dream.

“At halftime [when Germany was leading, 2-1], Tony talked about it. Carla [Overbeck, co-captain with Foudy], talked about it. We all talked about it. Let’s not make this our last 45 minutes. Let’s leave everything on the field. Everything we’ve been fighting for, the dream that we have. Let’s let it continue.”

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It will continue, on Sunday afternoon at Stanford Stadium, where Brazil awaits as the Americans’ semifinal opponent.

Meanwhile, Tiffeny Milbrett, who leads the U.S. with three goals in the tournament, admitted there was more relief than elation when the Germany match finally ended.

“I think it was a big sigh of relief,” Milbrett said of the U.S. players’ reaction. “I know when the referee signaled for two extra minutes . . . everybody was kind of angry and ready for the game to be over, especially because it was just a hard-fought game. When you twice come from a goal down and then get that winner, you want that game over as soon as it can.”

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With the U.S. locker room off-limits to outsiders, there are moments that should be captured but usually are lost. One of them occurred Thursday night before the kickoff.

Foudy explains:

“We were running around the locker room warming up. The starters were doing like a mini-lap in the locker room and the reserves and staff were on the outside and they were giving us high-fives as we were running around.

“It was like a feeling of such pride that we do genuinely love each other. It’s such a great feeling when you have 19 other players out there that you know are pulling for you and that we’re sharing in each other’s successes.

“I think that’s what the fans see and I think that’s what’s so important--that we’re just a team that really works well together and believes in that unity and that trust and that love.”

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The United States’ quarterfinal victory over Germany drew the best cable television rating to date in the tournament, with 1.67 million households tuning in to ESPN.

The U.S. squad’s first-round games attracted TV audiences of 1.7 million households for the Denmark match on ABC, 1.4 million for the Nigeria match on ESPN and 1.3 million for the North Korea game on ESPN2.