They Will Dye for Their Country

Color them patriotic.

Having seen the Nigerian team sporting multicolored hair in their victory over North Korea at the Rose Bowl on Sunday, a trio of U.S. players responded in kind Thursday.

Backup goalkeeper Saskia Webber came out for warmups with a red, white and blue hairdo that would not have been out of place on the Fourth of July. Midfielder Shannon MacMillan and forward Danielle Fotopoulos were a little more subdued, favoring only a blue tinge to their hair.

Many of the American players have red nail polish on one hand and blue on the other.

“We all do our nails and stuff and try to have fun,” said Sara Whalen, who made her World Cup debut as a second-half substitute. “We’re just trying to get into it. We’re just trying to get the feeling that this is the United States and we’re in the World Cup and we’re here to win it.

“I think every little thing we do we just get more and more excited.

“I dyed my hair a little bit red just for fun, it had nothing to do with the World Cup, and then [backup goalkeeper] Tracy Ducar bleached her hair white. So we were like, ‘someone needs to dye their hair blue so we can be red white and blue.’ And it was all downhill from there.”

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The U.S. women were not the only players to enjoy Thursday night’s game. At halftime, Taylor Twellman, a forward from St. Louis University who plays for the U.S. under-20 national team, was presented with the Bronze Boot trophy by FIFA President Sepp Blatter for finishing as the third-leading goal scorer in the FIFA Youth World Championship in Nigeria in March.

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Kate Sobrero turned her ankle during practice Wednesday and was briefly listed as doubtful for Thursday’s game.

The response was a deluge of newspaper stories about how the U.S. might respond to losing one of its top defenders, and ESPN “SportsCenter” speculation about who might take her place.

“I got press when I was injured, it was the craziest thing,” the former Notre Dame standout said, laughing. “I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. This is not happening.’ I get more press when I’m injured than when I’m not injured.

“It just opens up your eyes to how big the World Cup really is.”