Can the U.S. survive and even thrive without the University of Portland connection?
For varying reasons, the Americans will be without either Shannon MacMillan or Tiffeny Milbrett for the first time since the 1991 WWC. Milbrett sounded off on April Heinrich’s coaching in an interview earlier this year, squashing any hopes of being on the Olympic team and quite possibly her National Team career as well (at 99 goals!). The Americans will miss Milbrett’s ability to score vital goals in big games. In fact, Milbrett scored in back-to-back gold-medal matches, the game-winner vs. China in 1996 and the equalizer in the dying seconds of injury time vs. Norway in 2000. MacMillan, rushed back for last year’s WWC, is an alternate. She was one of the stars of the 1996 Olympic gold-medal run, striking for the game-winner in the semifinal win over Norway and once in the gold-medal match. Without those two skilled players who like to play the ball on the ground, the U.S. has been transformed into a team that relies on set pieces and one that likes to bang the ball to the twin towers
