Jan. 13, 2010
CHICAGO, Ill.--Alyssa Naeher (Seymour, Conn.) and Christine Nairn (Arnold, Md.) have been called into training this week for the U.S. National Team. Their respective U.S. National Team coaches are preparing for competitions later this winter.
Naeher is part of the U.S. Senior National Team pool that is gearing up for the annual participation in the Algarve Cup in Portugal. Naeher is one of 26 players on the roster that was announced on Jan. 8.
The 20-day camp will run from Jan. 17-Feb. 4, giving head coach Pia Sundhage a final look at the squad before selecting her final 18-player team. The Algarve Cup will be held Feb. 24-Mar. 3, with the U.S. grouped with Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The other teams competing are Germany, Finland, China and Denmark.
Nairn headlines the 20-player roster for the U.S. U-20 squad as one of two returners to the squad that won the FIFA U-20 World Cup Chile in Dec. 2008. The other returning member is Sydney Leroux of UCLA, who won the Golden Ball as the MVP of the tournament and the Golden Shoe as the top scorer.
Nairn was the starting central midfielder and will again hold her place in the midfield for the squad's upcoming competition in Guatemala. Starting Jan. 19 and ending Jan. 30, the 2010 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship is an eight-team tournament that will send three nations to Germany for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The United States' first game is against Jamaica on Jan. 21 at 5:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. ET), which will be shown live on Fox Soccer Channel. The following group-state matches will take place Jan. 23 against Trinidad & Tobago (5:30 p.m. ET) and Jan. 25 against Mexico (5:30 p.m. ET). The U.S. is in Group B, while Group A consists of Canada, Costa Rica and host Guatemala, which is the first Central American country to ever stage the event.
The group winners will play the runners-up from the opposite group on Jan. 28 and the final and third-place matches scheduled for Jan. 30. The semifinals and final will be televised live on Fox Soccer Channel. All games will take place in Estadio Cementos Progreso, a 17,000 all-seater stadium in Guatemala City.
The U-20 Women's World Cup is set for July 13-Aug. 1 in four German cities: Bochum, Bielefeld, Augsburg, and Dresden. The U.S. team is under the direction of Jillian Ellis, having coached the team to victory in 2008. Nairn supplied two assists while playing all six games with four starts in Chile.
Naeher is in Philadelphia attending the NSCAA Convention ahead of the WPS Draft on Jan. 15 at 10 a.m. For all the up-to-date information on Naeher's status in the draft and Nairn's progress with Team USA in Guatemala, check GoPSUsports.com for coverage.
For complete coverage of Penn State women's soccer, please visit http://www.GoPSUsports.com/sports/w-soccer.
Follow Penn State women's soccer on Twitter: @PSUWomensSoccer
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