After two solid wins in group play at the 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the USA is a victory away from earning one of this confederation’s two berths to the Beijing Olympics. Similar to the 2004 Olympic qualifying tournament, the USA’s semifinal opponent will be Costa Rica. The all-important semifinal kicks off at 5 p.m. MT on Wednesday, April 9.

“It’s win or go home and I think both teams knows that,” U.S. Forward Abby Wambach told U.S. Soccer. “We don’t doubt that Costa Rica will throw everything they’ve got at us, but I know we are going to do everything in our power to get that berth to the Olympics.”
 
In fact, all four semifinalists are the same as in 2004, when the USA defeated the Ticas, 4-0, and Mexico upset Canada, 2-1.

This time around, the USA will face an improved Costa Rican side which gave up just three goals in its two group games while scoring two, falling 1-0 to Canada and tying Trinidad & Tobago, 2-2.

The semifinal matches are expected to be sell-outs, but for sure the 22,000-seat stadium will be full for the nightcap as Mexico tries to rebound from its loss to the USA on April 6. If the USA wins, they will join the U.S. U-23 Men’s National Team as qualifiers for the 2008 Olympics, giving the United States two soccer teams in the Olympics for the first time since 2000 when the U-23s finished fourth.

Log onto www.ussoccer.com for more information on the U.S. team and the qualifying tournament.

Mexico faces Canada at 7:30 p.m. MT in a match that is sure to be filled with emotion and drama as the hosts try to duplicate their feat of four years ago and earn a berth to their second Olympic Games.

Fans can follow the game live on ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker.

2008 U.S. CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Roster:

GOALKEEPERS (2): 24-Nicole Barnhart, 18-Hope Solo

DEFENDERS (7): 2-Rachel Buehler, 17-Lori Chalupny, 14-Stephanie Cox, 13-Tobin Heath, 15-Kate Markgraf, 3-Christie Rampone, 4-Cat Whitehill

MIDFIELDERS (6): 7-Shannon Boxx, 16-Angela Hucles, 11-Carli Lloyd, 12-Leslie Osborne, 5-Lindsay Tarpley, 10-Kacey White

FORWARDS (5): 8-Lauren Cheney, 6-Natasha Kai, 9-Heather O’Reilly, 19-Amy Rodriguez, 20-Abby Wambach.