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U.S. team's adventures in Portugal
Kristine Lilly is the all-time appearance leader and third all-time leading scorer for the U.S. Women's National Team. The midfielder from Wilton, Conn., was a member of the U.S. teams that won the 1999 World Cup and 1996 Olympic Games. Lilly also played on four national championship teams at the University of North Carolina. Lilly is training for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Check out Lilly's diary every month on CNNSI.com.
March 13, 2000
So here I sit in my single, skinny bed in our hotel in Portugal. Thankfully, the beds are further apart then they are usually, so you are not sleeping right next to your roommate. The trip has been going good. The weather hasn't been the greatest, but I hope it will warm up this week. We had our first game yesterday and we played Portugal. We won 7-0. Portugal was better than last year, but we still put away quite a few goals. As usual some obstacles happened before this game. We drive to a town called Silves to play the game. On our way you can see bad weather ahead. We get there, and it starts pouring rain. So some of us stay on the bus because we have more time than we thought. So we are just hanging out and then we decide to go to the locker room, well our bus driver decides at the same time to go park somewhere. He starts to drive away, and we are all like "Sir, sir", but he doesn't speak English or so we think. He finally stops 100 yards or so from the entrance to the locker room. He points to get out. It is pouring, and we got out and run to the locker room. We get to the locker room and everyone is laughing because basically we are drenched, and then they heard the story and thought it was even more funny. So that was the first part. Then we go out to warm up and they say hold up, game delayed a half hour because the field is bad and puddles everywhere. So we sit, and we are all get hungry because we ate around 10 a.m. and its getting close to 2 p.m. We sit and then we hear that the has been game changed to our practice field back by our hotel. By this time we are all a bit slap happy, and we head back on the bus -- right back to where we started from. We make it there and finally get the game on the way and win. Towards the end of the game we look over the fence that surrounds the field and you suddenly see a ton of sheep. Everyone was like look at the sheep. So for our first game it was a bit hectic and crazy, but we stayed focus and came out on top. Besides that we are passing the time reading, playing games and emailing. I was on the winning trivia pursuit team along with Dainis, April and Danielle. No rematch has been set up yet. Also Tish and I won in scrabble. Look out. It's been pretty fun so far. About a week left and then back to the states. When we get back we have about 10 days off and then go to Charlotte, North Carolina for two games vs. Iceland, and then head to San Diego for our three month residency. After this week, April, our new coach, will pick the players that will be invited to residency. So a lot of decisions will be made and it is a stressful time for all of us.
Before this trip we had a short camp in Orlando, and that is where this team to Portugal got chosen. It was a good week, we did our fitness testing which is tough and played the Under 17 boys national team. It was a good week of training and we were back in our old place that we trained at for the '96 Olympics, '95 World Cup and '99 World Cup, it was nice to be back. Unfortunately, we are not going back to Florida. I enjoyed training there. San Diego will be nice at the Arco Training Center. It will also be nice for the West Coast players to be on their coast this time. I hope to get up to Northern California on breaks to visit my friend Jodi. Since my last entry there hasn't been a whole lot going on. I think I wrote around the time a bunch of us went to the ESPY'S. It was a blast in Las Vegas. Our team won team of the year. It was just neat to be around the other athletes and be honored. We met Mini Me. I don't remember his name but we loved the movie The Spy Who Shagged Me. I also met Joe Torre the coach of the Yankees -- that was cool for me, he was very nice. The show itself was fun and my brother came with me and he had a wonderful time. After that we had a couple weeks off, and I was at home in Connecticut. I went to an appearance in Fargo, North Dakota. Anyone ever been there? Well I never had and it actually wasn't as cold as it normally should be, so I was happy about that. I was there for a women's health and fitness convention and spoke to a group. It was fun and interesting to meet the people and know that people up in Fargo saw us play this past summer. Then right before camp started I went down to Miami to do an adidas commercial shoot that they are doing for the Olympics since they are the sponsor. It was with a bunch of different athletes from all over the world it was fun, but just a long day waiting around, but at least it was warm and I got some sun. I also met with some other people from adidas. There is this website called Training for Sport that will be coming out that will be great for kids, athletes, and anyone else focused on a particular sport or exercise. Look for it in the next month or so. Besides that not much else exciting going on. We head back on Sunday to the states, and I'll be in Connecticut training and watching March Madness. Hopefully, those Tar Heels don't lose in the first round. I'm pulling for them. We are doing our picks with the team so it should be fun. Until next time, watch us play on the 8th of April on espn2. Remember to laugh a lot and hug the people you love and tell them you love them. Also find a place in your heart for forgiveness, life is too short to hold grudges. And ALWAYS BELIEVE! -- Kristine
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