2008 Algarve Cup
# 2008 Algarve Cup

The 2008 Algarve Cup was the fifteenth edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It took place between 5 and 12 March 2008 with the reigning champions the United States winning the event for a record sixth time, after defeating Denmark, 2–1, in the final game in a repeat of the previous year's final.

## Format

The twelve invited teams were split into three groups that played a round-robin tournament. The entrants were almost identical to the previous year, but Italy moved up into Group B from their previous ranking in 2007, replacing France who did not feature this time. Poland appeared in the competition for the first time.

Groups A and B, containing the strongest ranked teams, were the only ones in contention to win the title. The group winners from A and B contested the final, with the runners-up playing for third place and those that finished third in these two groups playing for fifth place.

The teams in Group C were playing for places 7–12, with the winner of Group C playing the team that finished fourth in Group A or B with the better record for seventh place and the Group C runner-up playing the team which came last in Group A or B with the worse record for ninth place. The third and fourth-placed teams in Group C played for eleventh place.

Points awarded in the group stage follow the standard formula of three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss. In the case of two teams being tied on the same number of points in a group, their head-to-head result determined the higher placed.

## Teams

The twelve invited teams were:

| Team | FIFA Rankings (December 2007) |
| - | - |
| Germany | 1 |
| United States | 2 |
| Sweden | 3 |
| Norway | 5 |
| Denmark | 8 |
| China | 13 |
| Italy | 14 |
| Finland | 16 |
| Iceland | 21 |
| Poland | 27 |
| Republic of Ireland | 31 |
| Portugal (hosts) | 47 |

## Group stage

All times local (WET/UTC+0)

### Group A

| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Denmark | 9 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 |
| Germany | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | +4 |
| Sweden | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 |
| Finland | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | −6 |

### Group B

| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| United States | 9 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | +10 |
| Norway | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Italy | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 |
| China | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | −8 |

### Group C

| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Iceland | 9 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | +8 |
| Portugal | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 |
| Republic of Ireland | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | −4 |
| Poland | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 |

## Placement play-offs

All times local (WET/UTC+0)

## Final

DENMARK: :

| GK | 1 | Heidi Johansen |
| - | - | - |
| DF | 2 | Mia Olsen | 76' |
| DF | 3 | Katrine Pedersen |
| DF | 4 | Christina Ørntoft |
| DF | 5 | Bettina Falk | 76' |
| MF | 6 | Mariann Gajhede |
| MF | 7 | Cathrine Paaske Sørensen |
| MF | 10 | Camilla Sand | 76' |
| FW | 9 | Maiken Pape | 54' |
| FW | 11 | Merete Pedersen |
| FW | 13 | Johanna Rasmussen |
| Substitutes: |||
| MF | 8 | Janne Madsen | 54' |
| MF | 12 | Line Røddik | 76' |
| FW | 14 | Marie Herping |
| DF | 15 | Marie Bjerg | 76' |
| GK | 16 | Tine Cederkvist |
| DF | 17 | Mette V. Jensen |
| MF | 18 | Theresa Nielsen |
| FW | 19 | Sine Hovesen | 76' |
| DF | 20 | Sanne Troelsgaard |
| Manager: |||
| Kenneth Heiner-Møller ||||

UNITED STATES: :

| GK | 18 | Hope Solo |
| - | - | - |
| DF | 3 | Christie Rampone |
| DF | 14 | Stephanie Cox | 60' | 74' |
| DF | 15 | Kate Markgraf |
| DF | 17 | Lori Chalupny |
| MF | 5 | Lindsay Tarpley | | 77' |
| MF | 9 | Heather O'Reilly | | 46' |
| MF | 11 | Carli Lloyd | | 35' |
| MF | 12 | Leslie Osborne |
| FW | 6 | Natasha Kai | | 81' |
| FW | 20 | Abby Wambach | | 88' |
| Substitutes: |||
| DF | 4 | Cat Whitehill |
| MF | 7 | Shannon Boxx |
| MF | 8 | Lauren Cheney | | 88' |
| MF | 10 | Angie Woznuk | | 77' |
| MF | 16 | Angela Hucles | | 35' |
| FW | 19 | Amy Rodriguez | | 81' |
| DF | 20 | Tobin Heath | | 46' |
| GK | 24 | Nicole Barnhart |
| DF | 26 | Rachel Buehler | | 74' |
| Manager: |||
| Pia Sundhage ||||
