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^[1] in a repeat of the previous year's final.

2008 Algarve Cup

Tournament details
Host country	Portugal
Dates	5–12 March 2008
Teams	12 (from 3 confederations)
Venue(s)	9 (in 9 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	United States (6th title)
Runners-up	Denmark
Third place	Norway
Tournament statistics
Matches played	24
Goals scored	68 (2.83 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir (6 goals)
Best player(s)	Cathrine Paaske Sørensen
← 2007 2009 →

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

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5 March 2008

13:15

Germany	0–1	Denmark
		Pedersen 46'

Estádio Algarve, Faro

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5 March 2008

15:45

Finland	1–3	Sweden
Talonen 64'	SvFF Report (in Swedish)	Ljungberg 25' Fischer 29' Lundin 87'

Municipal Stadium, Lagos

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7 March 2008

13:15

Germany	3–0	Finland
Prinz 17', 28' Lingor 37' (pen)

Estádio Algarve, Faro

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7 March 2008

14:00

Denmark	1–0	Sweden
Sørensen 6'	SvFF Report (in Swedish)

Municipal Stadium, Lagos

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10 March 2008

13:15

Denmark	1–0	Finland
Sørensen 47'

Municipal Stadium, Lagos

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10 March 2008

13:15

Sweden	0–2	Germany
	SvFF Report (in Swedish)	Smisek 25' Prinz 86' (pen)

Municipal Stadium, Vila Real de Santo António

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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

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5 March 2008

13:45

China	0–4	United States
	Report	Tarpley 5' Heath 47' Wambach 64' Lloyd 69'

Municipal Stadium, Albufeira

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5 March 2008

16:15

Norway	4–2	Italy
Thorsnes 9' Storløkken 47' Stangeland Horpestad 63' (pen) Kaurin 74'		Panico 34' Gabbiadini 86'

Restinga Stadium, Alvor

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7 March 2008

13:45

United States	2–0	Italy
Tarpley 5' O'Reilly 74'	Report

Restinga Stadium, Alvor

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7 March 2008

16:15

Norway	3–1	China
unknown 42' (o.g.) Storløkken 64' Wiik 90'		Guo Yue 62'

Municipal Stadium, Albufeira

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10 March 2008

15:00

China	0–2	Italy
		Conti 41' Panico 70'

Municipal Stadium, Loulé

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10 March 2008

15:00

United States	4–0	Norway
Kai 55' Wambach 57' O'Reilly 65' Rodriguez 90'	Report

Restinga Stadium, Alvor

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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

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5 March 2008

13:15

Iceland	2–0	Poland
Stefánsdóttir 58' Viðarsdóttir 81'

Municipal Stadium, Lagos

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5 March 2008

15:45

Portugal	2–0	Republic of Ireland
Fernandes 86' Vieira 90+2'

Estádio Algarve, Faro

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7 March 2008

15:30

Portugal	3–1	Poland
Couto 17' Fernandes 44' Vieira 80'		Bochra 42'

Estádio Algarve, Faro

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7 March 2008

16:30

Republic of Ireland	1–4	Iceland
Grant 23'		Arnardóttir 7' Viðarsdóttir 12', 40' Gunnarsdóttir 19'

Municipal Stadium, Lagos

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10 March 2008

15:45

Portugal	0–3	Iceland
		Viðarsdóttir 15', 17' Jónsdóttir 69'

Municipal Stadium, Vila Real de Santo António

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10 March 2008

15:45

Poland	0–1	Republic of Ireland
		Grant 35'

Municipal Stadium, Lagos

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Placement play-offs

All times local (WET/UTC+0)

11th place

12 March 2008

10:00

Republic of Ireland	2–2 (5–6 PSO)	Poland
O'Brien O'Gorman		Stobba 23' Winczo 48'

Arsenio Catuna Complex, Guia

9th place

12 March 2008

10:00

China	1–1 (5–4 PSO)	Portugal
Bi Yan 1'		Fernandes 34'
Penalties
Li Jie Xu Yuan Wang Kun Ying Bi Yan Song Xiaoli	5 – 4	Matias Vieira Fernandes Brandão Couto Valinho

CD Montechoro, Albufeira

7th place

12 March 2008

10:30

Finland	0–3	Iceland
		Viðarsdóttir 12' Hönnudóttir 41' Gunnarsdóttir 90'

Municipal Stadium, Loulé

5th place

12 March 2008

10:30

Sweden	3–0	Italy
Öqvist 56' Svensson 61', 80'	SvFF Report (in Swedish)

José Arcanjo Stadium, Olhão

3rd place

12 March 2008

10:00

Germany	0–2	Norway
		Wiik 41' Knutsen 50'

Municipal Stadium, Vila Real de Santo António

Final

12 March 2008

13:15

Denmark	1–2	United States
Sørensen 31'	Report	Kai 14' Wambach 50'

Municipal Stadium, Vila Real de Santo António

Referee: Schett (Austria)

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