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) (hosts)
Group stage All times local (WET/UTC+0)
Group A TeamPtsPldWDLGFGAGD9330030+36320151+43310234−10300317−6
Group B TeamPtsPldWDLGFGAGD93300100+10632017703310246−20300319−8
Group C TeamPtsPldWDLGFGAGD9330091+86320154+13310226−40300316−5
Placement play-offs All times local (WET/UTC+0)
11th place
9th place
7th place
5th place
3rd place
Final
DENMARK: GK 1 Heidi JohansenDF 2 Mia Olsen DF 3 Katrine PedersenDF 4 Christina ØrntoftDF 5 Bettina Falk MF 6 Mariann GajhedeMF 7 Cathrine Paaske SørensenMF 10 Camilla Sand FW 9 Maiken Pape FW 11 Merete PedersenFW 13 Johanna RasmussenSubstitutes:MF 8 Janne Madsen MF 12 Line Røddik FW 14 Marie HerpingDF 15 Marie Bjerg GK 16 Tine CederkvistDF 17 Mette V. JensenMF 18 Theresa NielsenFW 19 Sine Hovesen DF 20 Sanne TroelsgaardManager: Kenneth Heiner-MøllerUNITED STATES: GK 18 Hope SoloDF 3 Christie RamponeDF 14 Stephanie Cox DF 15 Kate MarkgrafDF 17 Lori ChalupnyMF 5 Lindsay Tarpley MF 9 Heather O'Reilly MF 11 Carli Lloyd MF 12 Leslie OsborneFW 6 Natasha Kai FW 20 Abby Wambach Substitutes:DF 4 Cat WhitehillMF 7 Shannon BoxxMF 8 Lauren Cheney MF 10 Angie Woznuk MF 16 Angela Hucles FW 19 Amy Rodriguez DF 20 Tobin Heath GK 24 Nicole BarnhartDF 26 Rachel Buehler Manager: Pia Sundhage
References