U.S. women face key match vs. Italy

Megan Rapinoe already is dreaming of Germany and next summer's Women's World Cup.

“Oh yeah, definitely. It's going to be amazing,” Rapinoe said after the U.S. national team's training session at Toyota Park was cut short by sleet.

The Americans still have to get past Italy, however, and the teams will meet at 1 p.m. Saturday at Toyota Park in the second leg of a two-game playoff to qualify for the 2011 Women's World Cup.

“This is all of our's dreams since however old we were,” said Rapinoe, 25, who hasn't played in a World Cup yet. “We realize that we're in a bit of an unusual situation for our team at least, but we've embraced it and we're ready to play and win.”

The United States has never missed a Women's World Cup, but it is in danger of doing so after being upset by Mexico in the semifinals of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament. After defeating Italy 1-0 last weekend in Italy, the United States just needs a tie Saturday in Bridgeview. A tie, however, is not the goal.

“We always go for the win,” said Rapinoe, who plays club soccer for the Red Stars at Toyota Park. “It is nice to have a bit of a cushion, I suppose, having a goal up, but we want to go out there, we want to win. We want to put as many away as we can, leave nothing up to chance. We're going to go out there and put them away early, hopefully.”

A crowd of more than 7,000 is expected. Tickets start at $10 and will be available at the stadium box office on game day.

“Hopefully, we'll get a good crowd support coming out,” Rapinoe said. “That's always huge for us. It's always nice to play in front of a lot of fans, so hopefully people will brave the cold and come out and watch us play, and hopefully we'll have quite a few of the Red Stars supporters out here. That'll be nice to see them again.”

The forecast calls for dry weather and temperatures near 40 degrees. The weather and this qualifying playoff all will be a memory next summer, however.

“Hopefully, we'll be in Germany and look back, sitting around with that gold medal and say it was a weird way, but whatever works,” U.S. coach Pia Sundhage said with a smile.