PIA SUNDHAGE promised it, and it has come true: Times, they have a-changed.

It used to be so simple.

Mia Hamm, the cutie pie with thunderous thighs, supplied the face of the U.S. national soccer team. She scored with frequency and ease, supported by ironwoman Kristine Lilly, bubbly Julie Foudy, Brandi "The Bra" Chastain and Joy Fawcett. They were pals and buddies and, it seemed, footballers of the ya-ya sisterhood.

Those were the days.

Hamm, Foudy, Fawcett and Chastain quit shortly after the 2004 Olympic Games. Last month Lilly, the world's most prolific participant, turned 37 and had a baby.

Once a team of toothy darlings, this now is a team of . . . well, of relative anonymity.

"I think people outside view it as a struggle, but we look at it as a great opportunity," said defender Kate Markgraf, a team member since 1998. "There have been some voices that haven't been heard on our team."

Mostly, the voice heard belonged to Abby Wambach, a ringleader in the team's most notorious moment.

"I think the big thing this summer is we will have another opportunity of earning [their own fame]," Wambach said. "So, hopefully, we can take advantage of it."

Lately, they have failed.

Since they won their second Olympic gold in three tries, despite continued excellence, the most publicity the women's national team has gotten centered on a goalkeeper controversy in a disappointing 2007 World Cup tournament in China.

The explosive incident:

The day before the semifinal against Brazil last year coach Greg Ryan chose veteran Briana Scurry, historically successful against Brazil, to start over Hope Solo, who was hot at the time, having logged more than 300 consecutive scoreless minutes.

Brazil won, 4-0, in the Americans' only loss since 2004. Scurry looked rusty. Team USA scored an own goal. Brazil scored goals No. 3 and 4 after a questionable call meant the ejection of a Team USA player, forcing Team USA to play 10-on-11. Team USA looked sluggish, and lost, and Solo was upset.

Solo publicly ripped Ryan's decision and, in a breach of solidarity, specifically contended she would have been better than Scurry. After a team vote (yes, a team vote, like some petulant, high school varsity team), Solo was suspended for the team's subsequent third-place match. More significant, she was ostracized by her teammates.

Ryan - whose only loss in 3 years was in that World Cup semifinal - soon was fired and replaced by Sundhage, a legendary Swedish player who was an assistant on China's national team. She trashed Ryan's paralyzing, dump-and-chase style for a more controlled, aggressive, skill-based attack.

More significant, Sundhage also not only welcomed Solo to her team but she also has relegated Scurry, now on the south side of 36, to alternate status at the Olympics.

From her first day until today, Sundhage will be inextricably connected to Bob Dylan's song, "The Times, They Are A-Changin'," since she used it in her introductory meeting with the team. The message was clear:

She didn't care what happened in 2007, or in 2004, for that matter. This group of women needed to be above rifts, open to style changes, ready to be remade. In a matter of months.

Sundhage has complimented the talent pool and skill level as "beautiful."

"We needed to change our game, we needed new ideas, and Pia was perfect for us," Markgraf said.

The team is 21-0-1 under Sundhage and playing splendidly, the new style adhered to.

But things are hardly perfect.

Solo apologized when she returned to the team in October, but some, such as Wambach, have not forgiven her. While Wambach allows that sending Solo home, then freezing her out, might have been overkill, she will not back down from her steadfast belief that Solo went too far.

Other teammates seem less bitter. Scurry, for example, met with Solo last month, where they salved each other's wounds, according to a Sports Illustrated story.

Therein might lie the team's salvation, as far as interest goes.

Really, without Chastain's exhibitionism (in 1999 she posed in only cleats with a cleverly placed soccer ball for Gear magazine), Foudy's rowdiness and Hamm's charisma, Team USA might have just faded away.

That's especially true now that Wambach, the new face of the team and its leading scorer, broke her leg in two places on July 16 in the team's final match before the Olympics, against Brazil.

Added to knee injuries to Leslie Osborne and Cat Whitehill, along with the absence of Lilly, Team USA - with only seven players returning from 2004 - might find itself basking in the light the Solo/Scurry/Sundhage saga brings.

"You know there's no such thing as bad press. It may not be the way we wanted it out there," Markgraf said. "It was a great learning experience. I think we are a stronger team now because of it. Hopefully, that change will show in the Olympics." *

Monday: Tennis.