Shannon Smyth (Mequon/Milwaukee DSHA) was named to the Republic of Ireland squad for the Algarve Cup in Portugal.

The 24-year-old Smyth, who will start her second season with Amazon Grimstad FK in Norway's Toppserien in April, has six career caps. She has dual citizenship because her father, Brendan, was born and raised in Ireland.

After qualifying for the 2012 Olympics by defeating Costa Rica in the semifinal, the U.S. WNT has just one more task at hand and it won't be an easy one. The Americans will face Canada in the championship game of the tournament in front of a crowd expected to be more than 20,000 screaming Canadians at BC Place on Sunday evening.

Highly experienced referees Kari Seitz, Margaret Domka and Marlene Duffy were selected to officiate the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament being held from Jan. 20-29 in Vancouver, Canada.
Seitz and Duffy were selected to be officials at the tournament after a series of physical and technical tests at the CONCACAF Elite Referee Course.

The U.S. Women's National Team has ended 2011 as the top-ranked team in the world according to the year-end FIFA rankings.
The USA remained at #1, just ahead of Germany and third-place Japan, which has achieved its highest ranking ever.
The Nadeshiko benefited from Brazil's inconsistent performances: two draws against Canada (7th, up 2), narrow wins over Mexico (21st, up 1) and Costa Rica (41st, up 3) and a defeat by Denmark (12th, up 2) not only leave Brazil with a loss of 28 points and in 4th place, but see the Brazilians slip out of the top-3 for the first time since June of 2008.

Week 10 kicked off with a loud bang as Guimaraes thumped Pacos Ferreira 5-1 leaping them out of the cellar and into a tie for 10th place in Portugal. Maritimo then on Saturday defeated Academica 3-2 temporarily moving the club into third place in the league. Porto was then held on the road by Olhanense, playing the Algarve club to a scoreless draw.

Bellamy takes second chance to impress

Craig Bellamy's previous life at Liverpool is best remembered for his attempts to improve his golf swing by taking a club to John Arne Riise on a team bonding exercise on the Algarve. Bellamy's willingness to make life difficult for.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has no concerns about Craig Bellamy's bad-boy reputation.
The Wales international could make his debut in his second spell with the Anfield club against Stoke on Saturday after returning on deadline day of the summer transfer window.
Bellamy's previous time at Liverpool lasted just one season in 2006/07, when ex-boss Rafa Benitez decided a lack of discipline did not fit into his tactics.

Portugal vs Luxembourg 5-0 Goals 2011 Highlights Video Friendly is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Portugal vs Luxembourg 5-0 Goals 2011 Highlights Video Friendly is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Portugal vs Luxembourg 2011 Final score and result:- Portugal vs Luxembourg 5-0 ( Postiga, Ronaldo, Coentrao, Almeida*2) International Soccer Friendly- Estadio do Algarve- 10th August, 2011- Wednesday Portugal hammer minnows Luxembourg 5-0 in a friendly [.

Over the past couple of days, the biggest story of Wednesday's slate of international friendlies has quickly shifted from the meaningless matches themselves (which, let's face it, where never a huge story to begin with) to the England versus Holland game scheduled for Wednesday evening at London's Wembley Stadium facing the threat of cancellation due to the imminent collapse of western civilization.

With the upcoming friendly match for the senior national team coming up on Wedensday against minnow Luxembourg at Algarve, Paulo Bento has recalled Braga's Nuno Gomes as well as goalkeeper Quim to the squad. This is the first game back for Nuno since early 2010 World Cup qualifying and [read more]

Video: Celebs at SGF golf trophy

Celebrities and sportsmen gathered in the Algarve for the inaugural Steven Gerrard Foundation Golf Trophy this summer and our cameras were there to bring you the story of the event.

View the full story here: Liverpool FC

A news article on 2011-07-18 08:00:04 from: Liverpool FC

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

With his vacay days about to draw to a close, Cristiano Ronaldo has been keen on soaking up what little rays and water he has left.

From what we can gather, he and girlfriend Irina Shayk's holiday was quite the globe trotting adventure, beginning on a private yacht in Turkey. Unfortunately for C-Ron, he inadvertently ended up in the papers after a couple of his water stunts raised eyebrows.

In Part 1 of Back Home with Christie Rampone we visited the U.S. captain at her home in Manasquan, N.J. before the team left for the Algarve Cup at the end of February. There we saw her unique house (an old, old house that had been almost totally and fantastically remodeled) and we of course met her family, and dog.

It's a long way from the council estates of Huyton to the lush terrain of southern Portugal where Steven Gerrard spends his summers these days.
The 31-year-old's remarkable journey has been fuelled by talent - a talent which has earned him fame and fortune.
Now, as he follows Jamie Carragher into the period of his career when his name will often be preceded by the word veteran, Gerrard has decided to use those two assets to help children whose backgrounds are not so different from his own, but whose fate has not been blessed in the same way.

Mais um amistoso, foi realizado no dia 09/02/2011, na cidade de Faro-Loule-POR, no Estadio Algarve, onde jogaram as seleções da Polônia (71º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção da Noruega (11º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
Wed 09/02/11 FRI Poland 1 - 0 Norway View events More info Fri 31/08/01 WQE Poland 3 - 0 Norway More info Fri 23/03/01 WQE Norway 2 - 3 Poland More info Tue 12/10/93 WQE Poland 0 - 3 Norway More info Tue 21/09/93 WQE Norway 1 - 0 Poland
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Ivo Nelson dos Santos Anjos-POR
O primeiro gol do jogo, foi de Robert Lewandowski, aos 19 minutos do primeiro tempo, ele que é jogador do Borússia Dortmund-ALE, que marcou seu 10º gol pela seleção nacional.

The U.S. Women's National Soccer Team will play a pair of domestic matches in May to prepare for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, facing Japan on May 14 at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, and on May 18 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.

The match at Columbus Crew Stadium will kick off at 6:30 p.

Should Liverpool reach the Europa League final, the club's commercial department may be tempted to release a DVD of the full campaign. The away legs will, however, need to be fast-forwarded or cut out. Thus far, they have travelled through the Netherlands, Italy, Romania, the Czech Republic and now Portugal, amassing thousands of air miles and a single goal.

I was gonna put this up last night, but then Sean posted and I didn't want to step on his NSC toes...Ladies first: USWNT phenom buries a very impressive first of two goals against Algarve Cup victim Finland with great nonchalance - the Sleepwalking Sniper, she is.Chances are you probably saw this 20 times, but just in case, let's not tapdance around Liverpool's Luis Suarez-to-Dirk Kuyt as the

The final day of group play was played in both the Algarve Cup and Cyprus Cup on March 7 and placements matches were set. The USA and Iceland will play for the title on March 9 at 12 pm ET.

In Group A, Norway defeated Japan with a score of 1-0, while the US dominated Finland and winning 4-0.

The Algarve Cup continued today with the second day of group play. Six matches were played across the southern region of Portugal and we learned a little bit about what the championship match will look like.

Day 2 of the Algarve Cup started off with Japan crushing Finland with 5 goals. Shinobu Ohno kicked things for Japan with her goal in the 16th minute of the match.

Lindsay Tarpley (Madison) celebrated her first start for the U.S. women's national team in nearly 18 months in fine fashion Friday.

Tarpley scored the 28th goal of her international career in the 34th minute, helping the U.S. to a 2-0 victory over Norway at the Algarve Cup in Vila Real de San Antonio, Portugal.

We wish we had more variety of pics for the WNT Blog, but really, the trip so far has feature a lot of training, some more training and a little bit more training. We did get this image of Kelley O'Hara and yes, we have no idea what was going on there, but she looks pretty graceful. The U.S. team has been extremely pleased at the awesome weather so far in the Algarve, especially the East Coast folks who are emerging from a long winter.

U.S. Women's National Team2011 Algarve CupThe Algarve, PortugalFeb. 21, 2011
U.S. WNT ARRIVES EARLY IN PORTUGAL FOR 11 DAYS OF TRAINING BEFORE ALGARVE CUP: The U.S. Women's National Team has arrived on the southern coast of Portugal to prepare for its second international tournament of 2011.

Today's training was a light one. The squad did the beep test on a turf field and then walked down a hill to the grass field for a warm-up and some 9 v 9 from end-line to half field. Lots of nice goals, but a few particularly spicy ones from Lindsay Tarpley. You know the players below, but since not much went on today in the Algarve, we thought we'd give them their close-ups.

Even with the massive development in the Algarve with seemingly an endless number of apartments, many of them vacation homes of people who live in the bigger cities, the region still manages to retain much of its rural charms. Case in point, this guy grazing on a hill overlooking the U.S. training. He seemed much more interested in the grass than watching soccer.

After rain almost every day at last year's Algarve Cup tournament and rain yesterday during the USA's first day in Portugal, the sun came out today and showed why the Algarve is such a popular tourist destination. The U.S. players didn't have much time to enjoy the scenery with weights in the morning and training in the afternoon, but tomorrow features just one training, so some strolls on the beach might be forthcoming.

Some sleepy U.S. players await the arrival of the team gear upon arrival in Lisbon

Can you believe that the USA's flight from Newark, N.J. to Lisbon, Portugal took just six hours and four minutes? Now that's some serious tailwind. It's taken us longer to get from New York to California.

It's time once again for the annual trek to Portugal for the U.S. WNT which will be participating in the Algarve Cup for the 16th time. The Algarve Cup -- the biggest little tournament in the world -- has long been one of the favorite trips for the U.S. team, mostly for the great games, the food, the beautiful coast line and hopefully, the nice weather.

The U.S. team doesn't leave for the Algarve Cup until the end of the week, and will spend 11 days training in southern Portugal, as much for the upcoming WWC as for the Algarve Cup itself, before opening the competition on March 2 vs. Japan. Meanwhile, preparations are underway in Portugal to host 12 teams, and that means the unveiling of the tournament poster for 2011.

The U.S. team will return to the southern coast of Portugal once again for the Algarve Cup and U.S. WNT head coach Pia Sundhage has selected 24 players for one of the best trips the team makes. Why is it a great trip? Great training, great games, great food, great country, great area...and if they're lucky, great weather.

CHICAGO (Feb. 10, 2011) – Following a seven-day training camp in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., U.S. Women's National Team head coach Pia Sundhage has named a 24-player preliminary roster for the 2011 Algarve Cup in Portugal.
This year's tournament is being staged from March 2-9 and the U.

Following a seven-day camp in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., US head coach Pia Sundhage has named the 24-player roster that will travel to Portugal for the Algarve Cup (March 2-9). Sundhage will name a 20-player roster before the start of the tournament.

Hope Solo will go on this trip, but is not ready to compete in matches, and will be in Portugal to train as she enters the final stages of rehabilitation from shoulder surgery.

In lieu of a real training session, the U.S. WNT spent three hours this morning shooting footage for ESPN for a commercial that will air promoting the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. We can't give away anything about the spot, but the players and crew had fun on a bit of a hot morning and the players performed like Hollywood veterans on the "set".

The training camps come fast and furious in a World Cup year and the U.S. WNT will get back at it on Feb. 3 as the team comes together for a week-long training camp in Ft. Lauderdale. It is first extended training period in Ft. Lauderdale since 2000 for the U.S. women and Pia Sundhage will bring 32 players into camp, all vying for 23 spots on the roster for the 2011 Algarve Cup in Portugal.

Champions, again.The United States Women's Nation Team took full honors at the Four Nations Tournament with a 2-0 defeat of the hosts in Chongquing, China. The USWNT suffered an early set up, losing 2-1 to Sweden, but then successive wins against Canada and China sealed the tournament win. It was their seventh title in eight trips to the tournament.

And it's the team's second loss in the last five games:

CHONGQING, China (AP) -- The U.S. women's team began World Cup preparations by losing a match in which it led for the first time in more than eight years.

Carli Lloyd's goal off an 11th-minute corner kick was offset when Stina Segerstrom scored in the 16th and Kosovare Asllani in the 60th to give Sweden a 2-1 victory over the Americans on Friday in the opening game of the Four Nations Tournament.

As you can see, it's nice the nicest day ever in the Yongchuan suburb of Chongqing, and we're not sure if its fog or smog, but probably a combo. Needless to say, it's pretty dark and cool here on the first full day for the U.S. team in China, but no one comes to central China in January for vacation, the USA is here for three excellent games.