U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage has named the 18 players that will suit up against New Zealand tomorrow at 3 p.m. CT at FC Dallas Stadium. The game is expected to be a sell-out in the 20,500-seat venue and the U.S. players are looking forward to a fantastic Texas reception.
U.S. Roster vs. New Zealand
Feb.

Lauren Cheney gets a step on Amy Lepeilbet, but Hope Solo stands between her and the goal
After a brief week-long break since winning the 2012 Olympic Women's Qualifying Tournament in Canada, the U.S. team has re-grouped in Frisco, Texas for a five days of training before facing New Zealand on Saturday, Feb.

The U.S. Women celebrate their 2012 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament title on Sunday.

The U.S. Women's National Team put up some staggering results to win the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament to open 2012: five wins, five shutouts, 38 goals and of course a berth into the 2012 London Olympics.

Through the first four games of Olympic qualifying, the United States silenced each of its powerless opponents. On Sunday, it was Canada's time.

The U.S. defense pitched its fifth shutout of the tournament while Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach each netted a pair of goals to give the Americans a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Canada at BC Place in Vancouver.

If Costa Rica had any hope of qualifying for the Olympics this summer, it was extinguished in the second half of tonight's match against the USWNT. While Costa Rica played hard all match long, it wasn't enough, as the US scored two late goals to secure their fifth straight Olympic appearance. The US Women's National Team now awaits the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London, where they will defend their 2008 gold medal from Beijing.

It was no walk in the park, but United States claimed an Olympic berth after withstanding a spirited and stubborn Costa Rica to earn a 3-0 win Friday night.

Tobin Heath put the U.S. on the board with a 16th minute goal while Carli Lloyd followed up with an insurance strike in the 74th minute.

Mexico's World Cup qualifying victory clearly shook the US Women's National Team to their core. On Tuesday night, the US settled the score, reminding Mexico, and the world, that there is still an enormous gap in class between the two sides. Were at not for some shoddy finishing and a whole lot of five-alarm defending, the score line could easily have been doubled as the US controlled the match from the opening whistle and were rarely troubled throughout the 90 minutes.

Photo by Stephen Brashear/ISIphotos.com

They might have been held to single digits on the scoreboard for the first time during the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament, but the U.S. women's national team remains on a roll.

Carli Lloyd netted a hat trick, and the U.

The US Women's National Team knocked off Mexico 4-0 in their final match of the group stage of Olympic qualifying to win Group B. Carli Lloyd had a hat trick and Heather O'Reilly added a goal as the USWNT rolled to an easy victory. They will face Costa Rica for a chance to qualify on Friday (8pm, concacaf.

It was another easy win for the USWNT tonight as the rolled right on through Guatemala, winning the game 13-0. Unlike the game against the Dominican Republic, the goals didn't come as quickly during this game, as the US tried to feel out their Guatemalan counterparts during the opening five minutes.

Photo: Paul Rudderow.

I tried to tune in to watch the USWNT take on the Dominican Republic at the appointed 10:30 pm start time last night. In the 10 or so minutes it took me to update the stupid Silverlight player and get the game to load, I missed the opening 3 goals, which all happened inside the first 7 minutes of the game.

It started as a soccer game. It ended with a football score.

Former Boston Breakers' striker Amy Rodriguez grabbed a record-tying five goals in the United States' record-setting 14-0 demolition of the Dominican Republic in the first game of Olympic Qualifying at BC Place in Vancouver.

Photo: Courtesy of Philadelphia Independence

On Wednesday, the Independence finally made official what has been rumored for weeks, that former Atlanta Beat midfielder/striker Lori Chalupny has signed with the team. Chalupny is a former USWNT player who has been capped over 90 times for the senior squad.

The candidates for the 2011 U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year are as good as ever and truth be told, all five would be deserved winners.
Who are you voting for?
Maybe these videos will help you make up your mind, or maybe not. After all, you can vote once a day!
Lauren Cheney: Breakout Star


Ali Krieger: Right Back, Right Time


Hope Solo: Golden Glove Winner


Abby Wambach: Ms.

The Boston Breakers have signed veteran U.S. National Team midfielder Heather O'Reilly, the club announced today. Terms of deal were not realesed.

O'Reilly, 26, is a three year WPS verteran having last played with Sky Blue FC. She usually features on the flank and has contributed four goals and 11 assists in her domestic career.

In what was an historic year for U.S. Women's Soccer, the Americans finished at 13-3-4 while scoring 41 goals and allowing 17.
The U.S. team started and finished the year ranked #1 in the world.
Abby Wambach led the USA in scoring (surprise!) with eight goals and four assists, but Carli Lloyd (6 goals) and Lauren Cheney (5) also had quality goal scoring years.

USWNT almost atoned for it's group stage blemish on Saturday..

TSG's Maura Gladys brings us home on the USWNT in 2011. Thanks for hard work, Maura.

If she didn't prove it with her two goals and one in the 2011 World Cup, Alex Morgan proved last night that she deserves a spot in USWNT the starting lineup.

The volume of the screams of the U.S. fans have gotten a bit louder since the Women's World Cup, although of course the fan base for the U.S. women has always been young, energetic and tremendously supportive. That hasn't changed in Arizona, where the USA has gotten another great reception.
LONG LINE: No, Abby didn't sign every one of these autographs, but most of them


Alex Morgan signs for the next generation

This young lady came prepared.

We've started a new feature on our Blogs and, for now, we're calling it Rewind. This is where we pull an old video from our archives that we think was really good, historic, just plain fun or all of the above.
We'll start with this little gem from 2008 in which we feature current U.S. WNT regulars Amy Rodriguez, Lauren Cheney and Tobin Heath when they were all just breaking into the team.

Maura Gladys returns with Part I of II on the USWNT moving forward

Out with the old, in with the new? Yeah, um, not so much....

It's tough to derive meaning from last week's U.S. Women's Soccer Celebration Series in an on-field context. With nothing at stake, and with the purpose of the two game series against Canada clearly stated as a celebration, the squad was under no obligation other than to entertain fans.

We were looking through ProZone's report of the USA's tie with Canada form Saturday and after sifting through a mountain of statistics, came up with a few we thought would be of interest to fans of the WNT Blog:
Cheney: Midfield Maestro in the Making?
- Lauren Cheney made her first start in center midfield for the WNT and covered the most distance.

CAMRBIDGE, Mass. With their playoff hopes on the line, the Breakers got two goals from Lauren Cheney as their 2-0 victory over Sky Blue FC earned them a trip to the WPS postseason on the final day of the regular season.

Cheney, who only recently came back from an ankle injury she suffered earlier this summer, scored in the 1st and 18th minutes while Alyssa Naeher made seven saves on the night to help steer Boston to its second consecutive WPS playoff appearance.

Team of Destiny.

It didn't matter who won the 2011 Women's World Cup final, the winner already had a title. Japan was the Team of Destiny that brought joy to their nation after a devastating tragedy. The US overcame odds leading up to and then throughout the tournament to improbably reach the finals.

Japón se ciñó su primera corona mundial al imponerse a EEUU en la final de la Copa Mundial Femenina de la FIFA Alemania 2011™. Luego de un emocionante y reñido partido, que se cerró tras la prórroga con empate 2-2, a las estadounidenses les falló la puntería en los lanzamiento de penal mientras que las Nadeshiko las favoreció la gran tarea de la portera Ayumi Kaihori.

The U.S women's national team learned a difficult lesson in their extra time loss on penalty kicks to Japan in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup final: not finishing valuable scoring opportunities will come back to bite you. And bite them it did.

The U.S squandered a host of chances in the first half hour that could have decided the match.

Aw, that was a cute bit on the space station, but maybe that's because I'm a sucker for space travel.Bob Ley calls the USA the favorites, and even a homer like Brandi Chastain has to point out that the USA isn't playing that great.
Nice background on Pia, because she really is like that, in terms of working song lyrics into actual stuff she says.

The Women's National Team has returned to the United States and made their first stop in New York City. They received a very welcome homecoming, and fans greeted the team as they arrived in Times Square.
Although the tournament is all wrapped up, the team is busy visiting your favorite news and entertainment shows to talk about their experience at the Women's World Cup in Germany.

Hope Solo of course gets the most attention in these parts of the ladies on the United States Women's World Cup squad. Some of that is due to her growing up in our state and playing for the Huskies, it is also because she's quite good. The other most recognizable name for Sounders fans that have only casually watched the games is Alex Morgan.

Billy Witz has a nice piece up about how the USA Women winning the World Cup tomorrow could be bad for the team and the women's program in the long run. However, I don't agree with all of it. Yes, I do think the USA is now relying more on athleticism instead of skill to squeeze out wins against teams who have advanced their programs at a faster rate, but I guess I have more faith than Billy in Pia Sundhage.

Sunday's final vs Japan is going to be verrrryyyy interesting!! 2 completely different teams but with the same die hard attitude! I'm torn over who I want to win, because I'm not totally sold on the US team yet. Their style is...not so attractive, but their chemistry and attitude is immense.

Lauren Cheney will need to control the tempo in midfield if the US are to defeat Japan.

Three U.S. players have been nominated for the Golden Ball at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. Lauren Cheney, Hope Solo, Abby Wambach have been nomianted for the award recognizes the most outstanding player at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. Twelve players from nominated by the FIFA Technical Study Group and the top three players will be tallied based on voting by the media.

It all comes down to Sunday. We've all heard it before (many, many times).

Japan USA: Sunday, ESPN, 2:45 PM

The US women are in the World Cup final for the first time since 1999. Many wondered if they would have a letdown in their semifinal match against France following an emotional quarterfinal win over Brazil.

Hi AC- I read your blog and enjoy your media criticisms and was wondering what you thought of their Women's World Cup coverage?
I think it's better than the men for a few simple reasons
1. No Lalas
2. Diciccio- great analyst, just wish they'd allow him more than just a few sentences a game.

I realize it is strange to have two tube sessions so close together, but there's just a lot going on. At least I waited until work day was almost done...Apparently, the USWNT has some sort of event to attend on Sunday or something.By the way, I'd like to give some props to the unsung hero of this tournament so far: Lauren Cheney.

Abby Wambach is back in form.The United States Women's National Team is on their way to the World Cup final for the first time since 1999. They achieved this feet in their 3-1 victory over a feisty French national team. The game was a close one and like the USWNT's victory against Brazil, this game had some impressive moments of excitement.

The final of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup will be contested by two-time former winners United States and Japan who will be appearing in their first ever final against the odds.

Not many people tipped Japan before the tournament to go so far but they have upset the apple cart especially after knocking out tournament hosts and defending champions Germany in the quarter-finals.

Got a little curmudgeony this morning apologies.

Lloyd always does the dirty work in the US midfield...

The disposition was due in part to the suggestion that Carli Lloyd hasn't upheld her part of the bargain in central midfield for the US given Lauren Cheney's move their in yesterday's game against France.

Yeah, it's Abby Wambach. Were you expecting someone else? Image: Scott Heavey/Getty Images/Daylife

Usually we write something amusing here. Lately, our purple prose preamble has been little more than a device to divert your attention from the fact that the Women's World Cup and Copa America haven't kept us to the level of excitement we demand here.

By Chris Wright

The US Women spanked France with two late goals to secure themselves a spot in the World Cup against Japan (who beat Sweden 3-1 in the other semi-final) in Frankfurt on Sunday.

Laura Cheney swept home to put the States a goal up inside nine minutes, only for France to equalise ten minutes after the break when Sonia Bompastor's flat cross bounced across the six-yard box and nestled inside the far post.

The United States Women's National Soccer Team qualified for its first FIFA Women's World Cup Final since it won the title in 1999 with a 3-1 semi-final win over France on Wednesday. The two-time world champions will now meet Japan for the tournament decider in Frankfurt, Germany on Sunday. Lauren Cheney put the USA up 1-0 [.