As the Senate gets ready to vote on a new bill to stave off economic disaster, and Sarah prepares (feverishly) to debate, and George Will joins the ranks of those who see her as unqualified to serve ... and some (unfortunately) find themselves feeling sorry for the lipsticked pitbull ... my thoughts turn (feverishly) to [.

The Final and a tournament wrap up by du Nord's Women's Soccer Major Tournament Correspondent Adam.
In a fairytale ending to their Olympic tournament, the underdog US team saved its gutsiest performance for last, beating Brazil 1-0 to win its second straight gold medal.
Here are some final thoughts about the tournament.

Sports Illustrated has come out with a more in-depth article than I've seen to date on Hope Solo, Briana Scurry, and the USWNT's World Cup Loss to Brazil. Basically, though, my response to this piece is, "Yada, yada, yada." Not articulate enough for you? Okay - well I still find the explication unsatisfying and demonizing [.

Heather O'Reilly scored just 40 seconds into the game, USC striker Amy Rodriguez also scored and Torrance's Shannon Boxx was named player of the game as the U.S. crushed New Zealand (much much) earlier today 4-0 to win its group.

The U.S. needed a big win and a large Norway loss against Japan to take the group.

Here we go, the U.S. versus the Canadians in the quarterfinals.
Canada:
Erin McLeod, Emily Zurrer, Candace Chapman, Martina Franko, Clare Rustad, Sophie Schmidt, Rhian Wilkinson, Diana Matheson, Christine Sinclair, Melissa Tancredi, Kara Lang
U.S.
Hope Solo, Heather Mitts, Christie Rampone, Kate Markgraf, Lori Chalupny, Lindsay Tarpley, Shannon Boxx, Heather O'Reilly, Carli Lloyd, Amy Rodriguez, Angela Hucles.

The United States women's team celebrate their victory over Brazil for the Gold medal in 2008 Olympic Games. The Olympic team included Hope Solo, Heather Mitts, Christie Rampone, Lindsay Tarpley, Shannon Boxx, Amy Rodriguez, Heather O'Reilly, Carli Loyd, Kate Margraf, Angela Hucles, and Lori Chalupny.

Here's Cindy McCain speaking about "the only way to get around in Arizona." (This is way too easy ... I think I'm starting to feel a tad mean-spirited and guilty.) I'll get over it, though. Mark Zeigler writes from San Diego about tonight's USWNT vs. Brazil match-up ... the second this week. On [.

The USWNT kicks off against Japan tomorrow morning at 5AM ET and will (hopefully) field a team with its heads screwed on more securely than on Wednesday! I like to think that Wednesday's game was a collective test, to see whether "Boom Ball" really doesn't work. Lesson learned, guys? Gayle Bryan has written about [.

A diving header from Natasha Kai gave the U.S. a 2-1 win earlier today over Canada and sent the women to an Olympics semifinal game Monday against Japan.

Game story.

The U.S. lineup: 1-Hope Solo; 17-Lori Chalupny, 15-Kate Markgraf, 2-Heather Mitts, 3-Christie Rampone; 7-Shannon Boxx, 11-Carli Lloyd, 9-Heather O'Reilly (6-Natasha Kai, 91), 5-Lindsay Tarpley (13-Tobin Heath, 82); 16-Angela Hucles, 8-Amy Rodriguez (12-Lauren Cheney, 109).

An important match versus Japan looms. Predictions?
USA: 18-Hope Solo; 2-Heather Mitts, 15-Kate Markgraf, 3-Christie Rampone - Capt., 14-Stephanie Cox, 15; 9-Heather O'Reilly, 7-Shannon Boxx, 11-Carli Lloyd, 5-Lindsay Tarpley; 16-Angela Hucles, 8-Amy Rodriguez.
JPN: 1-Miho Fukumoto; 2-Yukari Kinga, 3-Hiromi Ikeda, 4-Azusa Iwashimizu, 7-Kozue Ando; 5-Miyuki Yanagita, 8-Aya Miyama, 10-Homare Sawa, 15-Mizuho Sakaguchi; 17-Yuki Nagasato, 11-Shinobu Ohno.

Here we go, here we go.
USA: 1-Hope Solo; 17-Lori Chalupny, 15-Kate Markgraf, 2-Heather Mitts, 3-Christie Rampone-Capt.; 7-Shannon Boxx, 11-Carli Lloyd, 9-Heather O'Reilly, 5-Lindsay Tarpley; 16-Angela Hucles, 8-Amy Rodriguez
Japan: 1-Miho Fukumoto; 2-Yukari Kinga, 3-Hiromi Ikeda, 4-Azusa Iwashimizu, 7-Kozue Ando; 14-Kyoko Yano, 8-Aya Miyama, 10-Homare Sawa, 15-Mizuho Sakaguchi, 11-Shinobu Ohno, 17-Yuki Nagasato.

The Women's Professional Soccer League announced its allocation of members of the U.S. women's national team on Tuesday, establishing a foundation for the seven-team league set to kick off next spring.

U.S. Olympic team star Hope Solo and U.S. national team striker Abby Wambach were among the 21 players assigned to the seven teams.

Given a choice between watching soccer and blogging about it, I'd much rather do the former, but the scant rewards Wednesday for doing so included a tepid Manchester United 0-0 draw with Spain's Villareal in the UEFA Champions League and a surprising 2-0 win by Marathon of Honduras over Cruz Azul in the CONCACAF version

I will likely impose radio silence again today with two UEFA Cup games on Fox Soccer Channel (Spurs-Wisla Krakow at noon followed by Tim Howard's Everton against Oguchi Onyewu's Standard Liege) and New York meeting Sigi Schmid's Columbus Crew over on ESPN2 at 4 p.

UCLA men 2 (2-3-1) Santa Clara 0
No. 2 UCLA women 3 (7-0-1) New Mexico 0
No.4 USC 4 (7-1-0) SMU 0
Long Beach State 3 (5-2-2) Utah State 0
Pepperdine 0 (3-4-2) Marquette 0
Arizona State 2 Cal State Northridge women 1 (5-3)
Sacramento 1 Cal State Northridge men 2
Loyola Marymount women 4 (4-3-2)Oral Roberts 1
Loyola Marymount men 0 (1-2-3) No.

USA Women Olympic Match Report from du Nord reader Adam.
Quarterfinals:
-Fri Aug 15
USA 2-1 Canada
After a marathon match that included a rain delay and extra-time, the US emerged from the quarterfinals victorious over regional rivals Canada.
The US took the lead in the 12th minute when Angela Hucles tapped in a header from Heather O'Reilly.

The United States women's team celebrate their victory over Brazil for the Gold medal in 2008 Olympic Games. The Olympic team included Hope Solo, Heather Mitts, Christie Rampone, Lindsay Tarpley, Shannon Boxx, Amy Rodriguez, Heather O'Reilly, Carli Loyd, Kate Margraf, Angela Hucles, and Lori Chalupny.