The US WNT overcame early match nerves and a very game Costa Rican team through goals scored by Tobin Heath, Carli Lloyd, and Alex Morgan. This win qualifies them for the London Olympics. In the other semi-finals, Canada held off Mexico, 3-1, to also book their spot. The final will be played tomorrow and pits two of the most potent goalscorers in the game.

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.

Goalkeeper David De Gea has not exactly lived up to expectations in his first season with Manchester United, and there is pretty legitimate reasoning to explain what has gone wrong.

He might need be able to see clearly.

De Gea reportedly requires laser surgery to repair a case of farsightedness.

Photo: Courtesy of FIFA

Philadelphia Union

A new article from Kerith Gabriel on Friday morning about a Gabriel Gomez to the Philadelphia Union deal is headlined "Panama's Gomez signs with Union" but the copy says "According to sources, the contract has been approved by Major League Soccer and awaits Gomez' signature before the Union can schedule an announcement, which can come as early as next week.

Photo: Earl Gardner

Union

In this week's power rankings roundup, the Philadelphia Union move up one spot to no. 10 at MLSsoccer.com ("They haven't won in a long time, their body language is not particularly good right now, they're inconsistent offensively and the defense is suddenly leaky.

photo by Michael Long

For the second consecutive season, the Independence were defeated in the WPS Final. Last year, Philadelphia was humbled to the tune of 4-0 in a loss to FC Gold Pride. This year's game played out much differently with the Independence executing their game plan almost perfectly and only really failing to convert the chances they created.

photo by Michael Long

For the second consecutive season, the Independence were defeated in the WPS Final. Last year, Philadelphia was humbled to the tune of 4-0 in a loss to FC Gold Pride. This year's game played out much differently with the Independence executing their game plan almost perfectly and only really failing to convert the chances they created.

Amy Rodriguez's 88th minute goal gave the Philadelphia Independence new hope, as the team pulled even with the Western New York Flash at the end of regular time. It would be for naught, as the Independence eventually fell to the Flash on penalty kicks to lose the 2011 WPS Championship,

An incredibly defensive first half left the score at 0-0, but there were some lowlights to take from those 45 minutes.

In a game worthy of a Championship, the Western New York Flash defeated the Philadelphia Independence in a shootout 5-4 after the teams ended 120 minutes of soccer tied at one. Ashlyn Harris saved Laura del Rio's penalty on Philadelphia's fifth and final shot after every other shooter had converted for both teams.

The final of Women's Professional Soccer between the Philadelphia Independence and the Western New York Flash ended in a 1-1 draw, forcing a dramatic shootout in Rochester, NY. Former Portland Pilot Christine Sinclair of Canada put Western New York ahead in the 67th minute, and the Flash seemed to be in control of the match with Brazilian Marta, the undisputed best player in the world,
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The final of Women's Professional Soccer between the Philadelphia Independence and the Western New York Flash ended in a 1-1 draw, forcing a dramatic shootout in Rochester, NY. Former Portland Pilot Christine Sinclair of Canada put Western New York ahead in the 67th minute, and the Flash seemed to be in control of the match with Brazilian Marta, the undisputed best player in the world,
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photo by Michael Long

Game Time: 4 pm Saturday

TV: Comcast Sports Network

The Philadelphia Indpendence is back in the WPS Final for the second time in only their second year of existence. After dropping last year's final 4-0 to FC Gold Pride, this year's motto has been "unfinished business".

photo by Michael Long

Game Time: 4 pm Saturday

TV: Comcast Sports Network

The Philadelphia Indpendence is back in the WPS Final for the second time in only their second year of existence. After dropping last year's final 4-0 to FC Gold Pride, this year's motto has been "unfinished business".

Photo: Michael Long

Women's soccer leads the way this week on the KYW Philly Soccer Show when KYW's Greg Orlandini is joined by Philly Soccer Page writer Eli Pearlman-Storch and PSP‘s Philadelphia Independence beat writer Mike Servedio.

The Independence heads to Rochester, NY to face the Western New York Flash for the WPS crown on Saturday, August 27 (4pm, CSN).

Photo: Michael Long

Did you buy a ticket for the Independence match against Atlanta on Sunday after seeing some of the Women's World Cup? Or are you just making it down to Widener University for the first time? Here's what you've missed so far during Philadelphia's 2011 campaign:

Early season unevenness.

Photo: Michael Long

Did you buy a ticket for the Independence match against Atlanta on Sunday after seeing some of the Women's World Cup? Or are you just making it down to Widener University for the first time? Here's what you've missed so far during Philadelphia's 2011 campaign:

Early season unevenness.

cover photo by Michael Long

The Independence won their fifth straight game on Saturday to go four points clear on the top of the table over the visiting Western New York Flash. Tasha Kai scored her lead leading 8th goal of the campaign and Sinead Farrelly scored her first ever career goal for the winner.

cover photo by Michael Long

The Independence won their fifth straight game on Saturday to go four points clear on the top of the table over the visiting Western New York Flash. Tasha Kai scored her lead leading 8th goal of the campaign and Sinead Farrelly scored her first ever career goal for the winner.

The group stage of the 2011 Women's World Cup has come to a close, with most of the traditional powerhouses moving through to the quarterfinals. We saw more parity than we've seen in the past World Cups: Nigeria got their first win, Equatorial Guinea notched two goals, and Australia moved out of the group stage for the first time ever.

OTP celebrates 10 players at the Women's World Cup who are never likely to win approval from Sepp Blatter for his vision of the women's game. 1. Christine Sinclair (Canada) In her days at FC Gold Pride, she shared a successful strike partnership with Marta. More recently, she's been sharing a hairdresser with Forrest Gump.

After seven days of play in the 2011 Women's World Cup there is one obvious trend: Set pieces and headers result in goals. Including Saturday's four goals, 13 of the tournament total of 29 goals have resulted from a dead ball or a header. That statistic is an astounding 45%.

Anyone well informed in the game of soccer knows that set pieces are dangerous.

Matchday #2 for Group A at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup began with a match between two teams aspiring to advance out of the most difficult draw in the tournament. Canada needed at least a draw from this match after a 2-1 loss to Germany. Instead, France dominated Big Red in a 4-0 triumph, and ensured their berth in the quarterfinals, coupled with Germany's subsequent victory.

The second set of games got underway from Group A as a crowd of more than 50,000 came out to cheer on the home squad in Frankfurt. France and Germany each got a win to secure a berth in the quarterfinals.

Sinclair shows her disappointment as France celebrates their big win.

Christine Sinclair is wearing an awesome face mask, but if it gets loose, it could be hard for her to do those quick turn and shoots.
Players are in the tunnel. The mask does look pretty snug on Sinclair. The camera is finding a lot of Canadian fans in the stands, as compared to the previous game versus Germany.

Kaylyn Kyle is easy on her feet

The French were impressive against Nigeria with their short passing game initiated and controlled by Louisa Necib and Camille Abily. Their in form striker Marie-Laure Delie was able to make a 56' breakthrough with the match's only goal.

Today, they take on Christine Sinclair and Canada.

Competition for the inaugral 'Bish, Please' awards sponsored by Zlatan Ibrahimovic is already underway in the England camp. Image: Reuters/Daylife.

We confess to being quite startled at the huge response our query regarding coverage of the Women's World Cup received. We must warn you that while we are thrilled to bring you our take on the competition, this is precisely the type of behaviour that tends to upset people who prefer to believe that the Kickette Army's interest in football extends only as far as the number of naked torsos we can drool over in ninety minutes.

British Eurosport's ubiquitous football commentator Tim Caple was doing his level best not to say there were "no easy games in international football these days." Some clichés are oft-repeated because of the element of truth therein, but there were certainly no "easy games" in the first round of matches at this year's Women's World Cup in Germany.

It's the Christine Sinclair show within Canadian sports media circles today. The star Canadian forward, who scored her country's only goal in their 2-1 loss to Germany in the Women's World Cup, made it easy for Canadian journalists in search of a story this morning (including yours truly, although I'm not a journalist).

Photo by Omar Martinez/ISIphotos.com

If the United States Under-17 national team is to progress in the knockout stage of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, it will have to do so at the expense of the most impressive team of the tournament to date.

By virtue of its second-place finish in Group D, the U.

France 1-0 Nigeria

Nigeria elected to sit back for the first 20 minutes, respecting the French attack. France still created a number of opportunities, but could not get a final touch in the box to produce the goal.
Nigeria should have been up 1-0 when Oparanozie's good run on goal down the right side ended with a shot rolling wide.

France 1-0 Nigeria

Nigeria elected to sit back for the first 20 minutes, respecting the French attack. France still created a number of opportunities, but could not get a final touch in the box to produce the goal.
Nigeria should have been up 1-0 when Oparanozie's good run on goal down the right side ended with a shot rolling wide.

The first day of the 2011 Women's World Cup is in the books with all four Group A nations making their first appearances. Four goals were tallied today in front of almost 100,000 fans in two of Germany's premier stadiums. France took on Nigeria for a 1-0 win at Sinsheim in the early match and Germany edged by with the 2-1 victory against Canada in Berlin.

Kriseten Garefekes and Celia Okoyino Da Mbabi score to put Germany up before Canada through Christine Sinclair's brilliant free kick pull one back. The hosts and defending champions get all three points.

The Women's World Cup got off to an entertaining start today s holders and hosts Germany beat Canada and France beat Nigeria.

Germany, winners of the last two World Cups and strong favourites this time around too, got their campaign off to the perfect start when Kerstin Garefrekes headed home after 10 minutes.

Germany vs Canada Highlights- Women's World Cup 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Germany vs Canada Highlights- Women's World Cup 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Germany vs Canada 2011 Women's World Cup 2011- Olympic Stadium, Berlin- 26th June, 2011 Final score:- Germany vs Canada 2-1 ( Garefrekes, Mbabi/Sinclair) Christine Sinclair's fabulous free kick goes in vain as defending champions Germany beat [.

Christine Sinclair's goal ended the Germans enviable World Cup record

The German women's team looked like it was coasting to a win led by an exciting new generation of multi-ethnic players just like their male counterparts. The names of Celia Okoyino Da Mbabi and Fatmire Bajramaj will no doubt become familiar to thousands as the World Cup goes on.

Marie Laure- Delie has 22 goals in 21 matches

The opening match of the 2011 Women's World Cup between Group A contestants France and Nigeria just ended with Les Bleus emerging 1-0 victors. The winning goal was scored by in form striker Marie-Laure Delie in the 56th minute. The women's team have already gotten off to a better start than their male counterparts in South Africa.

The Philadelphia Independence rolled into Rochester, New York to become the first team to defeat the Flash all season. A 90th minute goal by Danesha Adams was a moment of brilliance in a sloppy game, void of many chances.

Paul Riley continued to tinker with his starting XI, putting out an offensive line up to challenge New York, who were without some key contributors to their victory in Philadelphia just two weeks ago.

The Independence wasted Meghan Rapinoe's early first half goal and were defeated 2-1 by the Western New York Flash on Sunday evening at Widener University. Rapinoe struck after just 9 minutes before Becky Edwards and Marta answered back for the undefeated Flash before half time.

Philadelphia coach Paul Riley started the game with Amy Rodriguez as a lone striker, possibly trying to cope with New York's dynamic attack.

Two games were played over the weekend, and new players got a chance to show what they're made of in Week 6 of Women's Professional Soccer. The Flash played yet another game at home on Friday night and handed the Boston Breakers a 3-2 loss. The Atlanta Beat was also at home this week, and the visiting Philadelphia Independence made a huge comeback to win the match 2-1 playing most of the match a man down on Sunday evening.