The US and Canada are moving on to the 2012 London Olympics. Behind another strong shutout performance by the US. Heath, Lloyd and Morgan all score for the US against Costa Rica. The US carry a 34 goals for, 0 goals against into the final Sunday night in Vancouver.Video: Universal Sports
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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.

In his recent post on the loan system, my fellow blogger Lloyd drew attention to its clever exploitation by Watford in recent seasons. Tom Cleverley was perhaps the best known of the Vicarage Road lodgers but Ben Foster did strikingly before him, while Henri Lansbury and Andrew Taylor also starred in gold.

The U.S. WNT has started its training camp in Los Angeles, a final week of practice and fine-tuning before head coach Pia Sundhage names the 20 players that will travel to Vancouver, B.C. for the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Sundhage called up 29 players for the camp, but just 27 are currently training as Abby Wambach and Hope Solo are in Zurich, Switzerland, for the year-end FIFA Gala Awards.

After one day of poor weather in Los Angeles, the usual sun has been out for U.S. WNT Training camp and that means we were able to snap a few pics. We can report that, without a match at the end of the camp, the U.S. WNT has been working extra hard through a battery of fitness tests, possession drills, finishing drills and a heck of a lot of playing, whether it be 4 v 4, 6 v 6, 9 v 9 or 11 v.

FC Dallas 0, New York Red Bulls 2
The New York Red Bulls and Dallas FC squared off in Pizza Hut Park for the first Wild Card game of the post season in front of 10,017 fans. FC Dallas came out strong against NY and bossed much of the first half and NY was left with working the counter-attack.

In recent weeks, fellow blogger Lloyd and I have perhaps become unfaithful to the nominal brief of this site. First, I opted to join a clutch of writerly comrades at Colliers Wood United's Wibbandune Sports Ground for the FA Cup tie against Chessington and Hook United. Then, a few weeks later, and in the same competition, we teamed up for a local derby between Oxford City and Didcot Town - a

US national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann today added Chris Pontius and Jonathan Spector to roster for the upcoming friendlies as Heath Pearce and Zach Lloyd were forced to withdrawn for injuries.

The United States Soccer Federation announced on Monday that DC United's Chris Pontius and Birmingham City's Jonathan Spector will join the National Team for the September 2nd and 6th friendlies. The two replace Zach Lloyd and Heath Pearce who were injured over the weekend in MLS play. Clint Dempsey will be joining the squad in Europe for the September 6th game after undergoing treatment for back spasms.

Leeds United 3 (Patrick Kisnorbo 5, Lloyd Sam 66, Billy Paynter 85) Newcastle United 2 (Steven Taylor 35, Haris Vuckic 77) Apologies if this report is very belated this time, however recent events concerning a certain Mr.J.Barton, and other things got in the way. However I spent quite sometime on it, so I'm going to [.

Leicester City vs Real Madrid Highlights 2011 1-2 Goals Score Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Leicester City vs Real Madrid Highlights 2011 1-2 Goals Score Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Leicester City vs Real Madrid 2011 Walkers Stadium, Leicester- 30th July, 2011- Exhibition football game/ friendly Final score and result:- Leicester City vs Real Madrid 1-2 ( Lloyd Dyer/ Callejon, Karim Benezema) Leicester [.

We Unfortunates have been rather busy lately, preparing a mammoth seasonal preview with The Seventy Two that has involved tracking down fans from "up and down the country" (there...I am the first person outside political journalism to use that phrase). But, while attempting and failing to hack into the phone of Shane Long's agent, Lloyd and I found time to be interviewed for our friends at Black

We Unfortunates have been rather busy lately, preparing a mammoth seasonal preview with The Seventy Two that has involved tracking down fans from "up and down the country" (there...I am the first person outside political journalism to use that phrase). But, while attempting and failing to hack into the phone of Shane Long's agent, Lloyd and I found time to be interviewed for our friends at Black

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.

From some perspectives (including that of players on the field), it looks like France outplayed the USWNT in the World Cup semifinal. But France lost.It has been said, too, of France's game against England, that they dominated possession, played the better game. But they only won on penalties. Many felt that Brazil played a better game against the US in the Olympics, some might say they played a better game (in a few ways at least) than the USWNT last week – but Brazil lost the Olympic and the World Cup matches.

It's big time for the ladies in just a few hours.

Big effort needed from this US lady--Shannon Boxx--today...

Their own private Ghana you might say, with the exception that the US comes up big against Brazil while the men wilt against their nemesis.

Here's the US starting line-up.

It's big time for the ladies in just a few hours.

Big effort needed from this US lady--Shannon Boxx--today...

Their own private Ghana you might say, with the exception that the US comes up big against Brazil while the men wilt against their nemesis.

Here's the US starting line-up.

FIFA allows just one stadium training per team per venue, and as the USA has already played in Dresden during this Women's World Cup (the 2-0 opening win over North Korea), the team practiced at the official training site today. It was a gorgeous day in Dresden as the USA ran through just a one-hour session to prepare for tomorrow's quaterfinal clash with Brazil.

Goal nabber Lotta Schelin drives the offensive bus for Sweden...

Update:

The US line-up vs. Sweden: Solo; Krieger, Buehler, Rampone (c), LePeilbet; Rapinoe, Boxx, Lloyd, Cheney; Rodriguez, Wambach

O'Reilly gets to rest her groin while Wambach makes the cut.

USA lineup - Solo; Krieger, Rampone, Buehler, LePeilbet; O'Reilly, Lloyd, Lindsey, Cheney; Rodríguez, Wambach
Colombia - Sepulveda; Montano, Gaitan, Peduzine, Arias; Ospina, Salazar, Dominguez, Rodallega; Castro, Usme

Predictions? Give them in the comments. I saw this has been a low-scoring World Cup so far - 2-0 USA.
Lineups: USA - Solo; Le Peilbet, Buehler, Rampone, Krieger; Cheney, Boxx, Lloyd, O'Reilly; Rodriguez, Wambach
North Korea - Hong; Jong, Ri Un Hyang, Ho, Song; Ri Ye Gyong, Jo, Jon, Kim; Yun, Ra

Our USWNT gals are set to kick off World Cup play against North Korea in about 35 minutes. Here is your game one line-up:Solo; Krieger, Buehler, Rampone, LePeilbet, Boxx, Cheney, O'Reilly, Lloyd, Rodriguez, WambachI'll be back later with highlights, reactions and perhaps a few thoughts. Enjoy the game, everybody, should be a tough one.

The USA's 90-minute training session today was held under intermittent sunshine and clouds, but the squad is looking sharp and extremely anxious to get this tournament underway. The competition starts tomorrow with two games in Group A and then the tournament will be off and running with matches on eight straight days.

Here is a look at the USA's official team photo that the squad took a few days ago here in Austria (as you can see by the scenic background). This might make a cool wallpaper on someone's lap top. There will be a video of team photo day up on ussoccer.com shortly, so please look for it.
Back Row (L to R): O'Hara, Rapinoe, Heath, LePeilbet, Sauerbrunn, Morgan, Krieger, Lindsey
Middle Row (L to R): Cheney, Wambach, Barnhart, Solo, Loyden, Boxx, Mitts
Front Row (L to R): Cox, Rodriguez, Rampone, Buehler, O'Reilly, Lloyd

While the U.S. players who ventured to Germany today experienced nary a drop of rain, apparently it was pouring all day back at the team hotel in Austria, and as the team bus pulled onto the final road to the hotel, a magnificent rainbow appeared that several players said was one of the nicest rainbows they've ever seen, which certainly fits in as some of the scenery is among the nicest they've ever seen.

A scenic background frames Carli Lloyd and Hope Solo
The first training for the U.S. WNT in Austria was a light one, after all the team had landed in Germany that morning after an overnight flight and then bussed two hours to get to the team hotel. Training just consisted of a fun warm-up, some passing and then some soccer tennis, which of course got a bit competitive.

Editors's Note: Maura Gladys is a former–reformed :>–ESPN writer trialing for the The Shin Guardian. Please use the comment section to let us know what you'd like to hear about the women's national team as they prepare for World Cup 2011.

Abby Wambach hoists up Lauren Cheney after her strike at the death.

Week three of Women's Professional Soccer is in the books with two matches played over the weekend of April 23-24. The Boston Breakers traveled to Florida to take on magicJack which won 1-0 on Saturday. The WNY Flash traveled down to Atlanta to take on the Beat where they played to a 2-2 draw.

For magicJack, this was their first game ever after the game the week before in Philadelphia was postponed.

Hot mama! It's Abbey Clancy! Image: Getty Images/Zimbio

It appears that the stork assigned to soccer babies has had a busy old night, Kickettes. Yes, while you were indulging in your entirely unnecessary beauty sleep (we know that, like us, you are all gorgeous and beyond compare), news broke of not one, but two bubba related soccer stories.

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.

Branding: the 21st-century practice of applying marketing principles to every aspect of life and self. The recent condescension floated across the Atlantic to MLS fans by GQ (UK edition) painfully reminds us of our continuing place at the kid's table of world soccer perception. New contributor Mack Lloyd looks at the American league through Don Draper-colored glasses- [ed.

U.S. fitness coach Dawn Scott guides Jordan Angeli thorugh the VO2 Max

Today is a day of physical testing for the U.S. WNT. In the morning it was the VO2 max, which saw every player in camp take their turn on the treadmill in the team hotel. Most players expressed a bit of awkwardness at wearing the mask necessary for the test, but despite the fact that it looks a bit funny, the information garnered is extremely valuable to the U.

After a loss to Sweden in the Four Nations Tournament, the USA came back strong against Canada winning 2-1, and then finished it off with a win against China by a score of 2-0. The USA and Canada were tied for first place in the end, but the first tie-breaker was the head-to-head result, and since the USA defeated Canada, they took the title.

The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 25, 2011; 7:57 AM
BEIJING -- The top-ranked United States beat China 2-0 Tuesday in the final game of the Four Nations Tournament, a warmup for the Women's World Cup this summer in Germany.
The United States also won the tournament title, because it won by the bigger margin in Tuesday's two games.

MANCHESTER, England A last-gasp Aleksandar Kolarov effort ended Leicester City's threatened fightback and saw Manchester City progress into the fourth round of the FA Cup. Carlos Tevez had put the hosts ahead after 15 minutes before Paul Gallagher equalised from the penalty spot four minutes later after Lloyd Dyer had been felled by Patrick [.

With Lloyd putting his feet up in advance of a television appearance this coming Thursday that will surely propel him to stardom well beyond the petty confines of this website; we are delighted to welcome another guest contributor. Gavin Barber, resident of Oxfordshire, but scion of Portman Road, turns the spotlight on events of the past few days and the dissolution of the phrase, "Roy Keane's

"Giant-killers Notts County" were involved in one of the festive games I managed to take in around 2010's tail-end. I had my own thoughts on County's look and shape after seeing them draw at Plymouth, but I thought that I'd contact Stu Brothers, our friend over at Wellypie, to get a clear-cut picture of how things have been going at Meadow Lane.