Three, belated cheers for the French girls, who finally got to celebrate at the end of a tournament, instead of bawling like babies, the poor things. It took penalty shots, as you probably already know, but, according to captain Sandie Toletti, the "football gods were with them.
The possession game was in sick favor of the North Koreans, who unleashed time and time again on the German keeper, and how she made so many saves, I don't know.
Je t'apprécie vraiment or Je t'aime? It doesn't matter, really.
The French side moves forward into the Women's World Cup finals, courtesy of two goals by Kadidiatou Diani and a short-sided Ghana squad, with power forward Jane Ayieyam sent off early in the second half, racking up two yellows in quick succession.
This is Sara Daebritz. She scored, too, by the way.
Well. Like me, you may have been preparing for the second edition of penalty shots in the U-17 Women's World Cup quarterfinal round (France put away Nigeria yesterday, courtesy of this Most Cruel Way to Lose a Game Ever), but no--Rebecca Knaack made certain there would be none of that, Knaack-ing one past the Brazilian keeper to ensure the Germans onward progression into the semis, where the North Koreans await (Canada cries again and again) their match next Tuesday, 9 October.
After a pulsating 0-0 draw last night, the French U-17 girls are through to the semi-finals of the tournament after beating Nigeria on penalties. Bravo, chicas! (well, it's really "les filles" but that's a little formal, no?)
Marion Romanelli scored the winning penalty for France and despite an onslaught of opportunities from the Nigerian camp throughout the game, the French girls maintained possession and controlled it.
USA starters in opening game of 2012 FIFA U-17 WWC
The U.S. U-17 WNT opened the 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup by battling France to a 0-0 draw in front of more than 8,000 fans in Lankaran, Azerbaijan and certainly worked extremely hard for the valuable point.
French goalkeeper Romaine Bruneau gobbles a ball at the feet of Summer Green
While North Korea got a HUGE leg up on advancing to the quarterfinals with a 11-0 thrashing of Gambia, the group is still wide open with the Americans facing Gambia on Sept.
Today marks an important day in the Olympics Women's Football competition as the semi-finals are
slated to be played out between the USA and Canada (what a
rivalry!) and France and Japan. In a recent interview
Canada's Sophie Schmidt admitted she knew deep down that they would beat Great
Britain to advance to the semis of the tournament.
Darian Jenkins, the USA's goal scorer against N. Korea, hurdles a defender
It's been quite a journey for the 2012 U.S. Under-17 Women's National Team, which ends the year with an undefeated record in international matches at 13-0-4 and in fact lost just one international match during its time together -- that to Japan in Aug.
The U.S. WNT picked up a resounding win in its second group match of the 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, but the opponents Gambia did not make it easy.
The USA managed just one goal in the first half, that coming on a penalty kick, before exploding for five in the second to win 6-0 and set up a crucial Group B finale against North Korea on Sept.
The U.S.U-17 WNT trained in the morning on Monday, going very light on the day before the squad squares off against Gambia in its second Group B match. The game can be watched at 8 a.m. on the morning of Sept. 25 online on ESPN3 and followed on ussoccer.
Now, Mexico, I'm sure, might have something to say about North America's settling when they face New Zealand tomorrow, and let's hope they do. However, both the U.S. and Canada decided to fight for a point in Azerbaijan today, and I guess that's better than the opposite if you're a supporter of either team.
The U.S. U-17s gear up for their day before the game training today in Baku
The USA and North Korea will meet once again on the international soccer pitch as the U-17s finish Group B play on Sept. 29 at the 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup against the rising Asian power.
The organization of the 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup has been first-rate, from thetransporation, to the training sites, to the stadiums, tothe crowds, whichhave been the largest of the three U-17 tournaments FIFA has held so far. The media coverage has been a bit lite, but its picked up ahead of the USA's clash with North Korea on Sept.
The Supreme Leader, ahead of North Korea's imminent rise to 1st in the FIFA rankings.
By Max Grieve
Sepp Blatter stood high atop the House of FIFA, a fierce wind roaring through his thick mane of
hair, and the people of the world came together before him.
The U.S. Under-20 women's national team is a game away from being on top of the world for a
record third time, but standing in its way is an opponent on a roll, and one that has already dealt
the Americans a setback during this year's FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.
Team USA brings it to North Korea and everyone goes, "Really?"Surprising everyone on the planet,
Team USA, with some confidence, but assloads of poorly served balls, came out on top of the North
Koreans in their quarterfinal match. I did not expect this. I still think it was a boring game, but
that's only because this team does little for me stylistically, and I really anticipated the North
Koreans putting them to shame from the get go.
Can Team USA stop these girls? Oh, I don't think so.What a beautiful goal by Christine Exeter,
right? And then a defensive meltdown to allow the tie (and by meltdown, I mean retreat and watch,
with only one challenge that came too late), and then the foul in the box, which booked Team
Canada's plane ride home.
This once-over comes courtesy of the German keeper in blue.
And it turns out I'm right about picking the young Germans, led by Maren Meinert and Bettina
Wiegmann and Silke Rottenberg, all of whom, unbeknownst to us all, strategize with their hands
on their chins. Like Team USA had any answer to this.
The U.S. women's national team's quest to get back to the Olympic gold medal game for the fifth
straight time continues in at St. James' Park in Newcastle, England, as the Americans take on New
Zealand in a quarterfinal knockout game (9:30 a.m., NBC Sports Network, NBCOlympics.
The USA celebrates Morgan Brian's opening goal in the semifinal
The U.S. U-20 WNT put on another excellent performance to down Nigeria 2-0 in the semifinal of the
2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. It was the USA's second consecutive victory over a team that had
won its first round group and now a much-anticpated World Cup Final against Germany awaits.
As the sun goes down in Tokyo, the USA hits the field for training
The U.S. U-20 WNT arrived in Tokyo on Sept. 1 and hit the training field in the afternoon. The
cooler evening temperatures with a nice breeze were much appreciated by the U.S. team that had been
training and playing in hot, muggy weather this entire trip.
The U.S. U-20 WNT held its final practice today before the quarterfinal clash with North Korea on
Aug. 31 (coverage starts at 6:20 a.m. ET on ESPNU and ESPN3) and it was the hottest day of numerous
hot days the U.S. team has experienced in Japan.
With temps hitting 95 on the field and the heat index climbing to 11o, the players went through
their paces during a short training that did not lack intensity, despite the heat.
Julie Johnston and Becca Wann try to set their heading record
FIFA has given the USA its one pre-game in-venue training two days before the game a few times in
this tournament and it was the same here in Saitama so the Americans did a very light session that
was more regeneration than soccer on a beautiful and warm night in this city that sits just
northwest of Tokyo.
Via US Soccer Despite dropping its final Group D match in the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
with a 3-0 loss to defending champion Germany, the U.S. U-20 Women's National Team advanced to the
quarterfinals of the tournament. Video highlights can be seen below.
In Monday's other Group D match, China PR defeated Ghana 1-0 to finish the group stage with four
points alongside the USA.
Mollie Pathman steps over a tackle from Karoline Heinze
The U.S. U-20 WNT learned a harsh lesson about how mistakes can be punished by good teams at a
World Cup, losing 3-0 to Germany in its final Group D game, but fortunately it was not a fatal blow
as the Americans still qualified for the quarterfinal round.
Crystal Dunn looks to choot as VDB and Chioma Ubogagu try to close
After having Saturday off, the U.S. U-20 WNT hit the field on Sunday for its final training
before facing Germany in its Group D finale on Monday, Aug. 27 (ESPN2 & ESPN3 at 2:50 a.m. ET).
The Miyagi prefecture has been much cooler than the USA's stay in Hiroshima -- until today -- when
the heat was turned up and the Americans once again trained in hot, humid and sticky weather.
The USA unfurled a banner after the China match to thank the people of Hiroshima who were so
kind and helpful during the team's stay
The U.S. WNT drew 1-1 with China in its second Group D match at the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World
Cup on Aug. 23 which was not the result the young Americans wanted, but it still put the team in
prime position to advance to the quarterfinals.
The Indonesian Football Association haven't had much success trying to host teams recently.
Everton, Galatasary and Espanyol Reserves have all said no to Jakarta's charms despite much wooing
from here.
The SCTV Cup however does appear, for now, to be going ahead. Involved are Indonesia, Indonesia
U22, North Korea and Malaysia U22.
After being humiliated in their attempts tp host Everton and Galatasaray in the Java Cup, Indonesia
is now going to try again. This time with the SCTV Cup.
This is scheduled to take place in September and will feature Indonesia, Indonesia U22, Malaysia
U22 and North Korea.
The Indonesians do like to have a pop at the Malaysians for various childish things, they steal our
culture blub blub, but fair play to the Malaysians, they are always up for a kick around.
In yet another match that was more about defense than anything else, the USWNT breezed by yet
another team on their quest for Olympic gold. The victim this time around? New Zealand. Very
similar to the previous match against North Korea, the US Women would only need one goal (they
would get 2) to win this one, letting the defense do most of the work during the run of play at
St.
I meant to get this up last night, but forgot. Please note the popping celebration after Abby
Wambach's 1-0 winner over North Korea gave them a perfect group phase record heading into Friday's
quarterfinal match-up with New Zealand. I hereby predict an Alex Morgan winner in that game,
followed directly by The Dougie.
A few of you might remember WC 2010. North Korea claimed that their star forward, Jong Tae-Se, was nicknamed North Korea's Rooney. Apparently, they thought that looking like Shrek and underperforming at random intervals was a good analogy. Which brings us to North Korea declaring it's armistice with South Korea, null and void this month.
While some dictators qualify as relatively batshit crazy, North Korean Supreme Commander Kim Jong-il took run-of-the-mill guano and weaponized it with a deep, visceral nuclear fear factor. Against the backdrop of a starving nation, he enriched uranium, trained missiles on South Korea and Japan and generally gave everyone the heebie jeebies with the supremely iffy accuracy of the North Korean military's test fires.
It was case of 'deja vu' for the U-17 German girls, when they were eliminated by North Korea in the U-17 Women's World Cup quarter-final match-up on Tuesday. Ironically, they were also eliminated by the same team in 2010 and they were unable to reverse their misfortunes. Ouch! The Ghanaians, who have never gone this far in the tournament so far, will be contesting Germany for a third place playoff.
Prediction confirmed: Germany versus China was a great game, although my Venus came on and off the pitch far too quick, courtesy of a good limp that she picked up in short time in the game. That said, her departure made way for Ricarda Kiessling, who scored an equalizer in extra time, and thank heavens for that, since the Germans were robbed repeatedly by the referee, who missed two handballs in the box.
Midfielder Andi Sullivan (Bethesda SC; Lorton, Va.) and defender Brittany Basinger (FC Virginia;
Purcellville, Va.) have both been named to the roster for the upcoming 2012 FIFA Under-17 Women's
World Cup.
Click here for complete roster.
Courtesy of USSoccer.com
MONTOYA NAMES 21-PLAYER ROSTER FOR
2012 FIFA U-17 WOMEN'S WORLD CUP IN AZERBAIJANTalented Squad of
'95 Birth Years Will Compete in Third FIFA U-17 WWC;
USA to Face France, Gambia and Korea DPR in Group Play CHICAGO (Aug.
Hackworth thankful but focused on New England game. Sakiewicz explains why he decided to remove
interim tag now.Comcast to have beIN Sport available by Sept. 6. US defeat North Korea in extra
time to advance to semis at Women's U-20 World Cup. More news.
Brazil's Thais Guedes wishes her teammates
had not eaten the egg salad.Day 1
Okay, here's where I brag: Hell, yes, this match was a dive fest, as anticipated. I stopped
counting genuflection after, oh, I don't know...three...because it wasn't silly-looking
anymore.
After the U.S. WNT's win over New Zealand on Friday in the Olympic quarterfinal, Saturday was of
course another travel day.
After breakfast on Saturday morning, the players who didn't start or played limited minutes against
New Zealand did a on-field workout in Newcastle, while the rest ran through their usual
day-after-game regeneration and yoga.
