Hope Solo denies an Alex Morgan blast
Can't say there is much to report from U.S. WNT training in chilly Frisco, Texas. All the players are healthy and gunning for spots on the 18-player roster for the New Zealand game, but since there's not much new, we decided to put together a top-10 What's New?

While both teams already qualified for the London 2012 Olympiad there is a certain amount of pride at play. For Canada's women this is an opportunity to declare that they deserve to be in that top tier of teams challenging for Gold or Women's World Cups. With the Great White North hosting the 2015 Women's World Cup it is matches like this and their second straight 20k+ crowd that demonstrate that they are a top nation in the women's game.

The US Women took down Costa Rica 3-0 to book their ticket for this summer's London Olympics. Tobin Heath scored in the first half, Carli Lloyd continued her current run of form with a goal in the second half, and Alex Morgan sealed the win with a late goal of her own.

Pia Sundhage made two changes from the team that faced Mexico on Tuesday, preferring Tobin Heath over Amy Rodriguez and giving converted striker Kelly O'Hara a start at right back.

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.

Photo by Stephen Brashear/ISIphotos.com

The U.S. women's national team has been a wrecking crew during its run at CONCACAF Olympic qualifying, but there is still one more piece of business to take care of before it can celebrate.

With a win Friday night over Costa Rica (8 p.

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.

U.S. Women's National Team head coach Pia Sundhage named her 20 player roster yesterday for the 2012 CONCACAF Olympic Women's Qualifying Tournament from Jan. 19-29 in Vancouver, B.C. The top two finishers in the eight-team tournament qualify for the 2012 Olympics. The roster should look familiar to those who followed last summers FIFA Women's World [.

U.S. Women's National Team head coach Pia Sundhage named her 20 player roster yesterday for the 2012 CONCACAF Olympic Women's Qualifying Tournament from Jan. 19-29 in Vancouver, B.C. The top two finishers in the eight-team tournament qualify for the 2012 Olympics. The roster should look familiar to those who followed last summers FIFA Women's World [.

Jurgen Klinsmann, Dawn Scott (WNT Fitness Coach), Pia Sundhage, Caleb Porter (U-23 MNT Head Coach), Andreas Herzog, Martin Vasquez (MNT Assistant Coach), Eric Yamamoto (U-23 MNT Assistant Coach)
Two World Cup veterans. Two players who scored bushels of goals for club and country.

Jurgen Klinsmann, Dawn Scott (WNT Fitness Coach), Pia Sundhage, Caleb Porter (U-23 MNT Head Coach), Andreas Herzog, Martin Vasquez (MNT Assistant Coach), Eric Yamamoto (U-23 MNT Assistant Coach)
Two World Cup veterans. Two players who scored bushels of goals for club and country.

Japanese World Cup winner Homare Sawa beat out a strong field that included Brazilian Marta and Abby Wambach to win the FIFA Women's World Player of the year 2011.

Marta who was looking to win the award for a 6th consecutive time had to contend with a second place finish while Abby Wambach of the USA came in in third place.

Last week Brian Straus made it known that the USWNT got off too light. He said that if the women didn't choke in the World Cup final, well, then they "folded":

In the aftermath of the U.S. women's national team's heartbreaking penalty kick shootout loss to Japan in the Women's World Cup final, usage of the word "choke" was frowned upon.

Steve Goff of the Washington Post reports that Juergen Klinsmann will earn $2.5 million in base salary to coach the U.S. men's national soccer team — more than four times higher than his predecessor, Bob Bradley, and 13 times larger than women's coach Pia Sundhage.
No other details about Klinsmann's contract, including incentives and other payments, appeared in the U.

USWNT Coach Pia Sundhage has said she wants to coach the Swedish national team when her contract with the U.S. expires in 2012. It would be a big loss for the U.S., but understandable as Sweden is Sundhage's home.

Sundhage told Swedish news agency TT on Sunday she would gladly say "yes, thank you!

Welcome back, Maura Gladys

For a little more than three weeks, the possibilities seemed endless for the U.S. Women's National Team. On Oct. 27, Pia Sundhage named the 30 players headed into a two-week training camp in Arizona, to prepare for their upcoming match against Sweden.

So the U.S. Soccer account tweeted out this video today of the USWNT in Mexico during Women's World Cup qualifying last October. Maybe we just missed it the first time around, but this is pretty funny.
Particularly Abby Wambach's Pia Sundhage "costume" and then the camera panning over to the coach who's mowing down on ice cream (probably?

What a beautiful day it was for soccer (or pretty much anything else) today in Portland as the U.S. WNT held its first training since arriving in the Rose City on Sunday night. Pia turned the squad over to the folks at Nike, who ran the players through the Nike Elite Training 2.0, which consists of various physical and soccer tests, or more accurately:
PREMIUM FOOTBALL TRAINING EXPERIENCE TO ENABLE SKILLED AND COMMITTED FOOTBALLERS TO FULFILL THEIR POTENTIAL.

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.

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.

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.

Because sometimes you need something to listen to while you drink we present "FBM Drinkin' Songs". This series will... ahem... explore the musical side of soccer and beer.
Today is an expected relevation that U.S. Women's National Team soccer coach Pia Sundhage often sings to her team at practice and in the locker room.

Something to celebrate: Japan's inspirational win over Sweden has given the disaster-stricken country something to rally around ahead of Sunday's World Cup final against the U.S. (AP Photo).

Those who saw the 3-1 victory over Sweden in the Women's World Cup semifinals already know the disciplined Japanese approach is all about playing to its strengths and recognizing its limitations.

The U.S. women's national team is a game away from reaching the final of the Women's World Cup for the first time since winning it all in 1999.

After their breathtaking, come-from-behind victory over Brazil in the quarterfinals, the U.S. women face France in a semifinal match in Moenchengladbach, Germany (12 p.

The big brains behind the Freakonomics franchise have taught us a couple of important lessons about life. One is this: sometimes the events in our world can be reduced to simple math.

That's why I'm a bit skittish about the U.S. chances today against France today at Borussia Park.

Maura Gladys on the USWNT's monumental win.

Not to be undone....

A little bit of drama, a little bit of emotion, and one heck of a comeback by the USWNT.

Thinking about this game, I thought about an idea that Brian Phillips threw around a while ago on his excellent blog, Run of Play.

Rare is the soccer event involving a U.S. team that our sports nation is yakking about – but that I am not writing about. So it is with the Women's World Cup, which I am watching as an interested observer, but not necessarily as a journalist.

It's a strange place. So many casual fans know as much or more about Pia Sundhage and Co.

Abby Wombach scored in the dying moments. It was almost as though a script was written to bring women's soccer and the U.S. Women's National Team back into the limelight. If there was such a script, then the team played out there roles perfectly.
It was in dramatic fashion that the United States took the lead in the second minute of the match, only to find themselves down a player and two goals into the last minute of the second overtime.

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.

Their Words It's not going to be something that happens overnight where we get them both back and we get them playing 90 minutes together. LA Galaxy coach Bruce Arena on playing Landon Donovan and David Beckham. Other Sources For Pia Sundhage, another pressure-filled moment - from The LA Times' Grahame L.

TSG's Maura Gladys on the USWNT

The real life Jason Bourne went top shelf, left post with an affirmative 12th minute strike...

Going into the United States' Group C match against Colombia, many were referring to the showdown as a statement match, where the U.S. needed to prove its dominance as a top team in the tournament.

Pia Sundhage's at it again. Just a few days after starting Lauren Cheney over Megan Rapinoe, she's mulling another move.

On Thursday morning she announced that she is considering swapping out either Shannon Boxx or Carli Lloyd in favor of the Philadelphia Independence's Lori Lindsey at center mid against Colombia in the USWNT's second group stage match (Saturday at 11:30am on ESPN).

The USA Futbolitas handled business today in their opening match against Korea DPR with a 2-0 victory in Dresden, Germany. In the first half both teams took some time to find their rhythm. It wasn't until the 2nd half Lauren Cheney notched a point for the Americans with a well executed header off of an excellent cross from Captain Abby Wambach in the 54″.

The US Women's National Team makes their first appearance in the 2011 Women's World Cup on Tuesday. One could view their first game the same as every other team debut, but for the US, it's not that simple.

First issue of complexity: They take on the mysterious Korea DPR -- mysterious because they are almost impossible to scout due to political reasons.

Pia's favorite place: The soccer field with great grass and blue skies
If you notice an vast increase in quality of the photos in this WNT Blog post, that's because Brad Smith from International Sports Images was at training today and shot these pics. Enjoy...
Abby doesn't reserve her ball-winning only for games.

U.S. women's national team coach Pia Sundhage named her 21-player roster for this summer's Women's World Cup on Monday, and forward Abby Wambach is the top goal-scorer on the squad.

Who's second on the roster when it comes to career goals? None other than Madison native Lindsay Tarpley.

Coach Pia Sundhage named her 23 player roster for this summer's Women's World Cup in Germany.
Want to know more about the USWNT? Check out our contribution to The Shin Guardian, "The ABCs of the USWNT".
Goalkeepers (3): Nicole Barnhart, Jillian Loyden, Hope Solo
Defenders (7): Rachel Buehler, Stephanie Cox, Ali Krieger, Amy LePeilbet, Heather Mitts, Christie Rampone, Becky Sauerbrunn
Midfielders (7): Shannon Boxx, Tobin Heath, Lori Lindsey, Carli Lloyd, Heather O'Reilly, Megan Rapinoe, Lindsay Tarpley
Forwards (4): Lauren Cheney, Alex Morgan, Amy Rodriguez, Abby Wambach
Support the Movement.

The latest U.S. Soccer Federation tax documents, which cover March 31, 2009, through April 1, 2010, reveal that U.S. men's national team coach Bob Bradley earned $818,244 -- about $600,000 in base salary and marketing compensation and the rest in bonuses for Confederations Cup and World Cup qualifying achievements.

While the US Women's National Team was finishing a 6-day camp in Florida, US Soccer announced that they will be playing a friendly match against England on April 2. This will be the first match ever in England for the US Women.

The match will be played in Matchroom Stadium in East London, which is home to English League One side Leyton Orient.

The training camps come fast and furious in a World Cup year and the U.S. WNT will get back at it on Feb. 3 as the team comes together for a week-long training camp in Ft. Lauderdale. It is first extended training period in Ft. Lauderdale since 2000 for the U.S. women and Pia Sundhage will bring 32 players into camp, all vying for 23 spots on the roster for the 2011 Algarve Cup in Portugal.