Thanks to Alex Morgan's two first half goals, the United States won the prestigious Algarve Cup on Wednesday in Portugal, defeating Germany in the final.
Alex Morgan of the USA
Morgan opened the scoring in the 13th minute after a poor clearance from German defender Josephine Henning fell to the American's feet.
The USWNT beat Australia 2-1 today in the first of two matches against the Matildas during the US' Olympic gold medal victory/fan tribute tour.
After topping Costa Rica with a whopping eight goals, the US faced a much more difficult opponent in Australia, who for most of the first half had the better of the play.
Alex Morgan, having nearly kicked her own head in, maybe.Because it's been a little while, right?
And you miss her running around on your television, right? (You should check US Soccer to see the
U.S. women's national team "Yay, We Won Something Finally" tour schedule, including a few friendly
dates with Germany, which nearly made me pee myself with delight.
The U.S. Women's National Team exacted revenge and defeated Japan 2-1 in the gold medal match of
the 2012 London Olympic Games on Thursday at Wembley Stadium. The victory, which marks the U.S.'
fourth gold medal in women's soccer, comes 389 days after the U.S.' penalty kick loss to the
Japanese in last year's World Cup Final.
*The U.S. Women's National Team is 2-0 up in the second half against Japan in the gold medal game
on two goals from Carli Lloyd. Diamond Bar's Alex Morgan provided the assist on the 8th minute
opener. The game is on the NBC Sports Network. *Incidentally, Torrance's Shannon Boxx is
The U.S. Women's National Team will be looking to win their third straight Olympic gold medal
today, while also exacting a measure of revenge, when they face Japan in the 2012 Olympic Final at
Wembley Stadium (2:45pm, NBC Sports).
The Americans enter today's final undefeated in five matches, having survived a thrilling 4-3
extra-time victory against Canada in the semifinals.
Article by Leanne Elston In thrilling fashion, the USWNT beat Canada 4-3 to advance
to the gold medal final of the Olympics, where they will meet Japan, who defeated France 2-1
earlier in the day. The final will be a rematch of last year's World Cup final, which saw Japan
come away victors after topping the US through penalty kicks.
Alex Morgan scored seconds before the end of extra time to send the U.S. to the 2012 Olympic
Gold Medal with a 4-3 win over Canada.
The U.S. fought back from three deficits and overcame a historic hat-trick from legendary
Canadian striker Christine Sinclair to grab a 4-3 win over Canada on Alex Morgan's 123rd minute
extra time stunner in Olympic soccer semifinal action at Old Trafford in Manchester, England on
Monday.
The U.S. women's national team needed to come back three separate times against Canada, and
ultimately they were the ones that came out victorious in a thrilling match that is already being
considered an instant classic.
Alex Morgan netted the winner seconds before penalty kicks were to take place, heading home a
cross to give the United States a 4-3 extra-time victory over northern rivals Canada in the
semifinals of the Olympics at Old Trafford on Monday.
The U.S. women's national team are a step away from advancing to the final of the Olympic
tournament, but they will have to go through a familiar opponent if they are to have a chance at
fighting for gold.
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.
The U.S. Under-20 women's national team will get a chance to make up for its one major blemish
at this year's World Cup on the biggest possible stage.
Goals from Morgan Brian and Keaila Ohai lifted the U.S. U-20s to a 2-0 victory over Nigeria in
the semifinals at National Olympic Stadium in Tokyo Tuesday, putting them in position capture a
third U-20 World Cup title.
Unstoppable? Yes.The Nigerians gave the U.S. defense a run for their money today. During their
semifinal match, the Super Falcons caught the American defense looking fragile and undisciplined
quite a few times, but just couldn't capitalize (this may have something to do with the serious
amount of dancing they do in the tunnel prematch, but no, okay, I can't prove that).
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 same day the news hit that Pia Sundhage was leaving her job as U.S. women's national team
head coach, the Olympic gold medal-winning U.S. women played their first match since the Olympics
and treated fans to a showcase of attacking prowess.
The game kicks off at 11:45 a.m. Thursday live on the NBC Sports Network. A record crowd of more
than 83,000 is expected, which would break the Olympic women's soccer attendance record that was
set in 1996 when 76,489 fans watched the USA beat China in Athens, Ga. A preview
Oh Canada! Canada's Sophie Schmidt, left, and teammate Christine Sinclair, react after the U.S. won
4-3 on a last-gasp goal at the Olympics in Manchester (AP Photo). FIFA is reportedly now taking a
look at the post-game accusations made by the Canadians, incidentally. Associated Press Sports
Writer Joseph White takes
Pia Sundhage has led the U.S. Women's national team to two Olympic gold medals during her four
years in charge, but that wasn't enough to keep her around for another four years.
Sundhage's desire to return to her native Sweden has led her to decide to leave the U.S. teamÂ
"It was an honor to be able to coach these players for five years and I learned a tremendous
amount from them," Sundhage said in a statement released by U.
U.S. women's national team goalkeeper Hope Solo left quite the impression on this summer's
Olympics, between her controversial tweets about former U.S. great and television analyst Brandi
Chastain and her two massive saves against Japan in the Olympic final that helped the U.
Anyway, this photo comes courtesy of Getty Images and FIFA.com, where there's a fairly interesting
article, "Women's Round-Up: August 2012." Of course, it contains stuff you already know if you're a
follower of the women's game, or a follower of this blog.
Hope Solo: American Keeper in Danger of Becoming Personal Parody
Who cares, fellas? I hope someone wrote a post for bleacherreport.com about concerns with Ochocinco
becoming a self-parody, or Dennis Rodman, or Terrell Ownes, or LeBron James, or some other athlete
with a big mouth and huge ego who likes attention on them always.
Great stuff over at bigsoccer.com: Abandon Hope: Excerpts from the First Draft
Yeah, it's long, but it's worth it. Oh, and it's about Hope, and you know you love that shit.
The U.S. Women's National Team is one step away from a Gold Medal game against Japan in a
rematch of last year's World Cup Final, but to get to that game the Americans will have to beat a
familiar foe in Canada (2:45pm, NBC Sports).
The Americans are a perfect 4-0 in Olympic play, having posted three straight shutouts.
The National Women's Soccer League allocated the 55 American, Canadian, and Mexican players whose federations will be paying their contracts on Friday. The Washington Spirit, the successor to D.C. United Women, received Ali Krieger, who was the starting right back for the US Women's National Team until a knee injury took her out of the buildup to the 2012 Olympics.
Last week we heard the news that Australian Women's National Team coach Tom Sermanni will be taking over as the head coach of the US Women's National Team. The news was received with both positive and negative reactions from fans. While it's always nice to pick a fight on Twitter, there were several points that I found reasonable.
*No Landon Donovan, no Michael Bradley (both injured) for Saturday's World Cup qualifier in
Jamaica, but LA native Herculez Gomez (Santos Laguna) was included in the 25-player squad named
today. *The Galaxy won 2-0 in Carson Saturday without Donovan over close Western conference rivals
Vancouver, who looked limp against a
Insightful stuff from Noah Davis over at Grantland regarding the formation of the new women's
professional soccer league here in the States: Extra Time.
No time to read today? In short, as you expect, it's going to take time and money...and quite
possibly a miracle.
In intense preparation for their opening match
against Ghana, the U.S. U-20's play hangman.Oh, folks. In the very wee hours of today, my time, a
world cup tournament kicked off in Japan, and, yes, I was sleeping, and, yes, my DVR was set to
capture all the action, so I'm off to that soon. The tournament kicks off with Brazil v.
