As the U.S. WNT has done more than a few times under Pia Sundhage, they left it late and got the job done, scoring twice in the last five minutes of the game to come from behind and defeat a gusty New Zealand side by a 2-1 score. The sell-out crowd of 20,677 was the largest to watch the U.

StoweStrong
By Pat McStay
The Virginia soccer community was hit hard a few weeks ago when William and Mary graduate and FC Richmond youth soccer coach, Ian Stowe was diagnosed with Germinoma, a type of germ cell tumor typically resulting from a failure of germ cells to migrate properly in the body.

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?

The beginning of a U.S. WNT camp inevitably features the Beep Test, the USA's endurance/fitness test that involves running back and forth between cones -- and beeps -- with the time between beeps getting shorter as the players advance through the test. Suffice it to say, it hurts, but the U.

The U.S. Women celebrate their 2012 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament title on Sunday.

The U.S. Women's National Team put up some staggering results to win the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament to open 2012: five wins, five shutouts, 38 goals and of course a berth into the 2012 London Olympics.

New Zealand goalkeeper Jenny Bindon (21), seen making a save in front of U.S. WNT midfielder Carli Lloyd in 2007, has been named to head coach Tony Readings' roster for a Feb. 11 match in Texas.

New Zealand head coach Tony Readings has named an 18-player roster for its international match against the U.

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.

The U.S. WNT will play a HUGE match early in year on Friday night, Jan. 27, when it faces Costa Rica in the semifinal of the 2012 CONCACAF Olympic Women's Qualifying Tournament for a berth to the London Olympics.
A HIGHLY motivated U.S. team will kick-off the clash with the Central Americans at 5 p.

Very sad news for the U.S. WNT today as it was confirmed via an MRI that defender Ali Krieger had in fact torn the MCL and ACL in her right night after being brutally tackled in the USA's opening match win over the Dominican Republic.
We are happy to report that she is handling the situation extremely well and is sincerely appreciative of the outpouring of support from fans across the world.

U.S. Soccer Communications
VANCOUVER, Canada – The U.S. Women's National Team rolled past a young and over-matched Dominican Republic side to open the 2012 CONCACAF Olympic Women's Qualifying Tournament with a dominating 14-0 victory in a match played indoors at BC Place.
The 14 goals set a U.

This just in: The U.S. WNT spends lots of time in airports. Here the squad waits for its flight to Canada.
Easy travel day for the U.S. WNT today. Relatively short flight from LA (not sure how long, but it's whatever is the length of Moneyball+ a short nap. Also, the WNT Blog maintains that Brad Pitt is underrated as an actor), into the same time zone and they players had time to get a weight workout in the morning and get into Vancouver in time for dinner in the evening.

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.

UCLA's Sydney Leroux was the top pick of the Atlanta Beat during the 2012 WPS Draft on Friday.

Forward Sydney Leroux, who currently is training with the U.S. Women's National Team in Los Angeles trying to make the squad for the 2012 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, was selected as the top pick by the Atlanta Beat during Friday's 2012 WPS Draft at the NSCAA Convention in Kansas City, Mo.

The U.S. WNT had some special guests at training today -- the U.S. Under-18 WNT. The U.S. U-18s are currently in camp in San Diego and drove up the coast to take in the USA's evening training. Not only did they witness an intense practice, getting an up-close look at training at the highest levels of women's soccer, but they also got brief talks from Abby Wambach and Christie Rampone.

Eclipse Select and U.S. Soccer Communications
CHICAGO -- Eclipse Select Soccer Club alumna and Notre Dame freshman defender/midfielder Sammy Scofield (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) was one of 24 players named to the U.S. U-23 Women's National Team for a Jan. 15-22 training camp in Sarasota, Fla.
Scofield unites with newly-named U.

The U-23s are back in action to start 2012, holding a training camp at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Head coach Caleb Porter has named a squad of 23 players to train at the HDC, with eye towards Olympic Qualifying in March (just more than two months away!).
In addition to two-a-days in Southern California, the team will also head to Costa Rica for a first trip abroad under Porter.

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.

Two University of Virginia Women's soccer players have been named to the 30 player roster for the upcoming U.S. U-20 training camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California. Head coach Steve Swanson selected defender Olivia Brannon and midfielder Morgan Brian to join the camp set to run Jan.

U.S. WNT head coach Pia Sundhage has named the roster for the January training camp in Los Angeles, after which she will name the 20-player roster for Olympic Qualifying being held in Vancouver, B.C. from Jan, 19-29. Sundhage will bring 20 players to Canada, but will only be able to suit up 18 per game.

As the U.S. WNT will of course not be together for the holidays after breaking camp on Tuesday, the team had its Holiday Party tonight and a merry time was had by all.
The focus of the party was the exchanging of Secret Santa gifts, spearheaded by master organizer Heather Mitts, but the festivities also included Christmas music, cookie decorating and of course a good helping of ugly sweaters (see above).

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.

Sports Illustrated has launched an initiative that will allow fans to choose its year-end cover by voting on Facebook. The SI editorial staff has picked the top-15 moments in sports in 2011 and the moment that receives the most votes will be the cover for the issue that hits newsstands on Dec. 21.

U.S. defender and Women's World Cup star Ali Krieger, who plays her trade for FFC Frankfurt in Germany, was originally scheduled to attend the second half of the USA's training camp in Los Angeles. Due to several injuries to her teammates, and a run of poor league results, Krieger's club requested that she stay in Germany.

The U.S. WNT's second training session on Friday included some stunning scenery in the form of a blood red sunset in Southern California.
The moon was also out, and settles nicely on the top of The Home Depot Center during goalkeeper training...
Speaking of the moon, as Hope Solo comes for a cross in the pic below, can you figure out which is the ball, which is a light and which is the moon?

We've been told that U.S. WNT goalkeeper Hope Solo and actress Jennifer Carpenter, most known for her critically acclaimed role as Debra Morgan on the Showtime series Dexter, bear a remarkable resemblance to each other.
We've got to admit, we see it.
Hope tells the WNT Blog that more than a few people have made the comparison to her and while she's not so sure, she also can see how some might think it true.

With the marked improvement of the women's international soccer over the past decade, all the top countries are needing to work even harder to keep their edge. The U.S. team has increasingly employed sports science to improve performance, give players a better understanding of how to train more effectively and efficiently and especially how to recover better and quicker, and enable players to maximize their natural abilities.

The U.S. WNT was right smack in the middle of training today when the final whistle blew at the 2011 NCAA College Cup, giving the Stanford Cardinal its first NCAA title in women's soccer. That didn't stop Stanford Alumni and WNT regulars Kelley O'Hara and Rachel Buehler from hearing the score right away and sharing high fives and a big hug.

The U.S. WNT training camp is already two practices old, but the entire roster has yet to arrive. U.S. WNT head coach Pia Sundhae called up 31 players for the camp, but thus far 26 players have been run through last night's session, which included some small-sided games on big goals and this morning's training, which being the first full day of camp, featured a fitness test (see pic above).

Neymar played for Brazil against the U.S. MNT in 2010
The Nike International Friendlies are in their ninth season and the event has seen its fair share of quality players coming in from national teams around the world. We were looking through some of the scores in past editions and found these highlights from 2008:
If you read the match report you'll read a name you may recognize: Neymar.

U.S. U-17 WNT captain Morgan Andrews
As 2011 comes to a close, 2012 will be a big year for the USA's youth women's national teams as both the Under-17s and Under-20s prepare for regional qualifying for their respective FIFA Women's World Cups, which will be held toward the end of the year after the Olympics.

Alexandra Wong (McLean Power; Rockville, Md.) and Anna McClung (GSA Phoenix; Gate City, Va.) where selected by U.S. Women's National team technical director April Heinrichs to be part of the final U-18 wnt camp of 2011.
Wong and McClung will head to Florida for the camp that takes place December 11-18.

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!

After a two-week training camp that featured 30 players, U.S. WNT head coach Pia Sundhage has named the 18 players that will suit up against Sweden on Sat., Nov. 19 at the University of Phoenix Stadium. Kickoff is 7 p.m. and fans can watch live via a webstream on ussoccer.com and also follow along on ussoccer.

The U.S. Women's National Team match against Sweden on Nov. 19 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., will be streamed live exclusively on ussoccer.com. Fans can follow the live stream by logging on to ussoccer.com shortly before kickoff, which is at 7 p.m. MT.

More than 14,000 tickets have been sold for the match, setting a record for the largest crowd to ever watch the U.

On Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m., two days before the USA faces Sweden at the University of Phoenix Stadium, the U.S. WNT will hold its second bar event of the year after a successful Handshake Contest judged by Lori Lindsey and Megan Rapinoe in Portland, Oregon at Kells back in September.
Here in Phoenix, U.

U.S. right back Ali Krieger played 90 minutes in FFC Frankfurt's 2-1 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of the Round of 16 of the UEFA Women's Champions League. Despite the loss in Paris, Frankfurt advanced to the quarter-finals on the strength of its 3-0 victory in the first leg in Germany, giving them a 4-2 aggregate goals victory.

Kelley O'Hara seems to levitate above the jump pad. She's magical.
As the U.S. team often does at the beginning of training camps, there was a battery of fitness tests on the second day of the Arizona camp and while the players, most coming off a six-week break, are not at optimal fitness, they aren't supposed to be.

The U.S. WNT has arrived in Arizona and had its first training on Monday evening. It was a short practice as the players were just off planes and as night fell in the chilly desert of Scottsdale, the U.S. team took its first (sort of) offical step towards the 2012 London Olympics.
The squad looked refershed and sharp despite the long break with the World Cup in the rearview and everyone refocused on Olympic qualifying in January.

ussoccer.com took a look at a 2008 meeting between the USA and Sweden in the latest edition of WNT Rewind. The feature has quotes and facts about the match, as well as highlights. You can also watch those highlights below:
Read more WNT Rewind.