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Oh Canada...
... how could you?

France 4-0 Canada

Canada looked not so hot in the first half (1-0 at the halftime).
Then the floodgates opened.
They were lucky to keep it to four goals.

Meanwhile, Nigeria is doing the unthinkable...
... they're getting me to root for Germany.
2nd half, Germany is up 1-0.

At the beginning of the 2nd half, USA 1-0 over Colombia. O'Reilly hit a 30-yarder on a sharp angle to the upper lefthand corner. Brilliant goal. Tough shot.

USA had about 15 bazillion chances, but converted only one.

USA 2 - 0 Colombia
50th minute
Megan Rapinoe with a rocket from about 9 yards.

USA 3 - 0 Colombia
Lloyd, with a cool strike that the Colombian goalkeep couldn't play correctly.

It's now the 70th minute. The US has had another 19 billion shots.

Wambach can't buy a goal.

USA 3 - 0 Colombia Final
Wambach didn't score, but she did get a yellow card (questionable).
O'Reilly had to be subbed due to injury. Unsure what the problem is.
USA will play in the quarters after the next game.
Next game is on Wednesday against Sweden. Both USA and Sweden have won twice, but a tie or a win in the next game would win the group for the USA.

Probably the ALL-TIME WORST soccer call in today's Australia victory over Equatorial Guinea:
http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/blog/_ ... all-reason

Lavabe wrote:Probably the ALL-TIME WORST soccer call in today's Australia victory over Equatorial Guinea:
http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/blog/_ ... all-reason

Seriously, we were all in shock this morning watching the replay.

Looking forward to Wednesday's match!

Buh-bye, Canada. Winless. Not even a tie.

Hurray for England!! England 2 - 0 Japan.

Germany beat the French 4-2. The big story was that the #1 French goalkeep got a red card, and will not play its next game, the quarterfinal match vs. ENGLAND. Yeah, the French and the English!!

Congrats to the Kiwis for tying late their game with Mexico. NICE Haka!!

Tomorrow's big match is the US vs. Sweden for the title of group winner (and a chance to avoid the Brazilians).

Sweden 1 - 0 USA
Sweden get the goal (17th minute) on a PK after a stupid, silly, and unnecessary defensive foul. Solo guessed correctly on the PK, but barely missed it.
Sweden had the early pce, but the USA has had some good action since.

Sweden 2 - 0 USA
35th minute
Deflection off the wall on a Swedish free kick.
A shame, as the USA has had three good chances since the PK.

Final score: Sweden 2 - 1 USA
Well, at least Wambach broke her hideous bad luck streak. She DID score.
Since Sweden wins, USA comes in 2nd in their group, meaning that USA plays Brasil Sunday at 11AM. Playing Brasil early is not what people wan, but they'd have to play them anyway.
The big problem is the defense (not the goalkeep).

Forgive my lack of appreciation for the beautiful game... My favorite line is from Stephen Colbert:

"Soccer is like the Vietnam war. It takes forever and America always loses."

Johnboy wrote:Footy footy England

The narwhal, Santa, and Harry Potter ones are better... or worse, depending on how you feel about this thing. ;)

Turk wrote:Forgive my lack of appreciation for the beautiful game... My favorite line is from Stephen Colbert:

"Soccer is like the Vietnam war. It takes forever and America always loses."

PTI gave Team USA a D and an F for that performance.

The defensive line just purely ruined it yesterday in three odd instances. On the first one, Solo made the save of the tourney (she's had a number of good ones). On the second one, the defensive player made a reckless tackle in the penalty area; she was lucky she didn't get a red card. Even on the PK, Solo BARELY missed it. On the third one, the direct free kick deflected off a defender; the ball changed its direction freakishly, and Solo had no hope on it.

The other problem USA has had is that its offense just barely misses on many golden opportunities. Wambach FINALLY hit one of those lucky opportunities. It's quite possible that the offense will do very well for the rest of the tourney.

Unfortunately, this tourney has had an abnormally high amount of crappy play. Hopefully that changes with the knock-out phase.

In today's quarterfinal action:
1) In the battle of the Allies, France won on PKs, as England gave away their lead, and choked on the last two PKs. One was a purely horrendous miss. The second (and final) one was a COUGH COUGH gag from the team captain.
2) In the battle of the Axis, JAPAN stunned the home team Germans in overtime. Germany had eleventy billion shots on goal, but the Japanese goalkeep fended off each one.

THANK YOU, JAPAN!!!!

Tomorrow's action includes Sweden vs. Australia and Brasil vs. USA.

Sweden 3 - Australia 1
Nice game, but the Swedes were just too strong, especially early in the match. The Australian goal, however, was beautiful.

On to the big game, USA against Brasil!

USA! USA scored a tying goal in the last minute of overtime (actually in stoppage time) then advances on penalty kicks.

Time to put the flag on the house.

Un-freaking-believable...

USA wins.

Note to Marta: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SEE YA!!

Abby Wambach scored the tying goal with 1 minute of stoppage time in overtime. INCREDIBLE header off the PERFECT cross from Rapinoe.

This may be the ESPN sports moment of the year. Seriously.

Hope Solo is a GREAT goalkeep. WOW!

By the way, Marta (FIFA player of the year for the last 5 years) became villain at a key moment in the second half. 15 minutes into the 2nd half, Buehller took down a Brazilian, drawing a RED card. She is gone for the next game. The USA played the rest of the game down one player. Brazil's Cristiane took the PK, and Solo blocked it. HOWEVER, 15 secs later, Brazil was given a retake, as the US had a defender cross the line too soon. NOTE: the crowd and TV crowd NEVER got an explanation until after regulation. Solo was incensed, giving her a yellow. Marta took the second PK and buried the shot.

From that moment on, Marta's aggressive style turned the crowd against the Brazilians. EVERY time she touched the ball, LOUD whistles and boos. The TV showed GERMAN fans whistling.

Brazil stopped pushing the ball. The US pushed the ball up, 1 player down through regulation.

Overtime started, and Brazil quickly pressed, earning Marta's 2nd goal. From that moment on, Brazil then played stall ball, stalling every which way possible... earning more whistles and boos. One player, Erika (?), suddenly collapsed by the goal, near the end of overtime. She was stretchered off, then as soon as she was over the goal line, GOT UP AND RAN TO THE MIDFIELD STRIPE.

With 3 minutes of stoppage time nearing close, Wambach's header did it.

All I can say is... WOW!! US plays France on Wednesday.