Wednesday night, the United States Women’s National Team played its final match under head coach Pia Sundhage, defeating Australia 6:2 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Colorado. The USA opened the scoring halfway through the first half, but Australia scorwd two goals in three minutes and had a 2:1 lead for nine minutes in the first half, before the USA equalized. Continue reading “USWNT: USA 6, Australia 2 – Sundhage Finishes Her Tenure With a Win”
Category: USWNT
USWNT – Search 2012: The Search Committee Includes Mia Hamm and Danielle Slaton
Buried in the AP article on Sunday’s friendly with Australia was the statement by U.S. Soccer that the search committee for finding the next head coach includes two USWNT alumni, Mia Hamm and Danielle Slaton. Also the committee is in the process of “making a list of candidates and will soon start having conversations with those candidates” (that is a direct quote from U.S. Soccer statement).
Leading the committee is U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati, who will be the one making the final decision. Other U.S. Soccer officials on the committee include Secretary General (CEO) Dann Flynn and Managing Director of Administration (Jeff Carlisle, Twitter).
According to Gulati, at least ten candidates have expressed interest, including some “interesting inquiries internationally” (EqualizerSoccer.com).
The search committee met on Sunday and is looking to find a replacement in the next 30 to 45 days. The unofficial deadline, the first friendly with Germany, is October 20th, which is about 33 days out.
Continue reading “USWNT – Search 2012: The Search Committee Includes Mia Hamm and Danielle Slaton”
USWNT: The USA Defeats Australia 2:1 at The HDC
On Sunday, the United States Women’s National Team, in the second match of their Fan Tribute series, defeated Australia by a score of 2 to 1, via second half goals by Alex Morgan and Shannon Boxx (U.S. Soccer match report). The Matildas were quite dangerous in the first half, with at least two shots that rebounded off the posts, but an individual effort by the speedy Lisa deVanna gave the visitors a 1:0 half-time advantage.
Full U.S. Soccer highlights are not yet available, but the goals are: Continue reading “USWNT: The USA Defeats Australia 2:1 at The HDC”
USWNT – Search 2012: Who’s In, Who’s Out, Who’s Up, Who’s Down, And… Who? (Day 16)
It is two weeks after the announcement that Pia Sundhage would step down as head coach of the United States Women’s National Team and there has yet to be any sort of clarity regarding the potential candidates for the head coaching position.
Potential candidates who have said that they are not interested in the position at this time include U.S. Soccer Development Director Jill Ellis, Penn State head coach Erica Walsh, and former USWNT assistant coach Marcia McDermott.
Names still in the mix include past USWNT head coach Tony DiCicco, former Philadelphia Independence head coach Paul Riley, and Western New York Flash head coach Aaran Lines. However, things appear to still be in the résumé submission stage, so there is no short list of candidates yet, whether official or unofficial.
Continue reading “USWNT – Search 2012: Who’s In, Who’s Out, Who’s Up, Who’s Down, And… Who? (Day 16)”
USWNT: In Search Of… The Next Head Coach
Before Saturday’s friendly against Costa Rica, U.S. Soccer announced that Pia Sundhage would be stepping down after the Australia friendlies and returning to Sweden to pursue other opportunities. Well, before Sundhage even left Rochester, the SvFF announced on their website that Sundhage had been hired as the new head coach of Sweden’s Women’s National Team, starting on December 1st.
With Sundhage’s upcoming departure, the search for a new head coach of the United States Women’s National Team begins.
The rest of this article reviews (1) what is known about the search process for this cycle, which is very little, so details from past searches are also mentioned, and (2) a non-exhaustive, unofficial best guess of who some of the candidates may be.
USWNT: The USA Defeats Costa Rica 8:0 In Rochester
On Saturday, before a crowd of a sell-out crowd of 13,208 at Sahlen’s Stadium in Rochester, New York, the United States Women’s National Team defeated Costa Rica 8:0 in the first friendly of the USA’s Fan Tribute Tour. In the match, Megan Rapinoe and Abby Wambach each scored twice, while Alex Morgan, Sydney Leroux, Carli Lloyd, and Heather O’Reilly also had goals.
The United States will next play Australia on September 16th, in Carson, California, at the Home Depot Center (12:30 p.m. PDT kick-off, televised live on NBC). Continue reading “USWNT: The USA Defeats Costa Rica 8:0 In Rochester”
Olympics: The United States Takes Gold, Canada Wins Bronze
On Thursday, the United States Women’s National Team claimed its fourth Olympic Gold Medal by besting Japan 2:1 in front of eighty-thousand spectators at Wembley Stadium. Carli Lloyd scored both goals for the USA, the first in the 8th minute, and then the eventual game-winner in the 49th. Japan got one back via the foot of Yuki Ogimi in the 63rd, but was unlucky to not have an earlier chance for the equalizer when an obvious-on-replay handling foul was not called on Tobin Heath in the 27th minute. (Obligatory BigSoccer referee forum thread link.)
In the earlier Bronze Medal match, Canada claimed its first Olympic medal on a stoppage time goal by Diana Matheson against a France team that out-shot Canada 18 to 4, but only 4 of France’s shots were on goal. Continue reading “Olympics: The United States Takes Gold, Canada Wins Bronze”
Olympics: Preview Notes on the USA vs. Japan Gold Medal Match
On Thursday, at Wembley Stadium, the United States Women’s National Team will be seeking its fourth Gold Medal when it takes on reigning World Champions Japan in a rematch of the 2011 Women’s World Cup final. And, as in that 2011 match, the center referee will be Bibiana Steinhaus of Germany. Over 80,000 tickets have been sold for the match, although a sell-out is not expected due to the only remaining tickets being £125 or $195 in U.S. dollars (WembleyStadium.com).
The Gold Medal match will be shown live on NBC Sports Network, with coverage beginning at 2:00 p.m. EDT. The kick-off is at 2:45 p.m. EDT.
CONTENTS
- Television And Online Details
- Referee Crew
- Likely Starting Line-Ups
- Japan’S Matches (just a list, with links)
- United States’ Goals And Assists, By Player
- Cumulative Tournament Statistical Comparison
- Japan’s Goals: How Scored
- USA/Japan Matches This Year (list with short summary) Continue reading “Olympics: Preview Notes on the USA vs. Japan Gold Medal Match”
Olympics: Semifinals – An Epic USA Win Amidst Poor Refereeing. And, Japan Wins, Too.
[Just a short write-up. Highlight videos linked.]
The United States Women’s National Team battled back three times after Canada, via their captain Christine Sinclair, scored three go-ahead goals to send the two squad’s Olympic semifinal match into extra time where Alex Morgan ended her miniature goal-scoring drought and headed home the ‘winner in the waning seconds of added time. Continue reading “Olympics: Semifinals – An Epic USA Win Amidst Poor Refereeing. And, Japan Wins, Too.”
Olympics: Monday’s Semifinals – Schedule (FRA/JPN, USA/CAN)
Here’s Monday’s schedule for the semifinals in the women’s soccer tournament at the London Olympics, with NBC’s “Live Extra” streaming links.
Both matches will be live on NBC Sports Network and NBC’s Olympic Soccer Channel.
12:00 p.m. – Semifinal #1 / France vs. Japan (NBCSN, Soccer)
2:45 p.m. – Semifinal #2 / United States vs. Canada (NBCSN, Soccer)
Also: NBCSN simulcast (August 6).
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