Photo via nbcolympics.com

Remember when Abby Wambach was mired in a scoring drought coming into the 2011 World Cup? As I recall, she scored her first goal of the tournament in the final group stage match against Sweden, having only scored one goal in 10 matches prior to that.

With the way she’s playing now, it’s almost hard to believe.

There’s no denying that Wambach is at the top of her game right now. The 32 year old striker has scored a goal in each match of the U.S. Women’s National Team’s Olympic campaign so far, bringing her career total to 142. “Old Faithful” has stayed composed under pressure, cutting into France’s 2-0 lead early in the first match with a classic header off a corner kick. Against Colombia, she tacked on a late insurance goal after getting punched in the face and knocked to the ground by Lady Andrade.

Nothing is keeping Abby Wambach from realizing her goal of winning that Olympic gold medal.

» Continue reading “Abby Wambach Leads U.S. Women into Olympic Semifinals”

Alex Morgan reps Manchester United before the USWNT played at Old Trafford. Photo via @alexmorgan13 on Twitter.

The group stage of the women’s soccer (excuse me, football) tournament wrapped up today, with Canada and New Zealand securing their places in the quarterfinals by finishing third in their groups. The U.S. shined in the first international women’s football match at famous Old Trafford in Manchester, and Great Britain stunned defending silver medalists Brazil at Wembley. More on the full day’s results below.

USA vs North Korea

The U.S Women’s National Team completed the group stage sweep this afternoon, defeating North Korea 1-0 at historic Old Trafford in Manchester. It was the first women’s soccer match at the venue since 1989, and first ever at the international level.

Abby Wambach scored the lone goal in the 25th minute, set up beautifully on a long ball from Lauren Cheney over the top and into the penalty area for Alex Morgan. Morgan corralled it, worked around two defenders, and then slipped back to Wambach, who had no trouble slotting it past the keeper for her third goal of the tournament and 141st overall.

With the win, the 2004 and 2008 gold medalists finished with 9 points, securing first place in Group G and a quarterfinal date with New Zealand this Friday. After giving up 2 goals in the first 13 minutes of their opening match against France, the U.S. has recorded a clean sheet over the last 257 minutes of play, while scoring eight goals, the most of any team in the tournament.
» Continue reading “Women’s Soccer Group Stage Results”

Rapinoe’s goal celebration included a Happy Birthday message to injured teammate Ali Krieger. Photo via iamoruny.tumblr.com/

The road to gold continues for the U.S. Women’s National Team, as they defeated Colombia 3-0 today, securing their spot in the Olympic quarterfinals with 6 points in Group E.

Megan Rapinoe shined once again with a goal and an assist and Abby Wambach tallied her 140th career goal and 6th in Olympic play, surpassing Mia Hamm as the all-time leader in U.S. Olympic goals. Carli Lloyd started in place of the injured Shannon Boxx and added the third and final blow, her second of the tournament.

It wasn’t as much of a cakewalk as the final score appears, however, at least for the first two-thirds of the match. Colombia, making their first appearance in the Olympic Games, were still carrying resentment from their 3-0 loss to the U.S. in the group stage of the 2011 Women’s World Cup and wanted revenge. As the U.S. dominated the run of play, the game began to get physical and chippy and the referee didn’t seem to want to get involved.

Things boiled over shortly before the end of the first half, when Colombia’s Lady Andrade took Wambach down with a punch to the face just outside Colombia’s penalty area. As Wambach lay on the pitch holding her hands over her face, the ref let the game play on and issued no penalty, apparently having not seen the incident. Wambach eventually got up, with bruising clearly under her right eye. Later, Andrade said it was an accident, but nobody who saw the replay will believe that.

» Continue reading “USA Clinches Quarterfinal Berth With Win Over Colombia”