The U.S. Women's National Team celebrates Alex Morgan's equalizing goal.

U.S. Soccer completed the Memorial Day weekend sweep, with the Women’s National Team defeating China 4-1 one day after the Men’s National Team defeated Scotland 5-1.

Alex Morgan racked up two more on the night for 24 all-time in just 39 appearances. The new face of U.S. Women’s soccer (and if you don’t believe me, check out this Panasonic VIERA ad), Morgan now has scored at least two goals in six career international appearances (hat tip: ESPN’s Paul Carr).

Despite the end result, it wasn’t as much of a cakewalk for the women as it was for the men the night before. The U.S. started slowly, nearly finding themselves down in the opening minutes as a shot from Pang Han from the left side of the six yard box banged off the crossbar. After a few off-target chances early, they found their first threat in the 21st minute when Morgan collected an OʻReilly serve into the middle of the box and banged it on goal, only to be blocked by the keeper. It bounced out to Lloyd for another chance, but it was deflected away.

But just minutes later, poor play through the midfield and defensive miscues by the U.S. left China’s Rui Zhang wide open on the left side, and she was able to slot one past Solo toward the far post for a 1-0 China lead in the 23rd minute.

It wasn’t long before the U.S. collected themselves, however, and the Alex Morgan Show was off to the races.  Morgan nabbed her first goal in the 34th minute, off a pass through the middle and over the top from Heather O’Reilly. “Baby Horse”, as the 22-year old Morgan is affectionately known, corralled the pass with her head, brought it down for one touch before striking from just inside the penalty area to sink it in the back of the net. The goal equalized the game at 1 and brought new life back into the crowd.

Two minutes later, the U.S. was threatening in China’s penalty area again, when a defensive error by China’s Zhou Gaoping led to her heading the ball into her own net, for a 2-1 USA lead.

From there, the U.S. never looked back. They opened the second half more poised, with a crisper midfield presence after Lauren Cheney subbed in for Carli Lloyd in the center, and Amy Rodriguez took over on the right flank for O’Reilly. It wasn’t long before they were able to tally another goal, after Morgan took a Christie Rampone pass in the 50th minute and  and muscled past her defender to net her second of the evening.

This screenshot of Alex Morgan celebrating her second goal would be really awesome if the broadcast quality weren't so poor. But beggars can't be choosers...

Abby Wambach slotted home the fourth and final goal of the night in the 83rd minute, her 135th career international goal, on a throw-in from Morgan that took her to the end line. She crossed it in from what appeared to be a nearly impossible angle. But… it’s Abby.

Fan favorite Sydney Leroux got into the action in the 80th minute, coming on for Amy LePeilbet as the team went into a 3-4-3 formation pushing for speed up top. Leroux nearly had the game’s fifth goal just minutes after Wambach’s when she struck a bullet on target from 20 yards out, but it was saved by Zhang Yue. In the closing minute, Leroux just missed another chance at goal as a cross from Cheney found her along the left post, but Leroux couldn’t quite get to it to knock it in.

Believe it or not, this screenshot was actually from a match in 2012.

The women played to a sellout crowd of 18,573 at PPL Park, home of MLS’s Philadelphia Union, but home viewers were once again snubbed by the television networks – because nobody cares about women’s soccer, right?

USSoccer.com came to the rescue yesterday with the announcement that they would carry a live web stream, and for that, U.S. WNT fans are grateful, even if the broadcast quality was poor and the graphics appeared to come out of a match from 1982.

Earlier in the day, head coach Pia Sundhage announced her 18-woman roster for the Summer Olympics. There are no big surprises, but I’d like to have seen Lori Lindsey get the nod as a backup central midfielder, though it looks as if Lauren Cheney might fill that role well.

U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team Roster by Position

GOALKEEPERS (2): Nicole Barnhart, Hope Solo
DEFENDERS (6): Rachel Buehler, Amy LePeilbet, Heather Mitts, Kelley O’Hara, Christie Rampone, Becky Sauerbrunn
MIDFIELDERS (6): Shannon Boxx, Lauren Cheney, Tobin Heath, Carli Lloyd, Heather O’Reilly, Megan Rapinoe
FORWARDS (4): Sydney Leroux, Alex Morgan, Amy Rodriguez, Abby Wambach

Despite how she’s impressed in the last few months, I wasn’t sure if we’d see Leroux make the roster, but it looks as if Sundhage is looking for more speed up top late in matches, particularly to complement Morgan. Against better front lines than China, the U.S. won’t have the luxury of moving into a 3-4-3 late in games in the Olympics, but with Buehler winning more balls and serving well into the midfield, and how well O’Hara has stepped up as a solid left back with the ability to help in the attack, the defense should be improved since the World Cup.

Okay so here it is! We finally get to tell you who is the most popular of our Midweek Muscles! Are you excited? I am. It’s been great going back and seeing who had the most hits for our most favorite feature. You might be surprised. But hopefully, you enjoy the top three picks!

1.) Alex Morgan

I’m definitely not surprised by this; Alex brought in an amazing 207 hits to her Midweek Muscles post. And why not? Not only has she been on absolute fire this year with the U.S. Women’s  National Team, but she’s pretty smokin’ hot.

2.) Sydney LeRoux and Clint Dempsey

This one was crazy! Sydney brought in 154 clicks and Deuce had 152, so I thought it was close enough to call a tie. Sydney was No. 1 overall pick for the WPS Draft this past year and had an amazing showing on her debuts for the women’s national team. And Clint, well what can you say about Clint Dempsey? Man is amazing on and off the pitch – a force to be reckoned with. Both are amazing.

3.) Euan Holden

I am so happy Euan Holden slipped into the third spot with 131 hits. He beat out big bro Stuart Holden (you can rub that in his face if you wish, Euan) and definitely made a statement with our views. Playing for Stockport County in the Conference National League, Euan is so kick ass, the Scottish National team has even expressed interest in him playing for them. He’s definitely kept his Scottish accent and that’s okay with us.

Runner ups:
Lance Parker

David Beckham

Herculez Gomez

English Premier League

Getting excited for the Manchester Derby tomorrow? United’s Ryan Giggs sure is. It’s his 35th appearance in the series, and he says “it is games like this which give him the desire to keep on playing” and he’s confident that United will win:

“I’m sure they will be fancying themselves to win because they’re a good team and they’re at home.

“But obviously the scenarios are more in our favour than City. We’re Manchester United, we’re the champions and we’ll try and put out a statement that we deserve to win this league.”

Ian Darke, who will be calling the game for ESPN, says however that the only sure thing “is that it will be a dramatic and manic Monday.”

Major League Soccer

The New York Red Bulls got back on track with a 1-0 win over the New England Revolution yesterday, with the lone goal scored by none other than Thierry Henry. But RBNY didn’t leave the field celebrating. Henry injured his hamstring in just the 25th minute and will be out for the next 3-4 weeks.

Poor Toronto FC just can’t catch a break. They suffered their seventh straight defeat to start the season, allowing a stoppage-time goal to Real Salt Lake to fall 3-2.

And speaking of game winning stoppage time goals, San Jose pulled one off in the 93rd minute, off the head of Stephen Lenhart, to best the Union. After opening the season with a loss, San Jose hasn’t lost since.

 Serie A

Congratulations to Juventus, whose  4-0 win over Novara extended their unbeaten streak to 35. ESPN’s Paul Carr notes on Twitter that this is the first time a Serie A club has done so to start a season.

U.S. Women’s National Team

The road to gold for the USWNT will be a familiar one. The Olympic group draws were announced this week, and the U.S. has been seeded into Group G along with France, Columbia and Korea DPR. In the group stage of the 2011 Women’s World Cup, the U.S. faced Korea DPR and Columbia, winning 2-0 and 3-0, respectively. They faced France in the semifinals, advancing to the final with a 3-1 win.

The USA-France match on July 25 will be the marquee opening game for the women’s soccer competition at the Olympics. France qualified for the Olympics by virtue of its top-two finish among European teams at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup but lost its last two games to the USA in the semifinal and to Sweden in the third-place match. The USA is 12-0-1 all-time against France, a team thought by many to be one of the best attacking sides at the Women’s World Cup.

Remember when Alex Morgan fans were clamoring for her to start, and Pia Sundhage claimed that her best role was off the bench late – that her style wouldn’t work for a full 90 minutes? That was only a few short months ago, and yet seems like it’s been ages. Morgan hassolidified her role in the starting eleven, scoring early, scoring late, pretty much doing it all. And when you look at her numbers, it’s apparent that Morgan’s success is not going to be short-lived. In Part I of a two part series for NBC Sports, Jenna Pel breaks down the stats behind Morgan’s international goals and how they were scored. In Part II, Pel compares Morgan’s 22 goals in 38 caps to other members of the current national team squad and the top five goal scorers in U.S. women’s soccer history. Using the word “impressive” to describe her career so far doesn’t do it justice.

Happy Wednesday! I don’t know about you guys, but I definitely need a little pick-me up today after this week so far! The games have been crazy and the rumors crazier, as always. Thank God for Midweek Muscles! If you follow us on twitter (we’re at @AerysSoccer by the way), you’ve probably seen us mention that we’re going to do a “Best of Midweek Muscles” post soon. I’m pretty excited about it, so I hope you are too! To kick this off, I thought I would do a little kick back edition of MWM, to refresh all of your memories of the hotness that has adorn the Aerys Soccer page since we started this lovely segment in October.

So, are you partial to Landon Donovan? Maybe Cristiano Ronaldo or David Beckham? And who could forget the amazing pics of Alex Morgan and Lance Parker? They’re all here for your viewing pleasure this evening, with links to all the MWM posts! And hey, let us know you’re favorites! We’d love to hear what guy or gal had you seeing hearts in your eyes!

1.) Benny Feilhaber

2.) Robbie Rogers

3.) Landon Donovan

4.) Taylor Twellman

5.) Carlos Bocanegra

6.) Brian Ching

7.) Omar Gonzalez 

8.) Sergio Ramos

9.) Heath Pearce

10.) Tim Howard

11.) Chris Pontius

12.) Stuart Holden

13.) Thierry Henry

14.) Clint Dempsey

15.) Sydney Leroux

16.) Alex Morgan

17.) Daniele De Rossi

18.) David Beckham

19.) Euan Holden

20.) Cristiano Ronaldo

21.) Chris Wingert

22.) Brek Shea

23.) Herculez Gomez

24.) Chris Wondolowski

25.) Lance Parker

Whew! That’s a lot of hotties! Don’t forget to leave a comment here or shoot us a tweet telling us about your favorite soccer hotties, or even leave us a suggestion for our next installment of Midweek Muscles!

USWNT forward Alex Morgan

I was starting to think that there really wasn’t anything particularly attention-grabbing for today’s DKA. Sure, we have the latest updates in MLS, including the tear Sporting K.C. is on, and the races for the FA Cup and EPL titles, but nothing caught my eye to say “wow, this is headline worthy.”

Then, this morning, as I was drinking coffee and getting ready to watch the Manchester United-Aston Villa match, I came across a link to a letter that U.S. Women’s National Team forward Alex Morgan wrote to a high-school female soccer player, who tore her ACL in her senior year. Read on for this story on someone who’s not only talented, but whose perspective during times of adversity is incredibly inspirational.

U.S. Women’s National Team

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Alex Morgan. She continues to establish herself among the elite of U.S. women’s soccer, with 22 international goals, scoring at a pace of 1.23 goals per 90 minutes as of the U.S.’s latest match vs Brazil. Her relatively quick rise toward the national spotlight is inspiring to many young women, but it’s her actions off the field which may have even more impact on the next generation of professional female soccer players. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle just published  this inspirational letter that Alex wrote to a local high-school player who she didn’t know, but heard was doubting her future after tearing her ACL in her senior year of high school, just as Alex did:

I heard that you have done extremely well for yourself in the past few years, but you just tore your ACL and got surgery less than a week ago. I want to first tell you that tearing your ACL will not be the end of your career.

You decide your destiny. I don’t know if you are religious, but I like to think of it as God testing our strength. You will become a stronger person because of this, and I’m sure you already are. If you know what you want, and if that is playing college soccer or professional soccer one day, do everything in your power to accomplish that.

You need to stay positive, look ahead not back, and use the time you have now in the present to create the future you want.

Make sure to click on the link above to read the full letter.

Abby Wambach is still fully entrenched as the USWNT’s No. 1 forward, but Pia Sundhage is preparing for the future with the addition of another young, dynamic forward to the national team roster. Christen Press, the No. 4 overall 2011 WPS draft pick, and WPS Rookie of the Year has finally been called up, as Pia Sundhage announced the 27-player roster for the Florida training camp, in preparation for their May 27 friendly against China. Press, the 2011 MAC Hermann Trophy winner at Stanford, who previously played with WPS magicJack until the league suspended its 2012 season in January, is currently playing with Sweden’s Göteborg FC.

Major League Soccer

Remember last week when we mentioned that Sporting K.C. set an MLS record for minutes without allowing a shot on goal? Well, that record was unfortunately broken last night, as Real Salt Lake ended the streak at 335 minutes. I’m sure they weren’t fretting too much over it, though.  Sporting beat RSL 1-0 to keep a much more important streak alive, starting the season 6-0. They are only the second MLS team to do so, after L.A. Galaxy’s 9-0 start in 1996.

Speaking of the Galaxy, they actually won! David Beckham was back on the field for Saturday’s match against the Portland Timbers, scoring in the 91st minute to ice the 3-1 victory for L.A.

The Red Bulls-Earthquakes match lived up to the hype, with a flurry of goals in the first half, finishing in a 2-2 draw. Unfortunately, it felt more like a loss to the home team, as the Red Bulls led twice early, only to have their defense betray them and forget how dangerous Chris Wondolowski can be. Despite the result, the Red Bulls goals were textbook lessons in brilliance, with the second coming off a beautiful cross from Richards at the end line, flicked back by Cooper and struck by Dax McCarty for his first goal with the Red Bulls. I can’t stop watching that one. Highlights are here.

Read Trista Lutgring’s Saturday MLS Rewind for more scores and details!

English Premier League

After a stunning 1-0 defeat at Wigan midweek, Manchester United could feel City breathing down their necks, only two points behind, after United led by eight just a week ago. Maybe they just needed a little extra pressure to get back to form, as United bludgeoned Aston Villa 4-0 to move back up by five. Kayla Knapp has the full recap.

FA Cup

Everton’s Sylvain Distin is going to be haunted for a while by a horrible back pass that set up an opening for Luis Suarez to knock home the tying goal in the 62nd minute of the FA Cup semifinal. Liverpool capped the win with an Andy Carroll goal off a free kick minutes before the end of the match, sending them to the final.

W-League

With the dissolution of the WPS for 2012, many players have moved on to the semi-professional W-League and WPSL for the season, but no team has benefited more than the Seattle Sounders Women, who grabbed up USWNT players Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Sydney Leroux and Megan Rapinoe. Yep, it’s magicJack all over again, without Abby Wambach and crazy Dan Borislow. Naturally, the Sounders drew more than 4,000 to their first match — of the pre-season. Not too shabby. Even Morgan was impressed with the crowd:

“I’m really impressed with Seattle and the support that we’ve got for the women’s team. It’s been great so far. I was really surprised at how many fans came out to support us. With the WPS we were lucky getting a crowd like this. This was a crowd we would get maybe directly after the World Cup.”

Here are highlights from Friday night’s Sounders 5-0 win against Seattle University, including interview with Leroux, who had a hat trick, and midfielder Keelin Winters.

Keep up with @AerysSoccer on Twitter for our reactions to all the latest news in EPL, MLS, La Liga and U.S. Soccer.

U.S. central midfielder Shannon Boxx scored for the U.S. in their 3-0 win over Brazil in the Kirin Challenge Cup. Photo via ussoccer.com

It wasn’t the nail-biting, penalty shootout thriller that defined the last meeting between the U.S.A. and Brazil in the World Cup quarterfinals, and that’s perfectly fine by me. After struggling to maintain possession and rhythm in the opening match of the Kirin Challege Cup against Japan Sunday, the U.S. Women’s National Team had no trouble finding the right touch or the back of the net Tuesday afternoon in a 3-0 victory over their Brazilian foes.

Despite windy and rainy conditions that forced the teams to move up their match by four hours, from 8 p.m. to 4 local time in Japan, the U.S. dominated the match in all facets of the game. Brazil was missing their leading scorer and five-time FIFA World Player of the Year, Marta, but it was the Brazilian defense that was mostly missing.

Abby Wambach nearly opened the scoring in the first minute, when she had a golden opportunity in front of an open net in the center of the penalty box, but she just knocked the ball off the cross bar. Still, it was clear from those opening minutes that the U.S. was the superior team in this matchup. Carli Lloyd put them on the board in the 18th minute off a free kick, courtesy of a foul on Wambach. Rampone served the ball into the box, where it deflected off Rachel Buehler’s foot and in front of Lloyd, who put it away.

Set pieces were the U.S.A’s lucky charm in the match, as Shannon Boxx followed Lloyd with a header off a free kick serviced by Lauren Cheney toward the far post just minutes later. It was Boxx’s first goal in over a year, and a particularly ecstatic moment, given the recent revelation that Boxx was diagosed with lupus in 2007.

Brazil nearly cut the lead in half in the 30th minute when Cristiane headed in a goal, but it was disallowed and ruled that the ball had crossed the end line and out of bounds before Formiga served it into the box for Cristiane.

In the second half, U.S. coach Pia Sundhage began subbing in players to give bench players a look before the Olympic roster is whittled down from 24 to 18. Megan Rapinoe, who did not play in the match against Japan, entered for the start of the second half in place of Heather O’ReillY, and Becky Sauerbrunn replaced captain Christie Rampone in the defense. Tobin Heath came in for Lloyd in the 62nd minute, Amy Rodriguez for Alex Morgan in the 71st and Heather Mitts for Kelley O’Hara in the 83rd. Notably absent in both matches was forward Sydney Leroux, who scored five goals in one match in the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers, but has had a minimal role since.

In the 81st minute, Rodriguez was fouled, setting up yet another free kick opportunity for the U.S., and put the game away with the third and final goal:

Rodriguez replaced Morgan in the 71st minute and her speed menaced Brazil’s backs for the rest of the way. In the 83rd minute Rodriguez was dragged down by Daiane as she tried to burst past the defensive line and the Americans were awarded a free kick, which led to the clinching third goal.

Cheney sent the long free kick into the penalty box where Wambach brought it down with her chest. The ball bounced off Wambach, hit off a defender and rolled into the path of Rodriguez, who smashed a nine-yard shot off another defender with the deflection ending up in the right side of the net.

At halftime, ESPN commentators Tony DiCicco and Monica Gonzalez discussed Sundhage’s tough choices  setting  the Olympic roster, so let’s take a look at these battles and who might get left off.

GOALKEEPERS (3): 18-Nicole Barnhart, 21-Ashlyn Harris, 1-Hope Solo

The U.S. will likely only go with two goalkeepers, and Barnhart has the edge over Harris as Solo’s backup, so that’s down to 23.

DEFENDERS (9): 19-Rachel Buehler, 14-Stephanie Cox, 22-Whitney Engen, 23-Meghan Klingenberg, 6-Amy LePeilbet, 2-Heather Mitts, 5-Kelley O’Hara, 3-Christie Rampone, 4-Becky Sauerbrunn

Engen and Klingenberg are clearly going to be off, as they’ve had little playing time. That leaves Cox, Mitts, O’Hara and Sauerbrunn. Replacing right-back Ali Krieger, who tore her ACL in Olympic Qualifying, is not an easy task, but O’Hara has stepped up considerably in the last few months on the left side of the defense, moving LePeilbet over to the right. Sauerbrunn and Cox proved themselves as a worthy backups in the World Cup as well, and Rampone has confidence in Sauerbrunn. That leaves Heather Mitts off. 20.

MIDFIELDERS (7): 7-Shannon Boxx, 17-Tobin Heath, 16-Lori Lindsey, 10-Carli Lloyd, 9-Heather O’Reilly, 15-Megan Rapinoe, 8-Amy Rodriguez

The starting core of O’Reilly, Boxx, and Lloyd are set, and Lauren Cheney, though listed as forward will play in the midfield, so that leaves three backups. Rapinoe should make the roster, given how big she came up in the World Cup, and she had another strong performance today, nearly scoring. Lori Lindsey could be a wild card, but she’s a smart player and makes good decisions that will help the team maintain possession in the midfield. DiCicco and Gonzalez said it would come down to Heath and Rodriguez, but Pia has tended to be conservative, and go with experience. Amy has the versatility of playing both wing and forward, as well as speed needed late in matches. I’m leaning toward A-Rod staying and Heath off the roster. 19.

FORWARDS (4): 12-Lauren Cheney, 11-Sydney Leroux, 13-Alex Morgan, 20-Abby Wambach

And we’re down to 1. Will Leroux make the cut? DiCicco indicated that Pia thinks highly of Leroux, and she clearly has worked well when paired up front with Morgan. But in the Olympics, I don’t think that Sundhage will be taking Wambach out early, and Leroux and Wambach haven’t teamed up as well together. My guess is that, with Morgan firmly entrenched in a starting role, Leroux gets left off. Gonzalez said she’d take Leroux over Rodriguez, but I disagree. If there was any doubt in Sundhage’s mind about A-Rod, it should have been put to rest by her performance in her twenty minutes of today’s match.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think.

The U.S. next faces China at PPL Park in Chester, PA on Sunday, May 27. Tickets go on sale Friday.

Italian and New York soccer legend Giorgio Chinaglia passed away today at the age of 65.

It’s been a busy weekend in the soccer world, and it’s not over yet. Today’s news runs the gamut from shocking to hilarious, sad to inspiring.

We’ve got an MLS roundup for you of all the action in this fourth week of the season, including several stunners in the Western Conference. A couple MLS teams revealed new alternate kits this week – one an homage to the past and the other a nod to the future. In more somber news, today we heard about the passing of an international soccer legend, Giorgio Chinaglia, at the age of 65.  And we learned about an illness that one U.S. Women’s National Team member has battled and kept secret for the last 10 years.

Giorgio Chinaglia

Sad news broke today for both Italian and American soccer fans with the passing of Giorgio Chinaglia, a legend with the Italian club Lazio and the North American Soccer League’s New York Cosmos, from “complications due to a heart attack.” Chinaglia was the NASL’s leading scorer with 242 goals, and remained involved with the club after its 2010 reincarnation. Here’s a terrific video montage of his career. R.I.P, Giorgio.

English Premier League

Aston Villa midfielder Stiliyan Petrov is about to begin treatment for leukemia, but isn’t letting that discourage him. Petrov is taking inspiration from Fabrice Muamba, and has received incredible support from teammates and around the league.

Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina was booted from his team’s match against Newcastle United today, over a controversial call that he headbutted an opposing player. Reina could miss the club’s FA Cup semifinal vs Everton if the three game suspension stands. Newcastle won the match 2-0.

Major League Soccer

There were quite a few stunners in the Western Conference yesterday. On a rainy night in L.A., MLS Champions L.A. Galaxy couldn’t get anything going at home against the New England Revolution, who put up two goals inside the first 15 minutes, then added the dagger in the 65th minute to win 3-1.  Meanwhile, in Portland, the Timbers came back from halftime deficit to lead 2-1 by the 60th minute, only to let it slip away to Real Salt Lake for a 3-2 loss. You can see all the goals here. And finally, the San Jose Earthquakes defeated the Sounders in Seattle 1-0 behind a Chris Wondolowski converted penalty kick.

Meanwhile, in the Eastern Conference, it wasn’t so crazy. DC United and the New York Red Bulls rolled at home with United defeating Dallas 4-1 and New York cruising past  Montreal 5-2 behind a Thierry Henry hat trick. The Philadelphia Union are still winless after a scoreless tie with the Vancouver Whitecaps, and the Chicago Fire, who are undefeated (that’s not an April Fool’s joke) put their record on the line tonight against the Rapids.

FC Dallas revealed a new alternate jersey called the “Century Kit,” and it’s the first sleeveless jersey in MLS. The rationale behind a basketball jersey look on the soccer pitch?

“We wanted to be bold,” said FC Dallas president and CEO Doug Quinn. “This new jersey is exactly that and will help our players stay cool during the summer. It’s the best of both worlds.”

But Dallas isn’t the only one making a bold statement with their alternate kits in MLS, as the Portland TImbers are honoring the club’s history with a retro-style, environmentally-conscious new jersey:

 The Portland Timbers and adidas… unveiled the team’s official third uniform design for the 2012 season. The retro-inspired jersey is produced from 100 percent recycled materials and was designed and manufactured in Portland.

U.S. Women’s National Team

The U.S.A faced Japan today for the third time in the last nine months in the opening match of the Women’s Kirin Challenge Cup. The U.S. hoped to avenge losses to Japan in the World Cup Final and Algarve Cup, but managed only a 1-1 draw, struggling to maintain possession throughout much of the match. In case you weren’t up early enough to watch, we’ve got a full recap. You can also view highlights and post-game quotes from Pia Sundhage and the players, courtesy of ussoccer.com.

During halftime of the match, ESPN aired a piece about U.S. midfielder Shannon Boxx that shocked many with the news that in 2002 Boxx was diagoned with Sjögren’s Syndrome, and in 2007, lupus. Not wanting coaches or teammates to use this against her, Boxx kept her diagnois a secret for the better part of the last 10 years. Despite her illness, Boxx has hardly slowed down, maintaining her position as a stalwart, dependable presence in the U.S. central midfield through three World Cups and is heading into her second Olympics this year.

World Soccer

The news has been pretty heavy today, so here’s something a little more lighthearted. Poor FC Magdeburg. The German association football team hadn’t scored in five matches, so their fans wanted to make sure they knew where the goal actually was.

…just to make sure their players still knew where the ball should be kicked, Magdeburg fans brought oversized arrows to a game last weekend.

The also unfurled a banner behind the opposing team’s goal that translated roughly as, “Don’t worry, guys, we’ll show you where the goal is!”

Follow @AerysSoccer on Twitter for more reactions to all the weekend’s soccer news!

U.S. Women's National Team's Alex Morgan. Photo via ussoccer.com

The U.S. Women’s National Team didn’t lose to Japan. That’s about the best that can be said for the red, white and blue, who drew 1-1 with the host country in Sendai Sunday in the opening match of the inaugural Women’s Kirin Challenge Cup. After falling to Japan in a penalty kick shootout in the Women’s World Cup Final in July, and again on an 84th minute goal in the semifinals of the Algarve Cup last month, the U.S. found a way – just barely – to avoid defeat at the hands of the Japanese for the third straight game.

It was no surprise that Japan controlled the lion’s share of the possession in this match. That was expected. Their quick touches and crisp passing through the middle of the field throughout most of the first half kept them moving forward, limiting the U.S. opportunities for getting anything going. Even without their captain and leading scorer Homare Sawa, who is suffering from vertigo, Japan had no trouble putting together a few early dangerous attacks that the U.S. just managed to avoid conceding to, including an 11th minute opportunity where Shinobu Ohno slipped past Rachel Buehler after an attempt to clear the ball found her on the ground. Lucky for the U.S., Hope Solo was there to snuff it out.

The U.S. had three quick corner kicks early, but a header by Rachel Buehler directly at  Japan’s keeper, Ayumi Kaihori, off the service from Lauren Cheney, was the best chance they had for the majority of the first half. When they did grab possession they were quick to turn it over in the midfield, left chasing the Japanese, and the lack of speed on the defensive end allowed Japan to get a few more opportunities in the penalty box.

In the 32nd minute, Japanese grit and a defensive breakdown by the U.S. put the hosts up by a goal. Nahomi Kawasumi chipped the ball over the defense and into the box for Yukari Kinga, who cut it inside to Ohno. Buehler slid in front of Ohno and tried to kick it away from the goal, but ending up putting it right at Solo just at the far post. Solo got a touch on it, but couldn’t hold on and the ball dribbled away to her left. Lauren Cheney tried to clear it out, but Kinga beat her to knock it in, past a grounded Solo.

For the rest of the half, the U.S. couldn’t establish any rhythm, seeming sluggish and completely out of sync with one another. It was only in the 41st minute that they had their first dangerous opportunity, as Alex Morgan sped out around the left side of the defense on a long serve up the middle and was able to cut a strike toward the far post. It appeared to be just tipped out and over the end line by Kaihori, but Japan was awarded the goal kick. That’s the way it was going for the U.S.

The opening minutes of the second half looked promising for the U.S., as Morgan was fouled just outside the penalty box in the 48th minute. Carli Lloyd sent the free kick over the Japanese wall, but too high as it just sailed over the crossbar and onto the top of the net. They started to win back some of the possession and Morgan was able to get a few nice touches, but unable to put the finishing touch on anything.

Finally, in the 72nd minute, Morgan, with her signature late-game heroics, put home the equalizer on a goal that almost wasn’t.  Wambach had crossed the ball in from the right flank, just a few feet in front of the box to Shannon Boxx, who pushed up to Carli Lloyd. As Lloyd moved toward the box, a Japanese defensive miscue in an attempt to poke it away deflected the ball into the penalty area. Morgan, waiting just along the back line, slipped behind the defense and sunk it home, but she was called offsides by the line judge. Moments later, the referee reversed the call and Morgan had tallied her 22nd career goal, and the 10th in her last seven matches.

Despite the end result, Japan fully controlled the game and remain a thorn in the side of the world’s top-ranked team. If the U.S. has hopes of capturing gold in London this summer, they’re going to have to find a way to create more chances through the midfield and get the ball forward to Morgan, who has quickly established herself as their go-to spark up top.

The U.S. faces Brazil Tuesday in the second game of the Cup, their first meeting since the their thrilling penalty kick victory in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. The match airs on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com at 7 a.m. ET.

Happy Friday! The weekend is upon us, and there is so much to talk about. From a weekend full of MLS, EPL and La Liga action, to a high-school girls soccer game brawl, we’ve got the full spectrum of footy news to discuss! Here’s your Daily Kick Around.

Fabrice Muamba

I woke up this morning to read an incredible tweet from Fabrice Muamba’s Twitter account. “Fab wanted me to post this pic for you all and to also say thank you for such overwhelming support.” Followed by the picture to the right of Muamba smiling and sitting upright. His recovery has been nothing short of miraculous! Still a long way to go, but so many positive signs this early on are heart warming.

English Premier League

While there was the uplifting Muamba news this morning, there was also an incredibly somber mood in the soccer community today as word spread that Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov has been diagnosed with acute leukemia. Our thoughts and prayers are with him as he faces a difficult battle against cancer. Stay strong, Stiliyan!

Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero has a “stupid” injury. No, seriously. He has been ruled out of Saturday’s game against Sunderland, and will be sidelined for an unknown period of time. Manager Roberto Mancini was vague about the injury, to say the least: “It is a stupid injury,’ said Mancini. ‘It was not his fault but he can’t play with this injury; for one day, 10 days or two weeks. I don’t know.” So informative.

The EPL is coming to the States! OK, not exactly…this summer, Liverpool will take on Tottenham in Baltimore for a July summer friendly. This is a unique chance for fans of English soccer to see two great teams play without having to pay for a flight to England.

US Women’s National Team

The USWNT will take on Japan in a friendly this Sunday — a rematch of the World Cup final, where the US lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Japanese. Alex Morgan made an appearance on Kick to preview the game. And of course, host Jimmy Conrad slipped in a couple of questions about Morgan’s famous photo shoot in the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated. Check it out!

Major League Soccer

The Portland Timbers will debut their retro third kit at their game against Real Salt Lake on Saturday night. Check it out here if you haven’t seen it yet. This is my favorite kit in all of MLS, the design has so much history in it, and is well done. Bravo, Timbers!

And finally, today’s crazy-wacky-wild soccer story. If you missed it on Twitter yesterday, a video from a high school girl’s soccer game in South Carolina was circulating. One player brutally attacked another player, seemingly out of nowhere. Today, we found out that the girl who initiated the attack has been charged with simple assault. The video is disturbing, but I’m glad to see that law enforcement got involved. This goes way beyond the soccer pitch.

Happy Tuesday everyone! A lot is happening in the soccer world. For example, waking up this morning to news that USWNT’s Alex Morgan joins the Seattle Sounders Women in the W-League, realizing that this week is busy for international friendlies or that Ashley Cole has his own opinion on England teammate John Terry. All that and more in today’s Daily Kick Around!

USWNT

After the dramatic downward spiral that is known as the suspension of the 2012-13 WPS season, the USL W-League club Seattle Sounders Women have officially added their third USWNT player by bringing in Alex Morgan. Morgan now joins her national teammates Hope Solo (who is a Sounders supporter) and Sydney Leroux, who joined the Sounders last month. Alex Morgan will now play in the same city as her boyfriend, Servando Carrasco, who plays for the Seattle Sounders in the MLS. Welcome to Seattle ladies!

International 

There’s three international friendlies being played today. For all the fixtures for today as well as tomorrow click here!

The England National team attended the England Footballers Foundation Lions and Roses Charity Dinner last night and posed for a team photo with Ashley Cole standing directly in front of John Terry, blocking him from view. Was this done on purpose or not? Probably not.

English Premier League

Despite rumors of a rift between Chelsea’s Frank Lampard and manager Andre Villas-Boas, AVB hopes that the England midfielder will continue wearing blue next season. On Saturday, Lampard became the only Premier League player to hit the double-figure mark in goals, showing his manager how much of a key player he really is.

There’s no doubt that Ryan Giggs and newly unretired Paul Scholes are United’s best players, perhaps even legends. And manager Sir Alex Ferguson has made that clear. Both men scored against Norwich City with Fergie praising the two gents in a post-match interview.

Scholes and Giggs are the best players this club has ever had. We could have played him against Ajax on Thursday but this game was more important and I knew we would need all our experienced players and Ryan and Scholesy in particular. That experience is really going to help us in the next couple of months.”

Fabricio Coloccini has yet to renew his contract with Newcastle after some disagreements in terms. The 30-year old insists to supporters that he wants to stay and hopes to be a part of any plans Newcastle will bring in the future.

Serie A

Lesson to all soccer players out there: If you punch someone, you will get banned. AC Milan defender Philippe Mexes has been banned for 3 matches following his attack Juve’s Marco Borriello Saturday. At first, Italian refs didn’t see the incident but the league reviewed the match, calling it a violent misconduct between the former Roma teammates.

La Liga

Not only was Cristiano Ronaldo’s amazing back-heel goal the highlight of Real Madrid’s match against Rayo Vallecano Sunday, but apparently so was Sergio Ramos’ elbow. It’s never an entertaining match unless Ramos gets a yellow, but in this case, he was lucky it wasn’t a red. Ramos elbowed Rayo’s Diego Costa right in the face. Ouch!