Olympic football concluded today with a huge upset, as Mexico shocked Brazil to capture the gold and their first Olympic medal. Watch out, world. CONCACAF is comin’ to get ya! Now that the Olympics are over, what am I going to write about? For now at least I’m still in Olympic mode and dug up a few of the top headlines from the women’s and men’s tournaments, but we’ll get back to some MLS headlines this week as well.

Olympics 2012

Mexico defeated Brazil 2-0 in the gold medal match for their first-ever Olympic medal behind 1′ and 75′ goals from Oribe Peralta. Brazil came in as the favorite to win their first gold, but weren’t able to put a ball in the net until the 92nd minute, when they were already in a 2-goal hole.

SI’s Grant Wahl offers three thoughts on the match, including what it means for the future of Mexican soccer, as well as what’s in store for Brazil after failing, yet again, to bring home the gold.

FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year, Homare Sawa of Japan, announced today that she will retire from international soccer. Sawa, 33, finished her distinguished career with a silver medal in London, after leading Japan to the World Cup title last summer.

“I’ve achieved what I can and have no regrets,” Sawa told Japan’s Nikkan Sports daily following Thursday’s 2-1 defeat by the United States in the gold medal match in London.

“I always wanted an Olympic gold medal but I’ve given everything. This is the end,” added Sawa, who played in five World Cups and scored 81 goals in 186 appearances for Japan.

BBC Sport has put together an all-Olympic women’s football team. Shockingly, it’s very USWNT-heavy.

Carli Lloyd made a huge statement in the tournament to prove her doubters wrong, but NBC’s Jeff Kassouf argues that Lloyd’s work is “more than just weeks in the making.”

Missing the USA girls already? You won’t need to wait long to see them again. Two matches on their post-Olympics “victory tour” have been announced for September, against Costa Rica in Rochester, NY and Australia in Carson, Calif. C’mon, we want a USA-Canada rematch, don’t we?

Major League Soccer

The Red Bulls are back on top of the East, with a payback 2-0 win against the Dynamo, but Thierry Henry is not satisfied. The RBNY captain admitted that “in terms of team they’re ahead of us.”

Thirty-five MLS players will be on international team duty next week, with Jamaica, Honduras and Canada dominating the assignments. The U.S. roster will be released tomorrow.

Jay DeMerit and Alain Rochat show off how they re-create their on-the-field moves for EA’s FIFA 13, but it’s not all serious work. DeMerit throws in an interpretation of Mario Balotelli’s antics, because c’mon, who doesn’t love making fun of Balotelli?

Mission accomplished.

The U.S. Women’s National Team avenged their heartbreaking loss to Japan in last year’s World Cup Final with a 2-1 victory over that same Japanese team to capture Gold for the third straight time in the Olympic Games.

It wasn’t the dramatic overtime, penalty-shootout finish that defined their end in Germany last summer. No, this time the U.S. held onto a one-goal lead to do what they didn’t a year ago – finish.

Carli Lloyd put the U.S. on the board in the 8th minute with a diving header off an Alex Morgan cross from the end line that just missed the left foot of Abby Wambach. In the 54th minute, Lloyd added an insurance goal, taking the ball up the middle and then stunning the defense with a wonder strike from 20 yards out.

» Continue reading “U.S. Women’s Soccer Strikes Gold in London”

We’ve got a nice mix for you today, including Olympics news (of course) and more trades in MLS.  Check it out in Tuesday’s Daily Kick Around!

Olympics

Wow.  If you didn’t watch the USA v. Canada women’s semifinal yesterday, you really missed out.  Fortunately, I think it’s one of those classics that will be replayed at least another couple times on one or more of the various NBC networks.  It was that good.  Even if you did watch once already (or twice, if you’re like me) it’s still fun to relive the action.  Check out this Sports Illustrated recap of the game, and treat yourself to highlights here.

MLS

Another day, another (somewhat surprising) trade.  The Portland Timbers and Montreal Impact made a straight swap of goalkeepers.  That’s right, Troy Perkins is the new Impact GK and Donovan Ricketts is the new Timbers GK.  Although Perkins has been an integral part of the Portland club since they joined MLS, he has conceded 35 goals in 22 starts this season.  With the Timbers sitting at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, it was definitely time to make some sort of a change.

USMNT

With a friendly against rivals Mexico coming up in just over a week, everyone is starting to wonder who Klinsmann will select to make the trip down to Mexico City.  I know, I know, the words “friendly” and “Mexico” and “Mexico City” do not really belong in the same sentence.  No doubt it will still be a pretty heated affair even though it IS technically a friendly.

EPL

Have you heard yet that Usain Bolt wants a trial with Manchester United?  Is there nothing this man (thinks he) can’t do?  Apparently Rio Ferdinand is on board with the idea–he tweeted Bolt that he would speak to the boss about it.  What are your thoughts?  Any chance of that actually happening?  I personally say no, but then again, remember Ochocinco!

USWNT forward Sydney Leroux reacts to her late goal against New Zealand. Photo credit: Nigel Roddis / Reuters

I’m in total Olympics mode this last week, so I hope you’ll forgive me for my Olympic-centric DKAs of late. We’re into the knockout round of both the men’s and women’s tournaments, and with some of the best teams in the world matching up, you can just tear up those predictions you made at the start.

Heading into the quarterfinals, if you’d ask me to predict the women’s semis I would have said USA, Japan, Great Britain and France. But the boat was rocked Friday, when Team GB was shut out by Canada, sending the two CONCACAF rivals into the final four to face each other with an appearance in the gold medal match on the line. France and Sweden could have gone either way, but I gave France the edge with more time to recover from blowing a 2-0 lead to the USA, whereas Sweden had just let a 2-0 lead to Canada slip away in the final group match. In the end, it proved correct as Sweden once again blew an early lead to fall 2-1 at the hands of two defenders, Wendie Renard and Laura Georges.

What else was crazy about the women’s tournament? I’ve gathered some highlights and great perspectives below. Plus, some good reads on the men’s semifinals, kicking off today.

Women’s Olympic Quarterfinals

Brazil-Japan in the quarterfinals had the potential to be as classic as Brazil-USA in the 2011 World Cup. But it wasn’t to be, as the Brazilians fell flat, getting shut out for the second straight match. Brazil certainly had their moments and opportunities but a couple of mistakes in the back, combined with their rising frustration and Marta not having her best game, got the better of them. After falling to Japan in their earliest exit from the Olympics ever, hard questions remain about Brazil’s future. Ray Curren at All White Kit writes about what we learned from this match, and what the future holds for Marta, Cristiane and the Brazilians.

Former U.S. National Team members Cat Whitehill and Kate Markgraf break down the U.S. win over New Zealand and preview the semifinals.

Doesn’t it seem as if Abby Wambach is at the height of her game right now? It feels like nothing is going to deny her the long-coveted gold, after missing the Beijing games with a broken leg. But I believe it’s more than just her will and desire that’s got Abby clicking on all cylinders right now. My latest perspective discusses Abby’s new role and how it shows that she’s the clear leader on the team right now, even when not scoring goals.

Are you following @Rapignome on Twitter?  If you love U.S. midfielder Megan Rapinoe, you should be. “Gnomie”, as Rapinoe affectionately calls it, is her virtual Twitter sidekick, tweeting its Rapinoe-inspired adventures during the tournament and virtually photo-bombing pics with Pinoe all over the field. It was even featured on NBC this morning, when they showed this tweet that Rapinoe retweeted and commented on by the beloved Gnomie. Reality show, anyone?

Men’s Olympic Quarterfinals

Is this finally the year for Brazil, or will Team GB capture the benefit of their home field advantage? Steve Cangialosi and Cobi Jones break down the quarterfinals in this video from NBCOlympics.com.

The Japanese men’s team may be following in the footsteps of their female counterparts, having made a terrific run through the tournament to solidify their spot in the semifinals today with a 3-0 win over Egypt. Japan has not conceded a goal yet, stunning Spain 1-0 in the first match of group play, then defeating Morocco by a goal, and ending the group stage with a scoreless draw against Honduras. But it was today’s win-or-go-home match against Egypt where they really poured it on, inciting Egypt to lose Saadeldin Saad to a red card near the end of the first half on a hard tackle just outside the penalty area. Japan will face their toughest test yet, though, when they meet Mexico in the semis next week.

Juan Mata is as shocked at Spain’s early exit as you and I. Photo via soccerwithoutlimits.com

While the women’s football tournament at the Olympics has gone pretty much as scripted, with the only mild surprise being Great Britain’s shutout of Brazil yesterday, the men’s tournament has been all topsy turvy! Sure, we know not all teams are featuring their top-tier talent, but really, Spain? Not a single goal?  And you won’t want to miss what Luis Suarez said after he was booed out of Cardiff. Check out all the headlines from today’s group finales below.

Spain Goes Goalless

Who would have thought that reigning World and European Champions, Spain, would lay such a goose egg in the Olympics? Sure, it’s their youth squad, but this is Spain. If this is the future of the team, they have some serious work to do, as they bowed out of the tournament after a 0-0 draw against Morocco Wednesday, failing to score a single goal in three matches. And I thought the U.S. failing to qualify was bad.

It exemplified the sloppiness of Spain’s play at times and a lack of concentration — not only during the match, but over the course of the tournament.

“We lost the three matches at the Olympic Games and that’s a disgrace,” forward Juan Mata said, considering Wednesday’s result a loss.

Brazil Remain Favorites to Win Gold

Brazil had no problem with New Zealand, heading into the quarterfinals with a 3-0 win. Not only did New Zealand have no chance, but head coach Neil Emblen admitted that his squad was left to simply admire Brazil’s tactics.

“We were on the bench admiring how they play, their moving and passing,” Emblen said. “You just see how their players work, we just got to learn from this experience. Not only they are technically good but they work hard as well.”

New Zealand conceded two goals in the first half and then another in the second. Its only significant opportunity was an 86th-minute shot by Michael McGlinchey.

Luis Suarez Booed in Uruguay Loss to Great Britain

Team GB advanced to the quarterfinals behind a Daniel Sturridge goal, and in the process knocked Luis Suarez and Uruguay out. Suarez didn’t let the abuse bother him, however, interpreting the backlash as fear in facing him.

Suarez, tipped to be one of the standout players of the tournament, didn’t score in Uruguay’s three games.

The striker was subjected to loud boos at all three games because of an altercation he had with Patrice Evra in a Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United last season.

“I can take the abuse. I don’t mind. They must be scared of facing a player like me,” he said. “I’m hurt because we lost and we are going home.”

More Group Results

Senegal 1-1 United Arab Emirates

Egypt 3-1 Belarus

Japan 0-0 Honduras

Mexico 1-0 Switzerland

South Korea 0- 0 Gabon

Men’s Quarterfinals

 The men’s quarterfinals begin Saturday. Here are the matchups and times you can watch.

7:00am EST: Japan vs Egypt

9:30am EST: Mexico vs Senegal

12:30pm EST: Brazil vs Honduras

2:30pm EST: Great Britain vs South Korea

U.S. Women’s National Team

Finally, because we love the USWNT and can’t help but sneak something in about them, check out this fantastic infographic U.S. Soccer put together to highlight the women’s journey, including their history in the Olympics.

 It’s transfer season!!!  We have some important transfer updates and rumors for MLS and EPL, with a splash of Olympic coverage to keep you up to date.  It’s all in Tuesday’s Daily Kick Around!

MLS

The New York Red Bulls have been doing a lot of wheeling and dealing during the transfer window.  Their biggest signing has no doubt been Tim Cahill, formerly of Everton.  Learn more about the Australian’s journey to New York in this series of one-on-one interviews.

Then again, there are rumors that Cahill could be heading right back to Everton in January.

The Red Bulls have continued to make other moves as well, trading midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy to the San Jose Earthquakes for a 2013 international spot and a conditional 2013 draft pick.  It will be a homecoming of sorts for the Moroccan, who played college soccer at Santa Clara University, the site of Buck Shaw Stadium.  Check out why Quakes coach Frank Yallop thinks he will be a good fit for the league-leading team.

EPL

Everton may have lost Tim Cahill, but they brought back Steven Pienaar for good after he spent the second half of last season with them on loan from Tottenham.  Pienaar had made limited appearances for the Spurs at White Hart Lane and made it clear that he wished to return to Everton.

Even though Manchester City are the Premier League Champions, there is always room for improvement, at least according to their former director Dennis Tueart.  In his opinion, if the team decides to make a move for Robin Van Persie, they should dump Carlos Tevez.  (In MY opinion, Tevez is always causing more drama than he’s worth, but fortunately it’s not up to me!)

Olympics (SPOILER ALERT!)

The US women once again did what they do best – win.  Abby Wambach scored the only goal in their 1-0 win over North Korea, in what was the first women’s soccer game at iconic Old Trafford in 23 years.

Image courtesy of Fox Soccer.

U.S. midfielder Carli Lloyd and Defender/Captain Christie Rampone get in the Old Glory Spirit for the Opening Ceremonies. Photo via @CarliLloyd on Twitter.

We’re all about the Olympics today, as the women’s tournament resumes today. World Champion Japan faced Sweden in a rematch of the World Cup semifinal, Brazil is currently taking on New Zealand, and at noon EST we’ll be treated to the U.S. vs Colombia, another World Cup group stage rematch. Looks like North Korea will remain in the Games, after threatening to pull out following the South Korean flag debacle, as they take on France later this afternoon, and Team Great Britain will face first-time Olympic participants, Cameroon. 

While the women’s tournament has gone pretty much as expected so far, the opening matches of the men’s tournament weren’t without shockers. Following in the footsteps of their female counterparts, Japan stunned Spain and Brazil didn’t quite live up to the billing as yet another gold medal favorite.

More on today’s news and Olympic matchups below, and don’t forget to scroll down for a few non-Olympic tidbits!

2012 London Olympics

The U.S. Women’s National Team was unable to attend the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics last night, due to playing their opening matches in Glasgow, Scotland, but that didn’t stop them from dressing up Ralph Lauren-style to show off their USA spirit!

U.S.A. center-midfielder Shannon Boxx has been ruled out of today’s match against Colombia due to the hamstring she injured in the first half of the U.S.’s win over France on Wednesday. Boxx is listed as day-to-day and hopes to get back on the field later in the tournament. In the meantime, Carli Lloyd, who scored the game-winner against France, will start in Boxx’s place. Undeterred by losing her starting role for the Olympics, Lloyd has been training harder than ever and is ready for anything, whether she’s scoring goals or “crunching people.”

Did you miss the opening matches of the men’s group stage on Thursday? If so, you probably missed the biggest shocker of the tournament so far, with Japan defeating the World and Euro Champions, Spain, 1-0.

“I was sobbing at the end of the game,” match-winner Otsu told Japanese media after his close-range goal helped Japan beat Spain for the first time at any level.

“We are here to win the gold medal,” added the German-based midfielder, who was tweeting “Please! Please!” from the bench in the second half after being withdrawn with a bruised ankle.

“Japan shock the world!” screamed the Sankei Sports, while the Mainichi Daily’s headline ran “Otsu sinks unbeatable Armada” and the win was a hot topic on Friday’s television talk shows.

Brazil versus Egypt was a tale of two halves, writes NBC’s Jeff Kassouf, and Brazil certainly didn’t look like the favorites to win it all on Thursday.

Japan’s Women’s National Team played to a scoreless draw against Sweden in their second Group F match this morning. After a slow start, Japan turned up the heat in the second half, firing at Swedish keeper Hedvig Lindahl, but Lindahl was able to come up with some big saves to keep her team in it.

Today is U.S. Women’s National Team defender Ali Krieger‘s birthday, and even though Ali isn’t on the Olympic roster, still recovering from ACL surgery, we want to wish her a very happy birthday! We hope to see you back on the pitch soon, Ali!

World Football Challenge

Okay, it’s not all about the Olympics today. The World Football Challenge continues with a matchup between Chelsea and AC Milan tonight in the final match of Chelsea’s U.S. tour. Chelsea will look to get back to its winning ways, after drawing against PSG and losing 3-2 to the MLS All Stars.

Serie A

Michael Bradley has only been with Roma for a few weeks, but he’s already starting to find success, with a goal and an assist so far in pre-season.

His coach, Zdenak Zeman, is not surprised at Bradley’s early showing. “We knew what his abilities were when we went after him,” says the veteran Czech manager, “and he is showing his quality with team now.”

Bradley is playing in his accustomed central midfield role for the Giallorossi, sometimes sitting deep as a holding midfielder in front of the backline, sometimes ranging forward and joining the attack. Against Liverpool on Wednesday at Fenway, he was in the latter role. Last night against LaSelecta it was the former. Bradley patrolled the area in front of Gabriel Heinze, Nicolas Burdisso, Alessio Romagnoli, and Rodrigo Taddei, winning balls, breaking up attacks, and presenting a passing option as his team built out of the back.

His box-to-box versatility will serve him well in his quest for playing time this season, and he’s happy with his first two weeks with the team.

Follow @AerysSoccer on Twitetr for more commentary and news from today’s Olympic matches, MLS, and more!

Carli Lloyd celebrates her go-ahead goal in the 66th minute.

It’s never easy with the U.S. Women’s National Team, is it?

Down 2-0 in the first 15 minutes, the U.S.A. roared back with four unanswered goals to defeat France and grab 3 precious points in the opening group stage match of their 2012 Olympic campaign. Stunned but not rattled, after France scored twice within two minutes and an injury to central midfielder Shannon Boxx forced an early sub in of Carli Lloyd, the U.S. stuck to their game plan to put together a classic comeback victory, anchored by their patented resilience and never-say-die attitude.

As match commentator and former U.S. National Team star Brandi Chastain said, “The mentality that the U.S. National Team has is superior. They know when they go onto the field what they’re capable of.”

There were the likely heroes in the star front duo of Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan, who combined for three of the U.S.’s four goals. Wambach breathed new life into the U.S. attack when she cut the lead in half at the 18 minute mark on a classic Abby header off a perfect corner kick from Megan Rapinoe. Sound familiar? » Continue reading “U.S. Women Strike Back With Dramatic 4-2 Win Over France”

Since the Olympics has started for soccer, I thought I’d choose someone who will be representing his country in London. This year, he’s won FA Cup and Champions League with Chelsea and Euro Cup with Spain. Now he has a chance to go for the gold at the Olympics as the overage player for Spain. Who am I talking about? None other than Juan Mata.

Mata started off with Real Oviedo then moved to Real Madrid’s youth theam when he was 15. After that it was Valencia and then to his current team, Chelsea.

w/ Real Oviedo

w/ Real Madrid’s youth team

w/ Valencia

Not only is he a great soccer player, he also has a good sense of style, something you don’t see too often with other footballers.

one of the few guys who can pull off a bow tie

When I was looking for pictures of Mata, I noticed that there were a lot of pictures of him with his Spain NT and Chelsea teammate, Fernando Torres. These two are adorable together, take a look!

You can follow him on twitter @juanmata10

Good morning footy fans! The ladies here at Aerys Soccer received some exciting news last night and we wanted to share the opportunity with our readers and fellow USWNT fans!

NBC will host a live Google + hang out today featuring midfielder and kick-ass individual Megan Rapinoe to build up excitement about the start of the summer Olympics and fans are invited to attend. It starts at 11:30 a.m. ET today on NBC’s Google+ Page and on NBCOlympics.com. Pinoe is going to talk with a panel of soccer experts and she’ll answer your questions submitted with the hashtag #Ask Megan. Others in the hangout will be medalist Kristine Lily, EqualizerSoccer.com’s Jeff Kassouf and ProSoccerTalk.com’s Steve Davis.

Our own Dana Wagner will be in the hangout too and have a feature piece on the event on Aerys Soccer later today!

The Opening Ceremony for this year’s Olympics will be at 7:30 p.m. ET Friday, July 27 on NBC! And we’ll follow the USWNT through their journey to Olympic gold!