Recently in Olympics Category

Capping a breakout year, Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan was named U.S. Young Soccer Athlete of the Year Thursday, He scored a team-leading two goals in three games at the Olympics and played an increasingly influential role for Chivas USA directing traffic and sparking offensive assaults from midfield. He also scored the U.S. Soccer Goal of the Year.

More on the other award winners here.

Brazilian attacks constantly threatened the U.S. goal. Below, Marta bedevils Kate Markgraf.

AP Photo

Redemption for goalkeeper Hope Solo, revenge for the Americans and a delay in declaring a Brazilian women's soccer dynasty as the U.S. tenaciously hung on to win 1-0 today in China over Brazil to win the gold medal.

Game story.

The box score tells the story - including 14 corner kicks for Brazil - of the Brazilian dominance.

Notable: Amy Rodriguez, who got the assist on the U.S. goal, became the first non-swimmer at USC to win an Olympic gold medal.

Quotable:
U.S. defender Kate Markgraf on whether she ever doubted the team would win the gold medal in light of all the adversity:

"I don't think we ever doubted but we just didn't think about it. Also, after the first game we had our backs against the wall and we had no choice but to fight. All 18 of us. There isn't a star on this team, there are 18 great team players. That's how we won tonight."

Below, Natasha Kai, left, and Heather O'Reilly exult in the U.S. victory.

AP Photo

I'm getting up to watch the 6 a.m. U.S.-Brazil Olympic women's football final.

So briefly:
*The U.S. continued its domination of Guatemala Wednesday with a 1-0 win in the first game of the semifinal round of World Cup qualifying.

Notable:
*Seven yellow cards, two red cards and 40 total fouls kept the referee busy.
*Galaxy target Eddie Lewis needed five stitches to close a head wound sustained in a particularly nasty challenge with Guatemala's Gustavo Cabrera who earned a red card for using his body as a missile.
*Steve Cherundolo's red card means he misses the next U.S. World Cup qualifier in Havana vs. Cuba on Sept. 6.

Quotable:

"It was a very hard fought game, and for us a hard earned three points," said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. "The win is based more on the determination of our team. Sometimes it's necessary to win games in that way. It was a game where we relied on the effort, team spirit, and the mentality of the group.

U.S. lineup: 1-Tim Howard; 15-Heath Pearce, 5-Oguchi Onyewu, 3-Carlos Bocanegra, 6-Steve Cherundolo; 10-Landon Donovan, 12-Michael Bradley, 4-Pablo Mastroeni (13-Maurice Edu, 78), 7-Eddie Lewis (17-DaMarcus Beasley, 65); 11-Brian Ching, 8-Clint Dempsey (2-Frankie Hejduk, 65)

*Sven Wins For Mexico.

*CONCACAF WCQ Scores.

*Chivas USA discovered what happens when a team missing 10 senior players or so meets one of the best teams in the league: they are hammered 4-0.

How bad was it? Lawndale's Kei Kamara, (and these TV announcers have got to decide whether his surname is pronounced "camera" or "Kamara" and not use both) who was punted from San Jose for his dismal goalscoring record, got two goals. Nate Jaqua, similarly dismissed from the Galaxy for not recognizing a net, got another.

The view from Houston.

The Chivas USA lineup: - Zach Thornton, Carey Talley (Keith Savage 13), Claudio Suarez (Eric Ebert 46), Shavar Thomas, Bobby Burling, Paulo Nagamura (Kraig Chiles 46), Daniel Paladini, Jonathan Bornstein, Francisco Mendoza, Roberto Nurse, Atiba Harris.

Highlights if you dare to watch:

Wonder what Preki thought of Sacha Kljestan sitting on the U.S. bench Wednesday unused?

*The U.S. women will face the flamboyant Brazilians at 6 a.m. on USA in the Olympics women's football final.

From U.S. Soccer:

This will be the fourth meeting between the U.S. and Brazil since the USA's crushing loss in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup semifinal, a match in which the U.S. scored an own goal and saw Shannon Boxx sent off at the end of the first half ... All three previous matches have been played during the past two months ... The U.S. has won all three of those matches by the score of 1-0, with the first meeting at the 2008 Peace Queen Cup in South Korea on June 17, followed by two Send-Off matches in Commerce City, Colo., on July 13 and San Diego, Calif., on July 16 ... All three of those wins were against an under-strength Brazilian team that was missing their top European-based players including 2007 FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Marta, who was in Sweden playing for her club team Umea

The importance of USC's Amy Rodriguez to the team is explained here.

Heather O'Reilly and Japan's Aya Miyama battle for a loose ball in today's Olympic semifinal.

AP Photo

The U.S. women wore down Japan, 4-2, to set up a rematch of the gold medal game four years ago in Athens against Brazil, which destroyed Germany, 4-1, earlier today.

The final is set for 6 a.m. Thursday on USA.

Two goals in three minutes just before half time sealed the U.S. win with Lori Chalupny beating three Japanese defenders with a solo effort for the second that sapped the life from their opponents.

The U.S. line-up: 18-Hope Solo; 2-Heather Mitts (14-Stephanie Cox, 86), 15-Kate Markgraf, 3-Christie Rampone - Capt., 17-Lori Chalupny; 9-Heather O'Reilly, 7-Shannon Boxx, 11-Carli Lloyd, 5-Lindsay Tarpley (6-Natasha Kai, 67); 8-Amy Rodriguez (12-Lauren Cheney, 83), 16-Angela Hucles.

Notable:
*Since women's soccer was added to the Olympics in 1996, the U.S. is the only team to advance to all four Olympic Finals, and for the second consecutive Olympics will play Brazil with the gold medal on the line.
*The crowd of 50,137 was the third largest ever to watch the U.S. play outside of the U.S., and the 11th largest crowd of all-time to see the U.S. play.

Quotable:

"Angela Hucles is a fantastic story," said Coach Pia Sundhage of the scorer of a brace in the come-from-behind-win. "As the coach for the Boston Breakers in 2003 (in WUSA), we talked about changing the point of attack and changing speed, and she was average. I saw her for the first time in December with the U.S. team and something happened as she decided to get fit and change speed. She has been one of the most important players in this team."

6 a.m. on MSNBC.

Notable:
*Japan's run in the Olympics is its best ever in a world championship and the first time it has made the semifinal of a FIFA tournament.
*The U.S. and Japan will play for the second time in 10 days after the USA's 1-0 victory on Aug. 9 in Qinhuangdao.
*The U.S. outshot Japan 18-9.
*Japan's captain Homare Sawa, a former WUSA star for the Atlanta Beat, is the nation's all-time greatest player. She has played in four Women's World Cups and three Olympics, played more than 100 games for her country and scored more than 70 goals. She was the MVP of the 2008 Asian Women's Cup.

Quotable:
*U.S. Coach Pia Sundhage on the play of USC''s Amy Rodriguez:

"She is a young player and inexperienced, but we gave her a small role and asked her to do certain things, and she's done those certain things very well. I have so much respect for fast players. It's good to have her there because if you want to get behind the back line she gives us that opportunity."

A diving header from Natasha Kai gave the U.S. a 2-1 win earlier today over Canada and sent the women to an Olympics semifinal game Monday against Japan.

Game story.

The U.S. lineup: 1-Hope Solo; 17-Lori Chalupny, 15-Kate Markgraf, 2-Heather Mitts, 3-Christie Rampone; 7-Shannon Boxx, 11-Carli Lloyd, 9-Heather O'Reilly (6-Natasha Kai, 91), 5-Lindsay Tarpley (13-Tobin Heath, 82); 16-Angela Hucles, 8-Amy Rodriguez (12-Lauren Cheney, 109).

Notable:
*The U.S. defeated Japan just six days ago by a 1-0 score in group play.
*Brazil plays Germany in a far more difficult match-up in the other semifinal.

Quotable:

"All year this team has been great at dealing with pressure of being down a goal, or tied, or having a team come back," said Shannon Boxx (South Torrance High), who had the assist on the game-winning goal. "We've always fought for 90, 100, whatever it takes, minutes. I like the fact that we are creating the chances and having different people score goals. The next step is having people finish them."

U.S. Soccer also announced a three-game U.S. tour for the women after the Olympics.

There's no Southern California stop, but the U.S. will play Sept. 13 in Philadelphia, Sept. 17 in New York and Sept. 20 in Chicago.

The opponent in all three games: Ireland. The U.S. has never lost to that nation and sports a perfect 5-0 record against them.

In college soccer, the USC women were ranked No. 1 and UCLA No. 2 in the preseason poll.

The UCLA men are ranked No. 14.

Here are the full rankings:
Team, pts. Received (2007 Record)

1. USC, 149 (20-3-2)

2. UCLA, 141 (20-2-2)

3. North Carolina, 136 (19-4-1)

4. Florida State, 129 (18-6-3)

5. Notre Dame (19-5-2)

6t. Portland, 113 (18-4-0)

6t. Virginia, 113 (13-4-5)

8. Texas, 103 (16-4-5)

9. Penn State, 99 (18-4-2)

10. Stanford, 96 (15-3-5)

11. Connecticut, 95 (14-6-2)

12. West Virginia, 69 (18-5-2)

13. Tennessee, 62 (15-5-2)

14. Boston College, 60 (11-5-4)

15. Texas A&M, 57 (18-4-2)

16. Duke, 56 (10-6-7)

17. California, 52 (15-6-0)

18. Georgia, 48 (18-4-2)

19. Illinois, 39 (15-7-1)

20. Florida, 29 (17-5-3)

21. Wake Forest, 27 (13-7-3)

22. Santa Clara, 26 (12-6-3)

23. Oklahoma State, 22 (14-6-3)

24. Purdue, 19 (20-2-3)

25. San Diego, 18 (15-3-3)

2008 NSCAA/adidas Men's Pre-Season Top 25

Team, pts. Received (2007 Record)

1. Wake Forest, 200 (22-2-2)

2. Connecticut, 186 (20-3-1)

3. Notre Dame, 166 (14-5-5)

4. Boston College, 155 (15-5-1)

5. Santa Clara, 151 (16-2-4)

6. Creighton, 133 (12-3-5)

7. Indiana, 129 (13-4-5)

8. Maryland, 128 (10-6-5)

9. Ohio State, 118 (17-4-5)

10. Virginia Tech, 112 (14-4-5)

11. Brown, 109 (15-2-1)

12. Akron, 95 (15-4-2)

13. Massachusetts, 83 (17-8-1)

14. UCLA, 75 (9-9-3)

15. West Virginia, 73 (14-5-2)

16. Illinois-Chicago, 71 (13-6-5)

17. SMU, 70 (14-5-2)

18. South Florida, 65 (14-6-2)

19. Saint Louis, 53 (12-2-5)

20. Northwestern, 46 (12-5-3)

21t. Bradley, 41 (16-6-5)

21t. UC Santa Barbara, 41 (13-4-4)

23. Tulsa, 36 (15-3-2)

24. North Carolina, 28 (7-8-5)

25. Furman, 20.5 (19-4-0)

(first place votes in parentheses).

Finally, the Loyola Marymount University men were picked to finish fifth in the West Coast
Conference, according to the 2008 preseason coaches poll.

The Galaxy's Landon Donovan will lead the U.S. against Guatemala.

Photo by Scott Varley.

Galaxy hotshot Edson Buddle - 12 goals in 15 starts this season - was overlooked yet again by U.S. Men's National Team Coach Bob Bradley today when he announced the squad for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Guatemala in Central America.

Instead, Bradley persists in naming striker Eddie Johnson to his squads.

Also dropped from the squad for the game were 12 players named to the Barbados roster including Rolling Hills Estates' John Thorrington, Freddy Adu and DaMarcus Beasley.

Here's the 17-man squad (with one player to be added later) with caps and goals (or in the case of goalkeepers shutouts) in parentheses:

goalkeepers Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 2/2), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 3/2); defenders Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 13/1), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96: 15/0), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC: 1/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 11/1), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 8/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 2/0); Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen: 2/1), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC: 1/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 1/0), Eddie Lewis (Derby County: 19/3), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids: 10/0); Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 7/4), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 21/8), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 8/2), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC: 8/8).

On paper (or should that be computer screen?), the U.S. should have little trouble disposing of Guatemala, according to U.S. Soccer:

The U.S. is 10-4-5 lifetime against Guatemala and is currently riding a six-match shutout streak against the Chapines. The teams have met eight times overall in World Cup qualifying play, with the U.S. holding an unbeaten 4-0-4 mark in the series.

Notable: Donovan, who became the fourth youngest male player in history to reach 100 caps when he went 90 minutes on June 8 against Argentina, leads the roster with 21 all-time World Cup qualifying appearances. His eight career goals in World Cup qualifying are also a team best, tied with Johnson.

Quotable:

"We are excited to begin the next phase of qualifying," Bradley said. "There are no easy games, and we know that Guatemala is a very difficult team to play against at home. It's important that we start off the semifinal round in a positive way, and we are confident the work from the last 18 months has prepared us for the task."

Updated: Galaxy striker Carlos Ruiz, Guatemala's all-time leading scorer with 39 goals in 75 games, was also called up by his country for the game.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Women's Olympic Team plays its quarterfinal against UCLA's Kara Lang and the rest of the Canadian team at 3 a.m. Friday live on USA.

The U.S. and Canada have met four times this year alone, with two comfortable U.S. wins and two closer affairs.

Notable: Torrance's Shannon Boxx will reach a career milestone against Canada. Boxx, who made her international debut in 2003 at the relatively advanced age (for a soccer player) of 26 will become the 22nd player in U.S. history to play 100 or more times for her country.

Quotable:

"We have played them a couple of times and they have all been different games, but certainly some close games," said U.S. Coach Pia Sundhage. "A good part is that they have not scored that many goals against us and secondly the more minutes we have together with this team, the better it is. If you compare the first half of the first game against Norway to the last half against New Zealand, we have improved our a game a lot, so we are really looking forward to the game."

Memo to the Galaxy: U.S. Men's Olympic Coach Peter Nowak is now available.

The U.S. played with 10 men for 87 minutes, saw Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan score an 88th minute penalty and Benny Feilhaber hit the post in second half stoppage time, but it wasn't enough as Nigeria beat the U.S. 2-1 early today in China.

With the defeat the U.S. failed to reach the next round of the Olympics and are eliminated from the tournament.

Game story.

U.S. lineup: 18-Brad Guzan; 2-Marvell Wynne, 6-Maurice Edu, 15-Michael Parkhurst, 3-Michael Orozco; 14-Robbie Rogers, 7-Stuart Holden (9-Charlie Davies, 77), 16-Sacha Kljestan, 8-Danny Szetela (5-Dax McCarty, 69); 17-Brian McBride, 12-Jozy Altidore (10-Benny Feilhaber, 46).

The result must be a stinging blow for the Americans considering how close they came to making the next round against the Netherlands outright in their second group game only for the Dutch to equalize in the dying moments of stoppage time.

Below, Nigeria's Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi, right, fights for a header with the
United States' Maurice Edu, left, of Fontana.

AP Photo

The U.S. men need a victory or draw against Nigeria (live at 2 a.m. PT on USA) to win the group.

The math, courtesy of U.S. Soccer: The U.S. can also advance if Japan defeats or draws the Netherlands in their match, which kicks off simultaneously. Both the U.S. and Nigeria have four points from their first two matches, and have the same goal differential of +1, but the U.S. has the edge on the second tiebreaker - goals for.

Group B Standings
Team W L T Pts GF GA GD
USA 1 0 1 4 3 2 +1
NGA 1 0 1 4 2 1 +1
NED 0 0 2 2 2 2 --
JPN 0 2 0 0 2 4 -2

Notable:
*Freddy Adu and midfielder Michael Bradley will both miss the game due to yellow card accumulation.
*The U.S. has used a total of 14 of the18 players on the roster during the first two matches. U.S. coach Peter Nowak sent out the same starting XI against Japan and the Netherlands.

The view from Nigeria.

Complete Olympics soccer coverage..

Heather O'Reilly scored just 40 seconds into the game, USC striker Amy Rodriguez also scored and Torrance's Shannon Boxx was named player of the game as the U.S. crushed New Zealand (much much) earlier today 4-0 to win its group.

The U.S. needed a big win and a large Norway loss against Japan to take the group. They got both.

Here's the (edited) U.S. Soccer press release with an explanation of the math involved:

At the start of the day, the USA has a minus-1 goal differential and Norway had a plus-three goal differential. At the end of the evening, the USA was at plus-three and Norway was at minus-1.

The USA and Norway tied on points at the end of group play with six a piece, but the Americans finished with a plus-3 goal differential while Norway collapsed in a 5-1 loss to Japan and finished with a minus-1. The USA, Norway and Japan advance out of Group G. In the quarterfinal, the U.S. will play long-time rival Canada, which finished in third place in Group E. That match will take place at 3 a.m. PT on Friday live on USA.

The results mean the U.S. avoids meeting Brazil, a far tougher proposition than Canada.

Game highlights.

The U.S. lineup: 18-Hope Solo; 2-Heather Mitts (14-Stephanie Cox, 63), 4-Rachel Buehler, 3-Christie Rampone - Capt., 83, 17-Lori Chalupny; 9-Heather O'Reilly (10-Aly Wagner, 76), 7-Shannon Boxx, 11-Carli Lloyd, 5-Lindsay Tarpley; 16-Angela Hucles, 8-Amy Rodriguez (6-Natasha Kai, 56).

Notable:
*The Kiwis were limited to just three shots on goal.
*Midfielder Christie Rampone made her 200th U.S. appearance.

Quotable:
Amy Rodriguez:

"Today was a special moment for our team. Scoring four goals was a great feeling and getting my first Olympic goal was exciting. I'm so proud of the team and how we performed out there."

The U.S. women play New Zealand at 4:45 a.m. Tuesday on MSNBC with a quarterfinal berth on the line.

A win will clinch the second spot in the group behind Norway for the U.S., although a tie will be enough if Norway beats Japan.

The last time the two nations met, just before the 2007 Women's World Cup, the U.S. won 6-1.

Group G
Team W L T Pts GF GA GD
NOR 2 0 0 6 3 0 +3
USA 1 1 0 3 1 2 -1
NZL 0 1 1 1 2 3 -1
JPN 0 1 1 1 2 3 -1

Notable:
*Torrance's Shannon Boxx will play her 99th U.S. game against New Zealand.
*New Zealand striker Ali Riley is from Pacific Palisades and attends Stanford University.
*New Zealand defender Rebecca Smith, a star at Duke, is from Rolling Hills.
*Heading into the final day of group matches in the women's Olympic tournament, no team has been mathematically eliminated from the competition.

Quotable:
From Torrance's Shannon Boxx:

"We've seen how New Zealand has performed and that is what's great about the women's side, every team is getting better. We know that nothing has been decided as far as where teams will finish in the group so we will definitely be ready to battle for a win."

Before the Olympics began, U.S. midfielder Freddy Adu predicted the Americans would turn a few heads.

"A lot of people aren't giving us a chance to make it out of that group, but we're going to surprise a lot of people," he said. "I think we have a real good shot when you add guys like Brian McBride, Michael Parkhurst and Brad Guzan in goal. We've got some veteran leadership."

The U.S. certainly stunned the Dutch earlier today, which needed a goal late in second half stoppage time to tie 2-2 with the Americans.

A win would have sent the U.S. through to the next round with a game to spare.

"It's tough," said U.S.Coach Peter Nowak. "As I told the guys in the locker room, that's the way the game goes sometimes. Not too many people gave us a chance tonight against the European champions, but we were very close to beating them. We have unfinished business. Going into the game with Nigeria, any result other than a loss, and we will pass into the quarterfinals."

The game is live on USA at the humane time of 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan was deservedly named man of the match.

He started and finished the U.S. goal that brought the Americans into a 1-1 tie with the Dutch, displaying both leadership and creativity while undoubtedly catching the eye of any watching European scouts.

"We had possession for a little while," Kljestan said of his goal. "I think we kept it for a few touches and then I played it to Stuart (Holden) and he played it back, and then I played it to Freddy (Adu) and just made a run. My guy didn't stay with me and Freddy played a great through ball. I cut inside of the last defender and hit it as hard as I could, luckily, it went in."

Jozy Altidore scored the second.

"I think we opened up a lot of people's eyes tonight," Adu said. "We're here to play, and to go as far as we can. We're not worried about who we're playing, we just want to go out there and play our game and know that we're a handful for anybody. I'm very proud of how this team played tonight."

Adu and Michael Bradley will miss the Nigeria game after picking up their second yellow card of the tournament apiece against Holland.

The U.S. line-up: 18-Brad Guzan; 2-Marvell Wynne, 6-Maurice Edu, 15-Michael Parkhurst, 3-Michael Orozco; 7-Stuart Holden, 4-Michael Bradley, 16-Sacha Kljestan, 14-Robbie Rogers (12-Jozy Altidore, 65); 11-Freddy Adu (Benny Feilhaber, 80), 17-Brian McBride - Capt.

Game story.

Complete Olympic soccer coverage.

The game is at 4:45 a.m. on USA.

With a win the U.S. progresses.

Preview here.

The latest from the Olympic team is here.

Group B Standings
Team W L T Pts GF GA GD
USA 1 0 0 3 1 0 +1
NED 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
NGA 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
JPN 0 1 0 0 1 2 -1

Incidentally, I heard from Robbie Rogers' dad who said his son got to meet Kobe Bryant at the spectacular opening ceremonies. The U.S. team was apparently not originally slated to attend, but Coach Peter Nowak changed his mind.

Beijing is about 70 miles from the team's training camp.

First off, the U.S. Women defeated Japan 1-0 overnight at the Olympics.

USC's Amy Rodriguez got her surprise first start of the Olympics over Natasha Kai. Here's Coach Pia Sundhage on why she made the move:

"The reason for A-Rod instead of Kai was her speed. That was crucial when we looked at the way Japan plays. We talked about playing them both, but if you look at the game today, Angela Hucles, her possession and her game today was good ... We didn't want to play them both at the same time, but that is an option of course, depending on who we play."

Back in the U.S., Chivas USA (6-7-4) plays at 5 p.m. in Kansas City on Prime.

The team is without Coach Preki (suspended) for the second consecutive game and defender Claudio Suarez (concussion).

Panchito Mendoza, the lone Chivas USA player left from that horrible first season now that Brad Guzan has gone to England's Aston Villa, will play his 100th game for the club today. He becomes the first Chivas USA player to reach that milestone.

The game preview is here.

Not so coincidentally, the Wizards (5-6-7) are using the opportunity to reach out to Latino fans.

The Wizards have had trouble scoring this year. The top scorer: defender Jimmy Conrad with four goals.

In other Chivas USA news:
*Chivas USA midfielder Gerson Mayen has been called into the United States Under-20 Men's National Team for a five-day camp that runs Sunday through Thursday and includes two games against Guatemala. Mayen had previously been with the Under-20 team in April.

*Think you're the next Jorge Flores? Chivas USA is hosting two open tryouts this month, one from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 22 for adults, the other a mini-camp that runs from Aug. 29-30 and doubles as a tryout for the Under-18, Under-16 or Under-15 youth teams at the Bell Gardens Sports Center.

Register at the club's Web site or by e-mailing tryouts@cdchivasusa.com

The U.S. Men's Olympic Team apparently walked in the Olympic opening ceremonies Friday (although I didn't see them and it just ended), but the women were otherwise engaged with their second group game against Japan in about two hours (live at 2 a.m. on USA).

Said Torrance Olympian Shannon Boxx after watching the ceremonies on TV (like we did):

"I thought the beginning was amazing. All the people that it took to make it happen, and how all the performers were so in sync, was just unbelievable. Seeing all the countries come into the stadium makes you really appreciate being a part of this."

The U.S. is unbeaten in seven games against Japan (four wins, preceded by three ties). The U.S. needs to win if they hope to advance out of the group.

The U.S. is bottom of their group.