Recently in Olympics Category

Details on the U.S. Women's National Team roster announced Monday that will participate in the Olympics was the subject of my weekly column.

Here's Coach Pia Sundhage on the attributes of USC striker Amy Rodriguez:

"She offers speed and not only speed, if you play to her feet she can turn on a dime and just go. That is important in international games. ... In a foot race she will beat many players.

The U.S. departs Friday for a pair of games in Scandinavia before returning home to play two more before the Olympics begin in August.

U.S. Coach Pia Sundhage announced today her 18-player roster for the Olympics (with college, caps and goals in parentheses):

goalkeepers: Nicole Barnhart (Stanford, 9), Hope Solo (Washington, 64); defenders Rachel Buehler (Stanford, 11/0), Lori Chalupny (North Carolina, 70/6), Stephanie Cox (Portland, 42/0), Kate Markgraf (Notre Dame, 181/0), Heather Mitts (Florida, 78/2), Christie Rampone (Monmouth, 193/4); midfielders Shannon Boxx (Notre Dame, 92/18), Tobin Heath (North Carolina, 12/2), Angela Hucles (Virginia, 84/7), Carli Lloyd (Rutgers, 62/15), Heather O'Reilly (North Carolina, 90/19), Lindsay Tarpley (North Carolina, 96/26), Aly Wagner (Santa Clara, 121/21); forwards Natasha Kai (Hawaii, 48/19), Amy Rodriguez (USC, 19/4), Abby Wambach (Florida, 123/98).

Notable:

*Nine players on the roster were members of the U.S. team that won the gold medal four years ago in Athens, including team co-captains Christie Rampone and Kate Markgraf, who will both participate in their third Olympics.

*At age 20, Heath is the youngest player on the roster, while Rampone (who turns 33 Tuesday) is the oldest. The average age of the squad is 26.

*Veteran goalkeeper Brianna Scurry, who was at the center of the controversy with fellow net minder Hope Solo at the last World Cup, did not make the squad. Sundhage said the controversy had nothing to do with her decision and the door remains open for Scurry in the future.

*Scurry was named as one of four alternates available in case of injury, as was UCLA's Lauren Cheney.

Quotable: Captain Christie Rampone -

"It's been a long seven months, with Pia coming in and making a huge transition for this team, but everyone has been very receptive and willing to change. It's tough when you have limited time, but everyone trusted Pia and believed in Pia. She's done an amazing job with this team and in the way we have changed this system. We are a more possession-oriented team. Of course, there are times when we get away from it, but she believes in us and we keep trying to getting better on the field."

I'll have more on the roster selection and the run-in to the Olympics for the team in Tuesday's weekly column.

Coach Pia Sundhage will announce the roster in a teleconference at noon today, although few, if any, surprises are expected.

The roster is likely to be virtually unchanged from the just-concluded Peace Cup, which means Torrance's Shannon Boxx, USC's Amy Rodriguez and UCLA Lauren Cheney are anticipated to head to China.

While we await the official announcement, here's a few weekend leftovers:

*The Galaxy Rios, the Galaxy's youth team, holds three open tryouts next month in Irvine, Chino Hills and Glendale.

From the (edited) press release:

The LA Galaxy will be holding open tryouts for the Galaxy Rios, the club's official youth development program, for any male player born between 1990 and 1994 at three different locations throughout Southern California from July 11 through July 13. Players must register and pay the $30 fee by Sunday, July 6th for one of the three open tryout venues.

Players will play a seven v. seven, 50-minute game, while being assessed by Galaxy Rios Coaching Staff, including Galaxy Director of Player Development Trevor James and Galaxy Director of Soccer Paul Bravo. The top players from each of the three tryouts will be invited back to participate in a training session at The Home Depot Center for further evaluation by the Rios Coaching Staff.

All players must apply online and have a valid email address. More info is available here.

*Sixteen U.S. Youth Soccer Region IV Champions won titles Sunday in Hawaii, with 12 teams representing the Under-14 through Under-19 boys and girls divisions earning spots at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships July 22-27 in Little Rock, Ark.

Among the championship highlights from the (edited) press release:

The Under-15 Girls Slammers FC earned their second shot at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship title Sunday after beating fellow California South team Real So Cal, 4-1. Last year the Slammers lost in the final game of the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships.

Under-16 Girls So Cal Blue is the only U.S. Youth Soccer Region IV team to return to defend its U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship and won 3-0 against Real So Cal.

Arsenal FC Under-14 Boys won the championship against the LA Rampage with a goal from Jake La Porte (34:00).

Other results involving teams from Southern California include:
Girls Under-13 - So Cal Blues 3 Real Colorado National 0
Boys Under-15 - Arsenal FC 0 Valley United 4
Boys Under-16 - FC Barcelona 0 Real So Cal Blue 2
Girls Under-17 - Eagles FC 0 Slammers FC 1
Girls Under-18 - Colorado Nike Rush 2 Slammers FC 1
Girls Under-19 - FC Portland 0 Slammers FC 3

*In the PDL Sunday:
Orange County Blue Star 2 San Fernando Valley Quakes 2

W-League:
Pali Blues 3 Vancouver Whitecaps 0

Bob Bradley named his squad today for the irrelevant return World Cup qualifying leg in Barbados Sunday (caps and goals are in parentheses): goalkeepers Dominic Cervi (out of contract: 0/0), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA: 1/1 SO), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake: 0/0); defenders Carlos Bocanegra (out of contract: 12/1), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland: 1/0), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC: 0/0), Drew Moor (FC Dallas: 0/0) Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 8/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 1/0); mikdfielders DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 15/4), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen: 1/1), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 0/0), Eddie Lewis (Derby County: 18/2), Danny Szetela (Brescia: 0/0), John Thorrington (Chicago Fire: 0/0; forwards Freddy Adu (SL Benfica: 1/0), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire: 0/0), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire: 0/0).

Out: Tim Howard continues to rehabilitate a lower back sprain suffered prior to the Barbados match. Eddie Johnson is ill.

Even if the lopsided score of the first leg meant Bradley didn't have to name his strongest squad, it was still a huge achievement for John Thorrington to win a recall with his fine form this term after almost quitting the game due to chronic injuries.

The above stats for Thorrington, who grew up on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, are wrong by the way. John played 19 minutes as a sub in a game against Ecuador in 2001, according to my 2008 U.S. MNT media guide (and confirmed by John). He said he had "fond memories of the experience."

"The good times are that much sweeter because a year ago I wasn't even playing. I'm certainly not going to get carried away with it. It is what it is."

Meanwhile, USC's latest NCAA champion teams will visit the White House Tuesday. The USC women's golf and soccer teams each captured NCAA titles in the past year, bumping the total of national titles claimed by USC teams to 108.

U.S. Women's National Team Coach Pia Sundhage will name the Olympic team Monday,

The U.S. Women are playing Canada in the Peace Cup final as I write this: the score is 0-0.

Thought that headline would get your attention.

But before we get to that revelation, a second female U.S. soccer player has gone down with a serious injury and will miss the Olympics. Find out who here.

OK, onwards with the trivial journalism of the day including this "report" from Forbes Magazine, (whose major contributions to journalism these days seems to consist of pumping out lists) which names David Beckham as the world's fifth most powerful celebrity.

The only other soccer player on the list is Ronaldinho at No. 38, for those who can't be bothered to sift through the entire list.

And here, as promised, is Beckham's take on English cuisine from The Jimmy Kimmel Show earlier this week. (Warning: complete time waster). And thanks Becks, for perpetuating the myths about weird English cuisine.

Finally, this is trivial too, but at least it's for a good cause: if you're in Carson or close by this afternoon a team of Galaxy players will take on a team of Avengers (that's an arena football team for the pigskin impaired) players in a race around a local supermarket grabbing food for a local food bank.

More here from the (edited) Galaxy press release:

"Dash for the Hungry" - a race where players from the LA Galaxy and the Los Angeles Avengers "dash" around Albertsons pushing grocery carts and collecting food to feed the hungry will be held at 3 p.m. today at a store at 200 E. Sepulveda Blvd. (at the intersection of Main Street) in Carson. With only five minutes on the clock, the goal is to collect as much product as possible and raise plenty of money to benefit families and residents who rely on the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank for assistance.

Galaxy players set to race: forward Edson Buddle, goalkeeper Steve Cronin, forward Alan Gordon and defender Julian Valentin.

U.S. Women's National Team Coach Pia Sundhage has named a 22-player roster for the Peace Cup in South Korea later this month, the last major tournament for the team before the Olympics begin.

Shannon Boxx of Torrance, Amy Rodriguez of USC and Lauren Cheney of UCLA all made the roster, which will be cut again to 18 players for the Olympics.

Exactly half the roster was on the gold-medal winning team in Athens four years ago.

Released from the recent two-week camp at Home Depot Center that just ended were goalkeeper Kristen Luckenbill, defenders Keeley Dowling, Kendall Fletcher and Stephanie Cox, midfielder Angie Woznuk and forward India Trotter. Midfielder Leslie Osborne tore her left ACL during training camp and is out of the Olympics, you'll recall.

Three recent injury victyims made the squad: goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart (knee surgery), captain Christie Rampone (gall bladder surgery) and midfielder Aly Wagner (double-hernia surgery).

The full roster: goalkeepers Nicole Barnhart (Gilbertsville, Pa.), Briana Scurry (Dayton, Minn.), Hope Solo (Richland, Wash.); defvenders Rachel Buehler (Del Mar, Calif.), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis, Mo.), Kate Markgraf (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Heather Mitts (Cincinnati, Ohio), Christie Rampone (Point Pleasant, N.J.), Cat Whitehill (Birmingham, Ala.); midfielders Shannon Boxx (Torrance), Tobin Heath (Basking Ridge, N.J.), Angela Hucles (Virginia Beach, Va.), Carli Lloyd (Delran, N.J.), Heather O'Reilly (East Brunswick, N.J.), Lindsay Tarpley (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Aly Wagner (San Jose, Calif.), Kacey White (Arlington, Texas); forwards Lauren Cheney (Indianapolis, Ind.), Natasha Kai (Kahuku, Hawaii), Amy Rodriguez (Lake Forest, Calif.), Abby Wambach (Rochester, N.Y.).

Meanwhile, fan voting continues for the MLS All-Star game against England's West Ham United.

Here are the top ten vote-getters so far:
1. David Beckham (Galaxy).
2. Landon Donovan (Galaxy).
3. Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago Fire).
4. Amado Guevara (Toronto FC).
5. Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew).
6. Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew).
7. Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo).
8. Greg Sutton (Toronto FC).
9. Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew).
10. Maurice Edu (Toronto FC).

Two Galaxy players and three Southern Californians (Rogers, Edu and Hejduk) are on the list.

Voting continues through July 2 at the MLS Web site.

Coach Peter Nowak named three Galaxy players to an experimental U.S. Under-23 National Team squad for the upcoming Toulon Tournament.

"This tournament will give us an opportunity to have a look at some players we have had in previous camps, and also a look at the new faces," said Nowak. "We don't want to be short-sighted with our selection for the Olympics. We want a whole picture that includes a variety of players, and to make sure we see every option before we make final choices."

Selected were Mike Gavin, Bryan Jordan and Julian Valentin.

The U.S. plays Turkey May 21, Ivory Coast May 23 and Italy May 25.

All games are on Fox Soccer Channel.

The full squad: Goalkeepers Dominic Cervi (out of contract), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake), Quentin Westberg (Troyes AC); defenders Tony Beltran (Real Salt Lake), Eric Brunner (out of contract), Kyle Davies (Southampton), Michael Gavin (Los Angeles Galaxy), Kamani Hill (Vfl Wolfsburg), Jonathan Leathers (Kansas City Wizards), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Julian Valentin (Los Angeles Galaxy), Rob Valentino (New England Revolution), Blake Wagner (FC Dallas) ; midfielders Bryan Arguez (Hertha Berlin), Corey Ashe (Houston Dynamo), Greg Dalby (SC Charleroi), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Lee Nguyen (Randers FC); forwards Gabe Ferrari (Sampdoria), Bryan Jordan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Ellis McLoughlin (Hertha Berlin), Sammy Ochoa (Tecos).

No recall for Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers, but then if Nowak was paying attention over the weekend, he knows what the Columbus Crew midfielder is capable of:

Updated: Rogers' two-goal performance earned him MLS Player of the Week honors (his first such award) Monday from the North American Soccer Reporters.

It's is the Crew's best-ever start to a season and Sigi Schmid's, too.

*U.S. Soccer has announced that tickets for the first U.S. World Cup qualifying match June 15 in Carson against Barbados go on sale at noon Sunday.

Tickets are $19-$66. Call (213)-480-3232.

*The TV schedule for Euro 2008 is out.

There will be five games on ESPN Classic, 17 on ESPN2 and seven on ESPN. ABC will broadcast two matches - a quarterfinal June 21 and the Euro 2008 title match June 29.

Games are generally at 8:50 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. daily. Time to take the month off?

The title game will be preceded by the noon Galaxy-D.C. United game.

*Fox Soccer Channel will show all 16 games over the 10-day Toulon International Tournament May 20-29 including the three U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team games.

The U.S. games:
6:30 a.m. May 21 Vs. Turkey
9:30 a.m. May 23 Vs. Ivory Coast
9 a.m. May 25 Vs. Italy

With their final game of the season sadly only available on the pricey Setanta channel, American soccer fans will still be pulling for Fulhamerica to make an unlikely escape from relegation. The team will ensure their safety with a win Saturday over Portsmouth. Here's a preview.

Loyola Marymount announced the signing of three more players: defender Adam Jackson (Palos Verdes High); goalkeeper Max Young (South Torrance High); and midfielder Fernando Barba (Animo).

Finally, W-League expansion team Pali Blues have announced the signing of 2006 Big East Defender of the Year Carrie Dew (Notre Dame).

The Blues open their season Saturday in Ventura.

I'll have more later today on all the local soccer action in an around LA this weekend.

Plus, more Britpop!

Let's start with the draw for the men's and women's Olympic soccer tournament made this morning in Switzerland.

Here's the reaction from U.S. players to the men's team drawing Holland, Nigeria and Japan.

Women's Coach Pia Sundhage had this to say about the women's draw:

“I’m very excited about the challenge of the draw overall. Group F is certainly the strongest of the three groups, but our group will be very good as well. We will play three very different teams with very different styles of play, which will test our ability to adapt in a world championship tournament with just a few days rest between games.”

Also noted: the U.S. roster for upcoming friendlies against Australia and Canada.

Meanwhile, Chivas USA will test the depth of their squad this afternoon (5 p.m. Fox Sports) at Home Depot Center against FC Dallas, who have similar issues.

Dallas is out for revenge, while Chivas USA seems likely to welcome veteran Mexican defender Claudio Suarez back for his first game of the season.

Finally, condolences to notable local Kei Kamara of Lawndale, who scored in San Jose's 2-0 win over the Colorado Rapids Saturday to help the expansion team to their first MLS win, but lost an older brother a few days ago who died in Africa - after getting some teeth pulled.

Puts a mere game in perspective, doesn't it?

I'll blog from the HDC this afternoon as usual. See you then.

Two goals by Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers led the Columbus Crew past Chivas USA 4-3 Saturday, while the U.S. women beat Canada on penalties in Olympic qualifying.

Columbus Coach Sigi Schmid summed up the game when he talked to the Columbus Dispatch: "I don't know if my heart can take all of them like this," he said. "Everybody should be made to watch this on TV and then say soccer is not exciting."

Too bad it was played before the smallest crowd (6,733) ever to see a Crew game in frigid temperatures.

Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan, to blame for the winning goal, had better hope scouts from Aston Villa etc., weren't watching.

More game details here.

The U.S. beat Costa Rica 3-0 in a dust storm Wednesday night, while Canada defeated hosts Mexico 1-0 to qualify for the Olympics in China.

Torrance duo Shannon Boxx and Vanessa Rojas went 90 minutes for the U.S. and Costa Rica respectively.

More on the U.S.-Costa Rica game is here and the Canada-Mexico game here.

U.S. Coach Pia Sundhage gave kudos to the Americans' CONCACAF rivals.

"The teams here have improved a lot compared to what I knew about them five or six years ago," she said "Look at this game, the U.S. playing Costa Rica and it’s 0-0 at half time. I would say it’s an important moment for me, who has been around the game for so long, to see Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago and the way Mexico has improved so much. It’s not only good for U.S. but for women’s soccer overall.”

Crunch Time in Mexico

The U.S. plays Costa Rica, a nation that has never beaten the Americans in four tries, at 6 p.m. while Mexico faces Canada in the nightcap.

Costa Rica features Torrance's Vanessa Rojas on its squad, while the U.S. has Torrance's Shannon Boxx.

“We haven’t played them since 2004, but it looks like they have improved," said U.S. defender Kate Markgraf. "They have really technical players and they look more athletic then they have in the past. We will have to see how much they try to attack or if they sit back, but we can adapt and play our style according to the flow of the game.”

The Americans handily beat Costa Rica 4-0 the last time the nations met.

There's no TV coverage.

Chivas USA Youngsters with USA

Flores played in all five U-20 games in January, including three as captain; Mayen, who signed with Chivas USA on March 27, will be with the U.S. U-20 squad for the first time.

Milestone for Matt

Reis, who has has started 72 consecutive regular season games for the Revolution, the longest current active streak in MLS, has played the last 6,480 minutes for the club, just shy of Pat Onstad's record 6,648 minute stretch set from 2005-2007.

Hamilton Honored

Hamilton, a former Torrance resident, was Galaxy GM when he died in March 2006 from heart complications at the age of 43. He is also the brother of Chivas USA Vice President of Soccer Operations Stephen Hamilton. Proceeds from the game benefit Hamilton's son Aedan.

The U.S. has just beaten Mexico 3-1 in Olympic qualifying meaning Torrance's Vanessa Rojas and her Costa Rican team will meet Abby Wambach, Shannon Boxx et al in the semifinals Wednesday of CONCACAF qualifying with an Olympic slot at stake.

The U.S., which had already qualified for the semifinals, got three first half goals to seal the win, including two from Natasha Kai. Hermosa Beach resident Wambach added another.

Costa Rica, which finished second in Group B, got through by only losing 2-0 to Canada and qualifying on goal difference.

Costa Rica isn't given much chance against the U.S., but I'm sure Vanessa will nevertheless be reveling in being only 90 minutes away from realizing every athlete's dream and appearing at the Olympics.

Game details from a Canadian perspective here.

The U.S.plays Mexico today in CONCACAF Olympic qualifying, although both nations have qualified for the semifinals.

Guest-blogger Vanessa Poster, a Torrance resident and Loyola Marymount student who plays for Costa Rica, returns ahead of that nations' clash with Canada. Costa Rica can qualify for the semifinals outright just by conceding five goals or fewer, since T&T lost to Canada by six. This is her third post.

Friday was an exciting day to say the least.

We began as every other day with breakfast in the morning, a light training session and a chalk talk after lunch.

I was starting the game, earning my fourth cap and was very excited.

We were playing 3-4-3 with an obvious offensive mindset.

Previous encounters with Trinidad and Tobago had been a blow out, but this year they came out with a fury.

I was playing on the back line and they were putting a lot of pressure on us - they were not going to just roll over and let us win just because we were better than them on paper.

I don’t know if it was the grandiose stadium or the dry climate, but we could not get into our groove.

They scored the first goal and it was like a blow to the stomach, but that must have lit a fire under us because we started to play with more passion. As the game went on the coach decided to move into a 4-3-3 to give more support to the back line. Soon after Trinidad scored again, and it put us against the wall, for if we lost this game we were sure not to qualify to the next round of the tournament.

As the game went on we had chance after chance, but the ball would just not go into the net.

Then, with the score 2-1, the fourth official put up injury time of three minutes.

We only had three minutes left in the game to get at least a tie. It seemed improbable, when we would repeatedly cross the ball and it would deflect away it was as if someone had cast a spell on the net.

Then we had a last ditch effort cross deflect off a players' foot and someone was open on the six yard box and GOOAAALLLLL!!!!.

The referee called the game about 25 seconds later.

We play Canada today.

The fight continues

The U.S. beat Jamaica 6-0 tonight in Mexico, while Costa Rica drew 2-2 with Trinidad & Tobago.

More on the U.S. game here while Torrance's Vanessa Rojas played the first 30 minutes of Costa Rica's 2-2 tie with Trinidad & Tobago.