Recently in U.S. Women's National Team Category

U.S. Women's National Team Coach Pia Sundhage has called in 22 players for the 6 p.m. Dec. 13 game against China in Carson and a Dec. 17 match against the same opponents in Detroit.

Added to the squad were forward Amy Rodriguez, who recently finished her senior season at USC and started the last five games at the Olympics; UCLA striker Lauren Cheney, who last weekend helped UCLA to a sixth consecutive NCAA Final Four appearance; and veteran Kristine Lilly, the world's all-time leader in caps with 340, but who has not played for the U.S. in over a year, taking time off for the birth of her daughter.

The match at Home Depot Center will also be the fifth in U.S. colors for midfielder Shannon Boxx, who grew up in Torrance. Boxx has scored in all four of her previous appearances with the U.S. in Carson and was recently named as a FIFA Women's Player of the Year candidate along with U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo.

Tickets range in price from $18 to $60 for the game in the South Bay.

The full U.S. roster includes all the players who won the gold at the Olympics against Brazil: goalkeepers Nicole Barnhart, Hope Solo, Briana Scurry; defenders Rachel Buehler, Lori Chalupny, Stephanie Cox, Marian Dalmy, Tina Ellertson, Kate Markgraf, Heather Mitts, Christie Rampone; midfielders Shannon Boxx, Carli Lloyd, Heather O'Reilly, Lindsay Tarpley, Aly Wagner, Kacey White; forwards Lauren Cheney, Angela Hucles, Natasha Kai, Kristine Lilly, Amy Rodriguez.

Tickets to a Dec. 13 game between the U.S. Women's National Team and China at the Home Depot Center in Carson go on sale Friday priced between $18 and $150.

The game is part of a post-Olympics "Achieve Your Gold Tour," which continued Wednesday night in Cincinnati with a 0-0 tie against South Korea before 5,877.

U.S. lineup: 18-Nicole Barnhart (22-Briana Scurry, 46); 2-Heather Mitts, 3-Christie Rampone (capt.) (4-Rachel Buehler, 60), 15-Kate Markgraf, 17-Lori Chalupny (19-Marian Dalmy, 66); 9-Heather O'Reilly (21-Kacey White, 46), 7-Shannon Boxx (14-Stephanie Cox, 33), 10-Aly Wagner, 16-Angela Hucles; 5-Lindsay Tarpley, 6-Natasha Kai.

Incidentally, Torrance's Shannon Boxx, named a finalist for the FIFA Women's Player of the Year Award last week, e-mailed me her thoughts on that:

"It is an honor to be named as one of the top 10 for the FIFA Player of the Year Award. To be considered with this group is quite amazing. I believe that you need great people around you to perform your best and I've been very lucky to be surrounded by great teammates."

In other women's soccer news:
*Long Beach State plays a 2 p.m. Big West Conference Tournament semifinal game against Pacific at George Allen Field today.

*Ventura County Fusion General Manager Ranbir Shergill will take over as coach of the Fusion's W-league team for the 2009 season. Shergill was with the Cal South Olympic Development Program in 2008 and won a national championship as coach of the Cal South Under-16 girls team. Incidentally, the Fusion's men's and women's teams have open tryouts Dec. 13. More info here.

*Named to the California Collegiate Athletic Association first team were Cal State Dominguez Hills junior forward Melanie DeSalvo (Chula Vista) and former West (Torrance) High star Jessica Murphy.

In other college soccer news:
*Cal State Northridge men's team Coach Terry Davila notched his 100th collegiate victory Wednesday as the Matadors came from two goals down to beat Cal State Fullerton, 3-2. With the win, the Matadors keep pace with fourth-place UC Irvine in the Big West standings; the teams meet Saturday in Northridge in the final game of the season with the winner earning the fourth and final spot in the inaugural Big West Men's Soccer Postseason Tournament.

*Former Galaxy defender Paul Caligiuri has resigned as men's soccer coach at Cal Poly. The team's record this season: 4-11-3.

*Cal State Dominguez Hills junior defender Kevin Gallaugher (Walnut, Calif) and Kyle Holland (Anchorage, Alaska) were named CCAA first-team selections.

Lastly:
*Former Galaxy forward Clint Mathis is profiled here ahead of Saturday's Real Salt Lake-Chivas USA clash in Carson.

*In Utah, they're thinking skiing not soccer.

*David Beckham clears up just when he's leaving for Italy here.

*The MLS playoffs resume tonight with the Palos Verdes Peninsula's John Thorrington and his Chicago Fire taking on the New England Revolution. Kickoff is at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

*And Columbus Crew's Chad Marshall was today named MLS Defender of the Year.

UCLA men 2 (2-3-1) Santa Clara 0
No. 2 UCLA women 3 (7-0-1) New Mexico 0
No.4 USC 4 (7-1-0) SMU 0
Long Beach State 3 (5-2-2) Utah State 0
Pepperdine 0 (3-4-2) Marquette 0
Arizona State 2 Cal State Northridge women 1 (5-3)
Sacramento 1 Cal State Northridge men 2
Loyola Marymount women 4 (4-3-2)Oral Roberts 1
Loyola Marymount men 0 (1-2-3) No. 11 Illinois-Chicago 0

Also:
U.S. Women's National Team 2 Ireland 0
U.S. lineup: 1-Hope Solo (18-Nicole Barnhart, 46); 17-Lori Chalupny, 3-Christie Rampone (4-Rachel Buehler, 46), 15-Kate Markgraf, 2-Heather Mitts (14-Stephanie Cox, 46) 16-Angela Hucles (10-Aly Wagner, 46), 7-Shannon Boxx - Capt., 11-Carli Lloyd, 9-Heather O'Reilly, 5-Lindsay Tarpley, 6-Natasha Kai (21-Kacey White, 63).

Given a choice between watching soccer and blogging about it, I'd much rather do the former, but the scant rewards Wednesday for doing so included a tepid Manchester United 0-0 draw with Spain's Villarreal in the UEFA Champions League and a surprising 2-0 win by Marathon of Honduras over Cruz Azul in the CONCACAF version

I will likely impose radio silence again today with two UEFA Cup games on Fox Soccer Channel (Spurs-Wisla Krakow at noon followed by Tim Howard's Everton against Oguchi Onyewu's Standard Liege) and New York meeting Sigi Schmid's Columbus Crew over on ESPN2 at 4 p.m.

The Red Bulls' Juan Osorio is calling this New York's most important game of the season. Local soccer fans know this is Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers chance to shine in prime time with likely MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto expected to continue resting his aging hamstrings before the playoffs.

Catching up briefly:
USA Today brings people up to speed with a feature on the global ambitions of Chivas USA co-owner Jorge Vegara

*The U.S. Women's National Team beat Ireland 1-0 in New York Wednesday with Natasha Kai getting the goal before a little over 4,000 (an Olympic gold medal apparently not going as far as it used to in terms of crowd appeal).

U.S. lineup: 1-Hope Solo (22-Briana Scurry, 46); 17-Lori Chalupny (21-Kacey White, 70), 3-Christie Rampone - Capt, 15-Kate Markgraf (4-Rachel Buehler, 46), 2-Heather Mitts; 7-Shannon Boxx, 10-Aly Wagner, 11-Carli Lloyd, 9-Heather O'Reilly (14-Stephanie Cox, 46), 6-Natasha Kai, 16-Angela Hucles.

Finally Wednesday, the No. 7-ranked Cal State Dominguez men drew 0-0 with UC San Diego; the women lost 3-2 to UCSD.

It says a lot about the UEFA Champions League and a lot more about the global stature of Manchester United that for many in Los Angeles the most important game of the week does not involve the Galaxy or Chivas USA, but today's 11:30 a.m. game on ESPN2 that has the Red Devils facing Jozy Altidore's Spanish team Villareal.

(Alas Altidore, who just made his debut for Villareal over the weekend, is not on the Champions League roster, according to The New York Times' soccer blog Goal).

Other televised UEFA and CONCACAF Champions League games worth checking out today:
*2 p.m. ESPN Classic - Real Madrid-FC Bate Borisov (of Belarus in case you were wondering and I know you were).
*5 p.m. Fox Soccer Channel - Montreal Impact-Joe Public.
*10 p.m. Marathon-Cruz Azul.

A couple of other CONCACAF related notes:
*Panama's FC Tauro, vanquishers of Chivas USA in the preliminary round of the Champions League, lost to the Puerto Rico Islanders of the USL 2-1 Tuesday night.
*Hey, mon - Barnsey's back! Former England and Liverpool wing wizard John Barnes has resurfaced as coach of Jamaica. The Reggae Boyz face a crunch World Cup qualifying clash Oct. 11 against Mexico.

While we were distracted by the start of the Champions Leagues and the return of Sacha Victorine to Southern California, Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena quietly picked up former FC Dallas developmental player Jeremy Barlow before the close of the MLS transfer window Monday.

Finally:
*The U.S. Women's National Team plays the second game of its post-Olympics tour tonight against Ireland in New York.
*The Cal State Dominguez Hills men (7-0) jumped to No. 4 in the latest NSCAA poll.

Former South (Torrance) High star Shannon Boxx, Olympian Stephanie Cox and midfielder Aly Wagner were allocated to Los Angeles' Women's Professional Soccer franchise today.

"This is a big day for Women's Professional Soccer, as teams now have Olympic gold medalists from Beijing allocated to their home cities along with other talented national team players," said WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci. "These are the first building blocks for the teams as the league begins the countdown to the inaugural 2009 WPS Season."

Here's the full list of allocations to all seven franchises.

Next for WPS - a draft of four top international players to each team the week of Sept. 22:

That will be followed by a draft of remaining players in early October and again in January. The order of the international draft will depend on the weighted rankings voted on by teams following the U.S. Women's National Team allocation with the weakest-rated team selecting first and the strongest-weighted team selecting last

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."

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."

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