Womens World Cup has started...

[Pappy13]

Arod has created many scoring chances in the Cup. Her biggest issue is she has just failed to capitalize on them. With that said I don't neccesarily disagree with you about putting Cheney up top. I'm just happy Wambach is out of her slump.

I don't think she's even put the ball on frame yet in the tournament. Simply taking a shot that doesn't even test the keeper is not enough.

I really don't know how you come out and play well after a game like that. I really hope we don't come out flat!!  Thank God we have so many mature players as they are going to have to forget that last game very quickly.

Fortunately we play France next which the US can beat even without playing their best game. I didn't think the US played particularly well against Brazil until after they went a woman down. That seemed to light a fire under them. Perhaps we can carry that momentum.

[Pappy13]

US Women beat France 3-1 to advance to finals for the first time since '99.  Japan beat Sweden 3-1 so they'll join the US in the championship game.  I'm not sure if I feel good or not about not facing Sweden in the final.  The US have struggled to beat Sweden this year, but I doubt they would have lost 3 in a row to them. On the other hand it appeared that Japan dominated Sweden. US better be on their game if they want to hoist the cup.

[CF DolFan]

We just beat Japan twice in one week only a few weeks ago wihtout two starters including our team captain. It's funny because I was thinking at that time that I wish we were playing better talent going into the cup and go figure ... look who we are playinng for the finals. I don't think it will be as easy but I see us raining on the Tsunami parade.

[Pats2006]

The US games have been good!! That game last weekend was unbelievable..

You kno what else is unbelievable...

Thats right Hope Sole!!

[StL FinFan]

Hope Solo.

[bsfins]

I'm bad luck,I picked the US for streak for the cash,but watching the Marlins beat my Cubs..I flip over to see what's up,and see both Japans Goals....

[CF DolFan]

I'm bad luck,I picked the US for streak for the cash,but watching the Marlins beat my Cubs..I flip over to see what's up,and see both Japans Goals....

Nah. We did everything but put the ball in the net. It just wasn't meant to be for whatever reason.  If we played them 20 times we would win 19. It's just one of those things you have to accpet and move on from.

[Landshark]

Nah. We did everything but put the ball in the net. It just wasn't meant to be for whatever reason.  If we played them 20 times we would win 19. It's just one of those things you have to accpet and move on from.

Not that it wasn't meant to be.  I saw some sloppy passing, missed balls, and on the first penalty kick, Solo didn't even make an effort to stop the ball. 

The U.S. came into the game overconfident and underprepared.  As a result, they lost to an inferior opponent.

[Pappy13]

^^Not at all. Japan was better than people were giving them credit for, but the US squad didn't underestimate them.  There was some sloppy passing but that always happens, they actually played one of their better games but just couldn't finsh off the Japanese squad. I remember before the match started thinking that it was destiny that japan was even in the final after what happened to their country.  They were playing with a ton of pride and they had something to prove and they never quit. This match was pretty much a repeat of the game of the US vs Brazil where the US just wanted it more.  Japan just wanted it more in the last 10 minutes of overtime and the US had used up their PK magic against Brazil and Japan's goalie was playing out of her mind.

Congrats to Japan.  They truly are the World Champions today.

[Phishfan]

The loss was a result of defensive breakdowns. The US girls upfront played brilliantly, but had some bad breaks (they hit the crossbar again). Without defensive breakdowns (and they were pretty bad) the US would have won this game in what would have been considered a fairly easy fashion.

[Pappy13]

The loss was a result of defensive breakdowns. The US girls upfront played brilliantly, but had some bad breaks (they hit the crossbar again). Without defensive breakdowns (and they were pretty bad) the US would have won this game in what would have been considered a fairly easy fashion.

True, but it's been known throughout the tournament that the US defense is the weakest link on the team. Japan put enough pressure on the defense to force them into making a mistake and they capitalized. That's what Japan does. And the US has been known to not capitalize on it's chances as well. If you just watch the championship game, you'll think the US played poorly, but if you watch them all the time you'll see they actually played pretty well, but the same things that always hurt them got them beat this time. Normally their superiority in other areas carries them through, this time it didn't.

Give credit where it's due, to the Japanese. They played a fantastic match. Watch a replay of the corner kick that tied the match in overtive, you won't find many better goals in the tournament. It was just Japan's day.

As a matter of fact, now that I think about it, all 4 goals were impressive. Not one of those goals was cheap in any way. The Americans did fail to clear the ball, but it was hustle on the part of the Japanese that forced them to scramble and the last touch the Japanese girl got on the ball to score the goal was brilliant. From a purely soccer point of view, the match was outstanding.

[Brian Fein]

Calling Japan an inferior team demonstrates ignorance.  The Japanese team beat every team in the tournament that the "experts" called "favorite" (except maybe Brazil).

[CF DolFan]

Calling Japan an inferior team demonstrates ignorance.  The Japanese team beat every team in the tournament that the "experts" called "favorite" (except maybe Brazil).

Take nothing away from Japan because they earned it. None of these teams including the US laid down and gave it to them ... that's for sure. This really was a Cinderella story for this team and I don't mean that negatively.

But if we are speaking in terms of who I would bet on if I had to and it would still be the USA.  I hate ever saying this because I think it gets used too much but we really are the better team.  Not on this day obviously but most of the time compared to Japan. So many things were inches away from us blowing out this game. This game could have easily been 4-1 just as it was 2-2. 

For anyone who doesn't follow soccer this is the reality of the sport. Many times the better teams go home with a loss.   Sometimes it reminds me of Rocky where one team gets the crap kicked out of them but they refuse to go down. Then just when you think it is over they get a breakaway and score to win or tie it up. It is both frustrating as well as challenging.