Wanna talk about Thursday's game?

Yeah, me neither.

So instead, I'd like to say that anybody who's in New York on Oct 2 can stop by and see former Galaxy guy Kyle Martino playing in a fundraiser game for a

Green'-Carpet Event and Live Auction to Benefit Nonprofit Grassroot Soccer and its Mission to End HIV/AIDS Using the ‘Power of Soccer'

Other players will include:

WHO: Michael Strahan (frmr NY Giants) ** Anthony LaPaglia ("Without a Trace") ** Brandon Routh ("Superman") ** Jimmy Jean-Louis ("Heroes") ** Gilles Marini ("Sex and the City") ** Annie Churchill ** Skeet Ulrich ("Jericho") ** Donal Logue ("The Tao of Steve") ** Costas Mandylor ("Saw") ** Richard Gough (frmr Scotland National Team) ** Frank LeBoeuf (frmr France National Team) ** Kyle Martino (frmr LA Galaxy) ** Lydia Hearst ** Brian Dunseth (FOX analyst) ** Ethan Zohn (Survivor: Africa) ** Heather O'Reilly (Gold-Medalist, 2008 Olympiad; U.

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WPS has just released the picks from the international player draft held this afternoon.

Remember the caveats -- they're really drafting rights within WPS. Some of these players might not make it over here, and it's risky to draft a player who's in a secure situation elsewhere in the world. That should explain why no German or Norwegian players were drafted.

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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.

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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 Villareal 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.

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The Women's Professional Soccer League announced its allocation of members of the U.S. women's national team on Tuesday, establishing a foundation for the seven-team league set to kick off next spring.

U.S. Olympic team star Hope Solo and U.S. national team striker Abby Wambach were among the 21 players assigned to the seven teams.

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WPS Player Allocations – U.S. Women's National Team



WPS Team


Players Listed in Alphabetical Order

Bay Area: Nicole Barnhart, Rachel Buehler, Leslie Osborne

Boston Breakers: Angela Hucles, Kristine Lilly, Heather Mitts

Chicago Red Stars: Carli Lloyd,Kate Markgraf,Lindsay Tarpley

Los Angeles: Shannon Boxx, Stephanie Cox, Aly Wagner

Sky Blue FC: Natasha Kai, Heather O'Reilly, Christie Rampone

St. Click to continue reading...

That's Lindsay, of course, who along with Heather O'Reilly is part of the U.S. women's national team 'tweeners - not a veteran perhaps contemplating retirement in the near future - but not exactly a fresh face. After all, both won gold medals in 2004 already, so they've got a set going now.

Anyway, I had a recent interview with Tarp, who is one of the nicest and most articulate players around, even if she does at times pull off the politician's trick of dodging some questions by giving thoughtful answers to ones that weren't asked. Click to continue reading...

The Final and a tournament wrap up by du Nord's Women's Soccer Major Tournament Correspondent Adam.


In a fairytale ending to their Olympic tournament, the underdog US team saved its gutsiest performance for last, beating Brazil 1-0 to win its second straight gold medal.

Here are some final thoughts about the tournament. Click to continue reading...

Match preview by du Nord Women's Soccer Major Tournament Correspondent Adam.

-Thu Aug 21
USA v Brazil
Kicks off at 8am central time.
See it live on USA Network.


US Takes on Brazil for Gold

The USA's semifinal win against Japan can teach them a few things about their clash with Brazil for the gold medal. Click to continue reading...

... but first, congratulations to Usain Bolt on his phenomenal victory in the 200! He is just amazing to watch ... how beautifully effortless and strong. Can't wait to see it tonight! On the USWNT front, we've got Lindsey Dolich with her pre-game report and Jeff Carlisle on the USWNT mindset heading into the [. Click to continue reading...

4 - 1 is a pretty crushing margin to win a game by after starting off by being a goal down.Formiga, Marta and two goals by Cristiane cancelled out the goal by Birgit Prinz for the German women's team.
The USA women's team also scored 4 goals (over Japan) to reach the finals.

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Here we go, here we go.

USA: 1-Hope Solo; 17-Lori Chalupny, 15-Kate Markgraf, 2-Heather Mitts, 3-Christie Rampone-Capt.; 7-Shannon Boxx, 11-Carli Lloyd, 9-Heather O'Reilly, 5-Lindsay Tarpley; 16-Angela Hucles, 8-Amy Rodriguez

Japan: 1-Miho Fukumoto; 2-Yukari Kinga, 3-Hiromi Ikeda, 4-Azusa Iwashimizu, 7-Kozue Ando; 14-Kyoko Yano, 8-Aya Miyama, 10-Homare Sawa, 15-Mizuho Sakaguchi, 11-Shinobu Ohno, 17-Yuki Nagasato. Click to continue reading...

USA Women Olympic Match Report from du Nord reader Adam.

Quarterfinals:
-Fri Aug 15
USA 2-1 Canada

After a marathon match that included a rain delay and extra-time, the US emerged from the quarterfinals victorious over regional rivals Canada.

The US took the lead in the 12th minute when Angela Hucles tapped in a header from Heather O'Reilly. Click to continue reading...

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).

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Here we go, the U.S. versus the Canadians in the quarterfinals.

Canada:
Erin McLeod, Emily Zurrer, Candace Chapman, Martina Franko, Clare Rustad, Sophie Schmidt, Rhian Wilkinson, Diana Matheson, Christine Sinclair, Melissa Tancredi, Kara Lang

U.S.
Hope Solo, Heather Mitts, Christie Rampone, Kate Markgraf, Lori Chalupny, Lindsay Tarpley, Shannon Boxx, Heather O'Reilly, Carli Lloyd, Amy Rodriguez, Angela Hucles. Click to continue reading...

To sum up: the early favourites - Brazil, Germany, and the US - remain in pole position heading into the quarter-finals; Cristiane got a hat-trick in Brazil's 3-1 win over Nigeria, including a beautiful overhead kick for the second goal; and Heather O'Reilly scored the fastest goal in Olympic history 41 seconds into the US' 4- routing of New Zealand. Click to continue reading...

Written by du Nord reader Adam.


USA 4-0 New Zealand

After an uninspiring 4-0 rout of New Zealand, and thanks to some help from Japan, the US finished atop group G and will now play Canada in the Olympic quarterfinals.

Heather O'Reilly opened the scoring 43 seconds into the match with the fastest goal in women's Olympic soccer history, after lofting a shot from distance over New Zealand keeper Jenny Bindon. Click to continue reading...

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.

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USA Women Olympic Match Report from du Nord reader Adam.


Group Stage Match 2
Sat Aug 9
USA 1-0 Japan

When four minutes had ticked by in the match between the United States and Japan, US players and fans had to be relieved: the US wasn't two goals down. In contrast to the mess of a team that came out against Norway, the Americans looked more aggressive and confident. Click to continue reading...

An important match versus Japan looms. Predictions?

USA: 18-Hope Solo; 2-Heather Mitts, 15-Kate Markgraf, 3-Christie Rampone - Capt., 14-Stephanie Cox, 15; 9-Heather O'Reilly, 7-Shannon Boxx, 11-Carli Lloyd, 5-Lindsay Tarpley; 16-Angela Hucles, 8-Amy Rodriguez.

JPN: 1-Miho Fukumoto; 2-Yukari Kinga, 3-Hiromi Ikeda, 4-Azusa Iwashimizu, 7-Kozue Ando; 5-Miyuki Yanagita, 8-Aya Miyama, 10-Homare Sawa, 15-Mizuho Sakaguchi; 17-Yuki Nagasato, 11-Shinobu Ohno. Click to continue reading...

Kudos to Nancy Lieberman who, at age 50, showed her stuff in an appearance for the suspension and injury-depleted Detroit Shock last night. She scored no points, but made a no-look pass that brought the house down! The Shock and the LA Sparks were both seriously understaffed due to suspensions and both lost their games [. Click to continue reading...

Here's Cindy McCain speaking about "the only way to get around in Arizona." (This is way too easy ... I think I'm starting to feel a tad mean-spirited and guilty.) I'll get over it, though. Mark Zeigler writes from San Diego about tonight's USWNT vs. Brazil match-up ... the second this week. On [. Click to continue reading...