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Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
Well, this last week, Team USA in the Women's Soccer tournament, defeated Columbia 2-0 on Tuesday, and then China on Friday, 1-0 to advance to the semifinals of the World Cup.

They will face Germany there...perhaps their hardest challenge so far.

Go Team USA!

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Yahoo News said:
OTTAWA, Ontario – Carli Lloyd posed for her Player of the Match photos, beamed into the bright lights and then was asked the difference between Friday night's game and all the others so far.

"Freedom," she said.

Head coach Jill Ellis met with Lloyd on Thursday at the team hotel and informed the midfielder that Morgan Brian would be added to the lineup as a defensive midfielder and Lloyd would be allowed to roam. Lloyd grinned recalling the moment, and she played like a lion unleashed.

After weeks of plodding, the United States women's national team finally plowed at the Women's World Cup, mesmerizing China with a bevy of offense that rose to the extraordinary standard its defense has raised. The
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Friday at Lansdowne Stadium behind Brian's versatility and Lloyd's 51st-minute goal and now sit two victories away from their first world title since 1999.

The U.S. did it with a collection of backups, too, as Megan Rapinoe and Lauren Holiday sat out and Abby Wambach subbed in the 85th minute. It was Amy Rodriguez setting the tone with an early chance, Kelley O'Hara threatening constantly and Brian playing a position she had never practiced before joining the national team. "Did I look comfortable out there?" she asked jokingly after the match.

She sure did, and now the U.S. has an attacking midfielder excelling at defensive midfield in Brian, and another attacking midfielder excelling at defense in Julie Johnston. Those two players were the best supporting actors behind Lloyd's lead. It is a testament to the stunning depth of the U.S. that the team played its best overall match without three of its best players.

And it's a testament to that defense that Hope Solo made history, becoming the winningest goalkeeper in U.S. women's history, without having to make any difficult saves. Solo has still allowed only a single goal in this tournament as the Americans extended their shutout streak to 423 minutes.

The Americans created a barrage of chances throughout the first 45 minutes – a noted departure from their previous World Cup matches here. Credit goes to Ellis, who had a lineup ready to go after China from the first minute.

"Everybody came out with high intensity and super aggressive," Tobin Heath said. "We wanted to run at players."

The first half ended scoreless, but it didn't feel scoreless. The U.S. had 11 shots to China's four – with zero on net. Before the team took the field after halftime, Wambach told her teammates, "The first 10 minutes, we get a [expletive] goal!" Alex Morgan grinned and thought to herself, "Typical Abby."

Wambach proved to be a seer, as Johnson promptly fired a lovely service from near midfield into the box, where Lloyd whipped her forehead into the ball and watched it hit the back of the net. Off she went to the corner, karate-kicking the flagstick to add an emphatic flourish to an emphatic showing.

It was Lloyd who basically called her own shot this week, subtly daring Ellis to give her the reins with Rapinoe and Holiday out.

"In order for us to win this thing," she said, "in order to show the world what we've got, we've got to take some risks at some point. For me, I love to attack. I had a decent shot last game. I need more of that. I need to get the ball, run at players, create stuff. I need to find a way to impact the game, no matter how it's going."

She did that with Ellis' help, as the game plan was perfect for the web-like defensive strategy of the China side. "I really liked getting a midfielder higher on the field," Morgan said. That's significant considering her partner in crime, Wambach, did not start and did not join the game as a substitute until the 86th minute. Morgan said Friday's game was probably the U.S.'s best overall performance of the tournament.

Surely, there has been frustration about the offense within the U.S. camp, but against China the sum was finally greater than all of the parts. Asked if she expects the same freedom in the semis and possible final, Lloyd smiled again and said, "I would hope so."

Now comes the hardest test by far: Germany, which survived a marathon of a match with France on Friday to
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and will await the Americans in Montreal next Tuesday. The semifinal may very well be the best matchup of the entire tournament, with the Germans featuring the size and speed to match the U.S. step for step.

The question now is how will Ellis rearrange the pieces that fit so well together in Ottawa. Because a group that couldn't put it all together is suddenly looking like a formidable machine.

And Lloyd has already vowed: "We're going to be flying next game."
 

Jeff Head

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Registered Member
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CBS News said:
MONTREAL -- With a swift strike blasted into the net, the U.S. women's soccer team took the win over Germany 2-0 in the Women's World Cup semifinal and advanced to the championship game for the first time since 2011.

Defender Kelley O'Hara gave a hard shot just feet away from the goalie to put the Americans well on top of their European rivals in the 84th minute of the match.
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About 15 minutes prior to that, midfielder Carli Lloyd scored on a penalty kick in the middle of the second half, just 10 minutes after Germany was awarded a penalty kick, which went wide.

"Just slotted it home. I knew what I had to do," Lloyd said. "It's a dream come true, this is what we trained for."

The match went scoreless through the first half as the U.S. failed to capitalize on two major opportunities.

Hope Solo got another shutout, posting her fifth straight for the United States in the tournament.

German striker Celia Sasic was unable to put her team on the board when she missed a penalty kick of her own, a first for Germany in the Women's World Cup. She shanked the ball to the left - even as U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo dove the other way - on her penalty kick after a foul in the box in the 59th minute.

The top-ranked Germans had been 17 for 17 on World Cup penalty kicks, including all five in a tiebreaker to beat France in the quarterfinal.

The U.S. women's team advanced to the quarterfinal after defeating China on Sunday 1-0.

The United States defeated Germany 5-1 in the semifinals of the first women's tournament in 1991 then went on to beat Norway in the final.

The Americans beat Germany 3-2 in the 1999 quarterfinals, going on to beat China on penalty kicks in the final on home soil at the Rose Bowl.

The Germans beat the United States 3-0 in Portland, Oregon, in the semifinals then beat Sweden 2-1 in Carson, California, for the team's first title in 2003.

Overall, the United States is 18-4-7 against the Germans.

Team USA will take on either England or defending champion Japan in the final.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
A while ago (before my cancer), my son Jared and myself took a wilderness drive on the Magruder Corridor Trail between Idaho and Montana. It's one of the most remote, and most beautiful drives you can take.

I decided to document it in pictures on Flickr and wanted to share the album. It is absolutely one of the greatest wilderness drives you can take in the lower 48. But beware. Only go after mid-July, and before October...and be sure to have 10 ply tires and two spare tires...just in case.

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bd popeye

The Last Jedi
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WASHINGTON (Sept. 11, 2015) A marker at the Pentagon Memorial in the hours prior to a ceremony to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon. The ceremony is for families of victims of the attack and survivors. The Pentagon Memorial, located on Boundary Channel Drive in Arlington, Virginia, commemorates the 184 lives lost at the Pentagon headquarters and on-board American Airlines Flight 77 during the terrorist attacks. (U.S. Navy photo by Damon J. Moritz/Released)
 

bd popeye

The Last Jedi
VIP Professional
I put that site up on the internet in late-September 2001...and have had it up ever since.

It's been 14 years now, but I will keep it up until the day I die, and if my kids keep it, then for long after that..

Amen.. On that day 09.11.2001, I placed this signature on the end of my email as bdpopeye..it will remain so until I die..

September 11, 2001 Don't YOU ever FORGET!!.. Freedom is NOT FREE!!

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WASHINGTON (Sept. 11, 2015) Dawn at the Pentagon Memorial prior to a ceremony to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon. The ceremony is for families of victims of the attack and survivors. The Pentagon Memorial, located on Boundary Channel Drive in Arlington, Virginia, commemorates the 184 lives lost at the Pentagon headquarters and on-board American Airlines Flight 77 during the terrorist attacks. (U.S. Navy photo by Damon J. Moritz/Released)
 
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