Tasha v. Iceland

Natasha Kai scored a pretty goal in the last minute of regulation to lead the US to a 1-0 victory over Iceland in the Algarve Cup, propelling them into the final.



hat tip to JordanCornblog who is keeping me up with the women's soccer scene.

Golden Tasha

As a 10-year-old, Natasha Kai already had star potential. Tuesday, the University of Hawai'i sophomore leaves to play in an international tournament in China.
Kai family photo

Nice 2004 article on Natasha Kai, our first Hawaiian to win a gold medal. Pre-tats.

HonoluluAdvertiser: The Natural

As a young child, Kai, who is of English, Irish, Scottish, German, American Indian, Filipino, Chinese, Hawaiian and Spanish descent, was always active, participating in soccer, summer track, and even P.O.N.Y. baseball for one year.

"She would always be running around on the street, going to the beach in the summer, or jumping on the trampoline (in the Kai's yard)," Sharon [her mother] said.

She's a one-woman UN!

Natasha Kai of the U.S. (R) celebrates with teammates after winning their women's final soccer match against Brazil at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 21, 2008.
(Shaun Best/Reuters)

Golden!

Goal!

The USWNT won a hard-fought gold medal this morning, defeating hated Brazil 1-0 in overtime. Carli Lloyd scored the winner in the 96th minute. Christie Rampone was my MOTM; on USSoccer they selected Hope Solo, and I can live with that. She made a point blank reaction save on Marta in the 72nd minute that was amazing. Even watching the game as a spectator was exhausting. So I'm too tired to recap fully. Read these excellent recaps/liveblogs:

Boltgirl on the Loose, here, and here.

(from which I learned that after the 4-0 loss at the 2007 World Cup, the Brazilian players videotaped the US players crying in the hotel lobby. Stay classy, pretty losers. I'm going to start calling Brazil the Anna Kournikova of soccer.)


Andrea Canales at Sideline Views.

Jere Longman, NYTimes

Beau Dure, USAToady


Natasha Kai became the first Hawaiian athlete to win a gold medal. She ripped off her shirt to celebrate, showing the world her sports bra (yawn) and her tattoos (awesome).

How sweet it is!

Bonus video of the USWNTs of basketball and soccer meeting. Watch Tobin Heath make Kara Lawson look tall! See their ball skills. Watch Diana Taurasi tear it up in soccer tennis.

USSoccer Photo Gallery

Yahoo Photo Gallery

Cute soccer mom pics:

Rylie Cate, daughter of United States' Christie Rampone, jumps from the podium in joy after her mom's team won the gold over Brazil in the women's soccer final at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008.
(AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)
United States' Christie Rampone, left, carries her daughter Rylie Cate and United States' Kate Markgraf carries her son Keegan on their shoulders as they are all smiles with teammate Carli Lloyd, center, during the medal ceremony for the women's soccer gold medal match at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008. The US won the gold medal by beating Brazil.
(AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Poor, poor Brazil, the greatest team that's never won anything.

Waaaaaahhhhhhhh! (Hey, Cristiane, there's NO CRYING IN BASEBALL)

Final note, a shoutout to Greg Ryan: She would have made those saves, you moron.

USWNT Looking Good

The United States' Natasha Kai (6) celebrates with teammate Carli Lloyd, left, after scoring a goal against Canada during the second half of an international friendly soccer match at RFK stadium in Washington Saturday, May 10, 2008. The United States won 6-0.
(AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
Coach Mom & I saw the USWNT crush Canada 6-0 at RFK Stadium in DC on Mother's Day weekend. A hat trick from Natasha Kai, great work by Abby Wambach, fantastic passing and possession. In general, more of the beautiful game that the US women haven't played since the departure of "the old bags" and the ascension of the reviled Greg Ryan. Here are some videos & reports of the action:





And on the Today show the following Monday:


SoccerAmerica: USA smashes Canada in Concacaf rematch

ESPNSoccerNet: U.S. continues stunning progress under Sundhage

WaPo: Kai Nets Hat Trick For U.S. Women
Tuneup Turns Into Rout in 2nd Half: United States 6, Canada 0

USAToady: U.S. women blank Canada 6-0 behind Kai's hat trick

Washington Times: Kai, USA Have Their Way

USWNT Announces Olympic Qualifying Roster & Schedule

ussoccer: U.S. WNT vs. Denmark - 03-12-08 - Algarve Cup
USSoccer announced the 20-player roster for 2008 Concacaf Olympic women's qualifying tournament yesterday. The squad includes five players who didn't play at the 2007 World Cup: Rachel Buehler (Stanford), Tobin Heath (North Carolina), Kacey White(North Carolina), Lauren Cheney(UCLA) and Amy Rodriguez (USC).

The six players from Greg Ryan's 21-player roster for the World Cup who aren't on the team are: Kristine Lilly, Tina Ellerton, Brianna Scurry, Marian Dalmy, Aly Wagner, and Marci Jobson. Lilly and Ellerton are pregnant and have not retired. Jobson has taken the job as the head women's soccer coach at Baylor. I don't think any of the others have retired, but Wagner has struggled with pace and Dalmy was very young, inexperienced and a surprise addition to the World Cup roster.

As to Brianna Scurry, I think Pia Sundhage handled the Scurry/Solo situation exactly right. She complimented both players when she got the job, invited them both to her early camps, then quietly dropped Scurry, first from the Algarve Cup roster, and now from the Olympic qualifying squad. Scurry was the greatest keeper in the world in the past, but her skills have eroded and her storied mental toughness is no longer enough to keep the ball out of the net. (See Brazil 4, USA 0)

Another omission from the squad I wonder about is Heather Mitts. I thought she would have been sufficiently rehabbed from her knee injury to compete for a spot, but it's her second major knee injury and that can take a long time to heal. This is not the final Olympic roster, either; it's the roster for qualifying, and there could be changes for the actual Olympic team.

GOALKEEPERS: Nicole Barnhart (Gilbertsville, Pa.), Hope Solo (Richland, Wash.);

DEFENDERS: Rachel Buehler (Del Mar, Calif.), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis, Mo.), Stephanie Cox (Elk Grove, Calif.), Kate Markgraf (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Christie Rampone (Point Pleasant, N.J.), Cat Whitehill (Birmingham, Ala.);

MIDFIELDERS: Shannon Boxx (Redondo Beach, Calif.), Tobin Heath (Basking Ridge, N.J.), Angela Hucles (Virginia Beach, Va.), Carli Lloyd (Delran, N.J.), Leslie Osborne (Brookfield, Wis.), Lindsay Tarpley (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Kacey White (Arlington, Texas);

FORWARDS: Lauren Cheney (Indianapolis, Ind.), Natasha Kai (Kahuku, Hawaii), Heather O'Reilly (East Brunswick, N.J.), Amy Rodriguez (Lake Forest, Calif.), Abby Wambach (Rochester, N.Y.).

Here's the qualifying schedule:

USA Olympic Qualification Schedule – Group A
Date Match-Up Kickoff Local / Pacific Time
April 4 USA vs. Jamaica 7:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. PT
April 6 USA vs. Mexico 1:30 p.m. MT / 12:30 p.m. PT

2008 CONCACAF WOMEN’S OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION SCHEDULE
Group A
Date Match-up Kickoff (Local)
April 2 Mexico vs. Jamaica 7:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. PT
April 4 USA vs. Jamaica 7:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. PT
April 6 Mexico vs. USA 1:30 p.m. MT / 12:30 p.m. PT

Group B
Date Match-up Kickoff (Local)
April 2 Trinidad & Tobago vs. Canada 5 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. PT
April 4 Costa Rica vs. Trinidad & Tobago 5 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. PT
April 6 Canada vs. Costa Rica 11 a.m. MT / 10 a.m. PT

Semifinals Kickoff (Local)
April 9 Winner Group A vs. Runner-up Group B 5 p.m. MT / 4 p.m. PT
April 9 Winner Group B vs. Runner-up Group A 7:30 p.m. MT / 6:30 p.m. PT

Final/Third-place Game Kickoff (Local)
April 12 Third-Place Game 5 p.m. MT / 4:00 p.m. PT
April 12 Championship 7:30 p.m. MT / 6:30 p.m. PT

USWNT Wins Algarve Cup

Natasha Kai, center, from the USA's women national soccer team celebrates after scoring against Denmark during their Algarve Cup final match Wednesday, March 12, 2008, at Vila Real de Santo Antonio's stadium, in the Algarve, Portugal. (AP Photo/Steven Governo) (Steven Governo - AP)

Natasha Kai and Abby Wambach score as the U.S. wins 2-1 over Denmark.

Why didn't Greg Ryan play Kai in the World Cup? Oh right, he's a moron. And guess who was in goal for the championship game? That's right, our #1 goalkeeper, Hope Solo. Rot in hell Greg Ryan. You stole our third World Cup right from under our noses!

ussoccer: Game Report

WaPo: US Soccer Wins Algarve Cup

VILA REAL DE SANTO ANTONIO, Portugal -- Abby Wambach scored her 88th international goal Wednesday to help the United States win the Algarve Cup for a record sixth time with a 2-1 victory over Denmark.

Wambach scored the winning goal in the 49th minute, sprinting down the right flank and breaking two tackles before exchanging passes with Natasha Kai and sending a low drive into the corner.

Kai gave the Americans the lead with a header in the 14th, but Denmark's Cathrine Sorensen scored in the 30th.

A classic photo of our take-no-prisoners striker Abby Wambach:
Check out the tats on Kai:
And the attitide!

Pia Sundhage To Hold USWNT Mini-Camp

Image: ESPN
Boy, wouldn't I love to be a fly on the wall at this camp.

SoccerAmerica: Pia Sundhage sets first camp for U.S. women

THE FIRST TRAINING CAMP CONDUCTED by recently hired U.S. women's national team camp Pia Sundhage will be brief, but it will be important. She has just eight months to repair the effects of a goalkeeping controversy and a humiliating 4-0 loss to Brazil in the Women's World Cup semifinals before the Americans defend their 2004 Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Sundhage named a squad of 23 - including 16 players from the WWC roster - for five days of training at Home Depot Center starting this Saturday.

Captain Kristine Lilly is among the absentees; goalkeepers Briana Scurry and Hope Solo, who were swept up in a media firestorm when former coach Greg Ryan switched Solo for Scurry as the starter prior to the semifinal, have both been summoned.

Defender Heather Mitts, who suffered a knee injury May 12 that knocked her off the WWC roster, has been invited to the camp. Also selected were seven collegiate players, only two of whom - Casey Nogueira and Angie Woznuk - have been capped for the senior national team.

SanDiego.com: New U.S. coach picks goalie Hope

Sundhage's roster for the five-day training camp reflects her stated desire to play a more possession-oriented style. On it are USDHS alum Angie Woznuk, a talented central midfielder who recently finished her career at Portland, and North Carolina sophomore forward Casey Nogueira, the daughter of former Sockers goalkeeper Victor Nogueira.

The Sports Network: Sundage gets first look at U.S. WNT players

Below is the mini-camp roster by position:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Nicole Barnhart (Gilbertsville, Pa.), Briana Scurry (Dayton, Minn.), Hope Solo (Richland, Wash.).

DEFENDERS (6): Rachel Buehler (Del Mar, Calif.), Marian Dalmy (Lakewood, Colo.), Kate Markgraf (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Heather Mitts (Cincinnati, Ohio), Christie Rampone (Point Pleasant, N.J.), Cat Whitehill (Birmingham, Ala.).

MIDFIELDERS (9): Yael Averbuch (Upper Montclair, N.J.), Shannon Boxx (Redondo Beach, Calif.), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis, Mo.), Tobin Heath (Basking Ridge, N.J.), Carli Lloyd (Delran, N.J.), Leslie Osborne (Brookfield, Wis.), Aly Wagner (San Jose, Calif.), Nikki Washington (Mesquite, Texas), Angie Woznuk (El Cajon, Calif.).

FORWARDS (6): Michelle Enyeart (Hemet, Calif.), Natasha Kai (Kahuku, Hawaii), Casey Nogueira (Raleigh, N.C.), Heather O'Reilly (East Brunswick, N.J.), Lindsay Tarpley (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Abby Wambach (Rochester, N.Y.).

USA 1, Norway 0

Kristine Lilly, right, and Christie Rampone, left, of the U.S. wave to the fans as they leave the field after the U.S. defeated Norway 1-0 in an exhibition soccer game in East Hartford, Conn., Saturday, July 14, 2007. Lilly was credited with an assist on the goal scored in the 66th minute of the game by Carli Lloyd that gave the U.S. a 1-0 victory over Norway. (AP Photo/Bob Child)

Rampone was named the Woman of the Match.

Coach Mom & attended this game last night. Our seats were directly behind Christie Rampone's elbow in the photo above. Field seats are indeed that; our feet were on the grass (I can confirm that it is real, as I stuck my finger down into the dirt) and we were seated four feet from the sideline. They sold about a hundred of these, and lined up 100 red camp chairs with the USSoccer logo on them behind the advertiser's wall. We got to keep the seat!

It was Kristine Lilly Day in the state of Connecticut. The festivities were ... underwhelming. The governor's proclamation was given by some low-level staffer, and Sunil Gulati of USSoccer didn't show up either. ESPN cut off the showing of the USSoccer video tribute to Lilly to keep to its time schedule.

USSoccer must not have a marketing staff. They only had a few souvenir stands at the game, and THEY WEREN'T SELLING A KRISTINE LILLY SHIRT. OR A LILLY JERSEY. On Kristine Lilly Day. Kristine Lilly, the pride of Wilton, Connecticut. In front of her home state fans. Ten thousand fans with money in their pockets couldn't buy a Lilly shirt from USSoccer in Hartford Connecticut. For Christ's sake. How stupid can you get?

Ten years ago when you went to a national team game, you could only buy a "Hamm" shirt. Like Mia didn't play with the greatest player in the history of women's soccer, Michelle Akers. Like fans wouldn't have wanted to wear Akers, Lilly, Foudy, Scurry, Chastain or Fawcett shirts. And today USSoccer has the same brain-dead marketing scheme. Abby Wambach is the only player on the national team whose shirt is sold at games. Kristine Lilly may be the most-capped player in the history of international football, male or female, she may be the captain of the team, she may be heading for her record-setting fifth World Cup, but the morons at USSoccer don't think it's worth selling her shirt at a World Cup tuneup game in her home state. American football fans are ruled by idiots.

Go on the USSoccer site. Click on the link to the new shirt for the Women's World Cup. You can buy shirts of four players whose names are already on the shirt: Boxx, Tarpley, Solo, and Wambach. But if you want a Kristine Lilly shirt? You have to pay $5 extra to have her name and number imprinted. She's the captain, for crying out loud. Idiots.

The game itself was great. The US started the game in our half of the field, so we saw several excellent clears and takeaways by Christie Rampone (the former Christie Pierce, which is what I always call her when I get excited). The back line was immense in this game. Norway was only credited with one shot on goal. Cat Reddick did have one too slow backpass, and Stephanie Lopez mistakenly kicked the ball into a Norway player that bounced back over her head, but other than that Rampone, Reddick, Markgraf, and Lopez were impenetrable.

The offense wasn't as tight. For some reason coach Greg Ryan has Abby Wambach wandering all over the field. Note to Ryan: Wambach is not the Energizer Bunny (that's Kristine Lilly). I can't understand why Abby isn't the Ruud van Nistelrooy of the team, planted in the 18 yard box, waiting for service. She's a big woman and having her run from the left to the right to the middle constantly just wears her out. (Does Shaq bring the ball up the floor? No. He belongs in the paint. Abby belongs in the box.) The US was coming towards us in the second half and she was drenched in sweat, every run an effort by the final 20 minutes (check out this photo to see what I mean).

Coach Mom thought the US really missed Heather O'Reilly, both her speed and her penetrating runs at the defense, and Shannon Boxx. We thought Boxx was hurt, but my sis reports that on ESPN2 Julie Foudy criticized Ryan's decision not to play Boxx. In the midfield, Lloyd scored the only goal, while Osborne did not play well at all and Chalupny was not really a factor. Neither was Lindsey Tarpley, and when Natasha Kai came in her speed was noticeable. I'd love to see more counterattacking with long passes to free Kai and her blazing speed but it's not something we really do. I really hope Kai is named to the final squad (three spots remain). World Cups are won by the young. Especially when the young are led by wily old veterans like Kristine Lilly, our indefatigable warrior.

Those two, the young and the old, combined to create the lone US goal. It happened so fast that we weren't even sure the referee had called for the corner. We saw Lilly whip the pass in to Lloyd who headed it into the Norway goal. On the replay we could see that it was Kai who cleverly took the quick short corner, passing to Lilly.

The next game for the US is against Japan on Saturday, July 28th in San Jose, California. It's at 7:00 Pacific time, and no TV coverage, so to watch it you have to tune it to USSoccer's MatchAccess (if it's working) at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time. Go USA.


ussoccer.com: Photo Gallery

courant.com: Photo Gallery

Hartford Courant: A Tribute To Lilly

Hartford Courant: `Drained' Solo Keeps Performance Level High

ussoccer.com: U.S. Women Defeat Norway, 1-0, in Connecticut

ussoccer.com: Saturday, July 14, is Kristine Lilly Day in Connecticut

ussoccer.com: Quote Sheet: U.S. WNT 1, Norway 0