US Team Tied North Korea 2-2

Saw this game recap by the always-great Graham Hays at ESPN.com:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=462039&root=womensworldcup2007&cc=5901&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

Sounds like Stephanie was put in a tough situation, being pushed up to midfield to try and counter North Korea's aggressive style of play.

He gave out player rankings at the bottom and gave her a 3, but it was an apologetic 3. It's pretty tough to expect the only college player on the team to be a huge success playing out of position in her first World Cup game.

Still... how awesome is it that by October we will have two players who got this kind of international experience on our team?

(Side note... this article in today's Oregonian seems to indicate that Sophie will be starting for Canada):

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/118948112546540.xml&coll=7

I don't mean to fill this thing up with links, but I just saw this awesome article about Christine Sinclair:

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sports/story.html?id=035e358d-1e3c-43ce-b066-08f820b937c9

Lots of mentions of UP and Clive... just really makes you want to root for her.

Good luck, Sinc!

Brandi Chastain was interviewed in the NY Times recently and said that now the defense, midfield, and forward line do not train together. If it's true that Lopez was in the midfield, then I don't know how well she could have been expected to do, trying to link up with teammates she doesn't train with. Especially at this level. She thrives in a possession game and though I didn't get to see it, that did not sound like it happened at all.

I don't know how many of you got to view the US-N.Korea World cup game, but it was pretty amazing.

N. Korea played at a pace that I don't think I've ever seen for a whole game in women's soccer. I suspect the US team is still walking around saying "What Happened?". The US was fortunate to get out with a tie.

Very crisp triangle passing, constantly getting players forward, and brutal defending.Total soccer.

Great stuff. all teams should aspire to that brand of play. it would draw even redneck US sports fans into the world's most popular game.

Anybody else see it?

I did. I (tried) to stayed up to watch the match against N. Korea! I made it through the 1st half but eventally fell asleep before 2nd half even began. Wonder who the real geezer is, eh?

The US held on with their athleticism...but N. Korea demonstrated they were the more technically sound soccer team. They were sharper. They dominated and controlled possessions. I haven't looked at the box scores but that would be an interesting statistic to review.

Yes Geezer...we were very lucky to come out of that match with a tie!

The N. Koreans also had many dangerous shots on goal. Their strikes were hit with purpose and PACE! They had Hope Solo diving, flying and stretched out a lot! Most of their shots were near misses....but had her beat!

And because conditions were wet...it made things especially nerve racking for Hope!! Eventually...she literally could not hold unto one of their vicious shots! I think the first N. Korea goal was a bullet! She caught it above her head...but the ball had enough PSI on it to slip past her grasp.

I noticed too that Stephanie had a very important role for the US...she took all the corner kicks! Go Steph!

Julie Foudy and the color man also mentioned a few times that the N. Koreans had a couple of 15 year olds playing for them. That's incredible.