U.S. Women Smoke Denmark 5-0 In 2012 Algrave Cup Opener

A couple hours before the U.S. men shocked Italy, the U.S. women blew out Denmark 5-0 in Lagos, Portugal, site of the 2012 Algrave Cup.

The U.S. women scored twice in the first half then added three more goals in the final 15 minutes to wrap it up.

Abby Morgan led the way with two goals and an assist (she now has eight in 2012) while Abby Wambach, Carli Lloyd and Sydney Leroux had the other goals. Heather O'Reilly, Lauren Cheney, Tobin Heath and Stephanie Cox had assists.

U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo did her best Tim Howard impression (or was he doing a Hope Solo impression?) as she recorded a clean sheet.

Morgan opened the scoring with a goal in the 21st minute, assisted by O'Reilly. Morgan's shot went off the post and in. The U.S. kept the pressure on and scored a backbreaking goal in the 44th minute as Morgan found a sliding Wambach (132nd career goal).

Cheney hit the post in the 76th minute but Lloyd was there to clean up the rebound. Morgan scored her second in the 84th minute (her 18th international goal) on a shot in traffic. Leroux redirected Lindsey's shot from a tough angle, for her sixth goal in six appearances. She's the youngest player on the team (21) but she looks like the next U.S. star.

Japan defeated Norway 2-1 in the other Group B match. The U.S. will meet Norway on Friday at 10 a.m. ET. You can keep track of the action on ussoccer.com's matchtracker and by following @ussoccer_wnt on Twitter.

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Goodbye Denmark, we hardly knew ye

As I said with Cameroon, I didn't see the Cameroon-Denmark match so I'm not sure what to make of the Danes. Apparently they won that one 2-1 but from what I saw vs. Netherlands and today vs. Japan, I wasn't impressed.

Denmark

Best Moment: Dennis Rommedahl's sweet goal against Cameroon which turned out to be the game-winner.

Worst Moment: No-showing in a winner take all match. All they had to do was beat Japan today and they'd move on to the group stage but they got rolled by Honda and the Japanese.

Best Result: 2-1 win over Cameroon. After watching the video highlights of this, it's hard to believe how many defensive miscues there were on both sides but the Danes get credit for two great goals: by Rommedahl and Nicklas Bendtner.

Worst Result: I've gone on and on about the Japan game so I'll say the 2-0 loss to Holland in their first match. That set the tone for an underwhelming tournament by the Danes.

Final Tally: 1 win, 2 losses. 3 goals scored, 6 goals conceded.

Best Player: Rommedahl had a goal and an assist so I'll go with him, not many other candidates.

Worst Player: The Danish defense simply for the gift they gave to Eto'o and the other chances they gift-wrapped to Cameroon that they couldn't convert.

Group E final matches: time to jump aboard the Honda bandwagon

In the final matches of Group E earlier today, Netherlands beat Cameroon 2-1 and Japan knocked off Denmark 3-1.

With those results, the Dutch (first place) and Japanese (second place) move on to the round-of-16. Netherlands meet Slovakia on Monday at 10:00 a.m. and Paraguay will play Japan at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

Clearly the biggest news of the day and the tournament so far is the elimination of Italy, in such pathetic fashion. Still, there are some important things you can take away from these two games.

1) The Dutch are very, very good. Total football was at its best as Robin Van Persie scored in the first half (1-0) for Netherlands. Even more promising for Clockwork Orange is that Arjen Robben made his first appearance (since injuring his hamstring pre-World Cup) and pulled a Messi: his patented cut across the top of the box was perfect except that his shot rattled off the post. Teammate Klaas Jan Huntelaar was able to tap it in for the game-winner and the Dutch finished with nine points in the group stage. Slovakia is a great story and I'll canonize anybody that knocks the Italians out but I don't think Netherlands should have too much trouble with them, granted they're known to disappear at about that time.

2) I don't want to influence Shimer's power rankings too much but Japan is way better than I think anybody knew. Striker Keisuke Honda has been one of the most impressive players of the tournament and he proved why today with two incredible highlights: a free kick goal and a sick move where he brokedown his defender then passed to Shinji Okazaki for an easy tap-in (3-1). I'm calling it now, Japan will beat Paraguay. There was a lot to like about Japan's performance today: 2 goals off ridiculous free kicks, attacking, aggressive soccer and Honda-the best player you've never heard of before now.

2-0 final

It's all over with the Dutch picking up three points, 2-0 over Denmark.

They started off pretty slowly but putting in Elia changed everything, as I said a few posts ago, he should start. Then again, they're so loaded that he's also a perfect change of pace substitute coming off the bench.

Netherlands play Japan at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday while Denmark faces Cameroon at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Netherlands Denmark
19(6) Shots (on Goal) 11(3)
13 Fouls 21
6 Corner Kicks 2
4 Offsides 2
66% Time of Possession 34%
2 Yellow Cards 1
0 Red Cards 0
3 Saves 5

I'll be back at 10 a.m. for Cameroon-Japan

PS. Netherlands were without their best player and one of the most explosive players in the world, Arjen Robben. Scary stuff.

Three additional minutes

It took a while but the Dutch are just toying with the Danes at this point.

Opening up the campaign: Elia should start

It's a beautiful thing when what you say comes true in real life.

Sneijder (who I just said woke up), found Elia with one of his patented seeing-eye passes. The supersub hit his shot past Sorensen but it hit the post.

Who do you think was following the play and banged it in? Dirk Diggler of course. It was like 90% of the goals Kuyt scores for Liverpool and his country, pure hustle and heart. You have to love his game as grimy as it can be.

The Dutch almost stick another one in too as Simon Paulsen clears one from Afellay off the line.

Last Dutch sub: Demy de Zeeuw for Nigel de Jong.

Sneijder decides to show up

He's one of the best center midfielders in the world so I'll cut Wesley Sneijder some slack but today has not been his finest hour.

He finally did something noticable as his deflected shot hit the crossbar and went over for a corner.

Van Persie's day is done

Robin Van Persie is subbed out for Ibrahim Afellay. Decent match for Van Perise who is still trying to get in shape and form after missing much of his club season at Arsenal.

1-0 Netherlands in the 78th minute, I feel like they might pop one more goal in before this ends.

Last Danish sub: Kahlenberg out, Christian Eriksen in

Christian Eriksen, the youngest player in the 2010 World Cup at 18, checked in at midfield for the Danes. He took out Thomas Kahlenberg, a striker for their last change.

Flurry of Dutch chances: Elia had a cross that was punched out by Sorensen, Van Bommel's shot was pushed out and then Van Persie headed a corner off the ground and wide of the goal.

1-0 Netherlands in the 76th minute.

Kuyt gets back on defense

I used workrate before when describing Kuyt and what do you know, he makes like a 40-yard run back and heads out a dangerous cross in his own box.

Just a great hustle play by the striker who has been playing for over 70 minutes.

1-0 Netherlands in the 72 minute, the Danes have to push forward more if they want to get anything out of this match.

Van der Vaart out, Eljero Elia

Van der Vaart is subbed out and Dutch young player of the year, Eljero Elia is in.

And with his first touch, he spins off two defenders and creates a good chance for his team. I just remember seeing this guy for the first time when the US played the Netherlands in March, he's electric.

1-0 Netherlands in the 70th minute.

Denmark unraveling a bit

Danish defender Simon Kjaer got a yellow card for a tackle on Wesley Sneijder (haven't said his name at all).

It was a bad call, it could have been a yellow for diving on Sneijder's part.

1-0 Dutch in the 66th minute.

Enenvoldsen out, Gronkjaer in

The Danes make the first substitution of the game, subbing midfielder Thomas Enenvoldsen out and putting midfielder Jesper Gronkjaer in.

Netherlands almost made it 2-0 as Van Persie chips into the box for Van der Vaart, who gets a subtle touch on it. Sorensen stretches out as far as he can in the air to stop it, nice save.

1-0 Dutch in the 61st minute.

Another Danish sub: striker Mikkel Beckmann for Bendtner.

You might want to shoot it Robin

In the 52nd minute, Van Persie took a bad turnover by the Danes and got into the box but didn't shoot fast enough (or couldn't make up his mind).

He worked around Sorensen but never let it go and ended up dribbling over the end line. A good chance wasted by Van Persie.

1-0 Netherlands in the 54th minute.

1st own goal of the 2010 World Cup

Is anything worse than an own goal?

The second half just began and Robin Van Persie swung a cross in that Danish defender Simon Poulsen made a mess of. He headed it the wrong way and it went off the back of teammate Daniel Agger.

It's the first own goal of the 2010 World Cup, the 29th in World Cup history.

Let's see how both teams react to this unlucky play.

Robin Van Persie picked up a yellow card for a overreaction by Simon Kjaer.

1-0 Netherlands in the 51st minute.

Come on Van Persie

In the 43rd minute, Robin Van Persie (Arsenal stud) had the ball at the edge of the box but danced with it a bit too much and ended up taking a shot a little wide.

Dutch midfielder Nigel De Jong picked up a yellow card for a clumsy Gatusso-esque tackle. Stuart Holden could tell you that the Man City man is not the cleanest player in the world.

0-0 at halftime. The Dutch have had the majority of possession but interestingly enough the Danes have had the two better chances.

Netherlands Denmark
8(1) Shots (on Goal) 8(2)
6 Fouls 8
4 Corner Kicks 2
1 Offsides 0
64% Time of Possession 36%

Kuyt almost scores on dangerous cross

Shimer and I could go on all day about Dirk Kuyt, Liverpool striker, one of the players we most respect in the EPL. The guy does not have a ton of natural talent (relatively speaking) but his work rate is through the roof. He has to be really annoying to play against since he never gives up on a play.

Kuyt almost put one in as his cross from the right side was low and hard and it took a deflection off a Danish defender and over the bar for a corner.

Denmark successfully defended it and got their best shot on a counterattack: Rommedahl blasted from distance but Stekelenburg smothered it.

Moments later, Thomas Kahlenberg's shot is pushed out by Stekelenburg for a corner. The Dutch clear it out.

0-0 in the 39th minute and thankfully things are opening up a little bit. It's about time.

Bendtner heads wide

Dennis Rommedahl drops a nice cross to Nicholas Bendtner but the Arsenal striker heads wide for the Danish, their first real attacking run in the 28th minute.

0-0 in the 31st minute and so far, looking up google images of these guys has been more entertaining than this match. I have faith that it'll get better.

This hasn't been the most thrilling start

Dutch midfielder Rafael Van der Vaart had basically the first good chance, in the 21st minute as he collected the ball at the top of the Danish box, turned and shot over the net.

This isn't quite the start that Germany had yesterday (the benchmark for a hot start in the 2010 World Cup). Both teams are feeling each other out.

0-0 in the 24th minute.

Netherlands-Denmark live blog

Mostly because I work at night, there are few things that will get me up at 7:30 a.m. but here I am.

I picked the Dutch to win in my ESPN bracket so I expect big things from the Orange Crush. Today is their first game vs. Denmark in Group E.

Here are the starting 11's: note that Arjen Robben is sitting out with his hamstring injury (boo!).

Netherlands Lineup
G
1Maarten Stekelenburg
CD-L
4Joris Mathijsen
CD-R
3John Heitinga
LB
5Giovanni Van Bronckhorst
RB
2Gregory Van Der Wiel
LM
8Nigel De Jong
RM
6Mark Van Bommel
F
9Robin Van Persie
RCF
10Wesley Sneijder
AM-L
23Rafael Van der Vaart
AM-R
7Dirk Kuyt

Denmark Lineup
G
1Thomas Sorensen
CD-L
4Daniel Agger
CD-R
3Simon Kjaer
LB
15Simon Poulsen
RB
6Lars Jacobsen
CM-L
10Martin Jorgensen
CM-R
2Christian Poulsen
LM
20Thomas Enevoldsen
RM
19Dennis Rommedahl
F
11Nicklas Bendtner
RCF
12Thomas Kahlenberg

0-0 in the 12th minute in the first ever meeting between these two European teams.