U.S. Women's Soccer Completes 3-0-0 Group Play With 1-0 Win Vs. North Korea

The U.S. women's soccer team beat North Korea 1-0 this afternoon at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United, in their third match of the 2012 London Olympics.

Pia Sundhage's squad finished 3-0-0 for the first time in their Olympic history and they'll meet New Zealand on Friday (9:30 a.m. EST) in the quarterfinals at Newcastle.

The final margin should have been much more as the Americans hit the post twice in the first half and also put countless great opportunities either wide of the net or over. Luckily, Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach were on top of their games as they created basically all the U.S. chances.

The moment of brilliance came in the 25th minute as midfielder Lauren Cheney dropped a long pass into the box for Morgan. As two North Korean defenders converged on her, she touched it to Wambach who blasted it in. It was Wambach's 141st career international goal, she is now only 17 behind Mia Hamm for No. 1 all-time in U.S. history.

U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo didn't have to work hard, she only really made one above-average play: intercepting a cross by North Korea in the second half. Her defense looked strong although truth be told, the U.S. dominated possession and North Korea barely ever controlled the ball. Odds are she was probably blasting Brandi Chastain on Twitter some more since she had so much downtime during the match.

The mysterious opponents got increasingly frustrated in the second half which culminated in Choe Mi Gyong picking up her second yellow in the 81st minute. With 11 players, North Korea didn't have much of a chance but that flicker of hope was gone after Gyong's clumsy challenge on Cheney.

Both Morgan and Wambach nearly scored in the first half since each hit the post. Morgan received a pass from Wambach and turned with her favored left foot to strike a low shot that deflected off the far post. The script was flipped from Wambach when she took a ball from Morgan and tried to place a shot past the diving North Korean goalkeeper.

Substitute Tobin Heath almost made it 2-0 early in the second half but she lofted her shot high after she found herself wide open. Likewise, Carli Lloyd had a good chance on a rebound but as she usually does, she couldn't get her body over it and it went harmlessly over the bar.

The best news for the U.S. is that nobody got hurt and other than a yellow card for Cheney, they didn't pick up any cards (not sure how they carry over to the knockout rounds). They will be heavy favorites against New Zealand and assuming that they can start finishing more consistently and at a higher rate, there is no reason they should have much of a problem with them.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

2011 Women's World Cup: U.S. vs. North Korea 2nd half live blog

ESPN's Julie Foudy points out (rightly) that the U.S. doesn't seem to have any swagger yet, I think she's know too.

No substitutions for either team at halftime.

Chaney gets another chance and stop me if you've heard this before but she shot it right at the goalkeeper.

Damn, Chaney had open-heart surgery when she was 3-years-old.

Haha what? North Korea waits until two minutes into the second half to take a defender (Yun) out for Yi. Interesting tactic.

After a free kick, Shannon Boxx (best fake porn name in the business) puts it over. Good pressure by the U.S.

Rodriguez finds Wambach and she somehow puts it over the crossbar from six yards out. The U.S. is buzzing now, a goal is coming soon if they keep this up.

Get it girl, Cheney scores in the 54th minute on a header from Wambach's cross. 1-0 U.S., well deserved and pretty finish. Nice job by Wambach to cut it back (leaving the defender flat-footed) and great service to Cheney.

First career World Cup goal for Cheney.

And North Korea hits the crossbar with a shot. I guess they're not going to roll over even though they're down 1-0 now.

O'Reilly volleys wide.

Wambach takes a rough challenge but appears to be OK. They need her to be healthy. A header off the ensuing free kick goes off a North Korean head for a U.S. corner.

Christie Rampone has 235 career appearances for the U.S., the most of anybody in the 2011 Women's World Cup.

Wambach gets a header from in close that goes off the crossbar. Should have been in, the North Korean goalkeeper got a piece of it.

The announcers keep complaining about the heat. It can't be all that bad in Germany.

North Korea makes its second substitution.

Fourth U.S. corner is complete garbage, into the side of the netting. Even Landon Donovan hasn't hit one that bad (as far as I can remember).

Another goal would be nice for the U.S., I think it's time for my girl Alex Morgan to come on.

Rodriguez (or A-Rod, shudders) almost snipes a goal, nice save by the North Korean goalkeeper. Goes out for a U.S. corner kick.

75th minute, Alex Morgan in for Rodriguez. Great performance by Rodriguez. Another U.S. corner.

Nice Krieger hit the bar from distance and then Rachel Buehler (2nd ever goal) picks up the loose change and puts it in through a ton of traffic. Huge goal for the U.S., goodnight North Korea. (2-0 U.S.)

Rapinoe in for O'Reilly. Good game for O'Reilly, her work rate was there all game.

The teams trade chances.

The U.S. has never worse than fifth place at the World Cup.

Wambach's shot saved but Rapinoe scores on a 50-50 ball. However, it's called off since the goalkeeper caught it at the same time. No goal but it doesn't really matter in the long run.

Final: U.S. 2 - North Korea 0

Great second half by the U.S., they seemed like a completely different team after a slow first half. They earned this and they're now on top of Group C. That goal by Rapinoe would have been nice for her confidence but I'm sure she'll get over it.

Two pretty goals but they'll need to play a more complete match and also finish better when they meet tougher opposition.

Up next, the U.S. meets Colombia at noon on Saturday.

Follow @RichSlate


Tweet

2011 Women's World Cup: U.S. vs. North Korea 1st half live blog

Group C action continues (Sweden beat Columbia 1-0 earlier this morning) in Dresden, Germany.

The U.S. gets its 2011 World Cup underway and expectations are high for Pia Sundhage's squad. They struggled in qualifying and haven't won the tournament since 1999 but they have as much talent as anybody.

North Korea is the youngest team in the 16-team field.

Lauren Chaney got the late start and she just had the first real opportunity of the game. Her shot from outside the 18 was easily handled by North Korea's goalkeeper.

The U.S. won in 1991 (the first Women's World Cup) and '99.

Chaney hasn't started since March.

U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo (who looks like Fergie of Black Eyed Peas' cousin) is rocking an all purple jersey and shorts combo.

Heather O'Reilly wins the first corner kick of the game, for the U.S. Ugh, the goalkeeper bungles it but the U.S. can't really get a foot on it. North Korea clears it out before the U.S. regains possession but hits a cross right to the goalkeeper.

Carli Lloyd gets free at the top of the box but can't put anything on the shot.

Haha ESPN's Ian Darke talked about the North Korea's men team from last summer's World Cup 2010. The team was publicly humiliated and the coach was sent to work at a building construction site. Fun times, who wants to go to North Korea?

Ouch, Lloyd takes a really scary fall on her back/neck but she seems fine. She went up high for a header but was hit by a North Korean player in the air and landed awkwardly.

North Korea wins its first corner kick but doesn't do anything with it.

Yikes, deflected ball by the U.S. almost leaves it on the doorstep for North Korea.

Wow that's creepy, the U.S. women's team is the oldest at the 2011 World Cup (average age 27 years, 9 months which is almost exactly my age).

Another slippery play by the North Korea goalkeeper leads to a U.S. corner. Looking like the U.S. men, they don't do anything with it.

Ali Krieger is the only U.S. player that doesn't compete in the WPS. She plays in Germany.

Chaney gets another good chance but the puts it right at Myong-Hui (3 shutouts in the Asian Cup).

Solo with a nice save on the 16-year-old North Korean star. Corner kick for North Korea.

Lloyd with another chance, right at Myong-Hui. Lloyd and Chaney are getting loose, Wambach has been pretty invisible so far in the first half which is not good for the U.S.

Holy crap, North Korea played a slight cross along the goal line and Solo completely whiffed. Luckily for the U.S., nobody connected for North Korea.

10 of North Korea's players are teenagers. Who's their coach, Justin Bieber?

Amy Rodriguez got free but her shot was blocked by a North Korean defender. It could have possibly gone in, good chance.

The U.S. has been held scoreless three times in first halves during group play, twice against North Korea.

Yikes, this is like watching the U.S. men's team. The women's backline is leaky and almost cost them a goal there, Solo had to come up big.

Nice counterattack by Rodriguez but she couldn't find Wambach who was tightly marked.

Damn, I was just thinking that Rodriguez was pretty cute and they said she's getting married soon along with O'Reilly (what a shame).

Lloyd hits a nice cross of a free kick but nobody on the U.S. can touch it. If they redirected it, would have been 1-0.

North Korea takes a long shot from outside the box that goes wide.

Halftime: U.S. 0 - North Korea 0

Follow @RichSlate


Tweet

After a nice vacation in South Africa, it's back to North Korea and a life spent working in a mine

No team came into the 2010 World Cup shrouded in mystery like North Korea and after three losses, they'll be taking a one-way trip back to their miserable communist homeland.

They were the longest shot in the tournament regardless of the fact that they were in this year's Group of death. There have been reports that as a punishment the players will have to spend the rest of their lives working in a mine.

None of their home fans were able to watch them in South Africa so Chinese actors and actresses were hired to cheer them on. Bizarre.

North Korea

Best Moment: Scoring a goal against Brazil and a nice one at that, is something that team will never forget.

Worst Moment: The 7-0 curb-stomping courtesy of Portugal, something that everyone else in the world will always remember them by.

Best Result: Losing 2-1 to Brazil (after being tied 0-0 at the half) is one of the most surprising results of this tournament and any World Cup in my lifetime.

Worst Result: The aforementioned beatdown thrown by the front-running Portguese.

Final Tally: 3 losses, 1 goal scored, 12 goals conceded.

Best Player: Midfielder Ji Yun-Nam who scored the goal against Brazil.

Worst Player: Most of the goals weren't really his fault but goalkeeper Ri Myong-Guk gave up all 12 goals in the 2010 World Cup. Ouch babe.

Ivory Coast wins 3-0 but doesn't move on

The North Korea-Ivory Coast match has gone final and the Elephants won 3-0.

Final stats:

North Korea Ivory Coast
9(4) Shots (on Goal) 27(10)
12 Fouls 16
0 Corner Kicks 7
2 Offsides 4
34% Time of Possession 66%
0 Yellow Cards 0
0 Red Cards 0
7 Saves 4

Salomon Kalou says hello before it's too late

In the 82nd minute, with his right foot, Kalou redirected a sweet pass from defender Arthur Boka for a goal.

Ivory Coast just put another one but they were offside.

3-0 Ivory Coast in the 87th minute.

0-0 Portugal-Brazil in the 87th minute.

Last Ivory Coast sub of the 2010 World Cup

Seydou Doumbia came on for Romaric. There are rumors that Sven-Goran Eriksson will be replace Roy Hodgson as the Fulham manager. And I just puked in my mouth.

North Korean and Ivory Coast subs

North Korea's Choe Kum-Chol came in for Mun In-Guk. Ivory Coast made two changes as Salomon Kalou replaced Kader Keita and Aruna Dindane took out Gervinho.

2-0 Ivory Coast in the 74th minute.

0-0 Portgual-Brazil in the 73rd minute.

Duda out, Simao in

Portugal makes its first change in the 54th minute, Duda is done for the day and midfielder Simao (who had a cap in the 1998 World Cup) comes on.

0-0 in the 55th minute and I'm almost ready to change back to Ivory Coast-North Korea which still has the Elephants up 2-0 in the 57th minute.

Second half underway

Hopefully Ivory Coast can score a few more and somebody can score in the Brazil-Portugal match.

Halftime

Brazil-Portugal are still scoreless at halftime and the referee in their games needs to relax with the yellow cards.

He gave Portugal defender Fabio Coentrao a yellow in the 46th minute for a non-existant foul.

And the Ivory Coast leads 2-0 at the half.

Halftime stats:

Portugal Brazil
6(1) Shots (on Goal) 12(2)
7 Fouls 9
0 Corner Kicks 5
1 Offsides 0
28% Time of Possession 72%
4 Yellow Cards 3
0 Red Cards 0
2 Saves 1

North Korea Ivory Coast
3(0) Shots (on Goal) 13(7)
5 Fouls 7
0 Corner Kicks 4
1 Offsides 1
28% Time of Possession 72%
0 Yellow Cards 0
0 Red Cards 0
5 Saves 0

Fabiano muffs header from close range

Fabiano should have done better as he had a header on a platter as they say. He knodded it off the ground which caused it to bounce wide.

Portuguese midfielder Pepe received a yellow card and now Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo picked up a yellow for just body checking a Portuguese player.

0-0 in the 44th minute.

2-0 Ivory Coast in the 44th minute.

Melo is coming out for midfielder Josue, Dunga doesn't want Melo to pick up another dumb yellow.

Nilmar is unlucky

Brazilian midfielder Nilmar received a pretty through ball into the box, one-timed it but it was deflected by Portugal goalkeeper Eduardo off the crossbar and out.

On the other hand, Portugal was attacking but midfielder Tiago was booked with a yellow card for an obvious dive in the box. I love Portugal (since they're my heritage) but they often make it hard to love them since they flop and whine so much.

0-0 Brazil-Portugal in the 34th minute.

2-0 Ivory Coast in the 34th minute.

Why must I be so white?

They just showed the Ivory Coast fans and they were all turned around and doing something called the Elephant dance. It was probably the coolest thing I've ever seen.

2-0 Ivory Coast in the 29th minute.

0-0 Brazil-Portugal in the 29th minute. Both Juan (Brazilian defender) and Duda (Portuguese forward) picked up yellow cards in the 25th minute.

Romaric makes it 2-0 Ivory Coast

I have officially flipped it over to Ivory Coast-North Korea because the Elephants added another strike.

Midfielder Romaric scored after Didier Drogba's blast went off the woodwork and bounced right to him.

Two goals made up of the nine goal swing needed.

Wow, North Korean striker Hong Yong-Jo just curled a free kick wide by a couple inches.

2-0 Ivory Coast in the 25th minute.

Yaya Toure opens his account

Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure opens the scoring for the Elephants in the 14th minute. All they need now is seven more goals and one from Brazil as well and they're through.

1-0 Ivory Coast in the 21st minute.

Group of Death (G) live blog

Brazil plays Portugal and Ivory Coast meets North Korea this morning as Group G wraps up. Brazil and Portugal are pretty much locked in to advancing but let's hope they take the shackles off and play some exciting soccer.

Starting 11's:

North KoreaLineup
G
1Ri Myong-Guk
CD
3Ri Jun-Il
CD-L
5Ri Kwang-Chon
CD-R
13Pak Chol-Jin
LB
8Ji Yun-Nam
RB
2Cha Jong-Hyok
CM
17An Yong-Hak
CM-L
4Pak Nam-Chol
CM-R
11Mun In-Guk
CF-L
9Jong Tae-Se
CF-R
10Hong Yong-Jo

Ivory Coast Lineup
G
1Boubacar Barry
CD-L
5Didier Zokora
CD-R
4Kolo Touré
LB
3Arthur Boka
RB
21Emmanuel Eboué
CM
19Yaya Touré
LM
13Romaric
RM
9Ismael Tioté
F
18Kader Keita
LF
11Didier Drogba
RF
10Gervinho

0-0 Ivory Coast-North Korea in the 9th minute.

PortugalLineup
G
1Eduardo
CD-L
2Bruno Alves
CD-R
6Ricardo Carvalho
LB
23Fábio Coentrão
RB
21Ricardo Costa
CM
15Pepe
LM
16Raul Meireles
RM
19Tiago
F
5Duda
LF
7Cristiano Ronaldo
RF
10Danny

Brazil Lineup
G
1Júlio César
CD-L
4Juan
CD-R
3Lúcio
LB
6Michel Bastos
RB
2Maicon
LM
5Felipe Melo
RM
8Gilberto Silva
F
9Luis Fabiano
RCF
19Júlio Baptista
AM-L
21Nilmar
AM-R
13Dani Alves

0-0 Brazil-Portugal in the 10th minute.

Brazil hangs on, 2-1

For the eighth consecutive time, Brazil opens up the World Cup with a win.

They played like themselves in the second half and rightfully earned the three points.

Props to North Korea though, they didn't quit and picked up a memorable goal. There's not too much to take out of this game; Brazil will get better and there's no chance at all that North Korea will make it out of this group.

Brazil next plays Ivory Coast on Sunday (2:30 p.m.) and North Korea plays Portugal on Monday (7:30 a.m.).

Final stats:

Brazil North Korea
26(10) Shots (on Goal) 11(2)
9 Fouls 10
7 Corner Kicks 3
3 Offsides 1
73% Time of Possession 28%
1 Yellow Cards 0
0 Red Cards 0
1 Saves 8

Quality goal by North Korea

Great buildup by North Korea results in a very nice goal by left back Ji Yun-Nam.

He outran his defender and put it over Julio Cesar, one of the world's best goalkeepers.

Two minutes of added time. First World Cup goal in 44 years for North Korea and it was a dandy. The actors and actresses in the stands are going nuts!

Yellow card for Ramires

Late challenge by Ramires results in a yellow card.