United falls to RSL 1 - 0

From washingtonpost.com:

 SANDY, Utah — D.C. United played with passion and conviction Saturday night, a refreshing renewal after several limp performances on the road. But consistent with the club’s travel shortcomings this summer, United conceded a goal shortly after halftime and dropped a 1-0 decision to Real Salt Lake in front of 20,334 at Rio Tinto Stadium.

“We talked about having to change our mentality on the road and the way we go about things to have success,” Coach Ben Olsen said. “We did a lot of that, and it showed. The guys gave a hell of an effort. It’s just disappointing the final stuff wasn’t there. If we play that way on the road, we will start picking up points on the road.”

 After an 84-minute lightning delay interrupted the first half, United (12-10-5, 41 points) lost its sixth straight away match and fell into a fifth-place tie with the Chicago Fire (two fewer game played) in MLS's Eastern Conference. The Columbus Crew (12-8-6, 42) overtook both D.C. and Chicago with a last-minute victory over Montreal on Saturday.

Five clubs will advance to the playoffs in late October, and what seemed six weeks ago like a sure postseason berth for United is now in jeopardy. D.C. is 2-5-2 in its past nine league outings.

There were, however, signs of encouragement. Despite playing a fifth game in 14 days and missing several regulars, United displayed more fire than in recent trips and threatened several times, most notably Dwayne De Roasrio's drive off the left post in the first half.

Will Johnson’s 49th-minute header was decisive for Real (14-10-4), which ended a four-game winless stretch and extended its mastery over United in Utah to 6-0-1 since 2006.

“We created enough chances to at least tie this game and maybe sneak out with a win,” defender Dejan Jakovic said. “It’s a tough one to swallow, even though it was probably one of our better games on the road.”

Midfielder-defender Andy Najar (tooth abscess), midfielder Branko Boskovic (virus) and forward Hamdi Salihi were the latest absences, joining defenders Daniel Woolard (concussion) and Robbie Russell (foot).

As a result, the bench was far from full strength and the starting backline required adjustment. Brandon McDonald moved from the center to the right side and Jakovic and Emiliano Dudar partnered in the middle.
Olsen stuck with De Rosario and Lionard Pajoy on the frontline, with Maicon Santos back from a toe injury in reserve.

The match had barely gotten underway when flashes of lightning drew closer to the stadium. At the 3-minute 15-second mark, referee Silviu Petrescu waved the players off the field.

Multiple storms passed through the valley as the sun faded, creating eerily beautiful cloud formations above the Wasatch Range and a rainbow beyond the south end of the suburban stadium.

The players were afforded 15 minutes to warm-up again before play resumed. From late afternoon until the weather ambush, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees.

When play re-started, both sides released pent-up energy and attacked with vigor. Real’s Javier Morales pumped a distant shot that Bill Hamid touched over the crossbar and United’s Chris Pontius cut back in the box but curled a shot wide of the far post.

In the 28th minute, Pajoy’s high pressure forced a defensive mistake. Pajoy supplied De Rosario for a wicked bid from 28 yards. With both arms extended, goalkeeper Nick Rimando appeared to have a slight touch on the ball before it crashed off the left post and caromed across the six-yard box, barely missing the right corner.

United continued to attack with confidence but lacked a final, decisive pass and finishing touch. Real’s late pressure forced United to make desperate clearances from the box. The half ended with several threats but no goals.

Real broke through four minutes after halftime on a fortuitous deflection. Paulo Junior’s cross from the left side nicked the sliding McDonald. Before Hamid could adjust, Johnson beat him to it and nodded in from four yards for his third league goal of the year.

The deflection “threw a lot of us off,” Hamid said.

United pressed for the equalizer, but Rimando blocked Pajoy’s effort deep in the box, the Colombian fired a free kick fractionally wide of the top left corner and Rimando disrupted De Rosario in the box.

“Our energy and commitment was good,” Olsen said. “I’m just disappointed their efforts didn’t come up with anything. [ellip] If we put that kind of effort and mentality into the rest of the season, we will get to where we want to be.”

Rowdies thump Strikers 3-0

From the TampaBay.com:

FORT LAUDERDALE — The Rowdies clinched a spot in the NASL playoffs Saturday night with a 3-0 win over Fort Lauderdale at Lockhart Stadium.

Rowdies goalkeeper Jeff Attinella picked up his ninth shutout of the season and the 14th of his career. The former USF and Countryside standout came into the game leading the league with 97 saves, and had four Saturday.

The Rowdies (11-7-6) opened the scoring in the 78th minute after substitute Raphael Cox deflected defender Takuya Yamada's header into the net past goalie Matt Glaeser. It was Cox's first goal since joining the Rowdies last month.

The deflection by Cox, who entered in the 55th minute, caught Glaeser offguard.

Tampa Bay defender Frankie Sanfilippo made it 2-0 in the 82nd minute.

Sanfilippo entered the 18-yard box after an individual run through the defense of the Strikers (9-9-7), and his shot trickled by Glaeser for his second goal of the year.

Forward Carl Cort, who also joined the team last month, scored in the 90th minute. Forward Mike Ambersley placed a through ball to Cort, who was left one-on-one with Glaeser. His initial shot was blocked, but Cort scored off the rebound for his first goal in the NASL.

In the 19th minute, Fort Lauderdale midfielder Michael Tetteh received a red card after being sent off for retaliation and violent conduct.

The Rowdies are undefeated in 11 of the 12 meetings against the Strikers since 2010.

The Rowdies return to action Saturday when they host Atlanta at 7:30 p.m. at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg.

Real 2 Barca 1 in El Clasico

With the summer Olympics behind us, attention again returns to La Liga, where FC Barcelona resumed its longstanding derby with Real Madrid in a heartbreaking 2 - 1 loss to surrender the Spanish Super Cup to Real, marking an inauspicious beginning to new Barcelona Boss Tito Vilanova's tenure.  As reported on BBC Sports:

"Real capitalised on two blunders to quickly go 2-0 up in the second leg at the Bernabeu, with Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo firing in.

Barcelona had Adriano red-carded for hauling down Ronaldo but the visitors pulled one back through a superb 35-yard Lionel Messi free-kick.

The 2-1 second-leg win levelled the tie at 4-4, with away goals decisive.

The result meant Tito Vilanova was denied his first trophy as Barcelona boss and he will need to look no further than his lacklustre defence for the reason.

He had warned his side that Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid outfit would have extra motivation, because not only were they chasing the first silverware of the Spanish season, they were also looking for their first win of the new campaign at the fourth attempt.

But his players did not heed his words and Higuain, who had an early shot saved, stole in after Barcelona centre-back Javier Mascherano missed Pepe's speculative lobbed clearance to sidefoot through the legs of keeper Valdes.

Another defensive mistake let in Ronaldo and, after audaciously back-heeling the ball over centre-back Gerard Pique, he bided his time before powering in a shot to put Real 4-3 ahead overall.

The hosts were scything through Barcelona's flimsy defence at will and Valdes had to fend away yet another Higuain effort in a one-on-one confrontation.

Real centre-back Pepe headed in a Xabi Alonso free-kick but the goal was disallowed for a push on Mascherano.

The visitors were struggling to cope and Adriano's dismissal for a professional foul in the 28th minute only increased the size of their task, although Messi's spectacular free-kick just before half-time gave the visitors hope.

Pedro could have brought 10-man Barca level after beautifully controlling a long Mascherano pass, but his shot was saved by Iker Casillas.

In another captivating El Clasico there were plenty of chances as Barcelona strived for the goal that would have earned them an aggregate win, while Real attempted to put their arch rivals away once and for all.  Sami Khedira was denied by Valdes after a jinking run into the area before new Real signing Luka Modric, on as a substitute, had a close-range strike blocked before Messi drove an injury-time shot agonisingly wide for Barcelona as the home side held on for their first Super Cup victory since 2008."

US Women Take Gold

From The Washington Post:

LONDON — They stood on the medal stand because of Alex Morgan's head and Abby Wambach's feet, because of Hope Solo's hands and Becky Sauerbrunn's brain. There are teams that pay lip service to the group they have assembled, to togetherness and unselfishness and sacrifice for each other. And then there is the U.S. women's soccer team, which pulls those qualities together, ties them with a bow, and presents them as it did Thursday night, with Olympic gold at stake.

“We all have such an extreme belief in each other,” Wambach said. “I can’t explain it. . . . It’s the trust that we’re going to find a way.”

So against Japan, in front of a packed house at historic Wembley Stadium, a player who might have been discarded two weeks ago found the way.  Carli Lloyd headed home one goal in the first half, then booted home another in the second, the tallies that beat Japan, 2-1, for the Americans’ fourth gold medal in five Olympic tournaments.

That it was Lloyd who became a star in front of 80,203 fans — more than have ever seen a women’s soccer game in England — fit the American team like a Speedo. When the United States opened this tournament July 25, Lloyd was on the bench. At 30, a veteran of two Olympics and two Women’s World Cups, this was not a position to which she was accustomed, nor one she embraced.

“If somebody tells me I’m not good enough to start,” Lloyd said Thursday, “I’m going to prove them wrong.”

When veteran midfielder Shannon Boxx strained a hamstring in the opener against France, Lloyd was on. From there, she was a force. “I probably was the most consistent player all tournament,” she said. Only Wambach scored more than Lloyd’s four goals in the tournament, an indication that contributions can, and do, come from any source with this group.

“We felt like a team,” Solo said. “Carli gets benched, she comes back, and she has the game of her life. Everybody felt like they could contribute. Everybody. . . . Honestly, it’s the first time in my athletic career that I felt like it was a true team.”

It had to be against Japan, the relentless, possession-oriented unit that beat the United States a year ago in the final of the Women’s World Cup. When Morgan beat a defender deep on the left side, and got her foot on a cross that looked sure to be headed to Wambach – until Lloyd came zipping through to put her head on it – the Americans were up 1-0. Not eight minutes had run off the clock.

But the United States felt as if it were back-pedaling much of the remainder of the first half, so persistent were the Japanese. In stepped Solo, the goalkeeper who has that I’ll-be-in-the-center-of-it-all aura. In the semifinals, Solo and the U.S. defense allowed three goals to Canada, more than they had allowed in four years.

“She definitely took that personally,” Wambach said. “She wanted to make a difference.”
In the 17th minute, she made what amounted to a point-blank save on Nahomi Kawasumi, and the Americans cleared the ball after it pinballed off defender Christie Rampone. In the 18th minute, she leapt to get her left hand on Yuki Ogimi’s rope of a shot, deflecting it off the crossbar.

“She’s the best goalkeeper ever, I think, on the planet,” Lloyd said. “Huge saves. And that’s what she does. She comes up big in big moments.”

There were more big moments to come. In the 54th minute, Lloyd was “just kind of doing what I do best,” dribbling directly at defenders and then creating space for herself. The rocket she unleashed from just outside the penalty area gave Japanese goalkeeper Miho Fukumoto no chance, and the Americans led 2-0.

This was, in effect, Lloyd’s moment to say to U.S. Coach Pia Sundhage, “How the heck did you bench me – ever?” But in the celebration, there was none of that.  “Didn’t pout about it,” Wambach said of Lloyd’s reaction two weeks ago. “Was a great teammate. Was a professional.”

There were nervous moments to come, because in the 63rd minute, Ogimi pulled Japan within 2-1. And with roughly seven minutes remaining, Japan stripped Rampone of the ball just outside the U.S. penalty area. Mana Iwabuchi bore in on Solo, solo herself.

“I knew I had to make the save,” Solo said. “That was my only thought.”

She could go about it, though, because she knew Sauerbrunn, a reserve defender, would have Japan’s other offensive options marked behind her. Solo and Sauerbrunn had talked about such a moment, and the goalkeeper had faith that the defender would do her job.

“That’s this team,” Solo said. Iwabuchi fired. Solo lunged. And the ball deflected away.
“At that point,” Wambach said, “I just kept pounding my chest saying, ‘Guys, this is only about heart!’ ”

When the referee finally, mercifully, blew the last whistle, the U.S. team split into two separate, bouncing huddles. Several Japanese players fell immediately to the turf, and their distress lasted throughout the American celebration. By the time the United States came together as one group – Megan Rapinoe jumping on one back, then another, then another – the Japanese gathered in an orderly circle, sharing their misery by themselves. And with that, Queen’s “We Are the Champions” rang through Wembley as if Freddie Mercury was belting it out live.

The respect that these two teams had for each other was apparent in the days leading up to the rematch, and when Japan formed a straight line to face the crowd – even as Iwabuchi still buried her face in her shirt, trying to dry the tears – the crowd applauded enthusiastically.

But when the flags were raised, and the “Star-Spangled Banner” played, each and every U.S. player sang it out. They sang it together, because at the end of a tumultuous year and a long Olympic tournament, it’s the only way they knew how.