The player’s aren’t the only ones exhausted after a grueling 2-1-overtime victory for the United States over Canada in their Olympic Quarterfinal. Those of us who saw it through from the 6:00 am kickoff, the weather delay, full time and two overtimes, four plus hours worth in all, deserve at least a nap. That includes U.S. coach, Pia Sundhage.

“I feel like I am a player. I am exhausted and happy,” she said.

The match started on time in a heavy downpour reminiscent of the United State’s World Cup match against Nigeria in the middle of Typhoon Wipha. The match was halted in the 21st minute due to lightening, but not before Angela Hucles got the U.S. on the board in the 12th minute.

The break was fortuitous for the Canadians. The U.S. clearly had them on their heels and were playing some of the best soccer we’ve seen from them all tournament. The 139-minute stoppage killed the American’s momentum and allowed Canada time to regroup after a shaky start.

Canada didn’t waste any time after the match resumed. Christine Sinclair capitalized on a casual U.S. throw in, launching a rocket past an outstretched Hope Solo in the 30th minute.

Canada’s coach, Even Pellerud was forced to make an early sub, replacing goalkeeper Erin McLeod with Karina LeBlanc after McLeod was injured attempting to defend Hucles’ goal. LeBlanc played an outstanding match and kept Canada in it into the first overtime when Natasha Kai connected with a beautiful ball from Shannon Boxx for the game-winning header in the 102nd minute.

In what in hindsight appears to be a brilliant move, Sundhage waited until the beginning of the first overtime to sub Kai in for Amy Rodriguez. A fresh Kai was able to run circles around a clearly gassed Canadian side.

“I thought we did well at forward with A-Rod because of her speed and with Angela Hucles,” explained Sundhage. “We switched Carli Lloyd to a more attacking role in hopes that she would get some more shots. With all due respect for Canada, which is a good team, we were thinking about extra time and that 30 minutes. We got 30 minutes out of Tash so I thought that was good timing.”

The U.S. could have managed the waning minutes better. Instead of settling for possession and killing time, they pressed for a third goal, which made the last few minutes a bit nerve wracking for the fans.

The match marked an outstanding effort by U.S. midfielder Shannon Boxx, who was justly named Sierra Mist Player of the Match. Boxx also happened to be celebrating her 100th cap. Lori Chalupny was dangerous and never gave up on any ball despite taking quite a beating from Kara Lang and company. Christie Rampone and Kate Markgraf held the U.S. backline together well to contain Canada. Really, the match was a great team effort.

The U.S. enters their semi-final with Japan spreading the goals around. Angela Hucles is the leading scorer with two.

“The cool thing about this Olympics so far is that we’ve had so many different goal scorers,” said Heather O’Reilly after the match. “I think that is what’s making us special right now. We’ve had six different goal scorers for seven goals, so that’s a pretty cool stat and that’s what’s making us so unpredictable.”

The U.S. has managed this tournament well, getting better every match, a trend they hope continues through to the gold medal.

* Photo of U.S. goal scorer, Angela Hucles, by Brad Smith/isiphotos.com

The pit that settled in my stomach after Norway's goal in the second minute of Wednesday's clash dissipated in the opening moments of the USWNT's contest with Japan this morning. The U.S. came out fired up, yet composed, pinging the ball around the field nicely and putting Japan immediately on their heels. This was a team I recognized, unlike the one that took the field on Wednesday.

The midfield looked much stronger today and the team did a good job of getting the ball out wide to Heather O'Reilly and Lindsay Tarpley. It was another strong outing for O'Reilly, who was singled out for kudos, along with first time Olympic starter Amy Rodriguez, by coach Pia Sundhage.

"I am very happy about our performance today against a very technical, talented Japan team," said Sundhage. "Besides a great goal by Carli Lloyd, I am very happy about our tactics with a fast player up top, Amy Rodriguez, and the way Heather O'Reilly played on the right side. But the bottom line is that the team that won today."

Rodriguez will need to do a better job of finishing her chances going forward, but her combination of speed and savvy made for an overall impressive performance up top and I expect we will see more of her as a starter.

The match's only goal was a nice team effort. Tarpley won the ball and played Stephanie Lopez in. Lopez did well to run the ball down at the end line and get the cross off. For a split second it appeared that her effort was wasted as the ball sailed just over the head of Rodriguez. It skipped to the top of the box where Carli Lloyd cracked her half volley into the back of the net.

“It happened so quickly. It kind of came off of a cross, " said Lloyd. "Amy Rodriguez tried to go for it and it came over her head and my eyes lit up. I was at the top of the box and just made sure I hit a nice smooth stroke.”

The team defended well and Hope Solo came up with a couple of big saves to preserve the 1-0 result. The backline was active on offense as well. Christie Rampone had a chance early, Heather Mitts had two, and of course, Lopez notched the assist on Lloyd's goal.

It wasn't a perfect outing. There were too many long balls sent directly to Japan, Lopez and Mitts being early perpetrators. And, the U.S. should have finished more of the sweet chances they created. Still, it was a night and day performance from the Norway disaster and a good first step towards peaking during the knock out round.

If I were cutting the highlight video of this match besides the obvious goal, these are some moments I would be sure to include:

• Kate Markgraf pulling off a bicycle kick in an attempt to keep the ball in play on our attacking end.
• Hope Solo tipping Homare Sawa's shot just over the net for an awesome save.
• Heather Mitts' almost goal, well, both of them.
• In about the 80th minute, O'Reilly made a nice run, played a beautiful ball through to Rodriguez who shook off her defender. The shot was wide, but still the sequence is definitely highlight worthy.
• Christie Rampone could have her own highlight reel as she put on a master class in defending in the last 15 minutes of the match - snuffing out attacks, defending corners and generally making good decisions on when to possess and when to just clear it.

In closing I will say after shuffling through the match again to dig out some of my match highlights I'm even more impressed with Rodriguez than I was at first glance.

The U.S. Women's National Team's 2-0 loss to Norway today marks the first time the women have lost a group match in a world championship, ever. The U.S. dug themselves in a hole early and were unable to dig themselves out.

Leni Larsen Kaurin opened the scoring for Norway in the second minute, heading the ball into an empty net. Hope Solo came off her line to challenge Kaurin and collided with Lori Chalupny who was defending the header. Stephanie Cox subbed in for Chalupny shortly after the collision in which she took a shot to the head. Chalupny is listed as day to day. She took significant time off in 2007 after a suffering a string of concussions. Hopefully her removal from the game was a precaution.

Norway's Melissa Wiik capitalized on an ill advised back pass from veteran defender Kate Markgraf moments later and in less than five minutes, the U.S. was down by two. After the match Markgraf took ownership of her uncharacteristic mistake.

"The second goal was totally my fault. I didn’t play the ball back hard enough to Hope (Solo) and I didn’t see the player either," she said.

The start of this match reminded me a bit of the 1999 World Cup quarter-final against Germany when the U.S. went down early on an own goal by Brandi Chastain. Chastain came back and scored the equalizer and the U.S. went on to win 3-2. I was hoping for a similar outcome today (and wouldn't it have been a great story for Markgraf to score the equalizer as her first goal), but it was not to be. The U.S. settled down and pretty much contained Norway for the rest of the match, but could not get anything going offensively.

Critics of Greg Ryan ball will not be impressed with the team's first significant match under Pia Sundhage. There were plenty of errant long balls and final passes to lament and we only saw glimpses of the beautiful possession soccer we were hoping for. Still, there were glimpses and I'm not ready to start the funeral march yet. While a Wambach-less offense at times seemed to lack passion and direction, the play of Heather O'Reilly was a bright spot as was Tobin Heath's when she subbed in late in the match.

A part of me is screaming that this result is an unprecedented disaster, but I'm going to write it off as Olympic jitters and assume this team will come back strong against Japan on Saturday. I hope I'm not in denial. Coach Sundhage and Captain Christie Rampone have to help the team put this rocky start behind them.

“We have a choice right now. You can imagine (what it can do to a team) to give up two early goals playing in your first game," said Sundhage. "What is very important is to keep our style and that is something we as coaches will emphasize. We can look at bad things, and we will adjust, but also look at good parts in the game where we created chances and where we kept possession and played pretty good soccer.”

The U.S. has two group games to win and the result today sets up a potential meeting with Germany or Brazil in the quarter-finals.

In a few hours, I will be heading to Lisbon to catch a plane home. It has been an incredible week of soccer here in the Algarve and while I am anxious to get home to my family, I am sad to see it end.

It isn't often that you get the opportunity to see a team transform before your eyes and while they still have some work to do, I feel like the team I saw take on Denmark today was a better and different team than I saw against China just last week. They faced tougher opponents as the tournament wore on and while their new, more possession oriented style of play wasn't automatic when the pressure was turned on, they stuck with it and it looked better and more natural with each game.

During the opening minutes against China through the waning minutes of the final, I was struck by the chatter I heard out on the field. The team was communicating at a volume I haven't observed since Julie Foudy left the pitch. Sometimes it was captain Christie Rampone exhorting the troops. Other times it was Kate Markgraf shouting out instruction. Heather O'Reilly was frequently heard calling for the ball. At first I wondered if it was my imagination or if the chatter was more noticeable due to the lack of fan noise on the field, but Rampone confirmed my observation.

"The communication is just really good, better than I think it’s ever been," said Rampone. "It’s definitely something we’ve been working on in training because everyone is responsible out there. We’ve been working on being on the same page and having the same voice instead of making so many different commands and I think everyone is feeling more and more comfortable."

As to Pia Sundhage, other than a quick interview at the College Cup, this was my first real exposure to her. She has an enthusiasm that is contagious and while she is a very savvy coach, in some ways she is just a big kid that loves soccer. She talks a lot about belief, courage and confidence. Her team seems to have bought in and will leave the Algarve with more confidence in what they are doing as they have seen it work.

The team will get a week off when they get home although they have a running program to keep them on track, then they are back together to get ready for Olympic Qualifying.

As for me, they are still pictures to post, videos to edit and thoughts to share (as well as Issue 12 to pull together), but they will have to wait until I get back to Georgia and get a few hours sleep. Thanks for sticking with us during the 2008 Algarve Cup. Look for an update on Friday.

Greetings from Albufeira, Portugal. I arrived last night, just in time to catch a decent nights sleep and hit the U.S. match with China.

This was my first time to see the team play since the Pia era began, unless you count the teeny video stream from the Four Nations Tournament in China. They looked good – definitely different – but really good.

Possession was the name of the game and they played it well. One touch passes ping-ponged around the pitch, starting at the back and working their way through the midfield to the forwards. There was the occasional long ball thrown in, just to keep China guessing, but the U.S. dominated the match exploring the angles of the pitch with short passing.

After the game, Abby Wambach was pleased with the team’s performance.

“The first half of that game is one of the best halves we’ve played in a long time, not even these past four games, but the past couples years. Things are starting to feel right, where it’s not a struggle. We’re learning how to play the game in angles, “ she said.

Of course, China didn’t put up much of a fight. They were content to stay packed in for most of the match, I can only assume in hopes of breakaway chances, which were few and far between and for which they seemed ill equipped to take advantage of. If China’s new coach, Elizabeth Loisel was looking to use this tournament to get a Chinese Federation that already seems disenchanted with her off her back, she didn’t get off to a good start.

The back line has undergone a bit of a makeover, at least for this match. Kate Markgraf was back in the center in her first match since the World Cup. Captain Christie Rampone joined her there with Lori Chalupny at left back and newcomer Rachel Buehler on the right. Buehler put in a more than solid performance in her first cap, which lasted a full 90.

Shannon Boxx and Carli Lloyd were both outstanding today in the midfield and earned a nod from head coach Pia Sundhage who called their play “tremendous”.

Lindsay Tarpley added another goal to her already impressive tally for 2008 to get her team off to a good start. That was it for the first half. Tobin Heath, who subbed in for Tarpley at half time, recorded her first full international goal just minutes into the 2nd half. Abby Wambach and Carli Lloyd rounded out the scoring giving the U.S. their biggest win against China, ever.

That’s it for tonight. I’m going to post some pictures in the Photo Gallery before I get kicked out of the internet cafe which is already closed! I will report in tomorrow after practice.

Kate Markgraf on her "shot":

"I wanted to keep my stat of never scoring a goal. I felt so bad and I was just laughing at myself because I just shanked that ball so bad. I make fun of defenders who shoot like that and then I shoot it off, basically for a throw in. So, once again my record stays intact."

Kate is a great interview and should definitely do more media.