Olympics

You're an American, I'm sure you know that we qualified for the Olympics in both Men's and Women's soccer. Both teams are contenders for a medal, the women more so than the men of course.

The futblogosphere is buzzing because the olympic rosters are due soon. Who's in? Who's out?

The US women's roster was announced yesterday. It features the usual suspects, with some notable but unsurprising absences. GK Brianna Scurry, in her late thirties, is probably out of the national team picture for good now. Maybe a few more friendlies to end her stellar career. She is replaced by Nicole Barnhardt as the backup for Hope Solo. Two players - Cat Whitehill and Leslie Osbourne - are recuperating from ACL surgery and won't make the trip either.

Here's who's going to Beijing.

GOALKEEPERS: Nicole Barnhart (Gilbertsville, Pa.), Hope Solo (Richland,
Wash.).

DEFENDERS: Rachel Buehler (Del Mar, Calif.), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis,
Mo.), Stephanie Cox (Elk Grove, Calif.), Kate Markgraf (Bloomfield Hills,
Mich.), Heather Mitts (Cincinnati, Ohio), Christie Rampone (Point Pleasant,
N.J.).

MIDFIELDERS: Shannon Boxx (Redondo Beach, Calif.), Tobin Heath (Basking Ridge, N.J.), Angela Hucles (Virginia Beach, Va.), Carli Lloyd (Delran, N.J.), Heather O'Reilly (East Brunswick, N.J.), Lindsay Tarpley (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Aly Wagner (San Jose, Calif.).

FORWARDS: Natasha Kai (Kahuku, Hawaii), Amy Rodriguez
(Lake Forest, Calif.), Abby Wambach (Rochester, N.Y.).

Alternates: Scurry, defender Ali Krieger, midfielder Kacey White and
forward Lauren Cheney.

The men's roster isn't due until late July. Coach Peter Novak and his new assistant, Josh Gros, will have to choose carefully. The base roster will look something like this:

GOALKEEPERS (2): Dominic Cervi (out of contract), Chris Seitz (Real Salt
Lake)

DEFENDERS (7): Hunter Freeman (New York Red Bulls), Kamani Hill (Vfl
Wolfsburg), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Jonathan
Spector (West Ham United), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne
(Toronto FC)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Eddie
Gaven (Columbus Crew), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas
USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96)

FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)

But expect surprises. The coaches have to take into account injuries, form, European pre-season, WC qualfying, and of course the roster rules, which require all players to be under the age of 23, with three exceptions.

So which three senior players will go to Beijing? What will the rest of the roster look like?

More photos of the US women's game

Oh, Canada...your defense is not good

I went to the US Women's Saturday night friendly versus Canada at RFK. The announced crowd was about 9,000 - not bad for a game that was almost completely unpromoted. Too bad there weren't more though, the US women are incredible athletes and there were an awful lot of goals scored.

The lineups

The US thrashed Canada by a score of 6-0. Lindsey Tarpley had the first and winning goal, assisted nicely by Abby Wambach (three total assists). In the second half, Natasha Kai - easy to pick out of a crowd for her tatoos - had a hat trick. She celebrates like crazy; not a shy girl. Carli Lloyd had a breakaway goal and second-half substitute Lesley Osbourne scored the final goal on a nice run all the way to the end line by Amy Rodriguez who was born when I was in seventh grade.

First goal

What did I learn?

• Drama queens. They love to waive and celebrate like they're in a school play.
• As a group, they are quite tall and fit. Hope Solo is a freak athlete.

Hope Solo is Back

Lori Chalupny, who plays left defensive back, is my new favorite female player. She's the quintessential player - she moves up/back/laterally, has great vision and good ball skills.

Chalupny

US Soccer Primer

We are big fans of U.S. soccer, the captain in particular. We won't be able to resist commenting from time to time, maybe even having some watch parties. There is a lot going on this summer for the national team.

We have friendlies versus Ecuador and Guatemala later this month. More opportunities for interim? coach Bob Bradley to make an impression after the fantastic win over Mexico in February.

In June, the US Men's National Team (MNT) will enter the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which is the regional tournament held every other year for the North American/ Central American/ Caribbean region in which the U.S. qualifies for the World Cup. It is often said that there are 3 giants in the region: the U.S., Mexico, and Costa Rica. We have won the tourney several times, including the last time. Our initial group includes El Salvador, Guatemala, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Then, in July (actually starting June 28th), the MNT will enter Copa America, a much more competitive tournament but for the South American region. We routinely get invited as a guest but haven't participated since 1995 when we finished a surprise fourth. We are entering in response to criticism that we don't play enough quality competition. Think Czech Republic game in the World Cup. Well we drew Argentina, Colombia, and Paraguay so that won't be an issue!

It's two tournaments in a row. It will be interesting to see which players Coach Bradley calls upon for the different games. Of course we can't forget the U20 world cup beginning in Canada. Our highly regarded and promising young players have drawn Brazil. And the U.S. women are playing their World Cup soon as well. They are a team in transition.