SoccerAmerica - After ceremony of their own, U.S. women march through Colombia 07/28/2012

[USA-COLOMBIA] The U.S. women, unable to attend Friday’s Opening Ceremonies in London because of their Saturday afternoon game in Glasgow, marched through Colombia in a 3-0 win on goals by Megan Rapinoe, Abby Wambach and Carli Lloyd.

A CEREMONY OF THEIR OWN. The U.S. women, unable to attend the Opening Ceremony extravaganza in London Friday night before their Saturday afternoon game in Glasgow, dressed up in their official marching outfits and marched through their hotel, taking a lap around the meeting room before watching the ceremonies on a big screen. Check out the photos HERE.

GOAL RUSH. En route to their gold medal win four years ago in China, the U.S. women lost their opening game, 2-0, to Norway, before reeling off five straight wins. They also started these Games by conceding a pair of goals in the opener, but after going down 2-0 to France on Wednesday stormed to a 4-2 win and followed up with the 3-0 victory over Colombia. Seven goals in two games makes the USA the most productive team so far along with France (5-0 winner over North Korea), followed by Brazil, which opened with 5-0 and 1-0 wins over Cameroon and New Zealand, respectively.

LADY DELIVERS BLACK EYE. Olympic boxing was supposed to be restricted to the ExCel arena in London, but FIFA will be reviewing the 39th minute incident in which Colombia's Lady Andrade appeared to slug Wambach in the face, leaving the striker with a black-eye. Andrade claimed it was an accident. Said Wambach: “I’m running toward the goal to get position, and I got sucker-punched.”

ON TWITTER: Hope Solo's not happy with how Brandi Chastain, hero of the USA's 1999 World Cup win and two-time gold medalist, is commenting on the USA from the NBC booth. Solo tweeted: "Lay off commentating about defending and gking until you get more educated @brandichastain the game has changed from a decade ago." The keeper also tweeted that "Its 2 bad we cant have commentators who better represents the team&knows more about the game." For her part, Chastain told Washington Post: "My response is, I am here at the London Olympics to be an honest and objective analyst for NBC during the Games, and that is what I will continue to do." U.S. coach Pia Sundhage said Solo will not be disciplined for her tweeting.

REACTION: "I didn't quite see all the things I wanted to see after the first game. In the first half the speed of play could have been better but although it wasn't the best game we scored three goals and got three points so that is the most important thing," said Sundhage.

CROWD: U.S. Soccer reported a crowd of 11,313 for Saturday's U.S. win in Glasgow -- down from the 18,090 reported for the USA's 4-2 win over France, also at Hampden Park.

STATS: Wambach’s strike was her second of the tournament and 140th career goal for the USA. Having scored four goals at the 2004 Games -- she missed 2008 with a broken leg -- Wambach has a U.S. record six Olympic goals, surpassing Mia Hamm and Tiffeny Milbrett. ... U.S. captain Christie Rampone extended her record as the USA’s all-time leader in Olympic appearances to 18 with the Colombia game.

July 28 in Glasgow
USA 3 Colombia 0.
Goals: Rapinoe 33, Wambach 74, Lloyd 77.
USA -- Solo, Mitts, Rampone, Buehler, O'Hara, O'Reilly (Heath, 67), Lloyd, Cheney, Rapinoe (Rodriguez, 81), Morgan, Wambach (Leroux, 78).
Colombia -- Sepulveda, Gaitan, Arias, Dominguez, Peduzine, Ariza (Salazar, 71), Rodallega (Montoya, 71), Usme, Velasquez, Vidal (Ortiz, 87), Andrade Referee: Efthalia Mitsi (Greece)
Att.: 11,313

6 comments

Rick Figueiredo

commented on: July 30, 2012 at 10:02 a.m.

Dear Hope Solo: Hon. I adore you. You are beautiful and would be my choice for goalie in the world. But Chastain is one of the few commentators in all of America, women or men who knows enough about this game to not make me sick. She actually for an American has above average "futebol intelligence." A rare commodity in this country. I have been watching games since 1954. I know it sucks when someone crtitzes your team. I can understand that. I would probably want to tell them to kiss where the sun don't shine. But you should hear what the brasilians say when a brasilian messes up. Nuns hide and children's ears are shielded. Chastain has a right to speak her mind (and by the way she has done wonders with her hair. Looks gorgeous), and if I was commenting on these games you would probably never talk to anyone who is not a female again. Again, Hope, I love you to death but leave Brandi alone. You guys are playing well. Marta, my country girl is not. Something is bothering her. Alex Morgan has matured. You made a big mistake on the cross over your head and you got away with it. Keep that intense face when the cameras pan on you cause you are not only a great goalie but you are HOT! Brandi. I love ya too!!!! Rick from Newbury Park, California.

. Lev

commented on: July 30, 2012 at 10:21 a.m.

Coach Sundhauge is clearly not in charge of the Womens 2012 Olympic Soccer Team!!! Someone needs to control the immature tweets coming out of that team. Based on their tweeting, In spite of the most recent WC result and the closing of WPS, Solo and Wambach clearly don't understand the value of humility. Instead they choose to lead by example as tweeting bullies. They should talk with their feet instead of their hands. Who would buy Gatorade after on those - frankly, quite stupid - comments?

Amos Annan

commented on: July 30, 2012 at 10:34 a.m.

Better if Hope Solo explains what she thinks was reported wrong or misunderstood by Chastain, than the tweet made. But controversy sells books.

Karl Schreiber

commented on: July 30, 2012 at 11:56 a.m.

I believe that athletes as well as coaching staff and team officials should follow a code of conduct in interviews, including ‘tweets’, at least for the duration of events. That should be the task of the U.S. Chef de Mission and the respective National Organizations. Brandi Chastain’s color-commenting so far has been the worst example of sports journalism during the Olympics, in my opinion. I respect her previous accomplishments and expertise! However, she talks way too much. Would somebody at NBC please make her shut up from time to time? I’d like to get a feel for the ambiance of a game without the continuing avalanche of unnecessary personal opinion.

Kent James

commented on: July 30, 2012 at 12:21 p.m.

Amos is right. If Hope wants fans to better understand the game, she should explain where Chastain's commentary is off (or even better, perhaps explaining the reason she did things as a goalkeeper, which might explain why Chastain's commentary is inaccurate, or at least give fans the opportunity to judge for themselves who is right). General tweets about how how she should "lay off" because the game has changed seem immature or thin-skinned. Tweeting can provide an opportunity to see things from the players' perspective, which gives fans the chance to better know the players (for better or worse). I would hope players would be encouraged to help fans learn their side of the game, rather than just blowing off steam or engaging in back-stabbing or gossip.

John Soares

commented on: July 30, 2012 at 2:40 p.m.

Two players that deserve respect. Hope is quickly moving up to become the best USA goalie ever. Brandi has more than proven her knowledge of the game. However, as much as Hope needs to concentrate on making saves. Brandi needs to "pause" often. She needs to realize that there is a game going on and that is the viewers FIRST priority. Her constant chatter (criticism aside) gets old and annoying. She seems to feel she still on the field. Only now fighting for the mike, with the same aggressiveness as she use to fight for the ball. I appreciate her knowledge, but sometimes less (way less) is more.

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