17 July 2011 - The World Cup Turns Japanese

On 17 July 2011, Japan won the Women's World Cup, beating the US on penalties, 2-2 (3-1).

It was the capstone of a remarkable run for Japan, whose history in the competition included one quarterfinal appearance (in 1995) to go with four group-stage exits. But they had put the rest of the world on notice by reaching the semi-finals in the 2008 Olympics before losing to the United States.

They finished second in their World Cup group to England to set up a stunning extra-time won over hosts Germany in the quarterfinals, then beat Sweden 3-1 in the semis to fix their date with two-time champions the United States.

Playing before a crowd of 48,817 at Frankfurt's Commerzbank-Arena, the two teams played to a scoreless stalemate in the first half due in large part to outstanding performances from the two keepers, Ayumi Kaihori and Hope Solo. At the break, US manager Pia Sundhage replaced support striker Lauren Cheney with forward Alex Morgan, who delivered a go-ahead strike in the 69th minute. But Japanese winger Aya Miyama equalized in the 81st minute to send the match into extra time.

There, the Americans again pulled ahead courtesy of a 104th-minute goal from forward Abby Wambach, but Japan again drew level, this time with an amazing strike from midfielder and captain Homare Sawa, who deflected a corner kick into the goal in the 117th minute using the outside of her foot.

In the shootout, Kaihori saved two of the Americans' first three attempts, with the other going over the bar. Solo made a save of her own, so the tally was 2-0 for Japan after three kicks each. Wambach converted the next shot for the US, but central defender Saki Kumagai then beat Solo to capture the trophy.

29 March 2009 - The Sun Rises On WPS

On 29 March 2009, the Los Angeles Sol hosted the first WPS match, beating the Washington Freedom 2-0. L.A. went on to finish as regular season champions.

The new league brought professional women's soccer back to the United States for the first time since the collapse of the Women's United Soccer Association in 2003. It started with seven teams, including Saint Louis Athletica, Sky Blue FC, Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, and FC Gold Pride in addition to L.A. and D.C.

For the league's first match, Washington traveled to the Home Depot Center in Carson, California to face Los Angeles. There, playing in front of a crowd of 14,832, Sol defender Allison Falk scored the league's first goal in the sixth minute from a header off a free kick. Freedom goalkeeper Brianna Scurry protested the goal, claiming she had been fouled, but the referee allowed it to stand.

Despite the presence of star forward Abby Wambach, DC failed to create much of a challenge. Their best chance came in the 64th minute, when Lori Lindsey hit the left post. L.A. then extended their lead with an 87th-minute strike from midfielder Camile Abily.

Los Angeles went on to top the table at the end of the season. That earned them a direct pass into the playoff final, where they lost to Sky Blue.

16 July 2008 - A Bad Break For Wambach

On 16 July 2008, the United States women beat Brazil in a pre-Olympics friendly, but lost Abby Wambach, their leading scorer, who suffered a broken leg.

Played before a sold-out crowd of 7,502 at San Diego's Torero Stadium, the match was the second contest between the two teams in four days and the last for both teams before they headed to China for the Olympics. The US had won the earlier match 1-0 and were hoping for a repeat performance.

Those hopes took a blow in the 31st minute when Wambach--the leading scorer for the US that year with 13 goals and 99 goals in her international career--collided with Brazilian defender Andreia Rosa and immediately waved for the medical staff. She was taken straight to the hospital where x-rays confirmed fractures in her tibia and fibula. Despite the loss of Wambach, the Americans continued to press Brazil and were rewarded with an 85th-minute goal from substitute Natasha Kai for the 1-0 win.

Brazil and the US met again in the gold medal match in Beijing where the US won again by the score of 1-0. Wambach missed the tournament, but returned to the US team in May 2009 and scored her 100th goal in July of that year. She extended her tally to a record 184 while winning the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2015 Women's World Cup.

8 December 2004 - The Curtains Close On Two Careers

On 8 December 2004, Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy ended their national team careers with a 5-0 victory over Mexico.

Played before a crowd of 15,549 in Carson, California, the match was the last of a 10-game "Fan Celebration Tour" scheduled in honor of the team's victory in the 2004 Women's World Cup. It was the 271st appearance for Foudy, who had captained the team since 1991 (she was a co-captain from 1991 to 2000), and the 275th appearance for Hamm, a number exceeded only by Christie Rampone (311) and Kristine Lilly (352). Hamm, however, retired as the national team's all-time leading goalscorer with a total of 158.

Though Hamm did not add to her tally against Mexico, she provided assists for the first two goals, scored by Aly Wagner and Abby Wambach. They each completed a brace as the hosts went up 4-0 by the break before winning 5-0.

Their retirement, along with that of teammate Joy Fawcett, who was unable to play due to injury, ended a dominant period for US football in which the women's national team won two World Cups and two Olympic gold medals.

24 February 2004 - The US Women Go Boxxing

On 24 February 2004, the US women opened their Olympic qualification campaign by beating Trinidad and Tobago 7-0. They went on to win their second gold medal.

After winning the competition in 1996, they finished in a relatively disappointing second place in 2000, losing 3-2 to Norway in the final. That was followed by a third-place finish at the 2003 World Cup, creating questions whether the once-dominant US women would be able to regain their former standing in the sport they helped popularize.

Kicking off their Olympic campaign against Trinidad and Tobago in Costa Rica, the Yanks rolled to a comfortable 7-0 victory thanks in part to Shannon Boxx's first international hat-trick (22', 37', 81'), a brace from two-time FIFA World Player of the Year Mia Hamm (41', 44'), and goals from Kristine Lilly (25') and Abby Wambach (42').

They kept up the pace through qualification, going undefeated and outscoring their opponents 19-0, then sailed undefeated through the tournament itself.

7 January 2013 - Congratulations, Now About That Suit ...

On 7 January 2013, Lionel Messi won an unprecedented fourth consecutive Ballon d'Or.

The Barcelona forward first won the honor in 2009, before it merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year Award, then won the combined award, the FIFA Ballon d'Or, in 2010 and 2011. The three trophies matched the previous record, reached by only three other people—Johan Cruyff (1971, 1973, 1974), Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985), and Marco van Basten (1988, 1989, 1992).

Then, in 2012, Messi scored an incredible 91 goals for Barcelona and Argentina, beating the previous European record of 85 goals in a calendar year, set by Gerd Müller in 1972. Although he suffered a slight trophy drought that year, with Barcelona winning only the Copa del Rey after taking five pieces of silverware the previous year, including the La Liga and the Champions League titles, Messi's individual accomplishment saw him get 41.60% of the Ballon d'Or vote, almost doubling the tally of second-place finisher Cristiano Ronaldo (23.68%).

Other winners at the ceremony that day included the USA's Abby Wambach, the Women's World Player of the Year, and Vicente del Bosque (Spain) and Pia Sundhage (USA) as the men's and women's Coaches of the Year.

19 September 2012 - Sundhage's Sayonara

On 19 September 2012, Pia Sundhage closed out her time in charge of the US women's team with a 6-2 win over Australia.

The United States picked the former Swedish national team star in November 2007 to take over from embattled manager Greg Ryan. At the time, she was an assistant with China, her only international managerial role, but she had previous experience at the club level, including spells with Kolbotn, KIF Örebo, and the Boston Breakers.

In her five years at the helm, the United States won Olympic gold in 2008, were runners-up in the 2011 World Cup (losing to Japan on penalties), then repeated as Olympic champions in 2012. Shortly afterward, she announced that she was stepping down to return to Sweden.

Her last match was a friendly against Australia, part of the team's post-Olympic Fan Tribute Tour. A sold-out crowd of 18,598 gathered in Commerce City, Colorado and watched as the teams played to a 2-2 draw at the break. But the US got four second-half goals from Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, Shannon Boxx, and Sydney Leroux to claim the 6-2 victory.

The match left Sundhage with an overall US record of 91 wins, 10 draws, and only six losses. She currently manages the Swedish national team.

26 August 2004 - A Pattern Starts To Emerge

On 26 August 2004, the United States women won Olympic gold, beating Brazil in the final with an extra-time goal from Abby Wambach.

The two teams had met several times in major tournaments, including the 2000 Olympics, the 1991 World Cup and the 1999 World Cup, and their most recent meeting in the group stage of the 2004 Olympics. The US won every meeting, but this was the first time they had met in a final. The game took additional meaning as the last competitive appearance for US stars Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, and Joy Fawcett.

Playing at the Kiraiskaki Stadium in Piraeus, the US took the lead with a 39th-minute goal from winger Lindsay Tarpley—a 24-yard rocket that flew just inside the left post. They held on to it deep into the second half, but just seven minutes from the end of regulation, Brazilian forward Pretinha equalized and the match went into extra time.

Then, in the 112th minute, the US earned a corner. Kristine Lilly took the kick, which found Wambach ten yards out. The forward rose to the ball and sent it into the net with a powerful header to claim the 2-1 win.

6 August 2012 - Better Late Than Never

On 6 August 2012, the US women advanced to the gold medal match thanks to the latest goal ever scored in Olympic history.

The game was the second women's semifinal, with Japan already advancing with a 2-1 win over France. The US were up against neighbors and rivals Canada, who had just eliminated hosts Great Britain in the quarterfinals.

Playing at Old Trafford in Manchester, the two teams traded a pair of goals each from Canada's Christine Sinclair (22', 67') and the US's Megan Rapinoe (54', 70') to remain level deep into the second half. All four goals were impressive, but Rapinoe's were particularly so, as her first goal snuck in directly from a corner kick and her second was a long-range blast off the opposite post from the edge of the penalty area.

Sinclair then completed her hat-trick in the 73rd minute, which also made her the tournament's leading scorer, before US forward Abby Wambach converted an 80th-minute penalty to bring the sides level once again. They remained level into the second half of extra time. Then, in the third minute of stoppage time, US forward Alex Morgan scored with a header to secure the victory.

The US went into the final, where they beat Japan in a rematch of the 2011 World Cup Final. Canada did not go home empty-handed, though, beating France to claim the bronze.



[Photo credit: Jamie McDonald/FIFA/Getty Images]

19 July 2009 - Home Is Where The Hundredth Goal Is

On 19 July 2009, US forward Abby Wambach scored her 100th international goal in a friendly win over Canada. And she did it in record time.

Wambach first joined the national team in 2003 and scored the match-winner in the final of the 2004 Summer Olympics. Three years later, she scored six goals in the World Cup as the US finished third, but she missed the 2008 Summer Olympics with a broken leg.

She recovered in time for the friendly against Canada, held in Wambach's hometown of Rochester, New York. The match remained scoreless deep into the second half until Wambach found the net in the 78th minute (with an assist from Lauren Cheney, who had taken her spot in the squad for the 2008 Olympics).

With the goal, Wambach became the ninth woman in history to score 100 goals. She was the fourth American to do so, but reached the milestone in her 129th cap, faster than any other player in team history.

Since then, she has continued to add to that number, with a current tally of 160 that makes her the team's all-top top scorer.

2 June 1980 - The USA's Heiress Apparent

On 2 June 1980, forward Abby Wambach was born in Rochester, New York. She is poised to become the USWNT's all-time leading scorer, currently sitting three goals behind Mia Hamm.

After playing for the University of Florida from 1998 to 2001, she began her professional career in 2002 with the Washington Freedom, who selected her as the second overall pick in the WUSA draft (the Carolina Courage chose defender Danielle Slaton with the first pick). She rewarded their faith by scoring 10 goals and providing 9 assists in her first season and was named the league's Rookie of the Year.

Wambach won the Founders Cup with Washington the following year, but the league folded soon after. She returned to Washington with a new league, WPS, in 2009, and remained with them when they relocated to Florida and rebranded as MagicJack. During the WPS's final season in 2011, she served as the team's player-manager. She currently plays for the Western New York Flash in the new NWSL.

Since earning her first cap for the United States in 2003, she has gone on to make a total of 204 appearances and has won a gold medal at the 2004 and 2012 Olympics, missing the 2008 tournament due to injury. Her current total of 155 goals is the team's second-highest, behind Mia Hamm's 158 (though Hamm made a total of 275 appearances, giving Wambach a better goals-per-game average of 0.76 to Hamm's 0.57).

[Update: Wambach scored her 159th international goal on 20 June 2013 to become the all-time leading scorer for the US women.]

29 March 2009 - The Sun Rises On WPS

On 29 March 2009, the Los Angeles Sol hosted the first WPS match, beating the Washington Freedom 2-0. L.A. went on to finish as regular season champions.

The new league brought professional women's soccer back to the United States for the first time since the collapse of the Women's United Soccer Association in 2003. It started with seven teams, including Saint Louis Athletica, Sky Blue FC, Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, and FC Gold Pride in addition to L.A. and D.C.

For the league's first match, Washington traveled to the Home Depot Center in Carson, California to face Los Angeles. There, playing in front of a crowd of 14,832, Sol defender Allison Falk scored the league's first goal in the sixth minute from a header off a free kick. Freedom goalkeeper Brianna Scurry protested the goal, claiming she had been fouled, but the referee allowed it to stand.

Despite the presence of star forward Abby Wambach, DC failed to create much of a challenge. Their best chance came in the 64th minute, when Lori Lindsey hit the left post. L.A. then extended their lead with an 87th-minute strike from midfielder Camile Abily.

Los Angeles went on to top the table at the end of the season. That earned them a direct pass into the playoff final, where they lost to Sky Blue.

17 July 2011 - The World Cup Turns Japanese

On 17 July 2011, Japan won the Women's World Cup, beating the US on penalties, 2-2 (3-1).

It was the capstone of a remarkable run for Japan, whose history in the competition included one quarterfinal appearance (in 1995) to go with four group-stage exits. But they had put the rest of the world on notice by reaching the semi-finals in the 2008 Olympics before losing to the United States.

They finished second in their World Cup group to England to set up a stunning extra-time won over hosts Germany in the quarterfinals, then beat Sweden 3-1 in the semis to fix their date with two-time champions the United States.

Playing before a crowd of 48,817 at Frankfurt's Commerzbank-Arena, the two teams played to a scoreless stalemate in the first half due in large part to outstanding performances from the two keepers, Ayumi Kaihori and Hope Solo. At the break, US manager Pia Sundhage replaced support striker Lauren Cheney with forward Alex Morgan, who delivered a go-ahead strike in the 69th minute. But Japanese winger Aya Miyama equalized in the 81st minute to send the match into extra time.

There, the Americans again pulled ahead courtesy of a 104th-minute goal from forward Abby Wambach, but Japan again drew level, this time with an amazing strike from midfielder and captain Homare Sawa, who deflected a corner kick into the goal in the 117th minute using the outside of her foot.

In the shootout, Kaihori saved two of the Americans' first three attempts, with the other going over the bar. Solo made a save of her own, so the tally was 2-0 for Japan after three kicks each. Wambach converted the next shot for the US, but central defender Saki Kumagai then beat Solo to capture the trophy.

16 July 2008 - A Bad Break For Wambach

On 16 July 2008, the United States women beat Brazil in a pre-Olympics friendly, but lost Abby Wambach, their leading scorer, who suffered a broken leg.

Played before a sold-out crowd of 7,502 at San Diego's Torero Stadium, the match was the second contest between the two teams in four days and the last for both teams before they headed to China for the Olympics. The US had won the earlier match 1-0 and were hoping for a repeat performance.

Those hopes took a blow in the 31st minute when Wambach--the leading scorer for the US that year with 13 goals and 99 goals in her international career--collided with Brazilian defender Andreia Rosa and immediately waved for the medical staff. She was taken straight to the hospital where x-rays confirmed fractures in her tibia and fibula. Despite the loss of Wambach, the Americans continued to press Brazil and were rewarded with an 85th-minute goal from substitute Natasha Kai for the 1-0 win.

Brazil and the US met again in the gold medal match in Beijing where the US won again by the score of 1-0. Wambach missed the tournament, but returned to the US team in May 2009 and scored her 100th goal in July of that year. Her tally currently stands at 121 after scoring critical goals against Brazil and France in the knockout stages of the 2011 Women's World Cup.

8 December 2004 - The Curtains Close On Two Careers

On 8 December 2004, Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy ended their national team careers with a 5-0 victory over Mexico.

Played before a crowd of 15,549 in Carson, California, the match was the last of a 10-game "Fan Celebration Tour" scheduled in honor of the team's victory in the 2004 Women's World Cup. It was the 271st appearance for Foudy, who had captained the team since 1991 (she was a co-captain from 1991 to 2000), and the 275th appearance for Hamm, a number exceeded only by teammate Kristine Lilly (currently at 352 caps and counting). Hamm, however, retired as the national team's all-time leading goalscorer with a total of 158.

Though Hamm did not add to her tally against Mexico, she provided assists for the first two goals, scored by Aly Wagner and Abby Wambach. They each completed a brace as the hosts went up 4-0 by the break before winning 5-0.

Their retirement, along with that of teammate Joy Fawcett, who was unable to play due to injury, ended a dominant period for US football in which the women's national team won two World Cups and two Olympic gold medals.