Kai Leads U.S. Past Brazil; Lose Wamnbach to Injury

SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Natasha Kai scored in the 85th minute to lead the United States women's soccer team to a 1-0 triumph over Brazil on Wednesday in its final friendly before heading to Beijing to compete in the 2008 Olympic Games.

The Americans, who will face Norway on August 6 in its opening match of the Olympics, have recorded shutouts in each of their last seven matches and improved to 21-0-1 in 2008. In addition, the United States has yet to surrender a goal to Brazil since allowing four at the FIFA Women's World Cup semifinals in September 2007.

After Amy Rodriguez's lone tally in the 71st minute lifted the Americans to a 1-0 triumph over Brazil on Sunday, the teams once again played a spirited contest only to see a late goal decide the outcome. Off a set piece, Carly Lloyd fired the ball into the penalty area just in front of goalkeeper Andrea to Kai, who headed the ball past the Brazilian for the lone goal of the match.

Abby Wambach, who has 99 international goals in 127 appearances, injured her leg in a collision with Andreia Rosa in the 39th minute. She exited the contest on a stretcher and was replaced by Angela Hucles.

USWNT Claims Queen Cup

USA 1, CANADA 0

SUWON, South Korea (Ticker) -- Angela Hucles scored in second-half stoppage time as the United States won the Peace Queen Cup on Saturday with a dramatic 1-0 victory over Canada. With the contest seemingly headed to overtime, Hucles provided the decisive goal by blasting a free-kick past Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod in the 92nd minute.

"It was a battle, but you want to finish in the final, finish with a goal and finish first and we did that," U.S. coach Pia Sundhage said. "It was great for us to come up with a win that way. The energy we got from this game, we will bring to Beijing." It marked the second time this year that Hucles scored a stoppage-time winner. She also registered such a goal against Australia on May 3, giving the United States a 5-4 victory. Saturday's win gave the U.S. its fourth tournament title of the year after previously defeating China in January to win the Four Nations Tournament, beating Denmark for the Algarve Cup in March and downing Canada on penalty kicks in the final of the CONCACAF Women's Olympic qualifying in April. With four friendly matches remaining before the Beijing Olympics in August, the U.S. has posted a 17-0-1 record this year.

In the fourth meeting between the sides in 2008, Canada used a compact 4-5-1 formation to frustrate the Americans. However, the U.S. nearly broke on top in the 17th minute when Natasha Kai blew past a defender and put a shot off the right post. Canada had to wait for its first quality scoring chance until the 66th minute when Brittany Timko sent a free-kick just high over the goal. U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo also made two huge saves later in the second half, diving to her left to stop a header from Randee Hermus off a corner kick in the 84th minute. She also pushed a drive from Canadian captain Christie Sinclair over the top of the goal in the waning minutes. Heather Mitts also nearly won it for the U.S. in the 88th minute, sending a shot from the top of the penalty area off the crossbar.

USWNT Wins Qualifying Tournament

CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO (US Soccer) – The U.S. Women’s National Team got a dramatic overtime free-kick goal from Carli Lloyd before Canada tied the game three minutes from the end, sending the match into a penalty kick shootout where the Americans prevailed 6-5 to win the 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying tournament.

Both teams had already secured their berths to the 2008 Beijing Olympics with semifinal victories, but the U.S. triumph moved its record in CONCACAF competitions to 27-0-1 and marked the eighth overall confederation title for the USA. It also marked the third straight tournament championship under head coach Pia Sundhage after winning the Four Nations in China in January and the Algarve Cup in March.

USA Qualifies For Olympics

USA 3, COSTA RICA 0-----------------------

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Ticker) -- Natasha Kai scored twice and set up a third goal as the United States women's soccer team tallied three times in the second half to defeat Costa Rica, 3-0, on Wednesday in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament.

The Americans, who earned an automatic berth in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing with the victory, will play Canada in the championship game on Saturday. Melissa Tancredi scored the game's lone goal as the Canadians earned their first Olympic berth in women's soccer by blanking Mexico, 1-0, on Wednesday.

After a scoreless first half, Kai broke through in the 57th minute to put the Americans on the scoreboard. "Of course it was a great feeling when you score goals, especially the first one, because then we knew Costa Rica had to attack," United States coach Pia Sundhage said. "But I have to say, we have to be smarter, and I think we were smarter in the second half. "They were so tight centrally, so we needed to go wide. We needed to use the flanks better and that's why we changed the system a little bit. We had Heather O'Reilly and Tobin Heath on each side, and I think that changed the game."

O'Reilly doubled the Americans' advantage in the 72nd minute after Costa Rica goalkeeper Priscilla Tapia had trouble controlling the ball. O'Reilly tapped the loose ball into the net for her 19th international goal. Kai added her second tally of the game - and fourth of the tournament - in the 89th minute to seal the victory.

U.S. Women Near Olympic Qualification

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (US Soccer) – The U.S. Women’s National Team got two goals from Natasha Kai and one from Abby Wambach in a rousing 3-1 victory over Mexico in front of a sold-out crowd of 22,280 at the Estadio Olimpico Benito Juarez.

The victory gave the USA first place in Group A at the 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament and a semifinal match against Group B runner-up Costa Rica on April 9 for a berth in the 2008 Olympics.

Canada, which defeated Costa Rica, 1-0, earlier today in the final match of Group B will face Mexico in the other semifinal.

U.S. WNT Blanks China in Algarve Cup

ALBUFEIRA, Portugal (US Soccer) – The U.S. Women’s National Team got goals from four different players in a suffocating 4-0 victory against China to open the 2008 Algarve Cup.

The match marked the third time the USA has scored four times against China in 39 meetings between the two countries, but it was the first time it had beaten the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2008 Olympics hosts by four goals.

It didn’t take long for the USA to get rolling. Just five minutes into the match Carli Lloyd ran onto a touch from Abby Wambach and took a few forward dribbles before looping a perfect pass with the outside of her right foot to Lindsay Tarpley inside the penalty area. The U.S. midfielder brought the ball down perfectly with her right foot then snapped a left-footed shot into the lower right corner from 10 yards out. It was Tarpley’s team-leading fifth goal of 2008, surpassing her total of four last year. Her high for a year is eight, scored in 2004, and she now has 22 total goals in her WNT career.

U.S. WNT Faces Mexico & Jamaica in Qualifying

CHICAGO (US Soccer) - The U.S. has been drawn into Group A along with Jamaica and Mexico for 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying from April 2-12 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The U.S. will open the tournament on April 4 vs. Jamaica before facing Mexico on April 6. Both games will be played in the Estadio Olímpico Benito Juarez, which will host all 10 games during the qualifying tournament.

The top two teams from Group A will advance to the semifinals, where they will cross over to face the top two teams from Group B, which includes Canada, Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago. The winners of the April 9 semifinals will qualify for the 2008 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in Beijing. The U.S. will look to qualify for a fourth consecutive Olympic Games and finish in first place at CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying for the second consecutive time.

In 2004, the U.S. won the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Costa Rica, and went on to win gold at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The U.S. qualified for the 1996 Atlanta Games as host, and for the 2000 Sydney Games as a top-seven finisher at the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

U.S. WNT 2008 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Schedule
Date Opponent
April 4 - Jamaica
April 6 - Mexico
April 9 - Semifinals
April 12 - Third Place / Championship