US WNT claims Algarve Cup (again), beats Denmark 2-1

VILA REAL DE SAN ANTONIO, Portugal – The US Women’s National Team captured their second consecutive Algarve Cup title when defeated Denmark 2-1 today at Municipal Stadium.

The clubs approached the 50th minute on level terms until Abby Wambach and Natasha Kai collaborated on a nice one-two pass that Wambach chipped in for the go-ahead goal. Hope Solo kept the US net unoccupied for the remainder of the match en route to their fourth consecutive victory in the tournament.

Kai kicked off the scoring the 14th minute when she took a cross from Carli Lloyd, and powered it past the Denmark keeper.

But Denmark answered back nearly fifteen minutes later when Catherine Sorenson headed the equalizer past Solo, thus knotting the clubs an one apiece. The goal was the first scored upon the Americans during the entire tournament after Solo and Nicole Barnhart kept the sheet clean in Portugal for 301 consecutive minutes.

Any hopes that Denmark could knock the defending champions off their throne were for ultimate squashed when Wambach’s 50th minute shot on goal crossed the goal line and rested in the left corner of the net.

With the their successful defense of the Algarve Cup, the US Women have now claimed five of the last six Algarve Cup championships (2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008).

The post-flu submission

Yes, I was enraptured by the monsterous flu bug that’s been terrorizing cubicled wokplaces across the country. Or so I’m told. Anyway, I got it, it sucked, I passed out, I went to the ER, I waited, I waited some more, and 48 hours later, boom! Here’s today’s post.

*It’s been much too long since I last gave the US Women’s National Team some love. So right off the bat, I’m happy to mention that they thrashed China like a Vincent Gallo movie, 4-0 in the opening match of this year’s Algarve Tournament. Linsday Tarpley chipped in the first goal after only five minutes, and Tobin Heath scored her very first WNT goal only two minutes into the second half. From there, the usual cast of characters – Abby Wambach (64′) and last year’s tournament MVP Carli Lloyd (69′) scored the final two goals en route to the win.

*The MLS Waiver Draft commenced this afternoon at 3 o’clock. One can ascertain that because there are no announcements on the Revs website, they declined to claim anyone. Now, if you’re at all familiar with the club, this is pretty much par for the course. But looking at the list of names available, would it have hurt to taken a look at Ricardo Virtuoso? I mean, I can’t be the only one with a man crush on the Brazilian formerly of Columbus? Yeah, so he’s only tallied a goal in 18 matches before Columbus gave up on him. He’s still only 24. He was a Brazilian U-17 midfielder, and oh, btw, he plays on the left. Oh wait a minute, I forgot. We have Khano Smith. My bad. How could I forget?

*Lastly, my flu medication is starting to wear off, and I’m becoming irritable, so I’ll make this short. If you’re like me, you still wonder what happened to former New England Tea Men midfielder King Keita. Well, here’s his son.

Damn…