Lots Of Soccer In Today's Media

Good stuff for soccer fans in today's newspapers.  First, a nice piece in the Inquirer about Carli Lloyd, written by Phil Anastasia.  Then there's Jere Longman's story on Canadian captain Christine Sinclair in the New York Times.  (Sinclair scored the winning goal for Canada against China in yesterday's opener.) 

Then there's the essay in the Times by soccer legend Michelle Akers, who happened to score the winning goal in the first Women's World Cup final, about the U.S. chances in this World Cup.  She won't come out and predict a title for the Americans, saying only that on paper they have a chance.  But she says the team is "soft in critical areas."  Akers writes, ". . . the defense isn’t tight enough in the penalty area, allowing too many opportunities for opponents to score; and even though some recent opponents haven’t capitalized, the good ones will. The team’s defending must also be better — and more punishing. I haven’t seen many crunching tackles or messages sent to opponents to not dare enter the United States’ half of the field.The midfield needs to better control the pace and variety in the attack, too, and to transition quicker into a more balanced defensive shape through the middle when it doesn’t have the ball."

The Times' Sam Borden reported from Berlin on Barcelona's 3-1 win over Juventus for its fifth Champions League championship. 

Well, all the press today wasn't all good.  A report by the Associated Press quoted an ESPN story that U.S. National team goalie Hope Solo was not the victim but the "primary aggressor" in a brawl at her half sister's house a year ago that led to two counts of domestic violence being lodged against her.  Solo pleaded not guilty ad the charges were later dismissed.

Meanwhile, in the World Cup, the Netherlands edged New Zealand, 1-0 in Edmonton yesterday, the identical score to Canada's defeat of China.  Today's matches in Ottawa weren't quite as close as Norway shut out Thailand, 4-0 and Germany had an easy time in a 10-0 rout of the Ivory Coast.

Tomorrow Cameroon plays Equador and Japan faces Switzerland in as Group C gets underway in Vancouver while in Winnipeg the United States opens against Australia and Sweden plays Nigeria in Group D>