July 18th update

Defensive Lapses Lead to World Cup Disaster

• The U.S. Women’s Soccer team could not continue their fairytale run in the 2011 World Cup finals, falling to Japan in penalty kicks. Japan never lead the game, countering two US goals, the second one with only 3 minutes left in extra time.
• The U.S. team looked completely dominant throughout the game, with multiple scoring chances just barely missing. 22 year-old Alex Morgan (who should be the face of the national team for more than one reason) scored the first goal in the game in the 69th minute on a breakaway, but Aya Miyama countered for the Japanese side in the 80th minute after a poor defensive effort by the U.S. side. This pushed the game to extra time where U.S. Star Abby Wambach scored 14 minutes in on a headed ball (50 of her 122 career international goals have been via header, maybe she needs a helmet). But as the U.S. team sat back, seemingly waiting for the clock to expire, Homare Sawa tied the game in the 117th minute.
• Going to penalty kicks, it almost seemed like the American women were throttled by their late collapse, an eerie parallel to the goal they scored against Brazil in the quarterfinals. The first three U.S. kickers could not find the back of the net, while one of them missed the goal completely. Goaltender Hope Solo made one stop, but could not make up for her teammates' inaccuracies. The Japanese made 3 of their first 4 penalty kicks, and did not need to even take the 5th as the US could not make up the difference.


Irishman not named McIlroy wins Open Championship

• Darren Clarke won this weekend’s British Open after finishing Sunday’s final round 5 shots under par, beating a second place duo of Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson who were 3 shots behind.
• Driving rain and wind (or as the British call it “a lovely summers day”) caused many play disruptions. But while most Americans were busy watching spectacled wizards defeat the one who shall not be named, Clarke defeated a hard charging American duo of Johnson and Mickelson who started the day hot and eventually cooled down and dropped their challenge.
• After waiting 63 years from 1947 – 2010 to win a major championship, Northern Ireland has won three of the past six majors.