So, anyone else interested? I’ve already promised my daughter to take her to one or more of the Columbus games. She has no idea what it is, but she’s very excited. If you’re in one of the host cities, and you have any interest at all in sports, then I suggest you check it out.
For more details: [ur=“http://www.ussoccer.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=37310”]CLICK HERE
More Details - link fixed
Thanks grim. (What’s sad is that I actually previewed, but somehow missed the glaring coding error. I need a vacation)
I’m interested but living in Ireland I doubt I’ll get to see much of it 
I think that the US women are playing against the Irish women in Denver or some such place tonight. I’d send you a tape if I could get PAL format for you, ruadh.
Thanks, but I don’t even have a videoplayer :o
I’d expect it to be a walkover for the US - the women’s game here is undeveloped to the point of irrelevance.
It’s going to be in Salt Lake City. It’ll be broadcast on ESPN2 starting at 7pm Mountain Time (9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific) if anyone’s interested.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up around 7-0. The US is going to be starting its “A-list” players.
Would you post the result (and a brief review)? I’m interested, but I ain’t staying up til 4 a.m. for it 
I’m sure we’ll get the highlights here on Dutch TV. Yeah, I’ll watch it.
Well, Heather O’Reilly (seriously) scored for USA at 1:16 into the game to put the USA in front. It’s apparently her first start, headed the ball past an outrushing Ireland keeper and paid the price. (I snuck up during the injury stoppage to post)
Julie Foudy makes it 2-0 at 11:15. Tiffany Milbrett (sp?) was subbed in for O’Rielly after her collision with Irish keeper Emma Byrne. This last goal was not pretty, just a bit of a clusterf*ck on the Irish backline caused by US pressure. Foudy tucked it in as the Byrne laid sprawled on her own line.
As an aside, it seems the Irish women’s team wear the exact same unis as the men’s team (which is different than the USA; the women wear unis that are more designed for women.)
Also, this is not the best USA side, at least three of their “star” players are sitting out and another tore her ACL just after their match with England.
And Abby Wambach adds the third for the USA at about 20:55, after the Americans worked the ball up nicely on the wing. It’s clear that the USA is far superior to the Irish in this match (at this rate it will end about 8-0).
Still awaiting x-ray results on O’Reilly’s ankle.
Wambach adds another in the 42nd minute after having a previous one disallowed for offsides in the 35th.
So did it end 4-0?
No, 5-0. Here’s the Salt Lake Tribune’s report.
Attendance was
Yeah, sorry, I stopped coming upstairs after the half. The score could have pretty easily gone much higher, but the USA subbed five of their players at the half. From that on they mainly lacked cohesion in the front, although they still were far and away the more dominant side. There were no Irish shots on goal (or even a corner kick) and the USA ended up with well over 20 shots on goal. Mia Hamm did provide a bit of a spark (and the fifth goal), but the second tier US midfield is not nearly as precise at creating scoring opportunities for their strikers.
Thanks guys. Ireland sure has a long way to go
One observation which you might interesting, ruadh. As far as individual skills, there really didn’t seem to be a huge difference (some differences, yes, but this wasn’t the big difference). But the USA were clearly more comfortable playing together as a team, and had a clear idea of how to create opportunities and take advantage of them. Ireland seemed to lack a plan of attack. This is something that could be remedy with a sustained effort. For the bad news, they also seemed to be far outclassed in speed, and this is not so easy to correct.
Woohoo! Looks like we should get to see the homeside play in Columbus!