A fan in US colors smiles prior to the semifinal match between France and the United States at the Womens Soccer World Cup in Moenchengladbach, Germany, Wednesday, July 13, 2011.
U.S. forward Abby Wambach, left, redirects a corner kick off her head to score in the 79th minute of the U.S. team's 3-1 semifinal victory over France in the Women's World Cup on Wednesday.
The United States' Abby Wambach (No. 20) celebrates with teammates after scoring their side's second goal during the semifinal match against France at the Women's Soccer World Cup.
United States goalkeeper Hope Solo gestures after US won 3-1 the semifinal match between France and the United States
France's Louisa Necib, right, and France's Elise Bussaglia walk on the pitch after their team lost 1-3 the semifinal match between France and the United States at the Women’s Soccer World Cup in Moenchengladbach, Germany, Wednesday, July 13, 2011.
Wambach Lifts US to 3-1 Win Over France [VIDEO]
U.S. women one win from history [VIDEO]
Abby Wambach uses her head again in 3-1 U.S. victory
Is there no stopping the woman?
For the third game in a row, for the third time in eight days, Abby Wambach climbed into the German evening sky, a towering presence among lesser soccer mortals, and thumped in a goal.
Wambach plays through pain to save USA
Through every training session, every match and even during periods of downtime, United States star Abby Wambach has dealt with discomfort that ranges from mild to extreme and everything in between due to an ever-present Achilles injury that has refused to heal.
Yet just like in last Sunday’s incredible World Cup quarterfinal victory over Brazil, the 31-year-old striker was right where the USA needed her most in a nerve-racking semifinal against France on Wednesday at Borussia Park.
Cheney and Rapinoe may be key to U.S. title hopes against Japan
If you spend enough time listening to people around the world describe a U.S. soccer style, these are the words you hear: athletic, physical, strong, well-conditioned. Rarely does the term creative enter the conversation.
There's nothing wrong with physical superiority, as we learned once again on Wednesday when Abby Wambach's aerial mastery gave the U.S. the game-winning goal in its 3-1 World Cup semifinal win over France. But if the Americans are going to beat a highly-skilled Japan in Sunday's final, the biggest game of their lives, they're going to need another standout performance from their two most creative players: midfielders Megan Rapinoe and Lauren Cheney.
Women back in World Cup final as Rapinoe comes to the rescue, again
If the last two games of the World Cup have taught us anything, it is that the United States women’s national soccer team doesn’t really get down to business until Megan Rapinoe comes onto the field.
Her Hail Mary cross to save the US in the final minute of extra time against Brazil Sunday has already provided the tournament with perhaps its most indelible moment. Wednesday, in the semifinal game in Mönchengladbach, Germany, she went about the rather more mundane matter of destroying France.
Dad proud of his World Cup daughter, Ali Krieger
"I think proud is an understatement," he says.
US women brighten sports' dark summer
In a summer that has left American sports fans begging for any reason to get passionate and excited, one dampened with pro sports lockouts, the US women's soccer team has picked the perfect time to pick up a sports-loving nation that badly needed an inspiration.
They did it again Wednesday with an emphatic 3-1 victory over France in the Women's World Cup semifinals, showing their continued ability to rise to the occasion, to deliver in the face of adversity and pressure.
Taking on a highly skilled France squad that looked every bit like a team capable of pulling off the upset, the US women brushed off the French challenge like a team that has forgotten how to be afraid, like a team fully confident it will lift its first World Cup in a dozen years.
U.S. women’s soccer team takes joy in forging its own identity
Pardon any typos; they’re the result of sprains from doing an Abby Wambach slide across the living room floor after watching the U.S. women’s soccer team make the World Cup final. The American women have at last forged their own identity, those gorgeous toughies, with their bulging shoulders and their sweat-plastered hair and their habit of storming and screaming their way out of trouble.
Bulletin to the spray-on tan crowd: Beat it. The big girls are here.
Is there any question there will be scores of Wambach imitators on the fields of America tomorrow, tall girls running like antelopes and butting soccer balls with their heads, and falling to their knees in exultation?
DSK, sickness and meat on menu for France coach
Ahead of the biggest game of French women's footballing history it wasn't semi-final rivals the United States which were worrying France coach Bruno Bini.
During a surrealist pre-match press conference ahead of their Women's World Cup semi-final, talk wasn't on tactics and line-ups but on the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair, cooked meats and the health of the France coach.
Japan, USA set for World Cup final showdown
FRANKFURT, Germany — Japan and the United States set up a clash for the biggest prize in women's football after seeing off European hopefuls Sweden and France by identical 3-1 scorelines in Wednesday's semi-finals at the World Cup.
Asian giants Japan emphatically beat Sweden in Frankfurt while earlier the United States used their vast experience to get past France in Moenchengladbach.