Women’s World Cup 2011: U.S. Advances To First Final Since ‘99 With 3-1 Win Over France

Christie Rampone and Lauren Cheney both play for the U.S. women’s soccer team that will attempt to win the country’s third World Cup on Sunday. They’re both linked not only by their participation on this team but in the way they appreciated the one that set the gold standard for women’s soccer in this country. The 1999 World Cup champions.

36-year-old Rampone, who was known as Christie Pearce back in 1999, was a member of that magical squad.

Monte Poole of the Bay Area News Group writes that the USA’s run through the 2011 Women’s World Cup has awakened the United States’ interest in soccer, a sport to which it often seems ambivalent. Poole compares the team to the USA’s last World Cup winner, the 1999 team:

After beating good Brazilian and French teams, the U.S. will face Japan in the finals on Sunday at 2:45 PM Eastern. The U.S. has beaten Japan repeatedly this year, but Japan just beat Sweden, which had defeated the U.S. earlier in the World Cup.

United States goalkeeper Hope Solo is arguably the best goalkeeper in the world. She’s also about as tough as they come, as she’s playing in the Women’s World Cup not long after shoulder surgery. She’s taken pain injections in her shoulder and played through them already, so it would likely take breaking or tearing something for Solo to miss a game. However, she might be a bit hampered tonight against France.

ESPN’s Bob Holtzman has reported during the pre-game show that Solo tweaked her hamstring during warmups. She was worked on by trainers and continued her warm-up, but was reportedly showing signs of being in pain while going through her pre-game routine. Solo will still start the match, much to the surprise of absolutely no one, but her hamstring will be something to keep an eye on as the match progresses. France could test her with some dangerous through balls and long shots early on.

Do you like high level international association football, known in some countries as soccer? Well then, you’re in luck. Wednesday, which in the time and dimension I’m living in constitutes “today,” there are a couple of very big matches in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Sweden and Japan play later, but the first game of the day involves the United States women taking on France. The USA got to the semifinals of the competition by downing Brazil in dramatic fashion, while France’s win over England wasn’t exactly lacking in drama either. Here’s all of the vital info on the game, including where you can watch live online, even legally and for free! The internet is awesome.

Time: 12:00 P.M. ET, 6:00 P.M. local

To be entirely fair, most of the interview carried far less potential bulletin board material. Mostly, she talked about what a difference this World Cup has been from the last one, where she wasn’t exactly enjoying herself even before being kicked off the team.

Read the whole interview at Sports Radio Interviews.