Happy Monday!
It’s another jam-packed week on 15 Minutes of Fame, as we hit our 50th episode!
This week: Will Sidney Crosby miss time this season? Will the SJ Sharks finally get that Stanley Cup this year and is Drew Doughty going to be a holdout for the Kings? Are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers the “real deal” in the CFL? Also: Is this the Year of the Work Stoppage in pro sports?
In this week’s GABBYs: The NY Yankees, the BBC and Sir Alex, BYU, IndyCar and North Korea’s women’s World Cup team!
Homare Sawa (Wikimedia Commons)
In a dramatic championship final, Japan defeated the United States 3-2 in penalty kicks to win the Women’s World Cup of Soccer.
In what is the biggest day in the history of Japanese soccer, Japan got key goals from Golden Boot winner Homare Sawa and Aya Miyama. Sawa also won the Golden Ball Award for the best player in the tournament.
The game had incredible similarities to the American 3-2 quarterfinal win over Brazil in terms of goal sequence and overall drama.
Miyama tied the score originally at one with nine minutes left in regulation time after the Americans had gone up 1-0 earlier in the second half on a brilliant shot by Alex Morgan.
Morgan had come in as a substitute for the injured Lauren Cheney who left the game with a knee injury. Morgan then displayed offensive excellence in overtime in finding Abby Wambach open for the header. Wambach put the Americans up 2-1.
It was a tough game for Wambach overall however, even though she scored an overtime goal. In the first half, she hit the crossbar and she missed another great opportunity to score in the extra thirty minutes.
Darren Clarke (Paddy Briggs, Wikimedia Commons)
When Darren Clarke’s wife Heather died of cancer in 2006, the entire golf community mourned. But in the last five years, Clarke’s life has turned around a little. Last year, he got engaged to Miss Northern Ireland Alison Campbell, and after round two of the British Open on Friday, Clarke and American Lucas Glover are tied for the lead at -4.
Clarke, who is 42 years of age, is trying to become the third golfer from Northern Ireland to win a major. Graeme McDowell won the 2010 United States Open and Rory McIlroy won the 2011 United States Open.
Glover, meanwhile, is no stranger to major success himself, as he won the 2009 United States Open at Bethpage Black in New York.
However, Clarke and Glover are just the co-leaders in southeast England and have a long ways to go. A remarkable 31 players are within four strokes of the lead. Martin Kaymer and Miguel Angel Jimenez are in a group at -3, Americans Tom Lehman, Davis Love III and Dustin Johnson are in a group at -2, Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson and English amateur Tom Lewis are in a group at -1, and Y.E. Yang, Zach Johnson, Steve Stricker, Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia are in a group at even.
TSN’s coverage begins at 4am Saturday morning. I’m waking up when Garcia is teeing off, at 5:25am Mountain Time.
Abby Wambach (Pat Gunn, Wikimedia Commons)
The United States will play Japan in Sunday’s Women’s World Cup Final from Frankfurt, Germany.
On Wednesday, the United States defeated France 3-1 and Japan defeated Sweden 3-1.
In Moenchengladbach, the Americans got goals from Lauren Cheney, Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan. Wambach scored her twelfth goal in Women’s World Cup history, tying her with American soccer great Michelle Akers for third all time. Birgit Prinz of Germany and Marta of Brazil each have fourteen.
Wambach’s goal was the game winner. It came in the 79th minute on a header from a corner kick by Cheney.
In Frankfurt, Nahomi Kawasumi scored twice as Japan knocked off Sweden 3-1. Japanese captain Homare Sawa scored the other Japanese goal. Sawa now has four goals in the tournament, and is tied with Marta for the goal scoring lead in the 2011 Women’s World Cup.
For Sawa, it was sweet redemption, as she gave the ball earlier in the game right to Swede Josefine Oqvist, who made no mistake in giving the Swedes an early 1-0 lead.
Carole Anne Chenard of Ottawa was the referee.
The Gold medal game takes place Sunday at 12:30pm on CBC.
Hope Solo (John Mena, Wikimedia Commons)
We watch sports to see the unexpected.
On Sunday morning the United States defeated Brazil 3-2 in the best women’s soccer game ever played.
Period.
Leading 1-0 on an own goal scored by Brazil in the opening two minutes, the Americans had the momentum at half time in their quarterfinal matchup in Germany at the Women’s World Cup. Then in the second half, American goaltender Hope Solo made a remarkable save on Cristiane during a penalty kick, but Australian referee Jacqui Melksham ordered that the penalty be retaken because an American had encroached the penalty area before the kick was taken. Marta made no mistake on her attempt and controversially tied the score 1-1.
Then in overtime, Marta scored her fourth of the tournament to put the Brazilians up 2-1. But the Americans tied it up during the extra time of extra time on a brilliant header by Abby Wambach. But remarkably, Wambach would not have had the opportunity to score if it wasn’t for the ridiculous dramatics by Erika who faked a dive in the extra time. It was Erika’s fake dramatics of an injury that never actually existed that gave the Americans an opportunity to tie the score at two.
Karina Maruyama (Scott Heavey, Getty Images)
For the first time in twelve years, Germany lost a game in the Women’s World Cup of Soccer.
Karina Maruyama of Japan scored in overtime as Japan shocked Germany 1-0. Maryuama scored in the eighteenth minute of extra time. The forward scored on an angle to send the Japanese to the semi-finals. One surprising statistic that would have shocked many soccer experts was the fact that Japan controlled ball possession, as they had the ball 54% of the time.
Once again, I felt the Germans showed unnecessary aggression at times, like they did against Canada. There was one instance where a German elbowed a Japanese player.
The loss of midfielder Kim Kulig was very significant for the Germans. Kulig hurt her knee early in the match and the Germans seemed to have difficulty adjusting without her in the lineup. Japan will play the winner of Australia/Sweden in Frankfurt on Wednesday.
Danica Patrick (Bing Images)
Some of the best race car drivers in the world come to Toronto this weekend for the Honda Indy.
American Danica Patrick headlines a solid field that also includes current IndyCar Series point leader Dario Franchitti of Scotland, Indianapolis 500 runner-up Ryan Hunter-Reay of the United States, defending champion Will Power of Australia, and Canadians James Hinchcliffe, Alex Tagliani and Paul Tracy.
Remarkably however Indianapolis 500 champion Dan Wheldon of England won’t be in Toronto competing, but might be as a commentator. It completely leaves me shaking my head that the winner of IndyCar’s biggest annual race hasn’t been able to find a team to ride for since May 29.
The Toronto Honda Indy will go Sunday at 12pm on TSN.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
NHL Free Agency
Happy Canada Day!
As always, the birthday of our great nation also signifies the start of free agency in the NHL! Thanks to smartphones and free/stolen wireless internet, it’s now easier than ever to be social and remain glued to your favorite sports sites…but who is going where this year?
The biggest fish in this year’s free agent market is definitely Brad Richards, who is coming off a 77-point season with the Dallas Stars. Richards is a talented playmaking centre who is going to score big money for sure on the open market. There are plenty of teams lining up to make a pitch for the 31 year old, including the Leafs, Rangers and Kings, but it will be interesting to see who is able to land him in the end.
Tomas Vokoun is easily the best available goalie out there this summer, after a 22-win, six-shutout season in Florida. Will he stay with the Panthers? They certainly have the cap space to make a deal, and they need to add over $20-million in salary to reach the cap floor! Adding Brian Campbell could be the first of many big moves this summer for Florida.
As for defencemen, there are a lot of veterans available at the moment, including the likes of Ed Jovanovski and Bryan McCabe. There are some intriguing restricted free agents on defence that could come into play, like Shea Weber and Drew Doughty, but I can’t see Nashville and LA letting these guys get away.
I can’t wait to see how things shake down! (After the jump: Pro tennis player messes with ball boy, Hilarious ESPN “World Cup Fever” commercial and more!) (more…)
We’re into the fourth day of action at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany, and if you haven’t been paying attention, you’re missing out!
While there haven’t really been any upsets so far, the first three days of the tournament have provided us with some magical moments on the field and a few controversies off of it. From Christine Sinclair’s wonderful strike for Canada on Sunday, to some strange roster issues in Equatorial Guinea, it’s safe to say that it has been a very interesting few days on the WWC front.
Let’s start with the controversy – “sisters” Salimata and Bilguisa Simpore were dropped from the Guinea roster before the tournament started because they were accused of actually being brothers. ESPN reports the two were “key” players on the team at the 2010 African Women’s Championship in South Africa, but these allegations just wouldn’t go away. One of the two was also rumored to have featured for other national teams in the past, which of course isn’t allowed.
As if that wasn’t enough, Equatorial Guinea lost another player on the eve of their opening game due to eligibility issues. Striker Jade Boho was suspended on Tuesday because she apparently played for Spain within the last five years! Do the national footy associations not check for this sort of stuff? (After the jump: More controversy, plus three SICK goals from the first three days of the tournament!) (more…)
Kerstin Garefrekes (Heinrich Boll-Stiftung, Wikimedia Commons)
Team Canada may not have got off to the start they hoped today at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, but the end result wasn’t all that bad.
The Canadians had some very positive signs with the tournament moving forward in a 2-1 loss to host Germany.
Team Canada actually won ball possession, controlling the ball 51% of the time.
Team Canada was also significantly more disciplined in this very physical affair. The Germans had 13 fouls to Canada’s seven, had no yellow cards compared to two for Germany and were only offside once compared to thrice for the Germans.
That said, the Germans had the majority of the best scoring chances. They dominated the shot count , 21-6 and 9-1 in shots on goal.
Canada’s Christine Sinclair scored Canada’s only goal in the 82nd minute. It was a perfect shot in the upper corner of the net on a free kick.
The Germans got their goals from Kerstin Garefrekes and Ceila Okoyino Da Mbabi. Don’t be surprised if you see Karina LeBlanc get the majority of starts in goal for Canada going forward. I felt Erin McLeod played ok, but not strong enough to get the start against France on Thursday.
Christine Sinclair (Wikimedia Commons)
Women’s sports dominates my television viewing in golf, tennis and soccer.
The Women’s World Cup of Soccer starts Sunday from Germany, as Canada’s Christine Sinclair leads a very strong Canadian team that is currently ranked sixth in the world.
And they have luck on their side. German octopus Paula has actually picked the Canadian team to defeat host Germany on Sunday (CBC, 10:00am Mountain Time). The game is to be played at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Canada’s other round robin games in Pool A are against France on Thursday and Nigeria next Tuesday.
Sinclair is obviously the face of the team. In 159 games, she has 116 goals.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
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