United States wins the group of death

With barely any time before the halftime whistle was blown Abby Wambach finally put the ball in the back of the net and it gave the women’s team a 1-0 victory over Nigeria.

The women’s national soccer team slayed what was regarded as the Group of Death that featured three top 10 teams in the world and the best African team in Nigeria. They did not lose, going 2-0-1 and walking out with seven points after the group stage.

With the 1-0 victory over Nigeria, the Americans secured a game against a third-placed team out of either groups B, E or F to be played at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton on Monday, June 22.

What was very inspiring for the team, even though they only mustered a single goal, was how much better the offense looked with both Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach starting and playing the a lot of minutes together. With the referee ready to blow the halftime whistle, Wambach got a head on a volley inside the box and finally scorer her first goal of the World Cup.

And the pressure was on. USA controlled possession for nearly 60-percent of the game and rattled off 14 shots, seven of which were on target. Two more shots had to be blocked.

Morgan was subbed out in the 66th minute for Sydney Leroux, who started both of the team’s previous games, but looked tremendous in her early minutes. Bringing a fresh scoring threat like Leroux into the game that late also made the attack very dangerous at the end of the game.

Defensively, the Americans have been stellar through all three games and only allowed two shots on goal. Both were stopped by Hope Solo.

Thailand has secured third-place in Group B with a 1-2-0 record but just three goals four and a -7 goal differential makes it unlikely they will advance. Spain, South Korea and Costa Rica are all in play for third place in Group E. With Costa Rica set to play Brazil in their final game and Spain favored to pick up three points with a victory over South Korea, the USA CONCACAF rival may be the most likely opponent for them. England, France and Mexico could all possibly finish in third place in Group F, but based on upcoming games England is the most likely third-placed team in that group. They currently trail Costa Rica in goals four, however.

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Corey Johns

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You could say Corey was born to become a sports journalist. His father won a national championship coaching college soccer. His mother is a baseball fanatic who hasn't missed seeing an Orioles game since 1983 (literally, sometimes it's annoying). His great uncle was a big-time boxing promoter and his maternal grandfather was once a department head at the Baltimore Sun. Basically, sports and journalism run through his blood. He played just about every little league sports there was when he was a kid and was a multi-sport athlete in high school; even playing in the first-ever high school sanction Rugby game in the country. Eventually he retired from sports as an undefeated Maryland state Rugby champion as a high school senior. Perhaps lack of athletic talent has more to do with the retirement, but he will tell you that it more had to do with a great desire to jump right into media. Upon his graduation from University of Maryland, Baltimore County as a triple communications major, Corey started the So Much Sports network and has continued to grow his websites and continues to work to make them premier sports media outlets.

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