Swedish Women Top France For Third Place In WWC

At Sinsheim, Germany:

Marie Hammarstrom scored the winning goal at 82 minutes on Saturday as Sweden defeated France 2-1 in the third-place game at the FIFA Women's World Cup.

FIFA Women's World Cup: It's Team USA Vs. Japan For All The Marbles

The semifinal round of the FIFA Women's World Cup took place on Wednesday in Germany with two games.


At Monchengladbach:


Lauren Cheney (9'), Abby Wombach (79'), and Alex Morgan (82') provided the scoring punch as the United States defeated France 3-1 to reach their first Women's World Cup final since 1999.


At Frankfurt:


Nahomi Kawasumi scored twice (19', 64') as Japan knocked off Sweden 3-1 to make it to their first WWC final.


The United States will face Japan in Sunday's championship match at Frankfurt.  The Americans will be going for their third WWC crown.

FIFA Women's World Cup: Sweden Top Australia To Advance; Late OT Goal And PK Shootout Win Put Team USA In Semis

Sunday saw two games that wrapped up the quarterfinal round of the FIFA Women's World Cup, taking place in Germany.


At Augsburg:


Therese Sjogran (11'), Lisa Dahlkvist (16'), and Lotta Schelin (52') each scored once as Sweden defeated Australia 3-1.


At Dresden:


After a 1-1 deadlock through regulation time, Brazil took an early overtime lead thanks to Marta's second goal of the match at 92 minutes (she had earlier converted a penalty kick at 68 minutes to tie the game).  However, after Abby Wambach's late header (120'+2), the United States  (who were down to 10 women), with Shannon Boxx, Carli Lloyd, Abby Wambach, Megan Rapinoe, and Ali Krieger all making their spot kicks, won the penalty-kick shootout 5-3 to advance to the semifinal round.


Wednesday match-ups for the semifinal round:


At Monchengladbach:


Team USA vs. France 


At Frankfurt:


Japan vs. Sweden


The two winners would play each other next Sunday in Frankfurt for the Women's World Cup title.

FIFA Women's World Cup: France Wins PK Shootout To Advance; Germany Dethroned

Two games were played in Germany on Saturday as the quarterfinal round of the FIFA Women's World Cup got under way.


At Leverkusen:


After Elise Bussaglia's equalizer at 87 minutes tied up their game with England 1-1 and forced 30 scoreless overtime minutes, Elise, along with Gaetane Thiney, Sonia Bompastor, and Eugenie Le Sommer, all made their penalty kicks as France won the shootout 4-3 to eliminate England and reach the semifinal round for the first time.


At Wolfsburg:


Karina Maruyama scored the only goal of the match during overtime (108') as Japan stunned two-time defending champs Germany 1-0 and advanced to their first FIFA WWC semifinal appearance.

FIFA Women's World Cup: Swedes Knock Off Team USA To Win Group C

At Wolfsburg, Germany:


Lisa Dahlkvist (PK-16') and Nilla Fischer (35') provided the scoring as Sweden defeated the United States 2-1 on Wednesday in the final Group C contest for both teams at the FIFA Women's World Cup.  The Swedes, who won the group as a result, will take on Australia in one quarterfinal-round contest this Sunday at Augsburg while the Americans will face Brazil in Dresden, also on Sunday.

Women's World Cup: Team USA Advances To Quarterfinals

At Sinsheim, Germany:

Heather O'Reilly (12'), Megan Rapinoe (50'), and Carli Lloyd (57') provided the scoring punch as the United States advanced to the quarterfinal round of the FIFA Women's World Cup following their 3-0 Group C Saturday victory over Colombia, eliminating the opponents from the tournament.

Women's World Cup: Strong Start For Team USA

At Dresden, Germany:


Lauren Cheney (54') and Rachel Buehler (76') each scored once in the second half as the United States blanked North Korea 2-0 in their opening Group C contest at the FIFA Women's World Cup on Tuesday.