Sky Blue was in the news a lot this week with the Allocations and the USWNT game. Here are some links to read up about Sky Blue's week so far.

9/18: U.S. women win without much fanfare - Star-Ledger
9/18: U.S. national team treats Morris residents to women's soccer win - Daily Record
9/18: Busy Day of Role Modeling for O'Reilly - USWNT Blog
9/18: Big job ahead for women's soccer league - Jersey Journal
9/18: Women's Professional Soccer latest to roll in NYC - am New York
9/17: Meet the "New" Jersey Girl: Hawaiian-born Kai wins over local fans - Big Apple Soccer
9/17: Sky Blue FC's roster will hold 3 gold-medal winners - Daily Record
9/17: New women's soccer league - Varsity Aces
9/16: W-Leaguers among WPS allocations - USL
9/16: New League for Women Seeks Longevity - New York Times
9/16: Top Soccer players coming to NY-NJ - The Record
9/16: Women, Gold, Blue - Allocating WPS-NJ - Pink Standard
9/16: Natasha Kai allocated to Sky Blue pro soccer team - Honolulu Advertiser
9/16: U.S. women's team to play Ireland at Giants Stadium Wednesday - Star-Ledger
9/16: Women's Professional Soccer U.S. national team allocation results - Examiner
9/16: The Original Three: Rampone, O'Reilly, Kai join to Sky Blue - Big Apple Soccer
9/16: Rampone allocated to Sky Blue FC - Asbury Park Press
9/15: East Brunswick's O'Reilly, Point Pleasant's Rampone to play for Sky Blue FC in WPS - Star-Ledger

Here's a great shot of Natasha Kai celebrating her game-winning goal against Ireland last night at Giants Stadium with her Sky Blue scarf (photo: Robyn McNeil)

Heather O'Reilly against Ireland (photo: Howard C. Smith/isiphotos.com)

Christie Rampone avoids the tackle of Ireland's Michele O'Brien, who played for Sky Blue's W-League team this past summer (photo: Howard C. Smith/isiphotos.com)

US Soccer President Sunil Gulati honors Christie Rampone for earning her 200th career cap (photo: Howard C. Smith/isiphotos.com)

Natasha Kai talks to reporters after the game with her Sky Blue scarf (photo: Howard C. Smith/isiphotos.com)

It is great to know that we will have some gold medalists on our Sky Blue pro team. We would have been happy without the gold medal, but obviously, it is much nicer with it! Overall, I think the tournament showed that women's soccer is not dominated by one nation. You can't single out one person; there are so many great players.

I still feel emotionally connected to Formiga, who played for Sky Blue. I think no one plays like her. She plays like a man, and I mean that in a positive way! She played soccer tennis with my kids in the backyard; how can I not feel connected to her? I sincerely hope we will see her in WPS.

While I am happy the US won the gold, I am also happy that Germany won a medal, because they deserved it. They could have equally made it to the final. The US had the easier draw, and Germany had to play Brazil twice.

The fact that I am German makes me root for two teams. My kids are very connected as well; one even cheers more for Germany than the US. I would have been very torn if the two teams played each other. For the WPS, I wanted a USA victory, but as a German, I would hope they would win.

I believe that Pia and her staff put together an exceptional tactical game plan for this Olympic final. Even though the Brazilian's had the majority of the possession, the US did a very good job of taking away the space where the Brazilians would be dangerous.

The US was very patient and smart when to send numbers forward into the attack. They always seemed to have at least four players behind the ball, making it difficult for the Brazilians to go 1 v 1.

I personally think that today's match was one of the more exciting finals that I've seen in a long while. This victory will not only make a stronger case for the quality of the WPS, but with the prospect of five internationals per team, I hope it will bring to all levels-from top to the youth ranks - some of what we in the US lack in certain aspects of the game.

Congratulations goes out to the United States Women's National Team for winning the Gold Medal game. The US did what no one really thought would be possible - shut down the Brazil attack. Even the most optimistic US fans had to think that Brazil would score at least once especially after taking apart Germany in the semifinals but that wasn't the case as excellent team defense and a great game from Hope Solo kept Brazil scoreless.

Speaking of Solo, I'm sure that she learned her lesson last year so you won't hear it from her but I would love to hear a couple "I told you so"s slip out. Looks like she was right - maybe she would have made those saves last year. Her reflex save on Marta was tremendous and she was strong in the air too. Carli Lloyd scored the goal but I would give Solo the MVP for the final.

And for Carli, what a great strike for the Jersey girl. We won't know about USWNT allocations for about a month more but how great would it be to have the Gold Medal hero in a Sky Blue WPS professional uniform. Sky Blue will be playing on the same field that she starred on in college so that would be a great story.

On the other side of the field, for Brazil it's more heartbreak finishing second three tournaments in a row including one World Cup and two Olympics. You have to think that they're really wondering what they need to do to win one of these things. Losses in overtime to the US in 2004 and 2008 and then the loss to Germany with Marta missing the tying PK - so close but yet so far. If it's any satisfaction, they're still the most fun team to watch.

Let's hope that the great Olympics tournament can help WPS as it heads towards its first season. The entire US team will definitely be playing in the league next year while you have to think that most of the Brazil players will be here as well with no suitable alternative in their native country. On top of that Brazil coach Jorge Barcellos has been rumored to be linked to a coaching position with a WPS team so everything you saw on the field today could be a part of WPS in a slightly altered form in 2009.

United Soccer Leagues put out a nice note today about former Sky Blue players Tobin Heath and Formiga battling it out in the Gold Medal match tomorrow at the Beijing Olympics - Heath for the United States and Formiga for Brazil. Because of the Pan Am Games, which both Tobin and Formiga participated in, the two didn't spend as much time out on the field as Sky Blue had hoped, but it will still be interesting to see the former teammates battle it out.

In all, there are 10 former W-League players taking the field tomorrow in the final including Heather O'Reilly, Lindsay Tarpley, and Carli Lloyd - players I had the pleasure of dealing with during my time working with the New Jersey Wildcats - a team that Formiga and Tobin Heath also played for as well prior to joining Sky Blue.

Read the entire USL story here.

Tomorrow's game should be a great matchup and the US is going to have to play a strong game to beat Brazil, which was on fire against Germany. The US is definitely in a much better place than a year ago when Brazil rolled to victory in the semifinal of the World Cup. The team is playing much better soccer and Hope Solo will finally get her chance to prove that she was right in what she said last year. Even if she apologized for her outburst last year, I still think she meant every word of it so she needs to make some big saves.

The US has faster backs than Germany so that should give it some hope but it's going to take some great defending to shut down Brazil or it's going to take a bunch of goals to counter Brazil's attacking efforts. Either way, there are some great story lines in the final - Brazil searching for its first championship, the US looking to make up for last year's loss, and of course, Tobin vs. Formiga.

Personally, since I was born in Brazil to American parents and can claim citizenship for both countries, I can get away with routing for either team - no matter who wins, I'll still come out on top. Go United States! Go Brazil! Go Sky Blue!

Despite putting in the third and fourth goals by accident, the United States fully deserved its 4-2 victory over Japan in the semifinals. The game obviously didn't start off that well with Japan scoring first, but two goals in three minutes at the end of the first half put the US in good shape to take the game over in the second half.

Of course the final two goals were accidents - bad crosses that turned into great shots. Unless Heather O'Reilly meant to volley the ball inside the far post from out on the wing, and unless Ang Hucles meant to chip the keeper with side spin from the endline, then the US was definitely the beneficiary of a couple of lucky plays. Those two goals became meaningful when Japan willed the ball into the goal in the closing seconds, but you would have to think that the US would have been playing differently if they were sitting on a one-goal lead.

O'Reilly was solid as always and Hucles has gone from non-existent in the opening games to a solid contributor which makes sense when you consider that she's more accustomed to playing as central midfielder and not a front-runner. Chalupny's shot was perfect - the textbook example of a flank player cutting inside and ripping a shot. She has to be the best left back in all of women's soccer.

While making the final is a great accomplishment for a US team that was written off after the opening-game loss to Norway, the Americans will have to gear up a few more notches in the final against Brazil or risk getting stomped on like last year in the World Cup. Except for the opening 15 minutes or so, the Brazilians were on fire against Germany. They made one of the best teams in the world look foolish and at times it looked as if there was nothing Germany could do to stop Brazil.

The former Sky Blue player Formiga's goal was total class - Cristiane megging the defender in the corner, Marta keeping the ball moving across the box, and Formiga with the finish. The other goals were just as nice - Marta setting up Christiane perfectly off the quick counter attack, Marta single-handedly making the German defense look foolish capped by a perfect toe poke, and Cristiane blowing through and over the entire German defense with one quick run. Germany hadn't allowed a goal in a major tournament since the 2004 Olympics and, like I said, it looked like there was nothing Germany could do to stop Brazil.

While it was a lot more suspenseful then the United States team would have liked, we did a nice job knocking off a competitive Canada side 2-1 in overtime this morning. Considering that the US held a 17-7 advantage in shots, better finishing could have made it an easier game but who's complaining when one more win in the tournament guarantees us a medal. Truth is, the United States had much better of the play and except for the bad giveaway that led to the brilliant strike by Christine Sinclair, Canada really didn't threaten too often.

The weather delay definitely helped the Canadians. The US took control of the momentum early with the early goal by Hucles, but it couldn't press Canada for long because of the break in play - essentially an extended timeout for Canada. In addition, any time a team has to suddenly insert its backup goalkeeper into the game, the other team has the chance to take advantage of the unexpected lineup change. With the break, Karina LeBlanc was better able to get into the proper frame of mind psychologically and her teammates were able to better prepare to play in front of a different keeper.

On that note, congratulations to Karina - an adopted New Jersey resident by way of her position as assistant coach for the women's team at Rutgers University and also a guest blogger here on SkyBlueSoccer.com. She stepped into an incredibly tough situation and did a great job. She made a number of strong saves to keep Canada in the game and there really wasn't much she could have done on the winning goal by Kai except wonder what the heck her backs were doing when the ball was whipped toward the far bar by Boxx. Here's my vote to have Karina on our team next season when WPS kicks off.

While the good news for the United States team is that it advanced to the semifinals, the bad news is that this was the last game for Canada coach Even Pellerud, whose prehistoric long-ball tactics have kept that team down for too long. Canada has some talented players in its lineup and a world-class striker in Sinclair - if they get a capable coach to replace Pellerud, then the United States will have a very hard time keeping up its unbeaten run against the neighbors from the north.

Now on to Japan - a team that the US beat 1-0 in the opening round of the tournament. While the US has to be extremely happy that it has no part in the Brazil or Germany until the final, it can't be too happy about having to face Japan for a second time. The Nadeshiko bounced back from its loss to the US by hammering Norway 5-1 in the final game of the group stage and then followed that up with a strong effort against China. Now Japan gets a second chance to make adjustments and have another try at the US. The US should still prevail and earn a shot at the gold medal against the winner of that big-time battle on the other side of the bracket.

With a little help from Japan, the United States was able to restore the natural order to the women's soccer world and, at least for the moment, force all the doomsday media writers to find another angle for a few more days. The 4-0 win over New Zealand was no surprise of course as the US usually beats the "Football Ferns" by lopsided margins. Japan's whipping of Norway was the big stunner - the Nadeshiko are for sure a quality team, and yes Norway was already through to the knockout rounds, but a four-goal decision that forced Norway into second place? Not expected.

So the US wins Group G as predicted before the tournament and while that doesn't erase the opening-game performance against Norway, it surely allows the US players to put that bad game behind them. The bonus is that the US avoids facing its date with destiny against Brazil until at least the final, if ever. A second-place finish in the group would have put the US into a quarterfinal matchup with Brazil with the winner of Germany/Sweden waiting in the semifinals. Instead, the US has to be ecstatic with the road ahead - quarterfinals against Canada and semifinals against the China/Japan winner. That's a great opportunity to make a return to the gold medal game.

Congratulations to East Brunswick's Heather O'Reilly for setting an Olympic record for the fastest goal scored ever, starting off the US rout while leaving the only criticisms the rest of the game to the commentary and Brandi Chastain's pedantic tendencies.

Stop the panic attacks already! (that's for the media, not the players). The US got the result they needed with the 1-0 win over Japan. The team played better of course because it would have been pretty hard to get worse than the first game against Norway - the effort was better but there still needs to be improvement if the US wants to win a medal.

A great strike by New Jersey's Carli Lloyd was all the US needed but it could easily been more if not for some weak finishing by Amy Rodriguez. The USC striker got herself into some great positions but three times all she had to do was beat the keeper and couldn't. Her first was a poor chip, the second was rushed too quickly, and the last was from an angle but still missed the goal. Credit her for gettiing the chances but one good finish would've changed the second half of the game completely.

Pia Sundhage should consider giving her team a second scoring option up front because Hucles was mostly ineffective and for the most part invisible in the attack. Why not start Rodriguez and Kai? To me that would be a much bigger handful for the other team.

It was interesting to watch Japan's methodical approach to going forward and it would be nice for the US to learn a little from watching. They weren't that far off from finishing a couple goals and a little more accuracy in the final pass would've been trouble for the US.

On the plus side, I may be biased for the local girl but I think Heather O'Reilly put in a second-straight solid game. She's one of the few that always looks composed with the ball at her feet and her decisions always looked calculated in contrast to some of the other US players that look like they don't figure out what to do with the ball until it's too late.

And thanks to another NJ girl in Tobin Heath for snaking the Japanese defender on the left side after coming in off the bench (even if Brandi Chastain chastised you for trying to meg someone in your own half of the field a little later).

If Norway beats New Zealand as expected then the US is in good shape to advance to the knockout stage although they better have things sorted out by then or it could be an early exit at that point.

When Brandi Chastain inadvertantly blurted out an "Oh My God" on Norway's first goal a little over a minute into the game, that pretty much summed up the United States' start to the Olympic women's soccer tournament. Two goals against in a shocking first five minutes and the US never recovered.losing 2-0.

However, the two early goals weren't the most concerning part. The US still had 85 minutes to score a goal and they couldn't. This team was supposed to be more imaginative and creative than last year's team that struggled at the World Cup but I only saw glimpses. Too many shots from distance and long balls without a purpose. I know that all Norway had to do was sit back the rest of the way but no goals against a team that the US had beaten 4-1 in the World Cup, 4-0 at the Algarve Cup, and 4-0 in a friendly - that's pretty surprising too.

The US has until Saturday to recover when it takes on Japan, which tied New Zealand 2-2 on a late goal by former WUSA player Homare Sawa.

Other scores:

Canada 2:1 Argentina

Brazil 0:0 Germany

North Korea 1:0 Nigeria

China 2:1 Sweden