The POTUS 2012 State Of The Union Speech

For those of you who missed it, President Obama's 2012 State of the Union Speech.

2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- Another Crucial Showdown With Mexico

The Team USA women are 25-1-1 against our southern neighbors when it comes to playing soccer against Mexico.  

What's the lone loss?   It's one Team USA still hasn't forgotten.   It was a 2-1 Mexican win on November 10. 2010 during the CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament in Cancun that not only clinched an automatic berth for them, but forced Team USA into the Third Place match vs Costa Rica and eventually a two leg playoff against Italy to become one of the last teams to qualify for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.  

FIFA number one ranked Team USA has been on a ruthlessly efficient mission so far to make certain that no such slip ups happen in this qualifying tournament for the London Games.  They know that unlike the World Cup. if they falter in qualifying, they'll be sitting at home watching the Olympic tournament on TV instead of attempting to threepeat as Olympic champions.

They face off at BC Place in a highly anticipated Group B match against Mexico to determine who wins the group and plays Group A runner up Costa Rica in Friday's knockout semifinals to determine the CONCACAF reps for London.   The Group B runner up will play host nation Canada, who knocked off Costa Rica 5-1 last night at BC Place.

Team USA has never lost a game on Canadian soil, are 8-0-0 when playing in domed stadiums, have going into this match a 10-0-1 record in CONCAFAF Olympic Qualifiers and have blistered the nets with 27 goals in this tournament.   But FIFA number 21 ranked Mexico has scored 11 goals of their own in group play and ain't 'scurred' of the mighty USA.  

So throw those stats out tonight.   The last three USA-Mexico matches they have been determined by one goal margins, and much is riding on this one.
 

State Of The Union 2012

Now that GOP Amateur Hour  (last night's latest GOP debate) is over, the adult comes into the room to lay out his vision of what needs to be done in this country in the 2K12 and beyond in the State Of The Union speech later tonight.

Hopefully we won't have any displays of conservafool disrespect of President Obama as he does so, but with this being an election year don't put anything past the Grand Old Party Bigots.

These are some of the talking points President Obama wants to highlight in tonight's speech entitled An America Built to Last

-- In his State of the Union Address, the President will lay out a blueprint for an economy that's built to last -- an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values.

-- The President believes this is a make or break moment for the middle class and those trying to reach it. What's at stake is the very survival of the basic American promise that if you work hard, you can do well enough to raise a family, own a home, and put a little away for retirement.

-- The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. No challenge is more urgent; no debate is more important. We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while more Americans barely get by. Or we can build a nation where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules.

-- The fact is, the economic security of the middle class has eroded for decades. Long before the recession, good jobs and manufacturing began leaving our shores. Hard work stopped paying off for too many Americans. Those at the top saw their incomes rise like never before, but the vast majority of Americans struggled with costs that were growing and paychecks that weren't.

-- In 2008, the house of cards collapsed. Mortgages were sold to people who couldn't afford or understand them. Banks made huge bets and bonuses made with other people's money. It was a crisis that cost us more than eight million jobs and plunged our economy and the world into a crisis from which we are still fighting to recover.

-- The President has been clear that we need to do more to create jobs and help economic growth. But under his leadership and thanks to action taken by this President, the economy is growing again. The economy has added a total of 3.2 million private sector jobs over the last 22 months.

-- American manufacturing is creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s. The American auto industry is coming back. Today, American oil production is the highest that it's been in eight years. Together, we've agreed to cut the deficit by more than 2 trillion. And the President signed into law new rules to hold Wall Street accountable. He stands on a solid record and tonight will lay out a blueprint that will ensure an economy built to last over the long term.

-- For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. We've decimated al Qaeda's leadership, delivered justice to Osama bin Laden, and put that terrorist network on the path to defeat. We've made important progress in Afghanistan, and begun a transition so Afghans can assume more responsibility. We joined with allies and partners to protect the Libyan people as they ended the regime of Muammar Qaddafi.

-- We cannot go back to an economy based on outsourcing, bad debt, and phony financial profits. The President intends to keep moving forward and rebuild an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded -- an economy built to last.

2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- Another Double Digit Win

It was a good news, bad news kind of day for the FIFA number one ranked Team USA women as they prepared to play their second Group B match in the 2012 CONCAFAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Vancouver.

The bad news is that Ali Krieger is out for the London Games with tears in her right MCL and ACL ligaments after a reckless tackle from Leonela Mojica sidelined her during the USA's 14-0 victory over the Dominican Republic.

The good news is we may have found Team USA's future striker in 21 year old Canadian born Sydney Leroux.  

Leroux jogged on to the BC Place pitch as a second half sub to scattered boos from Canadian fans frustrated over her decision to play internationally for Team USA.   

Leroux made the most of her homecoming as she scored five goals and helped Team USA clinch a trip to the semifinals of this 2012 edition of the CONCAFAF Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament with a 13-0 demolition of Guatemala. 


Unlike Friday's game against the Dominican Republic, it took Abby Wambach a little longer to score the opening goal in this match. 

Wambach didn't do so until the 12th minute and followed it up with her second tally a mere three minutes later for a 2-0 USA lead. Ten minutes later Lauren Cheney scored to put the USA up 3-0 enroute to a 6-0 halftime lead. 

Amy Rodriguez in the 29th minute, Carli Lloyd in the 33rd minute and Lori Lindsey in the 34th minute were the other first half goal scorers.

Vancouver born Leroux's five goals were scored in the 48th, 50th, 57th, 70th and 87th minutes with Megan Rapinoe adding one in the 75th and Alex Morgan in the 83rd minute.

The win clinched a trip to the qualifying tournament semifinals for Team USA, stretched their CONCAFAF Olympic qualifying record to 10-0-1 and also kept their remarkable streak alive of never losing a game on Canadian soil.  It also means they lock up the Group B title with a win or draw against Mexico on Tuesday thanks to a ginormous +27 goal differential.  

FIFA number 21 ranked Mexico beat the Dominican Republic 7-0 to stay unbeaten in Group B and build their goal differential to +11.  It also sets up the much anticipated January 24 showdown between the two nations to determine who wins the group.

In Group A FIFA number 7 ranked Canada and Costa Rica have dominated with the host nation holding a +8 goal differential over Costa Rica's +4. 

They will battle each other later tonight to determine who wins Group A with  Canada clinching if they win or draw.  The second place team has to play the Group B champ in the January 27 knockout round semifinals.
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The surviving semifinal winners get the two CONCAFAF qualifying spots for the 2012 Olympic women's soccer tournament and play for the title on January 29.

Everybody else goes home and starts plotting and planning for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Qualifying and the 2016 Olympics.