BEIJING — In a commercial for a Dodge SUV that has aired for several months, members of the U.S. women’s soccer team take a fictitious road trip to South America and find the Brazilian national team in the middle of a training session.
That’s when Abby Wambach yells, in Portuguese, “We want a rematch.” Wambach and her broken leg won’t be a part of it, but the Americans will get their chance to avenge September’s embarrassing 4-0 loss to Brazil in the World Cup semifinals on a significantly larger stage.
The U.S. and Brazil will face off in the gold-medal match Thursday after both teams put up four goals Monday in semifinal wins — the U.S. over Japan 4-2 and the Brazilians 4-1 over Germany.
Angela Hucles scored a goal in each half in the U.S. victory.
Beanballs highlight U.S. victory
By the time the United States was done with a 9-1 baseball victory over China, there had been three ejections, seven hit batters, two injuries and an assortment of hard feelings.
The victory gives the U.S. team a chance to advance to the medal round with a victory today against Taiwan.
U.S. third baseman Matt LaPorta, one of the leaders of the team, was hit in the back of the head with a pitch by reliever Chen Kun in the seventh inning. He was taken to a Beijing hospital for a CT scan, and the U.S. team doctor, William Kuprevich, said LaPorta had suffered a mild concussion.
No room for protests in China.
Chinese authorities have not approved any of the 77 applications they received from people who wanted to hold protests during the Beijing Olympics, state media reported Monday. The complaints ranged from labor and medical disputes to inadequate welfare, the media reports said.
Footnotes.
The United States continued its softball dominance with a 9-0 victory over China in 4 1/2 innings. The U.S. has outscored opponents 53-1 in the Games.
• Teenage track and field phenom Pamela Jelimo won the 800 meters in 1 minute, 54.87 seconds to become the first Kenyan woman to win a gold medal.
• The top-ranked U.S. duo of Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser reached the semifinals of men’s beach volleyball, but fellow Americans Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal lost to the defending Olympic champions from Brazil. Next up for Rogers and Dalhausser is a surprising Georgia on Wednesday.
• Defending Olympic champions Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor of the U.S. will play for the gold medal after a straight-sets victory today over Brazil.
• American Sarah Hammer broke her left collarbone in a fall during the women’s points race at the cycling velodrome.
• The U.S. men’s volleyball squad wrapped up pool play a perfect 5-0, beating winless Japan in three sets. Next up is Serbia in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
• The U.S. successfully defended its gold medal in the team show jumping. McLain Ward (on Sapphire), Laura Kraut (Cedric), Will Simpson (Carlsson vom Dach) and Beezie Madden (Authentic) beat Canada in a tiebreaker.
Denver Post wire services
