U.S. Reaches Finals: 7 Facts About 2011 Women's World Cup
World Cup soccer facts before the U.S. women take on Japan in Sunday's final.
July 15, 2011 -- intro: Wake up soccer fans! You may not be in Germany among the face-painted fanatics experiencing the 2011 Women's World Cup firsthand, but that's OK. Soccer frenzy has hit the U.S. too!
PHOTOS: 2011 Women's World Cup
The U.S. women's soccer team kicked its way past Brazil and France in thrilling quarter and semifinal games and is now just 90 minutes, one game, away from winning a second World Cup title.
The U.S. will face Japan this Sunday in Frankfurt, Germany, to determine the 2011 World Cup champion.
WATCH: U.S. Women Players Talk World Cup Finals
Before you sit down to watch the game, catch up with these 7 fast facts about the U.S. and Japanese teams, and the World Cup title they're battling for.
quicklist: 1title: World Cup Tournament Is Younger Than Its Playerstext: The first Women's World Cup tournament was not held until 1991, making it a relatively new international sports event. Like its male counterpart, it's held every four years, making the 2011 tournament the sixth in history. Germany and the U.S. have each won the Cup twice, and Norway has won once.
quicklist: 2title: U.S. Is Favored to Wintext: The U.S. women's team is the top-ranked team in the world and enters the final match as the favorite. Japan has never beaten the U.S. in 25 matches, tying them only three times. The Americans have won nine in a row in the series, including all three matches in 2011. The U.S. holds a 77-13 goal advantage over Japan.
quicklist: 3title: First World Cup Final for Japantext: Fourth-ranked Japan upset Sweden 3-1 in the semifinals to make it to their first World Cup final match ever. The U.S. defeated France in the semifinals and Sunday's game will mark their third trip to a World Cup final.
quicklist: 4title: U.S. Win Would Make World Cup Historytext: A win against Japan on Sunday would make the U.S. the first country ever to win three World Cup titles. The last time the Americans won the World Cup was in 1999 when the tournament was played in the United States. In the meantime, they also have won two Olympic gold medals and had a two year-plus winning streak going until November.
quicklist: 5title: Japan Could Be World's Sentimental Favoritetext: The Japanese team has inspired the world by playing such high-level soccer amidst the backdrop of the tragedies inflicted on the country this year, including the earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 15,000 and the resulting nuclear disaster. Japan's players have expressed hope that they could lift the spirits of their nation through their play on the field, and have carried a banner at every game, thanking the world for its support.
quicklist: 6title: U.S. Team Almost Didn't Make It To Germanytext: The Americans had to win a playoff just to get a spot in Germany after losing to Mexico in the qualifying round. It was the first time the U.S. had fallen to Mexico in 25 games.
quicklist: 7title: U.S. Uniform Brings Good Lucktext: The U.S. women's team is undefeated when wearing all-black since the uniforms were first introduced in a 2-0 win in May against their competitor on Sunday, Japan. The black uniforms, or "kits" as they're called in soccer, were designed by Nike, which describes the dark look as "evoking a Black Widow spider." They're environmentally friendly too, with each kit made "entirely from recycled polyster, produced from up to eight recycled plastic bottles per jersey," the company says. If you want the U.S. women's look, the full kits, everything from socks to jerseys, are available in the U.S. Soccer store for around $122.
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