On to the final!
August 19, 2008 | 10:39 PMJillian Ellis
We beat Japan last night in the semi-final 4-2 to advance to the gold medal game. It was an electric atmosphere in Beijing’s Workers’ Stadium with almost 50,000 fans on hand. After rallying from a goal down the crowd got behind us, and chants of “USA, USA” echoed through the stands. We played very well against a tough opponent and Lauren Cheney came in again late to provide a spark. I was so happy for the players. This team has endured a lot with key players getting injured along the way – it really has been a complete team effort to get to this point.
We got back to the village late and actually got to sleep in this morning. The players have the day to connect with their families and go and watch some of the other sporting events.
The men’s semi-final (Brazil vs Argentina) in soccer is tonight so we are trying to get our work done early so we can go and watch. The staff is going to meet up with the scouts this afternoon and go through their report from the other semi-final. Brazil beat Germany 4-1 so we will meet on Thursday evening for the Olympic final.
Jillian Ellis is an assistant coach with the U.S. women's soccer team.
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Julie Chiu
Julie, who works with the media in Beijing, prepared for her third Olympics by studying Mandarin for two years.
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Jessica competes in the hammer throw for the U.S. Olympic team.
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Andrea, Pac-10 Player of the Year in 2006, plays on the U.S. Olympic softball team.
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