United States and Japan looks to make history

The long road to glory is one match away for the United States' women's national soccer team.

Following emotional, hard fought wins over difficult teams like Brazil and France, the United States has strengthen its identity of being the most dominate women's soccer team in the world and being able to back up its No. 1 rank in the world.

Following the 2-1 loss to Sweden in the final match of group play, the United States battled a giant opponent in Brazil where the U.S. needed a late miracle from Abby Wambach in extra time to send the match to a penalty kick shootout; where the U.S. won the match 5-3 in penalties.

With little to celebrate, the U.S. had to bounce back and face a up and coming young France team full of young stars.

The France team did not mess around as it controlled the match for the majority of the time. While the match stood at 1-1 with less than 15 minutes to go, Wambach came through for the U.S. to send the team to the finals.

The U.S. will be facing Japan, who had a rough road getting to the finals, because they were not favored against Germany. Japan was not getting no media attention from its own country and many did not see them getting this far.

But Japan managed to use anything it could built momentum on and it has sent them passed Germany, who were many people's pick to face U.S. in the finals, and Sweden who were slight favorites over Japan.

The Japanese women have shown lots of pride and emotion in its matches throughout the tournament and facing them in the finals, where they do not have anything to lose, only makes the match much harder for the United States to win.

Despite the United States overcoming the Brazil team, which the best player in the world, the team has a lot on the line, including a 2-0 record the United States has in the Women's World Cup finals.

The last time United States won the Women's World Cup was in 1999 against China at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Faith has brought these two teams to the end of the road where one will come up glories while the other one looks beyond in what was not to be for them.

A lot is on the line for both teams as Japan is using the earthquakes that have devastated its country and the United States that has overcame elimination in stressful, heart-pounding moments.

United States aims for another World Cup

With two impressive wins over North Korea and Colombia, the United States women's national team is peaking at the right moment as it sets itself up for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinals.

The two wins have secured the team a spot in the next round but the United States has one more match against Sweden on July 6.

The team was questionable heading into the World Cup because it did not qualify for the world's soccer tournament until the last minute with a victory over Italy.

The United States fell to Mexico in its first chance to qualify.

Abby Wambach, who has dealt with injuries in the past and is the team's best striker, did not score in the United States two World Cup matches and only has one goal in the past year.

The worries dangling over the United States have been cleared away as other players like Heather O'Reilly, Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, Lauren Cheney and Rachel Buehler has been scoring and winning matches for the team.

Following the team's 2-0 win over North Korea, the United States continued to shut out its opponents with a 3-0 win over Colombia.

The team has been impressive in the two matches as the offense has been a team effort and the defense has been a collective effort by the U.S. defenders and the team's goalkeeper Hope Solo.

Solo is coming off a shoulder injury and many believed she was going to be unable to block and dive for shots but she has made it clear multiple times that she is fully healthy and ready to play.

The United States women's soccer team is nearly on all cylinders and on the right path to reaching the finals, where they hope to win its third World Cup in Germany.

The challenge remains for the United States because Germany is the country who has won the past two World Cups and beating a champion on its home field can have its problems.