Well, we lost 1-0 this afternoon to the United States, which is an improvement on our last game against them, a 4-0 loss. However, the defeat still rankles, as anything less than a victory from us is just not good enough. We have the talent, the experience, the playing system to win these games.

Thank you to our many fans who made the long trip down to Rochester to cheer us on. You made the atmosphere much less hostile than it might otherwise have been with 8,500 people in the stands. I would especially like to make two shout -outs to fans at the game. First to the group who were sitting in the upper tier on the far side of the stadium. I have no idea idea who you are, but I really appreciated the West Island support. Second, to the ladies who were waving the "Gnomes Away from Homes" sign - very, very cool. I believe Diana Matheson put in a call to fellow gnome, Amy Walsh, as soon as she returned to the hotel. The two of them had a good laugh about it. For all those unaware of the gnomes and their spread, please visit Amy Walsh's website at http://www.amywalsh.com  and check out the album dedicated to the gnomes.

During the game, we played with a low defensive pressure, which was probably the right strategy until we receive some more training with Carolina in the new system. I thought that in terms of attack, our first half was better than our second. However, I think that defensively we were stronger in the second half. This observation may be slightly biased, as I feel that I had a better half in the second, than the first. It's not hard to figure out where I was playing.

As I am sure everyone knows, the US goal scorer was none other than hometown hero, Abby Wambach. I would have preferred anyone else to score if I am honest. This is not because Abby doesn't deserve to reach the milestone, but rather because I would have liked our own Canadian, hard working captain fantastic, to have reached the milestone first. Both players are truly geniuses of their game, and no matter how much I have griped and complained about Abby's propensity to dive, there is no denying her ability. She is a great player.

Sincy has reached 99 goals while playing for a Canadian team that can often run hot and cold. I wouldn't like to speculate how many goals Sinclair might have scored had she received consistent service throughout her career. I would have loved her to score her 100th tally today, but we will now just have to wait until Charleston to put this right.

I think we can work with what we achieved today and move forward to a victory over the USA, and get Sincy her missing goal. So, in this vein, I give a reluctant, yet whole hearted congratulations to Abby, while ruing the lost match. Now I'm off to an ice bath to atone....