Carli, Mitzy and Barnie Come Home

The U.S. team has quite a few Philadelphia connections, which should pump up the crowd tonight. Midfielder Carli Lloyd, who scored the winning goal in the 2008 gold medal match, hails from Delran, New Jersey, just 25 minutes from downtown Philly. Lloyd got major coverage in the Philly papers after her Olympic heroics. U.S. goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart is a Pennsylvania native, hailing from Gilbertsville, not far from Philly. Defender Heather Mitts played three seasons for the Philadelphia Charge in the WUSA and lives in Philly part of the year. U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage coached two seasons with the Charge as an asst. under Mark Krikorian before she took the head coaching job for the Boston Breakers. No word if any of the players have had a cheesesteak yet, but we can tell you that the chicken pizza steak at Tony Luke's is quite delicious.

USA Holds Top Spot in FIFA Rankings

The latest FIFA Women’s World Ranking were released on Sept. 5 and the 2008 Olympic champion U.S. Women’s National Team is still in the top spot following its triumph in Beijing, China on Aug. 21. Germany is in second place, 59 points behind the USA, which is the largest-ever gap between the two long-time powers. Olympic silver-medallists Brazil are ranked third followed by Sweden and North Korea to round out the top five. Norway drops to sixth, followed by France, Denmark, Japan and Canada. Ireland, who the USA will play in its first three games on the Achieve Your Gold Tour, starting on Sept. 13 in Philadelphia, are ranked 28th in the world. The next FIFA Women’s World Rankings will be released in December.

USA vs. Ireland LIVE on MatchAccess

If Christie Rampone wasn't playing in the game, she'd be watching on MatchAccess

Fans can watch the USA-Ireland match on Saturday night, Sept. 13, from Lincoln Financial Field on ussoccer.com's MatchAccess starting at 8 p.m. ET. Make sure you've got a high-speed line and hopefully the team will reward your fan dedication with some good goals against the Irish. It is supposed to rain, as it has been most of Friday, so it could be a muddy, slippery affair.

Ask Chups

We're going to try out a new thing on the WNT Blog and we're calling it "Ask Chups." Of course, it could be Ask Tarp, Ask Christie or Ask Carli, but today we are giving fans the chance to type questions into the WNT Blog and we'll have Lori Chalupny answer about three of them at some point in the next few days. So, if there was anything you ever wanted to know about life on the WNT, the 2008 Olympics or how it feels to score in an Olympic semifinal, this is your chance. Please keep them fairly short, fairly intelligent and fairly fair. We'll pick some of the best ones and get back to ya right here on the WNT Blog.

We're Baaaaaaaack!

Yes, 22 days after winning the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics, the U.S. Women's National Team is back together for the start of the Achieve Your Gold Tour. Surely, it's been a hectic three weeks for the players, who have been doing appearances, getting re-settled, taking some personal time and just basking in the glow of the tremendous accomplishments in China. But now, it's back to work against a feisty Irish team that certainly will be excited to get a shot at the world champs. The team trained indoors today (lots of rain in the afternoon in Philly) as the Philadelphia Eagles were nice enough to give the team use of its giant practice "bubble." The squad ran through about a 75-minute training and the players enjoyed getting a good sweat going after three weeks away from the team.