World Cup Champion Japan advanced to the womens soccer gold medal game at London 2012 with a 2-1 victory over France. The Japanese side raced out to a two-goal lead and then withstood an incredible pushback by France, who despite 26 attempts on goal, were not able to level the score after pulling one goal back late in the second half. Japan opened the scoring in the 32nd minute courtesy of a poor goaltending play by their opponents. Japanese captain Aya Miyama lofted a free kick towards the net that French keeper Sarah Bouhaddi came off her line to claim. Unfortunately the ball skidded over her fingers and fell to Japanese striker Yuki Ogimi who slid the ball into the net to open the scoring for the World Cup champions. Following the second-half restart, Japan briefly controlled the play forcing the France defence to defend deep in their own end. In the 49th minute from a free-kick delivered from halfway into the French end, midfielder Mizuho Sakaguchi got on the end of a dipping ball and headed into the corner of the net to double the Japanese advantage. After the hour mark France began to change the momentum of the game and continued to press the attack, forcing Japans keeper Miko Fukumoto into many saves including a brilliant, leaping stop in the 70th minute. France finally found the break through six minutes after that great save when Elodie Thomas delivered a beautiful cross into the box for French substitute Eugenie Le Sommer who slammed it home to cut the lead in half. The French side, who were on top of the play for the entire last half-hour of the game, then earned a glorious chance to pull level when Le Sommer broke towards the net but was pulled down by Sakaguchi for a penalty. France midfielder Elise Bussaglia stepped up but fired the ball wide of the net on a shot that never troubled the Japanese keeper. Despite the fact that France pressed right to the final whistle they were not able to generate the equalizer to at the very least force extra-time. Fukumoto was brilliant just before the full-time whistle as she held the line to ensure advancement for her side. Japan will face the winner of Canada vs. USA in the gold medal game while France will take on the loser of that contest for the bronze medal. wholesale jerseys . Four days after Harrington agreed to fill in for British Open champion Ernie Els, he ran off three straight birdies early on the back nine and closed with a 4-under 67 Wednesday for a one-shot win over U. cheap jerseys . -- D.H. Lee of South Korea wiped away a single tear when he realized he had earned a job on the PGA Tour. http://www.holdjersey.com/ .com arena. The draft agreement, posted online by the City of Glendale on its municipal website Monday, states the former San Jose Sharks executive will be paid the fee as arena manager for keeping "an anchor tenant at the arena. nba holdjersey . -- Jason Day beat Stacy Lewis with birdie on the second hole of a playoff to lift the PGA Tour past the LPGA Tour on Tuesday in the Wendys 3-Tour Challenge. holdjersey . Nestor and Belarussian partner Max Mirnyi defeated American Ryan Harrison and Australian Matthew Ebden 6-4, 6-4 to advance.(Sports Network) - Something has to give on tonight when the sizzling San Antonio Spurs visit the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. You can see all the action on TSN beginning at 9pm et/6pm pt. The Spurs, of course, became just the fourth team in NBA history to win 20 straight games and are a perfect 10-0 in this postseason after taking the first two games of this set in the Alamo City. The Thunder, meanwhile, have yet to lose on their home floor in the playoffs and are hoping a change in scenery can get them back in the series. "Weve been a resilient group that bounces back," Thunder star Kevin Durant said. "Tough to go down 0-2. We get an opportunity to go home and play in front of our home crowd and try to get Game 3. So weve got to take it a game at a time, a possession at a time. Well be all right." San Antonio bent, but never broke on Tuesday in Game 2. After seeing a 22-point lead nearly disappear, the Spurs held on for their 20th consecutive win behind Tony Parkers brilliant night. The electrifying point guard finished 16-of-21 from the floor and had 34 points as San Antonio survived in a 120-111 victory. "It was just one of those nights," Parker said. "I felt in a good rhythm early on. I was making my outside shots and just trying to be aggressive." Manu Ginobili added 20 points, Kawhi Leonard scored 18 with 10 rebounds and Tim Duncan had 11 points and 12 boards in the win as the Spurs overcame 88 combined points from Thunder stars Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. San Antonios current 20-game run is the longest extended into the playoffs in NBA history, breaking the 19-game streak by the 2001 Lakers. "Its great and it is a great run, but we are only worried about the next two wins in this series," Duncan said. "That is all that matters at this point and if that makes it 22 in a row, that would be great. These next two wins are the most important things to us right now." Spurs coach Gregg Popovich -- who screamed at his team during Game 1 that he wanted "some nasty" as they labored to come back from a nine-point deficit -- watched a 22-point lead in the third quarter melt down to six midway through the fourth on Tuesday. The NBA Coach of the Year said his team didnt let up. "I thought we lost a little mojo," said Popovich. "(But) thats how things happen. Its the NBA. Teams dont just die; they come back on you." Durant had 31 points, Harden scored 12 of his 30 inn the fourth quarter and Westbrook added 27 points, including 11 in the final frame when the Thunder outscored the Spurs 35-28.dddddddddddd. "We fought back like we always do," said Westbrook. "We just didnt win. We have to make sure we come out in Game 3 with a sense of urgency." Parker lined up all alone in the right corner for a three-pointer to give the Spurs a 20-point lead with 5:15 left in the third quarter, and it looked like the rout was on. San Antonio pushed its lead to 22 on the next trip down the court, but Durant scored six points in an 8-0 Thunder run to trim the margin to 80-66. It stayed between 14 and 18 points for the rest of the third quarter before the Thunder began chipping away. They were never closer in the second half than when Westbrook made a pair of foul shots to cut San Antonios lead to 99-93 with 5:40 remaining. Duncan hit a couple of free throws at the other end and Parkers layup pushed the lead to 10. The dagger didnt come until later, when Ginobili knocked down a three for a 115-105 lead with just 88 seconds left. The Spurs ended 11-of-26 on threes and shot better than 55 percent overall. "I like the way our guys fought," said Thunder coach Scott Brooks, whose team shot 42 percent for the game but nearly 53 percent in the fourth quarter. "We just couldnt get over the hump. We dug ourselves a deep hole." Brooks believes that the Thunder got back into Game 2 by amping up the physicality and hopes that continues. "Were a physical team. We have to play that way," Brooks said Wednesday. "If we play free-flowing basketball, we can beat some teams but were not at our best if were not being physical on the defensive end." Popovich on the other hand is secure in the knowledge that his team hasnt lost since April 11 to the Lakers and that only 14 teams in NBA history have come back from an 0-2 deficit to win a seven-game series. The Spurs went 2-1 against the Thunder during the lockout-shortened regular season. Oklahoma City won the first meeting, 108-96 on Jan. 8 at Chesapeake Energy Arena, but the Spurs came back to take the season series with a 107-96 victory Feb. 4 at the AT&T Center and a 114-105 road win March 16. In the postseason, this rivalry dates back to 1982 when the Thunder were known as the Seattle SuperSonics. The Spurs topped Seattle three times in the playoffs, 82, 2002 and 2005. This is the first time the franchises have met since the Sonics relocated to OKC in 2008. Game 4 of the series is Saturday in Oklahoma City. ' ' '