74th: Boxx plays wide for Wambach but puts too much on it, and it skips out. The international feed catches some dazed U.S. fans.

73rd: We restart after an injury delay, one of several in the past few minutes. Ball played forward, O'Reilly collides with Dede. The Nigerian keeper gets up slowly.

68th: Good shot from Lilly, a 25-yarder with some pace. Dede is well-placed and handles it well.

ESPN's Julie Foudy getting a little confused, saying her team was striving to avoid host China in the 1995 World Cup. Sweden hosted the World Cup that year. The USA tied China in the group stages, lost to eventual champion Norway in the semifinals and beat China in the third-place game. That was an odd Cup -- Mia Hamm wound up playing in goal after Briana Scurry was ejected.

Yes, you can tell by the historical anecdotes here that the action has slowed down.

64th: Leslie Osborne getting ready to come in, surely with the aim of solidifying the midfield. Carli Lloyd steps out, which seems odd. Why not rest one of the older players?

63rd: Half-chance for the USA -- long cross finds Wambach at the far post. She heads it back to the center, but Dede collects it ahead of Lloyd. Dede is down -- looks like a cramp. Nigeria surely doesn't want to sub out its goalkeeper.

59th: Nigeria's chances are getting better. A cross finds a player 15 yards out, but a U.S. defender is between her and the goal. Then there's a long-range shot -- wide, but a little troubling. The USA isn't winning the midfield battles. Again.

56th: Corner kick for Nigeria, and it goes nowhere near a Nigerian player. The field is surely playing a part, but this isn't what you'd call an advertisement for women's soccer.

And a GOOOOOOAAAAALLL for Sweden! What a gift for the USA.

55th: Another free kick, and it has to be said -- Lilly's service here isn't what we would expect.

54th: Nigeria's Mbachu shoots high from the corner of the box. Not close, but perhaps a little more than the U.S. defense would like to allow.

We're going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the U.S. players might know the Sweden-North Korea score. They're pressing forward, but not frantically.

52nd: Long-range shots at either end. One is blocked by the U.S. defense. Wambach puts her well wide.

50th: Nigeria shoots from somewhere near Hong Kong. Maybe it was a pass. In either case, Hope Solo stops to text-message a friend back in the USA before collecting it.

49th: Not a smart foul there by Nigeria to the right of the box. Lilly sets up a free kick. She goes near post to Heather O'Reilly, who can't redirect it on net or flick it to a teammate.

48th: Reminder from Julie Foudy on ESPN -- Nigeria needs four goals to advance. As a method actor might say, "What's my motivation?" (Granted, a win over the USA would be pretty impressive.)

Shannon Boxx looks like she's going to try a bicycle kick in the Nigerian box. Instead, she swings a leg and whiffs. Not pretty.

46th: And we're back. From Sal Ruibal: "Not many fans braved the elements. Half full would be a generous estimate."

Halftime: Towels at the ready. It's wet out there. The USA might regret missing one or two of its chances, but they've given Nigeria little opportunity to get in gear offensively.

44th: Off the ensuing corner kick, the ball sails over the box to Boxx (sorry), who's perfectly placed for the header but puts it wide of the near post.

Meanwhile, Sweden has sent in a sub for Hanna Ljungberg. That's a bad, bad sign. Ljungberg is a terrific player who has struggled with injuries -- barring something miraculous in Tianjin, the World Cup is losing one of its best players.

43rd: FANTASTIC SAVE from Dede. Lilly and O'Reilly play keepaway while waiting for numbers, and Lilly puts a perfect cross in for Abby Wambach. Dede rises to punch it clear.

42nd: Quick counter from Nigeria, with Igbo putting a long-range shot toward Solo. It drifts wide; Solo snares it anyway.

41st: Chalupny takes some awkward touches on the left but still manages to confuse a Nigerian defender long enough to put in a good cross for Lilly, who heads it down but wide.

36th: A little bit of head volleyball in the Nigerian box, and goalkeeper Precious Dede has to backtrack to snare a goalbound lob.

33rd: Nigeria works the ball around the field but can't find a path into the box. Reminder for those who don't watch soccer often: Possession means squat. The USA possessed the ball plenty in the 2003 loss to Germany but played as predictably as the plot to the Tom Cruise film Cocktail.

For those calculating the tiebreakers -- North Korea just picked up a yellow card. We'd need to see a couple of goals all around for that to be a factor.

31st: Nigeria with a bit of possession on the left, but it's cleared out by Rampone. The throw-in leads to nothing.

26th: Now there's a reason to focus on Chalupny -- she gets the worst of a clash of heads and is down in a bit of pain.

From Sal Ruibal: Huge divots on the field. A Cat 4 Typhoon (hurricane) is coming later tonight. The first edge crossed earlier and dumped six inches of rain and hard winds. That was the baby. Big Mommas coming.

25th: Lilly takes the free kick and gets it over the wall but also a foot or so over the bar. The cameras focus on Chalupny for some reason. Not the most polished international feed we've seen.

24th: 30-yard shot to the upper corner ties it for North Korea. The USA will need more goals to be safe. Meanwhile, Carli Lloyd is brought down just outside the box. 18.1-yard free kick upcoming.

22nd: Nigeria makes a first-half substitution, which you don't usually see unless a player is hurt or a coach is really made. Chiejine replaces Igbo.

20th: U.S. shot goes wide. They're still the more threatening team.

17th: Nigeria gets a free kick on the right flank and plays it square, hoping to set up a 22-yard shot to threaten Hope Solo's goal. But they're too slow to shoot, and the U.S. defense clamps down with authority.

14th: Yellow card to Nigeria's Lilian Cole for a brutal tackle on Lori Chalupny.

13th: Nigeria is getting a little bit of possession but isn't doing much with it. The African team doesn't look sharp, while the USA looks poised with every touch.

4th: While the USA looks comfortable on the wet field in Shanghai, things just get better -- Sweden takes a 1-0 lead over North Korea. As it stands now, the USA would win the group.

1st minute: GOOOOOAAAAALLL. Lori Chalupny reaches out her leg in the box and sweeps a loose ball home. USA 1-0 (One replay incorrectly credited the goal to Carli Lloyd.)

U.S. lineup: Hope Solo in goal; backline of Christine Rampone, Cat Whitehill, Kate Markgraf and wherever Stephanie Lopez is playing today; Shannon Boxx back in midfield with Lori Chalupny and Carli Lloyd. Up front, it's the peerless Abby Wambach with fellow scorer Heather O'Reilly and the veteran Kristine Lilly, who has been surprisingly quiet so far in this tournament.

Pregame: We've put the full list of tiebreakers after the "Read more ..." if you're curious. Basically, the United States will almost certainly advance to the quarterfinals, even if they lose today in storm-tossed Shanghai. It would take a three-goal Nigeria win OR a smaller Nigeria win and a Swedish rout of North Korea to knock out the Americans.

The trick is getting first place in the group and a quarterfinal berth against England -- a good team but not as good as Germany, whom the Americans would face if they finish second in the group.

First place in the group boils down to this -- the USA and North Korea are competing to see who posts the biggest win today. Given recent histories, you'd expect the USA (vs. Nigeria) to have an easier path than North Korea (vs. Sweden), but given Nigeria's tie against Sweden earlier in this round and the stormy weather, who can tell?

Got it? Good. Updates here, starting at the 8 a.m. ET kickoff.

Tiebreakers: From FIFA's regulations (PDF):

1. Goal difference (goals scored minus goals allowed)
2. Goals scored
3. Head-to-head (for USA-North Korea, this is moot. We can't have a three-way tie, so that's moot. A four-way tie would always be moot. Moot, moot, moot.)
4. "Fair Play point system" comparing the teams' yellow and red cards. The fewer, the better.
5. Drawing of lots. And you thought Powerball was exciting.