Warning: the follow has nothing to do with AAPD, internships, Washington DC, or disabilities, it is just one crazy soccer fan’s reaction to an awesome game.
I had an incredibly exciting morning/afternoon and I didn’t even leave my room in my apartment. I am a huge, HUGE soccer fan and this morning I watched the US play Brazil in the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Cup. Now, I have watched a ton of soccer games in my life, since I was first dragged to my brother’s game at the age of one, and this game was probably in the top three of most exciting (US) games I have seen (US-China in ’99 final and US men-Algeria in last year’s group play being the other two).
The US went up 1-0 in the second minute by a Brazilian own goal. The next 60 minutes were evenly matched until the ref made two horrendous calls against the US. First, giving Rachel Buehler a straight red card (ejecting her) and awarding Brazil a penalty kick on a non-existent foul. After Hope Solo made a spectacular save, the ref allowed the Brazilians to retake the missed penalty because a US player nowhere near the shot-taker had a foot over the line (there might have been a little swearing at this point by yours truly). Although a rule, it’s one of those rules that is never enforced (like travelling in professional basketball). The remaining regulation time was evenly matched, maybe even slightly favoring the US, even though they were down a player.
In extra time, Marta (best player in the world 5 years running) scored a spectacular goal that only the best player in the world could make. Now the US was down 2-1 with only minutes to score and down a player. When it looked like the game was over, with literally 60 seconds left on the clock, Abby Wambach headed in a beautiful cross and tied the game! There was lots of screaming for joy at this point which I think frightened my personal care attendant.
The game was now going into penalty kicks. Hope Solo (perfect name for a goalie in my opinion) saved one shot and that was all that was needed as the US scored on all their kicks. In an appropriate occurrence, today was the 12 anniversary of the day the US beat China on penalty kicks to win the World Cup. The US will now face France in the semi-finals. I love soccer, but I don’t know if I can handle another game as intense as today’s so hopefully the US will have an easier time on the way to the finals.
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