Ben Curtis / AP
In retrospect, it feels awfully inevitable, although as it was happening the issue was obviously in doubt for a great deal of their already-legendary run. Through a combination of skill, heart, a little bit of luck, and sheer willpower, the U.S. Women's Soccer Team are gold medal-winners again. Yet despite the fact that the U.S. team has won four of the five titles since the sport was introduced to the Olympic games in 1996, this generation of players always seems to feel more like David than Goliath. They're the Heart-Attack Kids, and over the last year they've given us two matches that we'll still be talking about fifty years from now: last year's come-from-behind-to-win-in-penalties World Cup Quarterfinal against Brazil, and Monday's literal last-second win over Canada (if you were on the fifth floor of 30 Rock at about 5 PM Monday, that thirty-second howl coming out of the edit room was me. My bad.) These games are why we watch sports; there's incredible skill on display, but there's also drama, suspense, and last-second heroics. Hollywood wishes it could write material this compelling.
None of this is meant to discount just how good this team is. Hope Solo is the best keeper in the world, and she proved it with two spectacular saves yesterday. Abby Wambach is an incredible striker as well as an incredible leader; she left a part of herself on the pitch at Old Trafford Monday- she may not have scored the winning goal, but she willed it into existence. Rapinoe has an ability on set pieces to rival David Beckham. And by the time the next Cup rolls around, Alex Morgan will be talked about as one of the best players in the world. She's a dangerous striker, but her ability to set-up goals is as impressive as her ability to score them. The 90's-era team featuring Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain are rightly lionized as World Champions and trailblazers, but the game has evolved over the last twenty years, and this generation of players should take pride in knowing that they stand shoulder to shoulder with their forebears.
One more thing, speaking of evolution: growing up loving soccer in this country wasn't easy. Twenty years ago, there were plenty of places for a kid to play, but not a lot of places for a kid to watch. It's difficult to have soccer heroes when you can't see the game's best players doing anything heroic because the matches simply aren't on TV. As a lover of The Beautiful Game and TRMS's unofficial World Cup Correspondent, I'm happy to report that things are changing. This generation of young players has no shortage of access to their heroes: Hope Solo and Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey and Abby Wambach are right there on the flat screen in glorious HD. Twenty years ago, if you told me that in 2010 every single World Cup Game would be televised live, and that the 2012 Euro Tournament featuring no American players whatsoever would be getting stellar ratings across the country, and that on a Thursday afternoon in August I'd be able to walk into a NYC bar to find hundreds of people watching a women's soccer match, unable to look away, dying a little with every touch of the ball, I'd have told you that you were crazy. And I would have been wrong. It's a good time to be a soccer fan in this country, and its a good time to be a fan of the US Team. And I'm loving every minute of it.
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I liked the women's team from the 90s with Hamm, Chastain, Foudy, etc. But I LOVE this team.
I wonder how long it will be before particular sports are politicized as inherently advocating one point of view versus another.
EG-
Or is there some bright line- that sports will always regarded as neutral territory or that FOX simply would never dare label baseball communitarian.
I liked the team from the 90s, with Hamm, Foudy, Chastain... But I LOVE this team.
I share your joy in the success of the BEST American TEAM in this year's Olympics!
As much as I despise boxing, the success of the young (17) lady from Flint Michigan and the unity which she provided to a dying Michigan city was also a joy.
It's a great time to be a soccer fan, indeed...but the only way to build the sport is to carry the enthusiasm into our leagues at home.
Love the Women's National Team? Support the players' work in the W-League and/or the WPSL.
Yes, yes, all very wonderful; the blood, sweat, and tears, the years of sacrifice. But the medals had hardly settled around the collective necks, before the million dollar cereal boxes and reality shows and sneaker endorsements rained down upon the formerly innocent heads.
Yes, I am a geezer, so I miss the days when amateurs competed for the love of the sport. And then went on to productive lives in some worthwhile endeavor that did not involve Christians and lions.
[prurient observation] The eye candy doesn't suck either. I'd rather watch this than beach volleyball any day. [/prurient observation]
Sure the Americans have a pretty good team and some very good players. But let's be honest, Wambach's knowledge of FIFA's arcane rules and an extraordinarily weak-minded referee certainly helped secure the victory over the rather plucky Canadian team. The US should consider themselves fortunate to have reached the final.
Abby Wambach did what any good team captain would do--she watched out for her team. Knowing the rules and expecting they be enforced is not a penalty.
I'm too old to ever think about playing professional sports. I guarantee, though, that if I had such role models to look up to as a kid, I would have at least dreamt about the possibility. Those options did not exist when I was growing up. Girl athletes had to look to men's teams for inspiration, even though we knew we could never be a part of that circle. Professional women's leagues were just barely getting noticed by the time I went to college. Am I jaded? No. Did I waste time in my youth and teen years playing sports? Absolutely not.
Aside from the health benefits, playing sports teaches you to fight. To push beyond what you think your limitations are. To give all you got for a higher purpose than yourself--your team. I can honestly say that it was my involvement in sports that made me a less selfish, more ambitious and more respectful person.
These games make me feel like a kid again and these ladies are inspiring. And it is so refreshing to know that if my nieces want to be the next Abby Wambach, they can aspire to do so, and that they have such ladies to show them how it is done right.
Except I notice that nobody was beating down the door to make sure the six second rule when Hope Solo was handling the ball for 10 seconds against Japan. Not that anyone's counting
Why the negative comments? These women played their hearts out and deserved the win. Refs do their job the best they can and the games end up the way the do. Give praise and congrats where it is due.
I am proud of our U.S. teams and individuals who dedicate time and work to play at such high level in sports. They are true role models for the youth of today and yesterday.
Don't care, it's sports.. Few gay men do!
Unless you're playing or it's figure skating it's pretty much less than null. Of course, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't enjoy it. Have an orgasm for all I care!
Gooollllllddddddd!!!
In the beautiful game law enforcement is known to be in the hands and judgment of the head official on the field. The 6 second rule is seldom enforced, but the keeper knows that it can be at any time the official chooses. That knowledge should influence his/her decisions on the pitch. The same way anyone who drives knows that doing 35 mph in a 30 mph zone can get you a speeding ticket but seldom does, and you count on it not happening as you go speeding down the road. When I officiated I almost never enforced the rule, but reserved the right to do so if I thought the offending team was using it to stall for time at the end of a game in an unsporting manner. The game has its own rhythm and flow, so to blow a whistle and disrupt it for frivolous fouls is sacrilege (I put that in there for those who view soccer as a religious practice).
I found a lot to be inspired by in the US Women's team. The most remarkable thing was the selflessness of the players and their ability to put aside egos for the good of the team. They shine so brightly.
Congratulations!