- by Joe Curtis, writing from Pembroke Pines, FL
After the game, I logged on to Facebook. These were the first two posts I saw:
- "As bad as I feel for the U.S soccer team. Let's face it, soccer sucks."
- "Soccer can go back to being irrelevant now."
As a fan of the game this is frustrating. My wish is not for soccer to become "America's Game", but rather that it becomes a respected game. Soccer in America has slowly grown, but it seems that every step forward leads to two steps back. The U.S. Men's team gained the support of the country during the World Cup last summer, but lost to Ghana in the second round. The summer before, in the Confederations Cup, the men's team defeated #1 ranked Spain and led Brazil 2-0 into halftime in the Final. Soccer in America is like sports in South Florida. You are only relevant if you win. Even the mighty Miami Heat fell out of the spot light for casual fans when they failed to win the title. The U.S national soccer team's victories bring them into the national spot light, but once they fail to achieve the ultimate goal they fade right back into oblivion. America loves winners. This is why all major champions in the United State’s major leagues are known as “Champions of the World”. If you are not seen as a winner you are going to have a hard time gaining the respect of the country.
Beyond helping win the respect of the country, the U.S. Women’s team was well on their way to win respect for women’s sports in general. During the world cup I heard at least three people say: “you couldn’t pay me to watch women’s soccer”. For the most part you couldn’t pay most people to watch women’s sports, but this world cup something special happened. Something that Nike and US Soccer probably didn’t expect. Grown men wanted to wear their favorite Women’s national team player’s jersey. This caused a problem mostly because the USWNT jersey did not come in men’s sizes. As a result men began to customize USMNT jerseys with USWNT names. Players like Alex Morgan, Abby Wambach, Hope Solo, and Megan Rapinoe became household names. Today bars were filled across the nation to watch and cheer on their women’s team. There was even a crowd in Times Square. President Barack Obama became a fan, and tweeted during the game.
Soccer in America won’t happen over night, and it will probably never become “America’s Game” but you cannot over look the missed opportunities to ignite the fire that would lead to a growing love and respect for the game.
Arguably the greatest game in the history of U.S. Soccer. After a game filled with controversial calls, he USWNT trailed Brazil 2-1 into added time in extra time. An Abby Wambach goal kept the US alive and forced penalties. Twelve years ago today the USWNT also went to penalties. It was the 1999 World Cup Final against China. The U.S. walked up and put all five shots in the back of the net. Today they made it 10 for 10. You don't want to go to penalties with the U.S. on July 9th. Below is the Wambach goal in extra time and the penalties that followed.
How this wasn't called a handball blows my mind. wow
Heather O'reilly's Golazo in the 12th minute of the USWNT's World Cup game against Colombia.
After the match against North Korea goal-scorers Rachel Buehler and Lauren Cheney head to ESPN. In Heidelberg there's an open training session for Armed Forces and their families and the WNT also meet up with their own families ahead of the match against Colombia.
Japan 4 - 0 Mexico
13' Homare Sawa 1 - 0
15' Shinobu Ohno 2 - 0
38' Homare Sawa 3 - 0
80' Homare Sawa 4 - 0
- 06/28/11 - USWNT vs North Korea
- 07/02/11 - USWNT vs Colombia
- 07/06/11 - Sweden vs USWNT
The United States Women's National Team took on Italy today in the first leg of a playoff series for a spot in next summer's Women's World Cup. I couldn't help but compare the game to the USMNT World Cup game against Algeria, in both games the ball just refused to go in for the United States. Both games ended with an emotional goal stoppage time. Alex Morgan on her game winner:
"We were pushing up and looking for a goal and that's what we did," Morgan said. "Me and Abby [Wambach] stayed up, she got a great long ball, flicked it on and I was there to finish it."
Italian coach Pietro Ghedin on the stoppage time game winner:
"Even before they scored, we could have very well allowed a goal in the previous five minutes." "We didn't have any strength left and fatigue led to that goal."The United States is one step closer to the 2011 Women's World Cup in Germany. The second leg of the playoff will take place on November 27th in Bridgeview, Ill.
Three days after Mexico upset The U.S. Women's National Team in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament, The U.S. was back in Cancun to take on Costa Rica in the Third Place match. A win would keep their World Cup dreams alive and require a Win in a Two-Leg Playoff With Italy in order to earn a spot in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Sounds like a peice of cake for the U.S. (The #1 Team in the World) but it was supposed to be a piece of cake against Mexico and that didn't turn out too well. Motivated to get out of this relatively small hole they dug themselves into they started Monday nights game strong.