I'm suppose dot be on vacation, but I had to stay up late after all have gone to bed in order to write about this past morning's Women's Worlc Cup game between Brazil and the USA. It was quite simply an unbelievable game and one in which the good guy (or more specifically, good girl) won.
I want to start my comments by saying that I am not one to blame the refs for my team losing the game. In general, if we lose because the ref makes a bad call, I blame us for not doing more - not scoring more goals, not playing better defense, not playing better. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I just can't bring myself to blame refs. With that being said, I can't help but be incensed by the absolutely terrible job done by the Australian ref, Jacqui Melksham. With the US up 1-0 after a second minute own goal, she called a PK after sweeper Rachel Buehler brought down Marta in the penalty box. the call itself was legit - I have no gripes. But what ensued was a travesty - Hope Solo brilliantly saved the PK only to have it called back fro leaving her line. I have seen handful of goalies move forward before a PK is taken - sometimes it's called, sometimes it's not. But all were more egregious than the called against Solo. It wasn't that she jumped forward it was just that she was an athletic freak on the play and made it look too simple. It was bad enough that the US had to play a person down for the rest of the game, but the ref gifted Brazil a goal after making them retake it.
The US continued to battled, knowing that the only way to win was to get it to PK's. Surely they wouldn't be able to handle the speed, flair and creativity of the Samba Queens. Surely this was going to be Brazil's day...and then something strange began to unfold. Brazil got complacent. They looked tired. They somehow decided not to make their final two subs even though they had us on the ropes. They appeared more content to draw fouls than they were to step on us when we were down.
We kept on battling and then in the 92nd minute, Marta scored again. It was a moment of brilliance but after taking a second look, one of the Brazilians was clearly offsides - another blown call. The first one was terrible. The second one just defeating. No way this team would overcome the odds. They would have the distinction of becoming the first team not to make the semi-finals at the World Cup. With USA greats Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Brandy Chastain in the house, they were going to be huge letdowns.
Still, the team battled. When Brazilian defender Erika went down with an apparent injury, only to jump off the stretcher and run to the midfield line, the crowd started to turn. I have not seen neutral fans cheer for the US in a long while - somehow everyone in the buidling new that screw job they were seeing. They suddenly saw that this great Brazil team that everyone wanted to see pay beautiful soccer was nothing more than a con. They didn't want to play pretty soccer - they wanted to grind out a win any way they could. Ian Darke said it perfectly when he noted that suddenly the cynicism of the men's game was entering the women's game. The crowd could see this - they knew the US deserved better and they directed their venom at Marta, who ironically was the only Brazilian not to stop to such low levels.
The ref added on 3 minutes of stoppage time to account for the faked injury...and then it happened...Meghan Rapinoe whipped in a cross from 40 yards out. The keeper came out, but somehow missed it and Abby Wambach who couldn't buy a goal earlier in the tournament (and somehow was getting the ire of most fans) was their to score the biggest goal of her life. I jumped up and down for the first time (not counting Sounders' games) since Landon Donovan scored against Algeria last summer. Not only did I jump but I was feeling a little choked up. Kudos for Julie Foudy for keeping it together in the booth - I'm not sure how she was able to keep it together.
From there, the outcome was already written. There was no way that Hope Solo wasn't going to win the game for them. She not only is a better keeper than her counterpart but she is more athletic and most important, had a huge chip on her shoulder. After Christiane and Marta scored, the visibly nervous Daiane stepped up to take the kick. Solo had her read the whole time and pushed her shot wide. Our girls then converted the next two kicks and we won 5-3.
I haven't felt this way in a long, long time. We were getting screwed. We were being held down. We deserved better. And as with all US soccer teams, we never quit, we never backed down and we came back to win. With Germany and Brazil out, we are now not only the favorites, but we are a team of destiny.
Couple of points about this one:
ReplyDelete1. Agree with you that the ref had a horrible game but it wasn't all against the USA. She should have sent off Lloyd earlier in the game for a deliberate hand ball and a second yellow. I think that's why the unfortunate Buehler got sent off, I think the ref realized her mistake and took a quick decision on the tackle on Marta and made up for missing the earlier one (personally I think it was a terrible decision, Marta flung herself at the ball so it was hardly a 1on1 goal scoring opportunity denied, PK probably but certainly no red card there imho).
2. As for the retake, it actually was the correct decision, in the replays, it was obvious that one of the US players was already in the box as Brazil took the kick. Sucked for Solo but in the end no harm done right? (except for the BS yellow card Solo got, wonder if she said something nasty?)
3. Ian Darke was right, and I had actually mentioned it to one of Terra's friends (staying with us in Oregon) that it seemed like the women had been watching last years men's tournament too much. The Brazilians were terrible at it, a lot of play acting particularly from their wingers. However, it has to be said that Abby Wambach took a couple of suspicious looking tumbles in the second half and there was a bit of "professionalism" from both midfields during the game. Its my opinion that the high stakes of world cup brings out the best and the worst in players (just hadn't seen it before in the women's game). I thought it a little disingenuous of Solo to be trash talking the Brazilians after the USA beat them, but then again it wouldn't be the first time she has gotten herself into trouble for running her mouth :-)