There was a match during the European soccer championships in 2008 in which Turkey defied the odds by making a spectacular last-minute comeback from two goals down to advance. At the time, I called it the "Boise State-Oklahoma of professional soccer," a reference to the Broncos' breathtaking Fiesta Bowl upset of the Sooners in 2007. It was, in other words, the greatest game that I had ever seen.
That's no longer the case. The Turkey game has been supplanted.
Yesterday's performance by the U.S. women's national team to defeat Brazil in the Women's World Cup quarterfinals was unlike anything I've ever witnessed. It was stunning. Just stunning.
The sheer act of athleticism that is surviving a soccer game at that level under normal circumstances is something I think goes underappreciated by most. In no other team sport I can think of are so few subs allowed. In no sport, therefore, does such a large proportion of the players remain on the field (or court or diamond) the entire time. In no other sport is play virtually continuous -- no commercial breaks, no time-outs by the captains or the coach. In no other sport is a game ninety minutes long, not sixty as in hockey or football or forty as in college basketball. Ninety minutes of all-out physical exertion. Ninety minutes. That in itself it amazing, when you really think about it.
During the knockout phases of World Cup soccer, games that end in ties go another thirty minutes. That brings the total to two full hours of play. No additional substitutions. Not even a break between overtime halves. At the end of such matches, players tend to be, understandably, exhausted beyond words. It's what they can only hope two-a-day wind sprints and suicides and stadiums in the heat prepared them for.
To play 120 minutes and come out with a win is a big accomplishment. The U.S. did it down a man for nearly half the game. They did it against the No. 1 footballer in the world and a team of cry-baby dive-artist cheaters. They did it despite refs who were, charitably, out of their minds. They did it on an impossible goal by their star striker (a Gator, might I add) and a keeper with her honor on the line. And they did it twelve years to the day after the '99 Women's World Cup final where a different team of Americans made history on penalty kicks.
Truth is so much stranger than fiction.
Monday, July 11, 2011
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abby wambach was a cheating dive artist in the first half imho
ReplyDeleteThat's definitely my biggest complaint about professional soccer. Theatrics that should have no place on the pitch have become just another tactic. It's disgusting. That said, I really think Brazil took it to a whole different level in the second half on Sunday.
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