As they did twelve years ago to the day, the U.S. women’s soccer team delivered.
It was July 10 when Brandi Chastain scored the game-winning penalty kick against China in the 1999 women’s World Cup final — the goal that prompted Chastain to take her shirt off and fall on her knees with her fists clenched.
On Sunday, it was Ali Krieger with the game-winning penalty kick — with her shirt on — that gave the U.S. a dramatic come-from-behind win against Brazil. The U.S. men’s team can learn a thing or two from the women about how to deal with adversity and get the job done.
Although No. 1 in FIFA’s world rankings going into the 2011 World Cup, the U.S.’s loss to Sweden last week forced the Americans to play Brazil, a team that hadn’t lost since 2009 and hadn’t given up a goal in three World Cup matches.
The U.S. scored first, sort of. Brazil’s Daiane scored on her goal trying to clear a ball out of the box. For the rest of the half, the U.S. women did what the men couldn’t against Mexico in the Gold Cup final — hold a lead.
The men’s team’s lack of focus, and at times cockiness, signaled their downfall. When Landon Donovan’s goal put the U.S. up 2-0 midway through the first half, he celebrated by clucking like a chicken, poking fun at the five Mexican players who had tested positive for a banned substance which the Mexican players blamed on tainted chicken.
The U.S. women, however, didn’t indulge their egos.
In the second half, the U.S. women’s team played shutdown defense and had a couple offensive opportunities for 23 minutes. And then the drama unfolded.
Marta, Brazil’s female version of Pele, dribbled past two defenders and when the ball seemed to get past her reach, fell to the ground like she’d been tased. The referees awarded her a penalty kick. U.S. defender Rachel Buehler was sent off the field with a red card, leaving the U.S. team to play shorthanded the rest of the game.
The controversial penalty could’ve started a riot after goalkeeper Hope Solo blocked Brazil’s Cristiane’s kick and the lines judge ruled that the penalty kick had to be retried. Brazil swapped Cristiane for Marta, and this time Marta made it 1-1.
For the next 22 minutes, the crowd of 25,598 jeered and booed Marta for flopping like she was LeBron James, and the U.S. seemed to play better down a player. The team made better passes, controlled Brazil’s attack and continued dictating the flow of the game.
Compare that to the men’s team, which watched its lead evaporate in the second half, as it gave up the lead in the 50th minute before watching Giovani Dos Santos score the goal of the tournament in the 76th minute to give Mexico a 4-2 lead.
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The shorthanded women’s team managed to take the game into extra time. In the second minute of extra time, Marta scored a goal only reserved for soccer gods. Now the shorthanded U.S. women had to face another obstacle, down 2-1.
Unlike the men’s team, the women’s team did what Michael Jordan used to do: Every time we thought he couldn’t, he would.
In stoppage time, in the 122nd minute, when the chances of the U.S. equalizing were as slim as a Jersey Shore cast member winning a Nobel Peace Prize, Abby Wambach provided the fireworks. The U.S. eventually converted all five of its penalty kicks, and Hope Solo made a diving save to preserve the victory.
Contending with bad calls and a late-game deficit, the U.S. women didn’t focus their energy complaining to the refs. They didn’t accept that they had a viable excuse if they lost the match and they knew if they gave everything they had, they could pull off something similar to what had happened 12 years ago. And they did.
The win puts the U.S. in the semifinals, where it will face France on Wednesday. Hopefully the men’s team was watching, and maybe it can learn a thing or two about this women’s team. Someday…
U.S. Women’s Soccer
July 13
U.S. vs. France
11:30 am ET
ESPN, espn3.com
