Before anybody says anything, yes, I know this wasn't an upset anywhere close to that of the "Miracle on Ice." According to the FIFA's world rankings, it wasn't an upset at all. The rankings currently have the United States women listed as the team atop of their rankings, while Brazil is number three. However, that doesn't make the United States' win over Brazil any less miraculous.
Before I further discuss the "miracle," let me first briefly explain the game of football (soccer in the United States). Games consist of two, 45 minute halves of continuous play (i.e. the clock does not stop). At the end of each half of play, they add on stoppage time (or injury time - both terms work), which is approximately the amount of time that play was not going on during each half. This is done to ensure that there is 45 minutes of actual play during each half. All in all, most games are 90 minutes in length (two 45 minute halves).
In most cases, if teams are tied after 90 minutes of play, the game will end in a draw. In later stages of tournaments, such as the World Cup, there has to be a winner, so teams play what is called extra time. Extra time consists of two 15 minute halves (they also add stoppage time to each half of extra time as well). In most tournaments, during extra time, there is no such thing as a "golden goal" (first goal wins). Teams play the full 30 minutes of extra time regardless of the score. Once extra time is added in, the game is 120 minutes long.
If teams are tied at the conclusion of extra time, teams will participate in a penalty shootout to decide the winner. For American sports fans, this is very similar to shootouts in the game of hockey, even though the game of soccer has done it much longer. A penalty is a shot taken from the penalty spot, 12 yards from the goal. It is one on one, shooter against goalkeeper. One rule to keep in mind about penalties, because it will become an issue later, is that goalies must remain on their line (i.e. goalline) until the ball has been kicked. The penalty shootout is a best of five penalty competition between teams. Each team alternates shooters until the end of the shootout. At the end of five rounds, the team with the most goals wins the shootout and the game. If the teams are tied after the five rounds, it pretty much goes into sudden death, with each round being important. If the first shooter scores in every round after the fifth, the second shooter must score in order to keep the game alive. If the second shooter scores the game continues, if he/she doesn't the game is over. If the first shooter misses, after the fifth round, a goal by the second shooter wins the shootout and the team. Overall it is a pretty simple concept.
Now that that has been explained a little bit, let me get back to the miracle that was the United States win over Brazil. After 90 minutes of play, the United States and Brazil were tied 1-1, which meant the game was headed to extra time. In only the second minute of extra time, Marta, who is probably the top female player in the game today, scored an absolute beauty of a goal. That left the United States, who were playing a player down due to a red card in the second half, 28 minutes to either score and equalize the game or go home. It wasn't until the 122nd minute when Abby Wambach of the United States did just that. Let me say that again, the 122nd minute, which means the game was into stoppage time at the end of the second extra time period. This goal could not have possibly come any later in the game. If Brazil gains possession, or if the ball goes out of play for a goal kick, the game is probably whistled over right there. Had it possibly gone out for a corner kick, they probably would have allowed the corner to be taken but nothing much further than that.
For me personally, the Wambach goal is my favorite sports moment of all time, passing the Landon Donovan goal from last summer's men's World Cup. I really never thought that I'd see anything pass the Donovan goal in the near future, let alone only a year later, but the Wambach goal did just that. The thing that made the win over Brazil much sweeter was the fact that the United States was given a rough go of things by the referee all game. I'm not saying that because I'm an American cheering for the United States either. I'm saying that as a fan of the game of soccer. The ESPN commentators were sayting the same thing as well.
It wasn't going too bad until the 65th minute of the game. At that time, Rachel Buehler (of the United States) pulled down Marta inside of the penalty area, resulting in a penalty kick for Brazil. Not only was Brazil awarded a penalty and an opportunity to equalize the score, but Buehler was also given a straight red card for the foul, which meant the United States had to play a person down for the remainder of the game. There was a huge outrage as to whether the play should've been called a penalty or not. I personally tend to side with the referee on that one. It was a questionable call but Buehler did have a handful of Marta's jersey at the time, which is a foul anywhere else on the pitch (field). So again, I'll give the referee the benefit of the doubt on that one. However that foul was in no way deserving of a card, let alone a straight red one. That put the United States at a HUGE disadvantage for the remainder of the game.
When it came time for the penalty, Cristiane took it for Brazil and was stopped by United States keeper Hope Solo. However the Australian referee stepped in and ordered that the penalty be re-taken. Three days later, I still have no idea why this happened. Did the referee, or one of her assistants, rule that Hope Solo was off of her line early (I told you that rule would become important later, and it will again)? Video replays showed that this wasn't the case, but that doesn't mean that that wasn't the call. Or did they call that a teammate had entered the penalty area before the kick was taken? This probably could have been called on the play but it's one of those things that's very rarely, if ever, called. For her trouble, Solo was awarded a yellow card which we also have no idea the logic behind. If I had to guess, I would say dissent, but I honestly have no idea. Needless to say, Marta buried the re-take to square the game at one goal apiece. That's how the game went into extra time.
There was even some controversy surrounding Marta's goal in the second minute of extra time. Many people, including the match commentators (Ian Darke and Julie Foudy) were arguing that the play should have been whistled dead before the goal for offsides (it mentions that in the original article). It was certainly close, but again I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the officials on the pitch. They were put in that position by FIFA for a reason. Again, I don't want to take anything away from Marta on that goal. It was an absolute thing of beauty and Hope Solo never had a chance. That set the stage for Abby Wambach's heroics only a half hour or so later.
I'm not surprised that an American writer for ESPN (Jemel Hill) managed to get this entire thing dead wrong. She does acknowledge that this is a great moment, but since the United States was one of the favorites coming into the tournament, this means nothing if the United States doesn't win the entire World Cup. Unlike Dicky Dunn, in the movie Slap Shot, she failed to capture the spirit of the thing.
She does know that in 1980 the United States men's ice hockey team beat Finland for the gold medal and not the Soviet Union, right? The win over the Soviet Union was the defining moment for the 1980 Lake Placid Winter games, yet 31 years later it's a popular myth that that was the gold medal game. That's not true. After the Soviet game, the United States had to beat Finland in order to win the gold. Had they lost that game, they would've finished fourth (out of four) in the medal round and wouldn't even have medaled, even after they defeated the mighty Soviets. It's amazing how details change over time.
Win or lose, I think the Abby Wambach goal will be the defining moment of the 2011 Women's World Cup. If the United States does win, I'll almost guarantee you that the same thing will happen to this game that happened to the Miracle on Ice. If the United States does win, and I'm not saying that they will, people will remember the final being the United States and Brazil because of Wambach's special, if not miraculous, goal. In reality, the final is on Sunday between the United States (who defeated France today) and Japan (who defeated Sweden - who already defeated the US in the 2011 World Cup - today).
The other thing that Jemel Hill got dead wrong is what this means for soccer in the United States. It's moments like the goals scored by Abby Wambach and Landon Donovan that get the American public excited about the game of soccer and their national team. Moments like this are HUGE (understatement) for the sport in the United States. The game of soccer will never be as popular in the United States as American Football, Basketball, and Baseball, however it's moments like this that put the game on the map. Just in the past week, I've gotten apologies from two different people because they said at an earlier time that the game of soccer was boring. Anything that gets people looking at the game in a positive way, like the Wambach goal, will never be relegated to just a footnote in American sporting history if the Americans don't win the whole thing. At this point, a majority of the American people probably have no idea that the United States is the top ranked team in the world at the moment anyways. But it's moments like this that get them to this point down the line.
I for one will probably always remember where I was and what I was doing when that goal was scored. For those watching the World Cup, this very well may be their JFK moment. I've heard several people over the years who know exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. I personally remember that for 9-11 and, to a lesser extent, the Landon Donovan goal a year ago. It's just a fantastic sporting moment that I, and those watching will never forget.
Let me close by telling you how popular the United States - Brazil game really was (I got this from the Hill article). The REPLAY of that game on Sunday night drew a rating of 2.6. This was a higher rating than the NBA Draft, which only had a 2.5 rating on the same channel. Basketball is more popular than soccer in the States, but not on this occasion.
I'd lastly like to say good luck to the United States women in the World Cup Final against Japan on Sunday. I'll be behind you on Sunday, as will an entire nation that bleeds red, white, and blue. Go USA!
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