Neither announcer could add. At the 75th minute, or so, they thought there was only 5 minutes left. Then at 115, they thought the game should be over.
That said, that match was fucking epic.
Holy crap. That was way up there on the list of most exciting soccer games I’ve ever watched, if not the most exciting. Certainly the most exciting I’ve ever seen a US team win. Brazil earned my undying enmity after their diving and whining four years ago, and they just continued that today. When you have players as good as Marta (and her goal in stoppage time was insane) you don’t need to be whiny bitches.
The crucial tying goal in stoppage time of overtime was reminiscent of the goal in stoppage time (of regular time) by the USA vs Norway to force overtime in the gold medal game of the 2000 olympics which was equally exciting (again, tying at 2-2 after being up 1-0 early), although we then went on to lose 3-2 in overtime.
USA!!! USA!!! USA!!! USA!!! USA!!!
I love soccer and watch it whenever possible (as an American can at least) but that was by far the worst/greatest/angriest/most frustrating/most awesome/ and most UNBELIEVABLE game I have ever seen.
I was thiiiiis close to leaving that game about 10 times. My heart was beating, I was sweating…and now that it’s over I am just winded.
Go USA! Beat the World!!!
Also…can we PLEASE get some love for Megan Rapinoe??? She has been pivotal in every match she has played, and did the beautiful cross to let Abby win this game.
Rapinoe is certainly easy to spot on the pitch. Is it illegal for blondes to play soccer or something?
To add this on to what I said…
Maybe it’s because of her hair that I notice her on the field (that and I think she’s pretty hot), but especially her hair.
During the one game she was a sub she scored a goal straight away. Then subbed in again to score again (but it was called back). She is one of the few people on the team who can actually pass to someone else, she rarely gives the ball up, and always is the one to lead the charge to get everyone back on offense.
She does the little things…she reminds me a lot of Michael Bradley for the mens.
(btw…I’m totally not Megan or Michael)
Edit: Or am I…
That’s the best description. My facebook statuses during the game was just steady streams of expletives punctuated by cheering, with more expletives, then cheering, then cheering expletives…it was exhausting. Going from “we are getting screwed, there is no way we can win this” to “holy shit we are going into PK” to “HOLY SHIT WE WON!” was just incredible!
Cant wait for the France-USA match. You’ll see we’re not pussies, er…
The PK was a horrible call to begin with.
She was great against Colombia. She was awful against Sweden. And was pretty crappy against Brazil until the cross to Abby. She gives the ball away a lot.
To come to her defense twice…the entire team was pretty awful against Sweden, and her corners and free kicks were only so-so, but it’s not like anyone else’s were really spot on either. I also could very well have some blinders on but I don’t see her giving the ball away near as much as Boxx or that horrid LaPielbert (spelling…)
Do the Brazilians appropriate all their soccer players’ last names when they join the team? What if another Marta came along? Does she have to change her name?
No, she won’t. She might be called by a nickname or a different part of her name. You don’t have to have your legal name printed on the back of your jersey. Did you think Pele’s actual name was Pele?
Just saw the replay on ESPN. One thing no one has mentioned yet is that the Brazilian keeper came off the line early on the final penalty kick, too. It went in anyway, but I wonder if the ref would have had the guts to make that call with the game on the line.
She came off early on every single kick. I would assume that she would make the call on a miss, but I don’t know it.
Evidently the called back PK may not have been due to Solo coming off the line early, but encroachment by Lloyd before the PK was taken. But apparently that was not explained during the event, which is why Solo was carded for “dissent”.
The problem is that refereeing is so inconsistent that I bet you find other PKs in this World Cup that had people encroach as much or more than Lloyd did and not get called.
Part of it might be that you usually watch World Cup or other international games, which have referees provided by FIFA, the international soccer association. As an organization, FIFA has a reputation for being, um, well, let’s say politically minded in many respects, and one symptom is how they choose referees --rather than get only referees who work full-time for the world’s top leagues, they tend to get referees who work part-time in some tiny backwater country’s fifth-rate semi-pro league. Unsurprisingly, referee errors are generally considered to by much more common in FIFA matches than in regular top European league games.
Anyway, justice was served in the end. The U.S. looked the better team nearly the whole match. Could still do better in the attacking box, but really solid and organized defense, good ball control, I think very good control of tempo, better fitness and of course tremendous mental poise yesterday.
Brazil looked like they (especially Marta) have been reading a few too many of their press clippings, with the continual whining and moaning. Maybe we should set up a date between Marta and LeBron James?
Severely mixed grades on the referee. The game was chippy and physical from the start on both sides, and I don’t think any ref would have really stopped that. To her credit, she did card Marta for complaining, and rightly ignored a lot of players going down. On the downside, it seemed a yellow card was much more likely if the fouled player was lying there writhing. The PK was, on replay, not even a foul, but full-speed at the first angle looked pretty much like a classic takedown, so I’m not sure what the ref saw and how much to blame her for missing. The nullified PK save (and yellow card in the aftermath) made me wonder if the referee had ever watched a soccer game before in her life. The offsides on the second Brazilian goal was pretty minor, so not the worst call in the game (and not the head referee’s call anyway). And of course in the end, the ref did respond correctly to Brazil’s time wasting, by both yellow carding the offender and adding enough time on at the end.
In other events, Sweden looked very comfortably better than Australia pretty much all around, not that I can remember much of the match after the events of the next one.
Anyone have the story on Germany-Japan? How did that happen?
My take on Japan v Germany.
Japan vs Germany: Japan was inspired and had a plan. Deft ball movement, play keep away, attack when available, and Germany couldn’t figure it out. Japan was so comfortable with the ball on their foot, and the quick, short passes were always there. Japan also limited the set plays for Germany close to the goal. In extra time, I figured that Germany would somehow pull it out. Japan had controlled the pace of play, but hadn’t had many scoring chances. Then in the 108th minute they got a surprising goal. Even then, I figured that Germany would somehow even the match and prevail in PKs. It would not be. Kudos to Japan for an inspired performance.
So Japan just outcoached Germany?
Better coaching, more heart.