A Great Day for Real Soccer Moms

I don't actually blog about sports every often, although I'm a big sports fan. However I just had to write about the USA women's soccer victory yesterday, which was so amazing and so emotional that it had me leaping around with tears running down my face.

For those of you who didn't see it: horrible referee gave completely unfair calls against US. Bralilian women very good at falling over and making it look as if they were pushed (which in slow mo replays they weren't). Anyway, one unfair call after another. US player sent off. Had to play most of the game with ten players against 11.US goalie saved a penalty shot saved then made to take it over again (again a wrong call). And then the worst thing. A Brazlian player acts as if she is hurt. Lies motionless on grass while medics attend to her for 4 minutes. The aim--to see if those four minutes do not get added to the clock. She's carried off on stretcher and the moment she's off the field she jumps up and trots back into the game.

Then right began to triumph. The crowd, not only Americans, were angry about the bad calls and especialldy this last piece of trickery. Every time Brazil got the ball they booed. Especially Marta, whos pretend fall had caused the penalty. And then their own tricks came back to haunt them. There were three extra minutes of injury time given. And during those three minutes the US scored brilliantly to even the match. Had the Brazilian player not pulled the fake injury the game would have been over.

And the last piece of justification: the penalty against the US got re-taken because they said the goalie moved (which she didn't). So during the penalty shoot out their goalie came right out of the goal and of course they now had to make her retake the shot (which the US scored on)

So total justification.

I had intended to write about Wimbledon at some stage and why there are no US men or women in the top ranks any longer. I was going to say we no longer breed champions, that we're too soft on kids over here. Nobody is allowed to fail. We get happy faces and are all made to feel good and equal and that it's not necessary to try too hard. But I take back every word of what I was thinking. Those soccer women showed grit, incredible endurance, depth of character, team spirit, patience and perseverance. They showed the best of what America is made of.

I wish I could have written this on the Fourth of July!