Unforgettable day for American women

While the softball game was going on, the water polo team was taking on the Netherlands. They started badly, giving up four goals before the first eight-minute quarter was half over. They outscored their opponents 8-5 over the final 28 minutes of the game and ended it with a furious rally at the Netherlands’ goal mouth. The final score of 9-8 sent the Dutch into a frenzy of celebration that is probably still going on at the Heineken Holland House.

But at that moment, it looked as if a day that had begun so brightly in a driving rain was going to end miserably on the soggy turf of the soccer stadium, where the U.S. women were assumed to be terribly overmatched by Brazil.

Brazil had laid waste to the Americans in the World Cup just last year. Brazil lost the title game to Germany, but their dominance over the Americans was absolute. The final score then was 4-0, which is the equivalent of winning the 100-meter dash by 85 meters.

The Brazilians probably figured this one would be easy, too. They were fast and athletic and had better pony tails – how could they lose? So they let the 90 minutes of regulation time go by in a blur of inactivity, turning the beautiful game into a beautiful cure for insomnia. I’m not saying the game wasn’t without its moments, just that you could have gone out for a beer in the first period and come back at the start of overtime and not have missed anything.

But the overtime – extra time in soccerspeak – was brilliant. Carli Lloyd fired in a left-footer from the left side of the box early in the first extra period, and then the Americans desperately held on for more than 20 minutes while the Brazilians tried desperately to score the equalizer and send the game into penalty kicks. With time almost out, goalie Hope Solo somehow stuck a fist up through a clot of about eight players in the goal mouth to punch a corner kick out of harm’s way.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Flying on the hardwood, racing on the rink, getting physical on the gridiron, and much more. more photos

The Brazilians were as disconsolate as the American softball team had been, and the Americans, who had long since given up absolute supremacy of women’s soccer, celebrated with the unbridled joy of a team that had done something no one thought it could.

They saved the best for last and the day for their country. It was a day we won’t soon forget.

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