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When our son turned four, my wife, Vicki, came to me and said our son needed to play a sport. With her being Italian, I was a little slow when I said, “He's only four what do you suggest?”
“Soccer,” she said, adding that if I coached, he could play at age four.
To show you how much I didn't know, I told her soccer was a sissy game, and I wouldn't do it.
So a few weeks later I am on the soccer field coaching these four and five year olds in a game I didn't understand. It was not after very long that I fell in love with the game. The level of endurance, the skill required and heart for the game is what makes it a great sport. I was able to coach both my kids for many years and even had season tickets to D.C. United. The level of intensity is such as not seen at many games. The spectators chant loudly in unison as they enter the stadium, and the chanting continues the entire game.
On Sunday, the United States women’s soccer team played its nemesis, Brazil, in the women's FIFA World Cup. Brazil, known for its hard play, had beaten the U.S. just a four years earlier to deny the team entry into the playoffs. There was a score to settle, a game to be won.
The United States played hard and had several of the worst calls made against them, probably not seen before in a soccer game. A U.S. player was ejected (red carded) at about halfway through the game for what the referee perceived as an egregious hit. This resulted in the United States needing to coordinate its attack while one player down the remainder of the game against a team already perceived as unbeatable. After all, the Brazilian women's team had not lost in years. This spelled almost certain elimination for the U.S. team, which would have meant no advancement into the semi-finals.
After a series of bad calls against the United States team, the U.S. team continued to play hard and stayed focused on its mission: to never give up and to win.
As time was winding down, the U.S. pressed hard to the goal. It didn't look like the team was going to pull it out. A Brazilian player fell near the goal and laid on the ground, eating up almost four minutes as the play clock continued to wind down. As she was taken off the sidelines on a stretcher and was being carried off down the sidelines, she suddenly sat up and hopped off the stretcher only to run back onto the field. It was so obvious the Brazilian player cheated, she immediately received a yellow card.
When our son turned four, my wife, Vicki, came to me and said our son needed to play a sport. With her being Italian, I was a little slow when I said, “He's only four what do you suggest?”
“Soccer,” she said, adding that if I coached, he could play at age four.
To show you how much I didn't know, I told her soccer was a sissy game, and I wouldn't do it.
So a few weeks later I am on the soccer field coaching these four and five year olds in a game I didn't understand. It was not after very long that I fell in love with the game. The level of endurance, the skill required and heart for the game is what makes it a great sport. I was able to coach both my kids for many years and even had season tickets to D.C. United. The level of intensity is such as not seen at many games. The spectators chant loudly in unison as they enter the stadium, and the chanting continues the entire game.
On Sunday, the United States women’s soccer team played its nemesis, Brazil, in the women's FIFA World Cup. Brazil, known for its hard play, had beaten the U.S. just a four years earlier to deny the team entry into the playoffs. There was a score to settle, a game to be won.
The United States played hard and had several of the worst calls made against them, probably not seen before in a soccer game. A U.S. player was ejected (red carded) at about halfway through the game for what the referee perceived as an egregious hit. This resulted in the United States needing to coordinate its attack while one player down the remainder of the game against a team already perceived as unbeatable. After all, the Brazilian women's team had not lost in years. This spelled almost certain elimination for the U.S. team, which would have meant no advancement into the semi-finals.
After a series of bad calls against the United States team, the U.S. team continued to play hard and stayed focused on its mission: to never give up and to win.
As time was winding down, the U.S. pressed hard to the goal. It didn't look like the team was going to pull it out. A Brazilian player fell near the goal and laid on the ground, eating up almost four minutes as the play clock continued to wind down. As she was taken off the sidelines on a stretcher and was being carried off down the sidelines, she suddenly sat up and hopped off the stretcher only to run back onto the field. It was so obvious the Brazilian player cheated, she immediately received a yellow card.
But perhaps even more noticeable were the spectators in that soccer stadium, in Dresden, Germany, began chanting, "USA, USA." You couldn't help but get goosebumps as foreigners were cheering for our team and our country. As time was closing, the play we were hoping for was imminent.
And then the magic happened, sitting motionless at our TV sets, we watched Megan Rapinoe, charging down the left side of the field, drilled a left footed long cross into the air, and with split hair precision, Abby Wambach headed it into the goal. This was the header of a lifetime for the veteran, perhaps her last FIFA cup game.
As the regulation time ended, the game was inevitably decided with penalty kicks. (PK's) with the U.S. nailing all five of its kicks. It was the comeback of a lifetime for the U.S. women's soccer team.
Why would the president of the Lake Area Conservative Club write a column about a soccer game you ask? It was the interview that took place following the historic win with the U.S. soccer coach and Swede, Pia Sundhage.
Sundhage said they won because it was the "American attitude to find a way to win" that won the game. Sundhage went on to say she was from Sweden and expressed her gratitude to coach a team that "brings out the best performance in each other."
What a great summation of the American spirit.
For the plethora of challenges we face as a nation, it was great to see that the flame still flickers in Americans, even if only another example as a FIFA World Cup soccer game.
Congratulations to the U.S. women’s soccer team, not just for the win, but showing the world the indomitable spirit we have.
Cliff Luber is president of the Lake Area Conservative Club
