So after catching the France vs. USA game on Wednesday, I marked it on my todo to wake up and watch the Finals of the Women's World Cup. Thinking it was at 2pm, turns out it was 2pm eastern time (aka 11am our time)... duh.. I guess I should have realized that all the good sporting events market in eastern time... lol. Luckily though, I woke up a bit earlier than usual (12:30pm)... thinking I'd get ready to watch the game, so I was able to catch the 2nd half onwards.
The game was really good. One of the better matches I've seen. Japan's #10 was amazing - only word to describe her was wow. So fitting that she wears that jersey. She was easily the best player for both the teams. It is pretty awesome that this Sawa person even scores in extra time to tie the game back up.
The other cool thing I thought was how the Japanese defender played that last play - where she essentially took out Morgan (the US striker) right outside the penalty box. It was definitely a red card play, but it was the right play. What I liked most though was the defender wasn't going in for a kill, but just going for denying the breakaway. Pretty classy in some ways - if it wasn't for the defender, pretty sure Morgan would have closed out the game.
Goes without saying, Morgan was pretty awesome. The goal in the France game was just pure finesse, and the goal in the final she had was well deserved. The pass was nice, but I can't help to notice how she really created the opportunity for this one herself. In the run to the ball, she cuts the D's run by running on the other side, causing the other player to have to slow down. Doing that allowed her to get that few steps ahead - it was so subtle, but was the key to the play. Apparently she was the youngest person on the squad, but I'd bet alot of players probably won't do something like that.
Originally I was going to take a break since the tally is now a bruise near the rib area, and a busted ankle that hasn't fully healed - but because of this awesome game, it inspired me to play injured the double header today. So here I was, warming up, ankle was feeling pretty good, the aspirin was dulling the bruise, my shots were on target. It was gonna be a good day I thought. Then I make an attempt to pass, and then I hear in my knee two distinct snap snap... First time this has ever happened, but yea, it hurts! In some ways, it's both sad and funny because a) it was before the game even started b) no one was around me c) my knees didn't touch the ball d) all I did was kick the ball...
So the good part of it is that I knew I didn't break a bone (if I did, it would be pretty bad if all it took was to kick a soccer ball lightly, I must have osteoporosis or something). So with that, I played the first game... haha.
The other team didn't have enough players, so we loaned a few of ours... and then we lost... lol. I guess this is what happens when you loan the best players on your team to your opponents!
After the first game, the pain started kicking in, so I sat out for the 1st half of the 2nd game, and played maybe about 5 minutes total of the 2nd half. This game we did win though! 2 wins in 2 weeks (out of 4 games)... still an improvement :).
With that, this first season is over - onto the next one (which starts next week)...
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