So as many of you know, I am kind of a fan of the US Women's National Team [soccer]. Just a little bit :-) I'm one of "those people" who gets up at 3 in the morning to see them play. After last years 3rd place finish in the Women's World Cup, I was looking forward to seeing them play in the Olympics. Leading up to the Summer Games, three players were injured [Leslie Osborne tore her ACL, Cat Whitehill tore her ACL, and Abby Wambach broke two bones in her leg] After Abby broke her leg in the game before the Olympics, many people gave up on them saying that their Gold medal dreams were gone and that there was no way they were going to do anything. In the first game against Norway, it looked like those people may have been right. They weren't playing their game and Norway scored twice in the first 4 minutes of the game. But, they didn't score the rest of the game either, but neither did the US. They beat Japan in their next game, 1-0. This morning they played New Zealand. There were many scenario's where the US could win the group or get second in their group which means they would move on. There were also many where the US would get third and would only move on if they were one of the two third place teams to move on. The game couldn't have gone better. Heather O'Reilly scored in 40 seconds [yes, that's an Olympic record!] and then A-Rod, Tarpley and Hucles went on to score as well resulting in a 4-0 win. This win meant that the US would move on, but it gets better. Japan ended up beating Norway 5-1 which meant that even though Norway beat the US, the US won the group because of goal differential. This probably isn't every exciting for any of you reading this, but I was ecstatic. All of the people who doubted this team after the injuries they suffered are hopefully re-thinking what they previously said :-)Congratulations ladies and bring on Canada!
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