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July 15, 2011 at 11:00 AM
American Women’s Soccer Heads To World Cup Finals

American women’s soccer and Team US.A., soaring into this weekend’s Women’s World Cup final: U.S.A. vs. Japan.

U.S. players celebrate winning 3-1 the semifinal match between France and the United States at the Women’s Soccer World Cup. (AP)

U.S. players celebrate winning 3-1 the semifinal match between France and the United States at the Women’s Soccer World Cup. (AP)

The last time U.S. Women’s soccer grabbed the World Cup attention of the planet was 1999, at the Rose Bowl, in a delirium of victory with Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, and Brandi Chastain ripping off her jersey after the last, great kick to glory.

This week in Germany, we’re in a whole new delirium.

A gritty, astonishing new American women’s team going from breathtaking win to win. Lined up now for the World Cup final. Abby Wambach. Alex Morgan. Megan Rapinoe, Hope Solo. Just not giving up.

This hour On Point: American women’s soccer, and this World Cup.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Grant Wahl, writer, Sports Illustrated.

Becky Burleigh, Head Coach, University of Florida women’s soccer team.

Jennifer Doyle, author of the the soccer blog From A Left Wing.

From Tom’s Reading List:

 
  • Yar

    When did the US start investing in youth soccer across the nation?  I live in a small town, I think our first youth league started in the late 80′s.  This is the results of those investments.  Â
    Great work, and good luck.
    Thanks to all those community team coaches.

  • wauch

    Abby Wambach has had two of the sickest goals i have ever seen and in the most clutch of moments. She is a killer and we are lucky to have her on our side!

    • Ben

      “Sickest”?  or did you mean “Slickest”?  Considering head-trauma, I guess it could be either…

      • K187

        Ben, “sick” is slang for amazing, awesome, etc….

  • http://twitter.com/saabrian Brian

    I know we’ll hear all about heart and spirit and all those Hollywoodian qualities that Americans love so much. But can we also acknowledge that you don’t get to the World Cup final without quite a bit of skill and talent?

  • Guest

    way better than watching the guys rolling on the ground, clutching ankles, moaning at referees etc

    • K187

      wait–did you miss the Oscar-nominated performance by the player from Brazil who suffered a phantom injury, played dead for three minutes, left the field, then MIRACULOUSLY recovered and returned one minute later?

      Having said all that, the US women have been an absolute blast to watch, and I can’t wait for Sunday’s game!!!

  • MTH

    Yes, the heart and skill of this team are fabulous to watch.  But the real joy for me is to witness true team sport.  Women’s sports have not yet reached the point as Mens’ sports seem to have, with constant individualistic trumpet blowing after every successful play.  I’m so very tired of that attitude.

    I say we hand over the national debt resolution from Congress to the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team when they return.  THEY WILL FIND A WAY TO GET IT DONE !!

  • Kevin

    Can we get Pia to coach the US MEN’s team??? PLEASE HELP, PIA!!!
    :  )

  • Stephanie Poole

    I’m so proud of our women’s US World Cup team!  When I was in 10th grade in SC (in the 80′s), there was no girl’s varsity soccer team, so I played a year on the boy’s team.  I then collected signatures and petitioned my superintendent to get a girl’s team started.  We were terrible as a team, but I felt proud to be at the forefront of this movement for women’s sports.

  • Pingback: Sweden wants to end strong – ESPN | Acessando Net

  • Tonytyner1234

    I don’t follow soccer , but I am proud of our women’s soccer team. you go ladies….

  • Anonymous

    It says a LOT, that there are 12 comments on this…glance back over the other topics and their response numbers. There is something very wrong. Great Soccer to the women who played so hard for the U.S., and won.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Timothy-A-Dixon/1157625445 Timothy A Dixon

    Loyal podcast listener here.

    Thanks so much for this show. I enjoyed it immensely and especially liked hearing the comments of Becky Burleigh (who also won a couple of NAIA national championships at Berry College before going to Florida).

    I live in Rochester and Abby is probably the biggest local sports hero in the last 50 years.  It’s great to see Abby so revered by the country and the world, but let’s not forget about the other players. 

    It’s been great to see a new generation of American women step up and carry the mantle of the previous WWC and Olympic champions.  They have worked hard, have a great collective purpose which is coupled with oodles of skill and athleticism.  They deserve to be WWC champs, now they just need to go out and do it! You make me very proud to be an American.

  • Inter

    stillin: “It says a LOT, that there are 12 comments on this”

    I just listened to this podcast yesterday along with a few others.  I too noticed the difference in coment numbers.  My initial impression may be that there is little interest in the subject even though I enjoyed it.  Another explanation is its such a feel good story that there isn’t much for people to comment on.  People would rather comment on controversial things where they get sucked into debates with people on the other side or stories, like the Misery of Air Travel, that gives people a chance to complain and vent.  If someone from Japan came on and started trash talking the U.S. team or accusing the referees of bias towards the U.S. in the France game you might have gotten more people hooked in a discussion.  This is why stations like Fox get such great ratings.  They use controversy, division and outrage to get people hooked in.

    With that said podcast download numbers might give a better clue as to what the true reason is.  Personally I like the change of pace that the sports topics bring to the program and enjoyed this podcast.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Iris-Pereyra/1206730476 Iris Pereyra

    Dissapointed with the US loss to Japan, but happy that they have something to celebrate! Congratulations Japan!!

  • Joe

    Yes, we should definitely root for people based upon where they were born.  That makes a lot of sense.

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