Article first published as Women's Soccer World Cup Final: Japan Defeats US To Inspire A Healing Nation! on Technorati. (Author-Apeksha HA)
What a final it was? Inspiring, Amazing, Classy – no words can be fitting enough to describe the emotions that have engulfed the hearts of the millions of people around the world. It was a match between the favorites: USA and The Sentimental Favorites: Japan and will go down in the history of the World Cup as one of the most complete and entertaining finals of all.
If there was a nation that needed this world cup victory more than ever, it was Japan. This victory for Japan is more than a soccer match win, people will look at it as the most inspiring tale in their history and will give them hope to fight and become one of the best again. As Hope Solo said: "As much as I wanted this, if there was another team I could give it to, it'd be Japan.". For the first time, US fans won’t be disappointed by the loss of their own team.
Both teams played mesmerizing soccer to keep everyone glued to their seats. Twelve shots in the first 30 minutes and only one on the target; this stat will come back to haunt the memories of every US player for the coming years. IF ONLY they could have capitalized. But saying that, we cannot take anything away from either team as both deserved to win this World Cup Final equally.
This was the best game that US has played in this World Cup and got 1-0 up by a brilliant goal by Alex Morgan in the 69th minute. But the Japanese team who had won with Germany in extra time and came back a goal down in the Semi Final, was not to give up so easily. On a rare lapse from the US defense, Miyama equalized the score in 81st minute. It was a case of being at the right place at the right time. With 1-1, the Finals went into extra time, third time in the history.
In the extra time, US again took the lead with Abby Wambach scoring in the 104th minute(her 13th World Cup career goal) to give US the lead second time in the match, only to be equalized by Homare Sawa near the end of the extra time. But the most critical moment came in 120th minute when Azusa Iwashimizu of Japan sacrificed herself for the team to save a probable goal by fouling Lloyd near the penalty area and received a red card. She is the real hero as Japan then went on to win in the penalty shootout with US scoring only one out of 4 chances.
To summarize: My key learning(s) from today’s match:
1) Never Give Up In Life: Even if you are the underdogs, you can still come back and win. Japanese team by its grittiness and belief rewrote history today.
2) Keep your cool under pressure: Japan was able to win the match because they handled pressure better than US team did.
3) Winning is not the only way to rule the hearts of millions of fans around the world: US team by its classy play and attitude throughout the World Cup will definitely be a rage in the world!