History redeems more than it
repeats.
So it will be with the United
States Women’s Soccer team against Japan’s on Sunday, July 5, as they play for
the FIFA World Cup in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Although it comes a day
after America’s Independence Day, for fans it will be the fitting finale for
the fireworks of the night before.
Why?
Because Team USA will beat
Japan, that’s why.
You can call it destiny,
Karma, or whatever word suggests a combination of redemption and inevitability.
The story began four years
ago in Frankfurt, Germany when Japan stunned the U.S. on a penalty shoot-out following a 2-2 draw in regulation time before 48,000 fans and won the World Cup, the first Asian team to do so.
The U.S. led Japan throughout
regulation play but the tenacious Japanese drew even every time. Although the
U.S. got its revenge against Japan in the London Olympics a year later, the defeat
in Germany never left its dark hold on the psyche of the players. It was the proverbial
one that got away and its only redemption lay in defeating the plucky Japanese
in another World Cup.
And so here we are four
years later. Thirteen members of current Team USA were part of the team that
lost in penalty kicks in 2011. And get this: all four women who took the
penalty kicks for Team USA in Germany will be playing against Japan in Vancouver this Sunday.
Revenge is not a noble word
because it is universally agreed that its antonym – forgiveness – is. And yet
in sports, revenge can be a good thing, a substitute for redemption.
Anyone who watched the semifinal
match between Japan and England in Edmonton on July 1 will probably agree that England was the better team. They controlled the play
for most of the time and created the better opportunities. And yet when England’s
Laura Bassett scored a soul-crushing own goal in stoppage time to give Japan
the victory, you had to read between the feints and the passes to recognize
what was going on: Japan and the U.S. were destined to meet in the final, the
confluence of forces beyond analysis and data-crunching. Undoubtedly England
will get its chance at redemption in years to come but now the spotlight is focused
on Team USA to erase history and write a new chapter.
It is true that the Women’s
World Cup soccer pales next to Men’s in its global impact. On a scale of 1 to
10, the Women may merit 1 or 2 while Men register a whopping 10+. There is no
comparison in the passions that the Men’s Cup unleashes. Consider what happened
to Andres Escobar of Colombia who scored an own-goal playing against the United
States in the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
Colombia lost 2-1 to the U.S. and was eliminated. Five days later, in the town
of Medellin, Colombia, Escobar was murdered in cold blood by some disgruntled fans.
For Ms. Bassett, on the other hand, there has been nothing but sympathy even
from the notoriously unforgiving English media.
The final between the U.S.
and Japan is likely to rouse passion to at least level 6 in soccer’s impact
scale. Asia, or at least South Asia, will be riveted because Japan is playing.
North Americans will be glued to the screen, well, at least the soccer
aficionados will. South Americans will probably be watching as well, since on
Saturday, July 4, they will have watched Messi and Argentina take on Chile in
Santiago for the Copa America final, a game steeped in soccer history and
rivalry. That leaves Europe, Australia and
Africa (penguins in the Arctic and Antarctic get a pass) but with soccer a
global game, and teams from these continents having played in the tournament in
Canada, the audience there is also expected to be sizeable. Besides, all the talk
about revenge and redemption have aroused the curiosity of even lukewarm fans.
So, here is the prediction:
Team USA will beat Japan.
By what score, you ask?
3-1.
One other thing: Hope Solo, Carli
Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Abby Wambach, Kelley O’Hara and company must
peak on July 5 (they haven’t yet, although against Germany they showed the
flashes of brilliance they are capable of) to reach the summit. Redemption
requires a river of sweat and tears and, unfortunately, even some blood.
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