How Much Pressure Is on Team USA to Win the Cup?

How much pressure?

All the pressure in the world.

More pressure than can be measured by existing technology.

More pressure than Freddy Mercury and David Bowie memorialized in song, which they described, if memory serves as, 'under pressure - that burns a building down.'

This group of athletes, to their credit, created this intense pressure by winning through a set of unbelievable circumstances in the quarterfinals. Let me be clear - a women's athletics team got the attention of an entire nation, a nation which remains a male-centric sports culture even in the 21st century. But Abby Wambach, Megan Rapinoe and Hope Solo got our attention.

They profited as the German fans turned against first Fifa, then against Marta, then all of team Brazil. And then something else happened. It wasn't just anti-Fifa sentiment. It wasn't just disgust with Erika's shameless flopping. Rapinoe, Wambach and Solo, as well as Ali Krieger and Shannon Boxx, won those fans over. The Dresden fans were cheering for them, not just against Brazil, not merely against referee Jacqui Melksham.

It was a transcendent comeback. With it, they captivated America, too.

I hate to rain on everybody's parade here, but transcendent though this victory may be, it will be an impermanent moment if they do not go on to win the World Cup.

I started to make a list of the most dramatic finishes in sports -- Joe Carter's walk-off home run, the Colts-Giants 1958 NFL Championship game, Kirk Gibson's, "I don't believe what I just saw," home-run, the Immaculate Reception, Lorenzo Charles' unlikely bucket to win the 1983 NCAA championship, the Catch, the Miracle on Ice, etc., etc.

In so doing, I realized that each of the above moments either won a championship (Joe Carter, Lorenzo Charles, Alan Ameche), or happened on the way to a championship (the Catch, Miracle on Ice, Kirk Gibson).

We remember these moments, not in a vacuum, but in context.

The Niners' dynasty was built upon Dwight Clark's catch.

Charles' unbelievable dunk won the NCAA tourney for the huge underdog Wolfpack.

Even the Immaculate Reception, which didn't lead directly to a championship that year, marks the beginning of the Steelers' dynasty. If that team hadn't gone on to win Super Bowls, I don't think Franco Harris' grab and run would have a statue memorializing it at Greater Pitt airport.

The youngins may believe that the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey team defeated the terrifying Red Army team to win the gold medal, but for those of us who watched, we can never forget that game was the semi-final. They then defeated Finland in the Gold Medal game. Without that gold medal victory, nobody remembers Mike Eruzione. Or twitchy Jim Craig. Only die-hard hockey fans would remember Herb Brooks. Without that gold medal, the "Do You Believe in Miracles?!" game drops down on the list of most dramatic sports moments. I'd actually posit that the gold medal alters Al Michaels' career arc, too.

If Team USA loses the semi-final match to Team France today, or, if they go on to lose in the final to either Team Sweden or Team Japan, all of that attention, all of that passion for soccer, and the interest in women's soccer in particular is gone. Wiped clean. Without two more victories, all that buzz is vaporized, lost to the mist.

I have a friend who says that soccer is the sport of the future. And it always will be. For most of my life, soccer apologists have told me that the sport is ready to turn a corner in the US of A. That this one particular game will do it. Or that tournament will be the tipping point. Or this player will drag it onto the front pages for good. Blah, blah, blah. Personally, I don't really care if it never gets bigger than it is right now. I'm not futbol activist.

But if anybody can start a wee love affair with soccer on American soil, I think it's this team, this women's team. They have such a moment at hand. I hope they're up to it.

[Photos:  Wambach header -- timesunion.com; Rapinoe hug -- faithandcompromise.tumblr.com; Solo save -- nydailynews.com]

USA! USA! U.S. Women Win Wild Game Over Brazil

It seemed impossible. Everything was against them.

They were down a goal, on an officiating gift, no less.

They were down a player, on another officiating gift from Referee Jacqui Melksham. (Does this look like a red card to you? Seriously?)




They were facing Brazil and Marta, arguably the greatest player in the world. To say nothing of Christiane, who has got to be a top 5 player herself. Whassup with the Brazilians all being 'one-namers?' They're all just listed at the Fifa roster by first names. No kidding. And to think I always thought you needed to do something remarkable, like Pele, to be a one namer. Like Oprah. Or Elvis. Or Cher.

Sitting on that one goal lead in OT, the Brazilians were working every possible angle, taking 'gamesmanship' to the point where one might call it, oh, I dunno, cheating. Or at the very least a crass degeneration of the rules. (Yes, Erika, I am looking at you.)

One of the reasons I always enjoyed the women's game more than the men's game (yeah, I said it) was that there was less shameless flopping, and where there was an occasional flop, it didn't drag on and on, the length of an Orson Welles movie. If you've watched 15 minutes of soccer in your life, you know what I'm talking about. ESPN even made an hilarious commercial about it, here.

But with time dwindling away, Erika laid there, in a performance worthy of Cher back in her Oscar days, dragging out the delay of game for more than three minutes. (And to think, studies had proven that women bounced up faster.)

It made me sad, really, that this tremendously talented team resorted to these tactics, that they went around that bend, down that rabbit-hole, into the realm previously inhabited largely by their male compatriots -- relying less on talent and will, and more on shameless fakes and feints. Puh-leeze, ladies. God bless those German fans -- those hisses, whistles and boos weren't all reserved for the ref -- they were directed at the Brazilian team, and Marta herself. Deservedly so.

And then, in the 122nd minute -- the one-hundred and twenty-second minute -- in the extra-time after the over-time, somehow, some way, in story-book fashion that I wouldn't believe if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, Abby Wambach buried a magnificent header to tie the game, on a brilliant feed by Megan Rapinoe.

How do you say karma in Portuguese?

"Wambach."

That's the answer I got from my buddy Bob and I'm going to stick with that.

Strangely, I thought the American women played better, more aggressively, with a chip on their shoulders once they were down from 11 players to 10.

It certainly made it a more sweet victory.

And now, you'll excuse me, while I rhapsodize for a moment about goaltender, Hope Solo. She is model good-looking, but she struts like the toughest guy (or girl) in school, the one who might flip the bird to the school principal, and then make going to detention cool. I love her bad-assery and her cockiness. I think it's infectious. I love it.

Last year, when True/Slant was still around, I wrote that I had my first soccer memory while watching the men's World Cup and I should have clarified that I had my first men's soccer memory. My real first soccer memory was watching the 1999 Women's World Cup. I was visiting my cousins in North Carolina and, god bless 'em, neither had a television, so I availed myself of a new bar/restaurant that had opened to watch the final against China, largely by myself and transfixed. I can picture the bar clear as day, even though I haven't set foot back into it in a dozen years.

The point is that men's sports or women's sports, olympics or high school football -- we watch sports for something to do, because it's fun, and it gives you something to talk about with people. But we really watch sports to create memories.This game, this match up, this unbelievable comeback against Brazil, with the German fans chanting "U-S-A! U-S-A!," and a ticket to story-book land on the table, well, I'll never forget it.  Another amazing moment for my already rich treasure trove of sports memories.

If you want a quick breakdown of the rules (which is to say, how and why the US women were playing down a woman), so that you can prepare yourself for the semi-finals, this is a handy guide.

The US Women play again on Wednesday, in a match against France at noon. Be there.

[Photos: Wambach & Solo -- Martin Rose, Getty Images; Buehler-Marta pic -- Scott Heavey, Getty Images; Solo save -- Jens Meyer, AP; whole team -- espn.com]