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Two Tribes
To Manchester for the Olympic women's football semi-final between USA and Canada, and to meet the lovely ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
an_inside_job for the first time - at least, that was the idea...
Calling at the hotel bar for a bite to eat before setting off for the ground, I met a man from Canada who persuaded the barmaid to switch the telly over from BBC1's Olympic coverage to, via red button, the other semi between Japan and France. I then met two women who were also supporting Canada, but one of them was British. She asked where the Japan-France match was being played. I replied Wembley, and she complained that she lived near Wembley and yet she'd had to travel to Coventry to see Britain play on Friday, and now up to Manchester to see Canada. It turned out she was supporting the Canadians because the other lady, a good friend of hers, was the mother of Canada player Rhian Wilkinson. They were both delighted that I was a serious fan of the female game.
Walking up to Old Trafford with an hour and a half to kick-off I received a text message from Facebook, but nearly all the message was replaced by " *some text missing* " so I had to log into Facebook on my phone to read it. It was froman_inside_job saying she'd had to take her sister to A&E and was unsure whether she'd broken anything, so she wouldn't be making it for kick-off.
This was my first visit to OT and it did look most impressive both outside and in. I was in a central seat, ten or so rows from pitchside, in the North Stand. The North Stand and Stretford End were full, as was the adjacent corner section of the East Stand, with the odd few spectators dotted around the rest of the stadium. Both Canada and the USA had plenty of supporters present with lots of flags of both countries on display, though over the course of the game the American fans were a little more vocal. I had a group of Canadians sat right behind me and three American women sat right in front of me.
I have both Canadian and American friends on LJ and Facebook, so had been planning to watch the match as a neutral, until, just after I arrived at the hotel and posted on Facebook that I was in Manchester for the game, Lori called dibs on my allegiance with a comment. So for her, and forjust_jenni, I found myself supporting Canada (even though they'd knocked us out), but, to be fair, I clapped all the goals, saves and good goalmouth tackles by both teams.
Halfway through the first half Marie-Eve Nault of Canada sent a lovely through ball to Melissa Tancredi, who slipped her marker and tapped the ball behind two defenders to Christine Sinclair who ran across the penalty box into open space and slotted the ball home. All through the ground the Canadians went bananas.
Facebook was failing to send me texts to alert me to messages, so every half hour or so I'd log into Facebook and findan_inside_job had sent me a message twenty or so minutes before. Just after Canada's opening goal I checked Facebook to find that she was hopeful of making the second half but her sister hadn't been seen yet so she couldn't be sure.
It was still 1-0 at half time. Early in the second half Megan Rapinoe equalised for the States getting her head to a loose ball in the goalmouth. All the American fans jumped up and roared in celebration.
Then halfway through the half Christine Sinclair rose like a salmon to head home a cross and put Canada back in front. All around the ground Maple Leafs were waved vigorously, but Canadian joy was short-lived as Megan Rapinoe equalised with a shot from outside the box that went in off the post.
Just after that American equaliser I went back into Facebook to learn the bad news.an_inside_job's sister had dislocated her shoulder and so an_inside_job would have to stay with her. She was as gutted about her missing the game and us not getting to meet as I was. I missed Canada's third goal replying to her message, and just got a glimpse of the replay on the Titantron - it was another Sinclair header, completing her hat-trick. She has been one of the outstanding players of the tournament.
We were exchanging messages again a few minutes later, so I had to ask the guy sitting just along from me what was causing the drama that was going on in the Canadian penalty area. It turned out that the referee had given a free kick in the box against Canada's keeper Erin McLeod for hanging onto the ball for over six seconds. As the man along from me said, "Referees never give free kicks for that". The free kick had appeared to be cleared, but the ref had then given a penalty for handball. Abby Wambach made no mistake from the spot. 3-3. Hordes of Americans jump to their feet and start a deafening roar of "USA, USA".
In the closing minutes of normal time the Americans began committing a series of niggly fouls, and several of the Brits around me began wanting Canada to win. Canada defender Kaylyn Kyle went down, was seen by the physio and had clearly done her shoulder, but bravely played on (even though Canada still had one substitution left). With one minute remaining Canada's Sophie Schmidt went clean through to the side of the area, but her shot hit Hope Solo and sailed over the bar.
In extra time, the USA continued to be the more niggly team, but still displayed just as much skill as the Canadians. "USA, USA" rang all through the stadium most of the time, with a couple of chants of "Let's go Canada, let's go" during the US fans' silent spells. Both sides missed several shots, and had several saved. At the end of the second period we were deep into the announced three minutes of injury time, and everyone was sure it was going to penalties.
Then Alex Morgan struck the killer blow, heading home an Abby Wambach cross to send the USA through to the final. The American fans triggered an earth tremor jumping to their feet in unison, and filled the stadium with an absolute wall of noise. Their team had time for one more quick foray forward that fizzled out, but they'd done enough. The jubilant American players came over to our stand to applaud and wave to their fans. Christine Sinclair collapsed on the turf, her head in her hands. I felt her pain, but stood to clap a truly awesome US team who were well worthy of a place in the final.
Back at the hotel I was feeling a little flat, so headed for the bar for a Hoegaarden. I tried to watch Olympics Today on the bar telly but the level of chat was such that the TV sound was inaudible. I followed the cycling as best I could in vision only, drank up and wandered back to my room to watch the rest of Olympics Today. Alas, their coverage of the athletics was sadly lacking - only the men's 400m hurdles and women's pole vault were mentioned, and their footage of the women's pole vault consisted merely of two vaults, one successful and one failed, by Holly Bleasdale, who came sixth. We were told that the gorgeous Jenn Suhr won *mwah* but would it have hurt them to show her winning vault, less than a minute of footage? Yes, most viewers are interested mainly in "Team GB", but all true fans of the Olympics want to see the CHAMPIONS too.
A better round-up of the athletics action followed on Olympics Sportsday soon after, including Ms Suhr's gold medal vault, but I'm none the wiser as to who won the silvers and bronzes in anything other than the men's 400 hurdles. Sort it out, BBC.
an_inside_job for the first time - at least, that was the idea...Calling at the hotel bar for a bite to eat before setting off for the ground, I met a man from Canada who persuaded the barmaid to switch the telly over from BBC1's Olympic coverage to, via red button, the other semi between Japan and France. I then met two women who were also supporting Canada, but one of them was British. She asked where the Japan-France match was being played. I replied Wembley, and she complained that she lived near Wembley and yet she'd had to travel to Coventry to see Britain play on Friday, and now up to Manchester to see Canada. It turned out she was supporting the Canadians because the other lady, a good friend of hers, was the mother of Canada player Rhian Wilkinson. They were both delighted that I was a serious fan of the female game.
Walking up to Old Trafford with an hour and a half to kick-off I received a text message from Facebook, but nearly all the message was replaced by " *some text missing* " so I had to log into Facebook on my phone to read it. It was from
an_inside_job saying she'd had to take her sister to A&E and was unsure whether she'd broken anything, so she wouldn't be making it for kick-off.This was my first visit to OT and it did look most impressive both outside and in. I was in a central seat, ten or so rows from pitchside, in the North Stand. The North Stand and Stretford End were full, as was the adjacent corner section of the East Stand, with the odd few spectators dotted around the rest of the stadium. Both Canada and the USA had plenty of supporters present with lots of flags of both countries on display, though over the course of the game the American fans were a little more vocal. I had a group of Canadians sat right behind me and three American women sat right in front of me.
I have both Canadian and American friends on LJ and Facebook, so had been planning to watch the match as a neutral, until, just after I arrived at the hotel and posted on Facebook that I was in Manchester for the game, Lori called dibs on my allegiance with a comment. So for her, and for
just_jenni, I found myself supporting Canada (even though they'd knocked us out), but, to be fair, I clapped all the goals, saves and good goalmouth tackles by both teams.Halfway through the first half Marie-Eve Nault of Canada sent a lovely through ball to Melissa Tancredi, who slipped her marker and tapped the ball behind two defenders to Christine Sinclair who ran across the penalty box into open space and slotted the ball home. All through the ground the Canadians went bananas.
Facebook was failing to send me texts to alert me to messages, so every half hour or so I'd log into Facebook and find
an_inside_job had sent me a message twenty or so minutes before. Just after Canada's opening goal I checked Facebook to find that she was hopeful of making the second half but her sister hadn't been seen yet so she couldn't be sure.It was still 1-0 at half time. Early in the second half Megan Rapinoe equalised for the States getting her head to a loose ball in the goalmouth. All the American fans jumped up and roared in celebration.
Then halfway through the half Christine Sinclair rose like a salmon to head home a cross and put Canada back in front. All around the ground Maple Leafs were waved vigorously, but Canadian joy was short-lived as Megan Rapinoe equalised with a shot from outside the box that went in off the post.
Just after that American equaliser I went back into Facebook to learn the bad news.
an_inside_job's sister had dislocated her shoulder and so an_inside_job would have to stay with her. She was as gutted about her missing the game and us not getting to meet as I was. I missed Canada's third goal replying to her message, and just got a glimpse of the replay on the Titantron - it was another Sinclair header, completing her hat-trick. She has been one of the outstanding players of the tournament.We were exchanging messages again a few minutes later, so I had to ask the guy sitting just along from me what was causing the drama that was going on in the Canadian penalty area. It turned out that the referee had given a free kick in the box against Canada's keeper Erin McLeod for hanging onto the ball for over six seconds. As the man along from me said, "Referees never give free kicks for that". The free kick had appeared to be cleared, but the ref had then given a penalty for handball. Abby Wambach made no mistake from the spot. 3-3. Hordes of Americans jump to their feet and start a deafening roar of "USA, USA".
In the closing minutes of normal time the Americans began committing a series of niggly fouls, and several of the Brits around me began wanting Canada to win. Canada defender Kaylyn Kyle went down, was seen by the physio and had clearly done her shoulder, but bravely played on (even though Canada still had one substitution left). With one minute remaining Canada's Sophie Schmidt went clean through to the side of the area, but her shot hit Hope Solo and sailed over the bar.
In extra time, the USA continued to be the more niggly team, but still displayed just as much skill as the Canadians. "USA, USA" rang all through the stadium most of the time, with a couple of chants of "Let's go Canada, let's go" during the US fans' silent spells. Both sides missed several shots, and had several saved. At the end of the second period we were deep into the announced three minutes of injury time, and everyone was sure it was going to penalties.
Then Alex Morgan struck the killer blow, heading home an Abby Wambach cross to send the USA through to the final. The American fans triggered an earth tremor jumping to their feet in unison, and filled the stadium with an absolute wall of noise. Their team had time for one more quick foray forward that fizzled out, but they'd done enough. The jubilant American players came over to our stand to applaud and wave to their fans. Christine Sinclair collapsed on the turf, her head in her hands. I felt her pain, but stood to clap a truly awesome US team who were well worthy of a place in the final.
Back at the hotel I was feeling a little flat, so headed for the bar for a Hoegaarden. I tried to watch Olympics Today on the bar telly but the level of chat was such that the TV sound was inaudible. I followed the cycling as best I could in vision only, drank up and wandered back to my room to watch the rest of Olympics Today. Alas, their coverage of the athletics was sadly lacking - only the men's 400m hurdles and women's pole vault were mentioned, and their footage of the women's pole vault consisted merely of two vaults, one successful and one failed, by Holly Bleasdale, who came sixth. We were told that the gorgeous Jenn Suhr won *mwah* but would it have hurt them to show her winning vault, less than a minute of footage? Yes, most viewers are interested mainly in "Team GB", but all true fans of the Olympics want to see the CHAMPIONS too.
A better round-up of the athletics action followed on Olympics Sportsday soon after, including Ms Suhr's gold medal vault, but I'm none the wiser as to who won the silvers and bronzes in anything other than the men's 400 hurdles. Sort it out, BBC.
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