Why the U.S. women’s soccer team is sport’s greatest team and America’s best export

Exclusive Op-Ed: America's Band of Sisters

By Joe Donnelly, TakePart.com 

By MattGerlachPhotography

I’m not sure how I’m going to talk about USA women’s soccer without sounding like some babbling teenage, fanboy kook. I’m not. I’m well into middle age and generally sober, often skeptical and sometimes cynical. But I can’t do that here now, not after what I saw take place at venerable Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, on Monday.

I hope you saw it for yourself because words get real small and inadequate when they try to describe the bigger things that sometimes overwhelm us and make us feel humble and elevated at the same time. These things often happen in nature, but sometimes on the pitch, and that’s what happened yesterday when Alex Morgan headed a beautiful loping cross from the right wing off the foot of Heather O’Reilly to defeat Canada in the Olympic semifinals, 4-3.

The goal came in the 123rd minute, with 30 seconds left in the second and final overtime before the game would have been decided by the lottery of a penalty kick shootout. Calling the game one of the greatest soccer matches ever doesn’t do it justice.

Full Op-Ed at: http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/08/07/why-us-womens-soccer-team-sports-greatest-team-and-americas-best-export