I have watched a lot of football (soccer) matches, but today’s women’s World Cup quarterfinal match between the USA and Brazil tops them all.

Having grown up in St. Louis where soccer was popular and having played soccer myself as a boy, I have followed various World Cup matches beginning with the 1966 final between England and West Germany. Back then women’s soccer was not an on anyone’s agenda, but things have changed. This year’s FIFA women’s World Cup is being held in Germany and the German team was a pre-tournament favorite, but they lost their quarterfinal match to Japan yesterday. So one of my two teams was eliminated, and it looked like the USA would be knocked out today. Playing a man (oops, a woman!) short the last 54 minutes of the game (including 30 minutes of overtime), it just didn’t seem possible that the USA could come back. But come back they did, with Abby Wambach scoring an amazing header in the 122nd minute to tie the score, making it the the latest goal in World Cup history. The Americans then won the penalty shoot out. With their tenacity the American squad won over the fans in Dresden. The women can really play football! Their game is cleaner than the men’s game and a lot of fun to watch.