Another Soccer Post

The start of the US vs. Spain Match was a nice sight to see. The FIFA confederation has teamed up with UNICEF to declare their SAY NO TO RACISM campaign. They actually declared this at the last FIFA Cup in 2006 I believe, but it was nice to see them STILL saying their pledge. The National Team captains declared on behalf of all players that they “wholeheartedly reject racism or any kind of discrimination, whether on or off the field of play. Using the power of football, we can help eradicate racism from our sport and the rest of society as well.” It was nice to see this sort of tradition continue... I said a quick prayer for my U.S. team right as the match started, and I was VERY happy that they seamed to come out of the gates READY to play! They had a couple good shots on goal in the first few minutes and I was on the edge of my seat since the beginning of the game! I remember asking myself if I should give Matt a call to see if he wanted me to wait for him to start the game, but I quickly pushed that out of my mind knowing I would not be able to resist watching until he got home...

It was not until the 27th minute that my heart stopped pounding so hard. Altidore scored off a deflection from Spain's goalie to score the first goal of the game! I was holding sweet sleeping baby Landon in my arms when this occurred, and I forgot all about him. As I JUMPED up for joy with the excitement of this goal I woke the poor little guy very abruptly! He did not complain of course because he was excited to watch the game with his mommy! This was the first goal Spain had allowed during this FIFA playoff game so I was VERY excited to see it!

The half ended with US 1 Spain 0, and I was VERY relaxed! That is until Spain came into the second half with a VENGEANCE taking every shot and chance they had to get back into the game. The picture above is Howard our PIMP goalie who held strong and kept Spain quiet with a shutout! The U.S. scored again around the 70th minute to make me relax a little more off the edge of my seat. And that is how the game ended... U.S. 2 Spain 0. WHAT a relief!!My hope from the post yesterday SURE did turn into something GREAT! They stopped Spain's 15 game winning streak, AND are headed to the Finals!! Understandably, the soccer world is stunned by these results as nobody expected them to win. What’s even more ironic is that the Americans were on the verge of elimination last week. Now, one more win will give them their much-sought soccer glory. But even if they lose in the Confederations Cup finals, this is already a great achievement for team USA. By winning the semis, the United States soccer team advanced to its first men’s FIFA final since starting play in 1916. HELLO! This is me VERY happy! ~

And this is Landon Donovan..... again..... yum.....