US Women's Soccer Team Did Choke and That Is Okay

The epic Women's World Cup Final between the United States and Japan was a joy to watch. The effort of both teams was incredible. 

Nozomi Yamago, the goalie for Japan, was the best player on the field. She saved everything in her power to reach and was aided by wild shots from open US players.

Japan played a bend but do not break style that saw them on the defensive for most of the game. When Alex Morgan scored her amazing goal late in the second half, it felt like the United States team was on their way to a World Cup title.

Morgan's goal displayed athletic prowess as she corralled the pass from Megan Rapinoe then chased the ball down and sent a missile into the net past Narazaki.

Then the first choke came as a bungled defensive effort led to a point blank shot for Japan that Hope Solo had no chance to stop.

The ball was on the way out of the scoring area but a US player inexplicably booted it back to the center of the field where the Japanese striker knocked it into the goal.

Then Abby Wambach came up clutch again in extra time to give the US their second lead.

But again Japan proved a worthy foe and took a corner kick in the waning moments of the game and knocked it in to force the game to penalty kicks.

And the US team folded badly in the penalty kicks. Their goalie, Hope Solo, did make one clutch save but the Japanese goalie stopped two shots and watched one sail over the top of the goal. Abby Wambach did knock in her shot on the USA's fourth try to give them a chance, but it all ended on the next kick.

So now I want to explore the nature of how men see women's sporting events. If Landon Donovan air-mailed a penalty kick in a game where the United States had two separate leads then we would have no problem calling that a choke.

I did not feel like the US Women's Soccer Team choked at first. I was proud of their effort and I even felt pride for Japan, a country that has dealt with a horrible tragedy and really could use a boost from an epic victory.

The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that I was being disrespectful to the US Women's Soccer Team. These are girls that have grown into women while playing a game that they love. These are women that were ranked number one in the world and had their opponent down twice in the game.

We do not give men an E for Effort, and it seems insulting that we would give the women a free pass here. They had the title in their hands and they blew it, simple as that.

It is okay that the US Women's Soccer Team choked because they are real athletes with real expectations. They did not live up to their expectations. All of the hard work, practice and sweat took a talented team to the brink of a title and their domination of the title game was impressive.

Their loss then becomes that much more disappointing.

The US Women's Soccer Team deserves respect for how they carried themselves through an international tournament.

They gave an amazing effort and when the game was on the line, they choked. It happens to athletes all of the time and it seems important that we now include women into the critical side of sports.