Soccer Sunday

So much soccer going on right now!

Number Two and her father were watching the women's World Cup match today, and kept sucking in me and Number One, though we were trying to get ready to go see the City Islanders play. They were only five minutes into the first overtime (USA down 2-1) when I couldn't stand it anymore. They'd paused the game for a while and were behind, and I couldn't stand not knowing what happened, but I didn't want to miss kickoff of the CI game. Soccer live is so much more fun than soccer on TV!

So I went into Number Two's room, where she had ESPN 3 queued up. I was just going to check the score, but they had a live stream, and when I clicked it, I saw they were at 123+ minutes and tied! So we lingered to watch the penalty kicks. It was so hard to scream and boo silently, especially when it was over and we'd won. I actually hurt my throat a little without making a sound. LOL

The CI game wasn't so exciting, though it was a good game overall. We tied in the first few seconds of stoppage time, but then the weirdest game ending I've ever seen happened. We were driving toward the goal. The referee started to blow his whistle just as we shot, and scored. It sounded like he was whistling a foul, but he was whistling the end of the game.

Which you are NOT supposed to do in the middle of a play on goal. That's like declaring a football game over while a pass is still in the air, or a basketball game as the player shoots the winning basket. Part of what makes soccer exciting is that you never know when the game will be over. Control is fully in the referee's hands.

I've never seen the players react so violently to anything. Half a dozen got in the ref's face, shouting, and the fans were screaming, and yellow and red cards flashed. I have no idea who got the red card. One of the coaches came to lead the ref away from the players, who subsided a little, but were justifiably furious.

I'm sad that there are only four home games left!