Thursday, September 20, 2007

Final Eight Set

After returning back from training, the U.S. players saw the end of a heartbreaking tie for the Canadians that knocked them out of the tournament. The players were a few minutes late for dinner as they watched Christine Sinclair score an apparent winning goal in the 85th minute, only to be negated by a Cheryl Salisbury strike two minutes into stoppage time. Australia needed just a tie to advance, while Canada needed to win, and for team captain Salisbury, perhaps the greatest player in Australian history, the goal was a fitting capper to her international career. Oh yeah, as a reward for its dramatics, Australia gets Brazil in the quarters. Brazil managed just a 1-0 win over Denmark, but peppered the Danish goal throughout the match. Most of the U.S. players also got a chance to watch the China game, which was kept close by some great work from NZ goalkeeper Jenny Bindon, but you had to admire the pluck of the Kiwis. They battled to the end against China despite being eliminated from advancement after the second game.

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