Novak Djokovic beat Rafal Nadal in a herculean Australian Open finals that lasted 6 hours. The same day Arsenal had to summon every fibre to overcome a two goal deficit to overcome Aston Villa and prevent a FA Cup exit.
And then there is the US Women’s team that blanked Canada, 4-0, en route to winning the CONCACAF qualifiers to the London Olympics. In five matches the US poured in 38 unanswered goals. It was Armageddon. Yesterday’s match saw Abby Wambach collect her 130th and 131st goal to go past Kristine Lilly and become second to Mia Hamm on the all time goalscorer list. And in Alex Morgan and Sydney Leroux you see the next generation who could overtake Wambach, eventually. And we haven’t gotten to the midfield that score a ton of goals. The US is also blessed by one of the best defenses and goalkeeping talent.
The depth in this women’s team is stunning. The danger of course is to become so caught up in this game of inflated expectations as demonstrated in last year’s World Cup finals. But one doesn’t see it in the players. Each one of them shows up to play and play hard.