Olympic Women’s Soccer Open Thread: Gold Medal Match

The day has come. We survived the last game, and more importantly, we survived all of the Canadian fans and the bitter comments they made in passive-aggressive tweets and Facebook statuses (I still love you Canada). If you somehow missed the last game, here’s a cute YouTube video that basically explains it all via ukulele. It was dramatic, and I’m sure we can all agree that the game brought out a lot of feelings. I think Intern Grace said it best in a tweet: #SOCCERFEELINGS

Megan Rapinoe attempts to distract us from her attractiveness — to no avail.
via {USWNTgifs tumblr}

Well, get ready to have #soccerfeelings x 392375 because of course it came down to USA and Japan. Last time, this kind of match didn’t end so well on our part, but we’re a totally different team now, wouldn’t you agree? I think Abby Wambach might agree:

I think the fact that we lost the World Cup and the way that we did gives us even more passion and desire to go out and perform tomorrow. We saw each other in the Village. We told each other that we’re both glad that the other had won because we believe that we’re the top two teams in the world and our fans deserve to see a great final. This gold medal match is going to be nothing short of that.

 I’m so excited! We made Pimm’s Cup to celebrate! Let’s talk about the game, because we’re in this together!

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Hansen

Hansen is the former DIY & Food Editor of Autostraddle.com and likes to spend most days making and cooking and writing. She teaches creative writing at Colorado State University and is pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts in her free time.

Hansen has written 189 articles for us.

219 Comments

  2. got my american flag, popcorn, lemonade, war paint, and game face! go pinoe and wambach and the uswnt!

  6. omg you guys, I am simultaneously excited and scared about this match.
    We need to score like five more times until I can breathe a sigh of relief

  7. You can trick NBC a little bit by doing a temporary live streaming pass for two hours. Then maybe if you clear your cookies and us a different email address it might work again…

  8. And we’re up 1-0 right now! OMG!

    I love that this is a rematch of the World Cup final. I know we will prevail this time. Go USA!

  10. I am currently in Bangkok, so I stayed up til 2:00am to watch this – but they’re showing platform diving instead! *dying*

  13. I have to keep reminding the nerd in me that it’s inappropriate to yell “WEASLEY IS OUR KING!” every time I get excited.

    • Whenever I yell things at people or screens, it’s usually “SLAYER !!” or “PANTS OFF !!”

  14. I’m hooked on womens football now, especially since watching TeamGB play Canada live last week. Went and watched Canada win against France today. But I’m rootin for USA to win Gold now

    • I was there too yesterday! Kind of wished GB had gotten through but always nice to see the french beaten, besides i have a soft spot for short dark haired canadians, matheson’s so small :)

  15. P.s, some of Japans players have unfortunate names “ohno” & “fukumoto” fun for the commentators, speaking of which Sue Smith is so cute!

  16. I can’t live stream on my work computer, so I put the game on the TV in the break room. I must be very thirsty today because I need water approximately every 5 minutes. ;)

  17. I’m watching this in class, which unfortunately cuts down on running around the room screaming “GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL”

  18. Currently watching in a kick arse pub in downtown minneapolis! This place is packed with fellow fans with big time #soccerfeelings. Best way to watch is surrounded by lady living ladies.

  19. my very favourite so far was Brandi Chastain’s commentary on a call against Wambach: “The ref really doesn’t like it when it comes from behind.”

    uh huh. you know this how, Brandi?

  20. I am failing my due-in-19-hours dissertation as we speak to watch this.

    Hope Solo. Fuck yes. And go on Alex Morgan, do your thing.

    (Fuck I love Canada though. Sinclair forever. Also Tancredi’s feelings on that shitty penalty call were the same as mine so we can be mates.)

  27. WAIT. WTF.
    Why would you sub OUT Megan Rapinoe? i has a sad. though i’m grateful for that shirt lift as she left the field.

    • Two things about Pinoe:
      1. I don’t think she got enough recognition for her super hero skills in the Canada game. It was like the Alex Morgan show, which is great bc Morgan scored an amazing goal, but I didn’t see much media talk about Rapinoe’s ridiculous goals.
      2. I think Pia wants more consistency from Rapinoe, and pulls her out when she’s not having her best game. We’re just begging for more at this point.

  36. “they play a penetrative ball.” -brandi chastain.

    will somebody please make a compilation of these amazing snippets of commentary from the olympics?

  37. Japan is starting to make me nervous.

    I really want my imaginary girlfriend Alex Morgan to score.

  38. Omg, I am (quietly) watching the live stream via my work pc in my office and I literally screamed when we scored and now everyone thinks I’m nuts…..and they’re right, but I mean….soccer feelings!!

  41. re the ref talking sternly to carli lloyd: “I want to hear her scold someone. in her hot german accent.”
    “pshh. i want to hear her scold me.”

  46. Oh my Goddess, Hope Solo is making some of the best blocks & catches I have ever seen!!

  63. yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
    aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy

  65. MEGAN RAPINOE JUST TOOK OFF HER SHIRT AND THE CAMERA PANNED AWAY. WHY DOES NBC DENY US OUR PLEASURE???

  71. That was SO worth staying up til 4:00am for. Thanks autostraddlers for keeping me company while I watched the match solo in Bangkok!

  79. With all due respect to our British friends, (England, after all, has brought us Monty Python) I just watched the game in streaming (because I have 10 channels and none were showing the game) and the British commentators were unbelievably dry and monotonous! In fact their attitude toward the game might best be described as: Mildly interested in what’s ocurring, but only because all the other channels are showing infomercials and the People’s Court so what choice do we have?

    This is the GOLD MEDAL MATCH GUYS!! GET EXCITED!!! Maybe this is partially because I’m used to Spanish-speaking commentators who describe everything at the speed of light, but seeeeriously!!

    • probably because our usual soccer matches are so fucking boring anyone in that job over here has lost the will to be excited about it.

    • Well, I thought they seemed engaged and involved; from a British perspective. Also Lucy is from Yorkshire: this is significant. I think what you are hearing is mainly culture.

      You do hear a little more excitement from commentators in UK “home” team games but the energy and hyperbole in Spanish speaking commentary, in my experience, is something else. It’s fun, but a bit much, to my ears.

  80. I would like to say that I am very proud to have grown up in Northern California, and thus, in the same region as Megan Rapinoe. I HAVE BEEN TO REDDING MANY TIMES. Ahhhhhh.

    • ahahaha. One of the British commentators said something like “Solo’s strong fingers save the US squad” and I couldn’t help but snicker.

  82. YES!!!!!!!!! WE WON!!!! WE WON GOLD!

    (Also, why are the Japanese crying? They’re world champions, they won gold in Beijing…and they got the silver here! They still did fantastic wth?)

    • Well, for starters, they’ve never won an olympic medal period, this is their first time on the podium (they finished fourth in Beijing). Secondly, they just lost a game they could’ve won with a little bit of luck and/or better refereeing. I think the crying is justified.

      • Okay I think I was mistaken about who won gold before. I thought I heard one of the commentators say they had. Never mind then.

        • They weren’t awarded one very clear penalty kick (a handball by Heath), and there was another debatable situation in the goal area.
          I’m surprised we don’t hear more about it, considering the Canada match and refereeing led to heated debates, whereas this game, with a far less questionable penalty kick (the US got a penalty kick they maybe shouldn’t have gotten, as opposed to Japan not getting one when they definitely should have), didn’t get the same critical treatment.

          I admit I’m a Japan fan, and if nothing else I wish they’d at least lost in a game without major refereeing mistakes.

    • They were great, and so positive at the ceremony, but they just lost the final, perhaps the last for some of their players…does it really need explaining?

      Perhaps it’s football culture: there’s only one cup to win in a cup final.

  83. GOLD !!!!!
    oh man how did I not check AS earlier to share my feels ?

    Also I hope someone giffed all the shirt lifts

  86. OMG you guys I just watched the game at fucking Hooters with
    two straight sexist dudes and they basically ruined the game
    for me. Also Hooters is fucking trashy. I DVR’d the game so
    hopefully I’ll be able to watch it again this time without
    hearing “OMG HOPE SOLO THE THINGS I WANT TO DO WITH YOUR MOUTH”
    My girl Carli Lloyd scored TWICE in this game and scored the
    winning goal in the 2008 olympics. You guys I hope we can get
    this new Women’s league they were just talking about because we need it.

    Also I had a dream last night about Abby Wambach. She was training
    me to be a soccer star. It was awesome. Just saying..!!!

  90. I watched this game at work with a coworker. Rapinoe taking her shirt off was glorious and i cranked my head to get a better look as the camera was moving away from her. Shame on your cameraman or lady. Did you see her fall when she was trying to get the flags? So cute. So cute sums up everything about her.

  92. Congrats to the USA from Canada! Even if I’ll never ever ever ever get over that delay of game call, ever.

    • And I will never get over Tancredi stepping on Lloyd’s face deliberately and getting away with it. Along with her 8 other fouls she got away with without getting the red card. It evened out in the end, maybe?
      All-in-all, a couple of brilliant football games that I loved watching both for the sport and for the lovely ladies involved.

      • The non-call on the step to Lloyd’s head wouldn’t have made a difference in the score though, I’m not defending what Tancredi in anyway it was definitely low, but the step certainly couldn’t have been too bad if Lloyd managed to score twice today and lead the USA in a victory over Japan for gold. But yeah the USA and Canada both had incredible tournaments and we should all be very proud of these ladies :)

  93. i would´n normally cheer for the U.S, and it still bothers me that you gus call it soccer, but WHAT A TEAM!
    BY FAR, te best team at this moment, congrats!
    i woke up at 8, jus for this match.

  94. Its August- I don’t have AC. My Wambach t-shirt is soaked from all the jumping, happy-dancing, and feelings. What an awesome run they had! BEST! So pumped! So excited! So proud! So dehydrated! Wooooo!

  95. So many feelings…My heart hurts and is bursting with American pride.
    I TRULY love this team and the inspiration they provide… Not just chasing your dream and succeeding in sports, but generally – just persevering in life.

    (and it’s also an awesome bonus that the team is full of hotties).

  97. I’m bummed that I missed this game but SO EXCITED to watch it Saturday night with a cute girl who recorded it so we could watch it after we go out for dinner. Score.
    It’s going to be even better now that I know the US won! Ahhhh I can’t wait to watch it.

  98. Well I missed this as the game was going on, (too many #soccerfeelings I guess) but, I would like to take this opportunity to serve my own socially relevant needs.

    USWNT will be playing Australia on September 16 in Carson, CA which juuuuust so happens to coincide with the end of A-Camp. Tickets are not on sale yet but I would like to hereby organize this as a thing, and I’d like you to come with me!! (Bonus: Pinoe and Walshy on field action?)

  99. In one of the unsafest things I’ve ever done, I streamed the game on my phone and watched it while driving 75 mph on the freeway

  100. OMG YOU GUYS I HAD WORK ALL DAY! :(((((((( no hot soccer for me but I will watch it tomorrow? There will be lots of inappropriate squeeing going on.

  103. There are no words… I keep tearing up reading about this team and seeing the emotion on their faces. I am elated for these girls and don’t want this to end. Someone at work asked if I was ok and I snapped back “Allergies!” #lies #soccerfeelings

  104. Brb reblogging the entire USWNT tag on Tumblr. Because I know no other way to express my affection for these fantastic women. Other than stalking Megan Rapinoe, and that would be inappropriate (well, hopefully).

    • UGH. For serious, this is why we can’t have nice things. WTF America?! Why do people keep making us look bad? Gah, I can’t even.

      I was just thinking about how the Olympics are great because everybody comes together and cheers for everyone, and forgets for a while about war and hate. And now it’s ruined. Goddammit people, stop sucking so much.

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