Ending The Quest.

They say all good things come to an end. As much as I don’t want to believe that saying as true, it was accurate when it came to our World Cup quest.

This post will have a little about soccer and a lot about the rest of the fun, crazy, and beyond random happenings we ran into in our last few days in The Peg.

I will start by saying this was a trip I will never forget as long as I live. Even though there wasn’t much to do in Winnipeg by the end of our stay, we still had a great time. We watched seven matches with some of the best players in the world just feet in front of us on the pitch leaving their all, contemplated the coaching decisions of some of the highest ranked and paid coaches in the game of football, and made new friends from all over the world.

One of my favorite memories from our trip would be the day we got to watch New Zealand play. The night before the game Jessie and I made signs for Hannah Wilkinson and Erin Nayler who play for the Lady Ferns. Hannah is an outside mid who plays at the University of Tennessee and Erin is the goalkeeper for NZL. Flashback to our St. Louis trip a few months ago, we got to watch our very own USWNT play against the New Zealand national team, which is how we knew we wanted to cheer them on. After watching Erin play just one game, I knew she was a keeper to look out for at the cup. Her technical ability to read the game is almost perfect compared to most other goalkeepers. Jessie actually got to meet Hannah a year ago when UT played at WKU as well as when we were in St. Louis, so we were really excited for this match to see two of our favorite players on the field.

This game was a make or break deal for the Lady Ferns. A tie or a loss would end their World Cup shot. That is where this tournament is really unfortunate. Because of the points and grouping system, they played some of the toughest competition to draw in the group stage. They had previously tied the Canadian national team who are ranked high enough to win it all. However, they ended with a 2-2 tie, a heartbreaker. A team that can hang and almost beat a team who could win it all, sent home because of points when you have teams getting beat 5-0 who get to continue into the sweet 16 knockout stage.

As we made the posters we tweeted Erin and Hannah a picture of them in hopes that they would see them at the game. A few minutes later we were invited to sit with the NZL fans by Erin’s boyfriend! We got really excited as he started sending me pictures on twitter of their posters to look for and told us where they would be sitting. Before the game started the next day we went over to their fan section and met the team’s families, discuss our trip to Canada, hear about their experiences so far, and snap some pictures with them. During warm ups Erin and Hannah both spotted me and Jess in the stands, so we were really hoping at that point we would get to talk to them after the game. Thanks to Erin’s boyfriend and family, plus my loud mouth screaming their names, Hannah told us to come up into the stands behind their bench to talk and get pictures. As we ran, and jumped, half way around the stadium and over rows of chairs, we finally made it over to their side. Jessie finally got to talk to Hannah again and I got to meet her, then Erin came over and gave me her keeper gloves, we got some pictures together, she signed my sign, and we just got to talk for a minute. I found out that she also really looked up to Hope Solo growing up and she is one of her biggest influences when it comes to the game. Hannah invited us to come back to their hotel at the Delta so she could give Jessie her game jersey, so after we said goodbye to our new friends we did just that. The smile on Jessie’s face when Hannah handed her that number 17 signed kit was priceless!

The excitement didn’t stop there though, during the NZL game there was fan who jumped the fence and ran onto the pitch. He did a flip in the middle of the field and ran around until security caught him. Absolutely hilarious. When they finally got him tackled (after he tackled one of their own) they drug him into the tunnel and handcuffed him, which we got to watch happen right in front of us! The players were at a complete standstill, hands in the air like “Is this really happening?” They didn’t show all of that happening on TV so I’m glad we were there to witness it.

But it still doesn’t stop there! Also during that game the China coach got thrown out for being out of his coaching box, tried to grab the ball during stoppage time away from the NZL defender when she went to do a throw in. As he got thrown out he walked back the NZL head coach, tried to shake his hand, and of course he wasn’t having it. That did however make it onto Sports Center!

World Cup Outtakes

As I mentioned in a previous post, the jumbotron was having a few problems with spelling the players names out.. Whitney Engen is definitely not Engine General. At another game it ended up saying “Ethiopia yall, Ethiopia I cant.” So I made that the joke of that game, Ethiopia I cant.

I think we went to every pet store in Winnipeg. When there is nothing to do, you go check out the animals and play with them at Petsmart, Pet Traders, and Pet Value.

We found a sports bar that we ate at a few times called Wild Wing. The food was delicious, a great price, and the manager there used to be the manager at The Cav, so we immediately bonded.

When getting ready one morning for a game I was using my hairdryer and tripped the breaker, for the entire upstairs of the Cav.

We met Jerramy Stevens, Hope Solo’s husband. He used to play in the NFL and still signs his name with #86 when you ask him for his autograph.

Jessie met Jrue Holiday, Lauren Holiday’s husband. He plays in the NBA and tried to sign Jessie’s book with the cap still on the sharpie.

We learned that Portage Ave. where we had been spending a lot of our time is where the druggies hang out.

During the Germany game there was a fan who knew nothing about soccer but yelled the ENTIRE time. I was so annoyed. NUMBER SEVEN!! NUMBER FOURTEEN!! The ENTIRE 90 minutes.

Someone else made Erin Nayler a poster that said “I would Nayler” and her boyfriend responded with “Dreams are free buddy, dreams are free!” Classic.

During the China game we were sitting beside their cheering section. They literally had T-Shirts made. All red and said “China Winnipeg Cheering Team” – their leader was crazy and stood the entire time yelling and didn’t even watch the game.

Walmart closes at 6 PM on Sundays.

Jessie kept smelling our posters because we had scented markers, and almost told Hannah to smell them. I don’t think she would have got a kit if she would have told her that.

I held a snake at Petland.

The NZL coach would not participate in the handshake for peace.

There was no fan HQ like they have in Vancouver. Super mad about it.

Thailand’s team looked like a bunch of little Kling’s running around everywhere. SO TINY.

I would pay to see Thailand’s coach vs. Boone Dog in a match up.

We met people from: Memphis, Colorado, New Jersey, New York, New Zealand, Texas, Wisconsin, and probably more we just didn’t write it down.

And of course, one more shout out to Jenny Taft for reading my blog, waving first and talking to me again at the second game. She’s such a sweetheart. Maybe we will cross paths again one day. I told her to tell Hope I said hi. J

And finally, while headed home we pulled up the next USWNT game on Jessie’s phone seconds before Abby scored. Rampone, Boxxy, and Abby were all on the pitch at the same time. These women are legends. Playing in the FOURTH World Cup, old enough to be some of our players moms, mothers themselves, Boxxy fighting Lupus, and Abby playing her first 90 minute matches in months.

I will write a summary post to sum up our adventure, but these past few days have been wonderful. Thank you Winnipeg for the experience, we wish it didn’t have to end.

They don’t say y’all here…

Thanks to U.S. Soccer for the picture!

It’s day one in Winnipeg. My emotions are EVERYWHERE.

We arrived at our hotel that can be compared to something like the Benton Inn around 12:45 am this morning. At this point we had been on the road more than 24 hours and all we wanted to do was sleep.

After passing through six states on our road trip we spent three hours in line trying to cross the border, so what did I do? Made friends with the fellow USWNT fans. My favorite lady I met was in the car behind us, yelling out “USA” at the most random times. She was from Texas. We were afraid it was going to start raining AGAIN while we were trying to cross, which meant we would have to rechalk the back window of ‘ol Jenny the Jeep for the millionth time, who made it here just fine by the way.

Once we finally got settled in in our – what would have been the coolest place to stay in the ‘70’s hotel, it was 1:45 AM. After only getting about six hours asleep since Thursday night (and this was Sunday morning) I was ready to CRASH.

Weather report with Jessie:

“Um guys, the weather today says smoke.” What does that even mean? We looked it up. It literally means there is smoke in the air. From a large fire. You don’t see that in Benton.

Game day. Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE game day. After a MUCH needed relaxing shower I finally got around to making my posters that I usually have completed WAY before now. If you know me, you also know I’m the slightest bit of a perfectionist. Therefore, I was complaining to Jessie non-stop how these posters were terrible quality compared to my last few. (haha) Despite the “this is crap” poster attitude I had going on, I was SO excited to head to the stadium, with no idea what to expect, as I put on my red, white, and blue attire literally jumping on the bed because I couldn’t sit still.

When parking at the World Cup:

Well you see, any normal person would have bought a parking pass from FIFA, but the broke college students did not. So after driving around for a good 4 miles – OH MY GOD THERE IS THE STADIUM IT IS HUGE – we finally parked in a sports pub parking lot, and I was literally praying Jenny the Jeep wouldn’t get towed as we walked the two and a half miles to the game.

Oh. My. Gosh. We are actually here. “Jessie, is this happening? Did we really drive to Canada?” I was doing a Coach Boone famous “fast walk” that would have put pre-season warm ups to shame by the time I could see the 10 ft. tall Sinclair poster in front of the stadium. Red, white, and blue EVERYWHERE. Flags flying, cheers of USA, selfies, group pictures, a guy in a flag themed bodysuit giving high-fives to everyone he sees… This is going to be good.

Now y’all know that I have been to a lot of USWNT games, I know almost too much about the girls on the team, but they inspire me. On and off of the field through the good and the bad, they are the women (and the ones who have played on past teams) who have got me through some of the best and worst times. If you are an avid USWNT follower, you are probably aware of the #SheBelieves campaign they are doing. This is all about your goals, passions, dreams, what you want to do with your life. I sent in mine about going back to Nicaragua after Winnipeg, thinking nothing of it then U.S. Soccer gave me a retweet, which was cool enough for me. Then last week before heading up here Julie Johnston, a defender on the team, made a video (that is on U.S. Soccer’s twitter page) to me about following where my passion takes me. I freaked. Then followed by, “JJ” commenting on my instagram post I tagged her in thanking her for the video. Even better. Everyone keeps saying, how do these things happen to you? If I knew, I would tell you. I’ll never understand.

To tie this in with our World Cup story and my “this poster is crap” issue:
We get to the game and I have one side dedicated to Hope (of course) because I was on operation meet her for the fifth time, and the other side dedicated to JJ saying I believe in her, like she said she believed in me in the video. Our seats are right on the bottom wall, to the right of the goal- they could not be any better. We hung my American flag up over the wall, tying it down with my headphones. If Daddy G-Reg has taught me anything it would be to use my resources wisely. (Love ya buddy!) So as I stood taking in our surroundings- WE ARE AT THE FREAKING WORLD CUP –I couldn’t stop smiling. I started holding up my sign, and as always what usually happens the press start coming over and taking my picture. I cant tell you how many people told me to hold up my sign and smile yesterday. Before you know it Lauren, my friend who I met at the Nashville game text me and said, “bottom left, you lucky brat.” Now, the picture didn’t come in when the text did so I was beyond confused… but before you know it I was getting texts from friends, facebook posts from my old coach, and twitter tags out of this world. When I FINALLY saw what it was about ten minutes later, U.S. Soccer had added my picture of me in the stands holding my Hope sign. I might not have got to meet her this time, but out of the 31K+ fans, and I got a picture posted, I’ll take it. Maybe Hope saw it after the game. Or maybe she will read my blog. That would be neat. 🙂

Other game highlights:

Pia, who use to be our team’s coach was coaching the game before the U.S. (we were on TV during this game) waved at us before she left, me and Jessie love her.

One of the girls, a few years older than me, who was sitting beside us told me she would pay me $100 if I could get Pinoe to come over to us. (Didn’t happen, but I tried!)

Megan Rapinoe (Pinoe) scored two goals, and Christen Press scored one between Pinoe’s two that I totally called. Why are we so good at predicting these things? Jessie puts me to shame though.

We witnessed ten goals, in two games, at the World Cup, in one day. Insane.

Alex Morgan waved at me, and the same girl who wanted Pinoe just looked at me and laughed and said, “Seriously?”

I finally saw Abby play a 90 minute match. 

I witnessed two engagements. GOALS. 

Jenny Taft who works for Fox Sports and covers most of the games was filming in front of us. I seriously want her job! After the game I told Jessie I wanted a picture with her, so she told me to get her attention.. I was super nervous though!  “Jenny! Jenny Taft!” She looked up. “Can we get a selfie with you?” Smiling she walked over and said, “I’m really not that important!” No Jenny, you are.. My little Public Relations/Photography major self wishes anything to be you.  “I want your job!” I said that and I could tell she was laughing a bit.. Probably at my accent.

People here don’t know how to handle my country twang. Apparently they don’t say y’all here either. And McDonalds doesn’t have sweet tea.

USWNT gets4-0 Win against New Zealand in St. Louis

Saturday, April 4, 2015 the United States Women’s National Team faced New Zealand in an International Friendly match. The game was one of a kind, held at Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. The 3 P.M. kickoff was what some soccer lovers would call perfect. The weather was sunny, 59 degrees and the stadium was full of fans. The game was a record-setting attendance for the USWNT with 35,817 viewers in the stands all decked out on their red, white and blue.

This game was all about the GOALS. Goals mainly from defenders! The USWNT held NZL 4-0 with goals coming from Meghan Klingenberg (defender) in the 14th minute, Lori Chalupny (defender and STL native) in the 76th minute, goal three was brought to us by Julie Johnston (defender) in the 78th minute, and the fourth goal brought to us finally by a middy, Morgan Brian in the 81st minute.

Hope Solo was rarely tested in the goal as the USWNT held NZL to ZERO shots on goal and only two shots the entire game. Unfortunately for New Zealand keeper Erin Nayler, the U.S. shoved 18 shots, 11 of those being on goal, in her zone.

Lori Chalupny, the hometown girl told reporters that it was good to be home. She not only scored her first goal in five years for the national team, but she also scored it with her family in the audience, and was awarded the Budweiser Woman of the Match. Her remarks on playing at home in front of 35,817 fans who traveled endless miles to watch the game sounded like this, “It was incredible. It kind of felt like a dream. The atmosphere was awesome. We looked around as a team and just felt so grateful to play in front of crowds like these.”

. Coach Ellis said she was pleased with how the game went, a lot of positives and many players coming off the bench who helped out on the field to keep the clean sheet against a team with good pressure. New Zealand is considered a good contender for this summer’s World Cup and was a great test to the USWNT in the final matches preparing them for Canada.

In St. Louis Megan Rapinoe gained her 100th cap and Hope Solo debuted the new bright red goalkeeper kit for the 2015 season.

Being at the game, seeing Busch Stadium filled with 35k soccer fanatics, especially for the women’s team is something I will never forget. Being involved in the sport growing up, I have got to witness the love, excitement, and respect our women’s team has gained and is continuing to gain. In a country that is finally giving soccer some shine, a few years behind the rest of the world, it brings a smile to my face seeing this many people come together to support our team and prepare to have continued support this summer in Canada.

On a side note, after the game I got to meet my hero, Hope Solo for the fourth time and I FINALLY got my picture with her after trying for six years. It was a day that I will always remember. I’m proud of our girls and can’t wait for Canada!

Tickets Sales Climbing for USA Soccer

April will be a big month for the men and women’s USA national soccer teams. Both the USWNT and USMNT have home matches in the month of April that have already sold record amounts of tickets. The women’s team could possibly be playing in front of their largest home crowd in years, better yet, history! Ussoccer.com announced that just two hours into ticket sales for the April match more than 23,500 tickets were sold. As I read the US Soccer news release about the extreme ticket sales and the blog post from Stars and Stripes FC I noticed multiple similarities and differences.

Similarities included both posts talking about the extreme number of tickets already sold. However, the US Soccer post expanded the details of the situation and explained how Busch Stadium has already had to open up the upper level seating for the match. When reading the Stars and Stripes blog you get a little more opinion based take on the situation: “Yes, it is a World Cup year, but New Zealand is hardly a big name opponent, the match is still two months before the World Cup and playing in a baseball stadium isn’t exactly a huge lure.”

Obviously you would not find the official site of US Soccer saying that Busch Stadium “isn’t exactly a huge lure.” Also a big difference between the two posts is the detail which made US Soccer more credible. They have a lot of information about how to and where to purchase tickets.

Throughout the Stars and Stripes post there are multiple sentences that use a more relaxed language, such as in the last paragraph where the writer, Ryan Rosenblatt, says: The last time the U.S. women played in front of 25,000 people at home was way back in 2003, when 25,253 turned out to see the Americans in the World Cup third place match. With two months left to sell tickets for the New Zealand clash, they could top 30,000 and make for an incredible atmosphere in St. Louis.”

In my opinion the US Soccer article is more helpful in gathering information about the upcoming games in April. However if I were to be searching for a quick read to gather small amounts of information about the ticket sales I would probably read the Stars and Stripes blog before the US Soccer article.