This Weekend in Sports
It was a slower weekend than most in sports, but some interesting stuff still happened. In soccer, Team U.S.A. was in their first ever final of a tournament in their international soccer history. They got there by shocking the world in beating Spain, the number one ranked team in the world by FIFA. Now to get their first ever win they would have to go through another world power in Brazil. The game started out well for the U.S.A. as they got a quick goal only 10 minutes into the game. This seemed to give them confidence as they dominated play for the rest of the half adding another goal before have time. It was a shocking score at half time but you knew Brazil would try to answer in the second half. And that they did as they dominated play in the second half and scored 3 times to get the 3-2 victory. The U.S. seemed to be playing not to lose in the second have and it came back to bite them as they allowed to much room for Brazil to just keep attacking. Even after losing the match, the U.S. could keep their heads high as they matched up with two of the best teams in the world and had a chance two win both games, even dominating play at times. Nobody expected that to happen and it should put the world on notice to what Team U.S.A. is capable of going forward. Next year’s World Cup should be very interesting.
In track & field, the U.S. was holding its annual National Championships. The winners of these races are going to represent the U.S.A. in the in the World Championships in Berlin. While most of the favorites in the races came out with victories, a surprise result happened in the men’s 200m when Shawn Crawford ran one of his best races in years and came out with the victory. A gold medalist in 2004, Shawn had been quiet in track for a while. Now he’ll get to compete for the World Championship. Other new National Champions include Christian Cantwell (shot put), Jenn Stuczynski (pole vault), Bershawn Jackson (400 hurdles) Dawn Harper (100 hurdles) and Lopez Lomong (1,500 meters). All will be representing the U.S. at the World Championships.
In baseball, Mariano Rivera became the second player in baseball history to reach 500 career saves. He’s been one of the best closers in baseball for a while so it’s good to see him get to this milestone. I think it only validates his Hall of Fame credentials. Also, Manny comes back to the Dodgers this week. After playing to sold out excited minor league stadiums he will finally have to face a major league crowd. It will be interesting to see how the fans react to him on the road, as we already know the Dodger fans will still love him.
