Congratulations to the women's soccer team from Japan, who played with a nation's heavy hearts and won a tournament on sheer emotion. The Japanese side wasn't a top 5 contender, but they swept three of the favorites, including the home team and defending champs.
This is the stuff of legends -- and certainly of made-for-TV movies. In the final game, the Japanese women overcame two seemingly insurmountable deficits with slivers of time remaining before prevailing on penalty kicks. Their heart and pluck were extraordinary. What a story.
Of course, some in the self-obsessed U.S. believe the story is that the American team lost. Get over yourselves. The 1980 Olympic hockey tournament wasn't about the Soviet Union or Finland; it was about the American amateurs who were an almost exact parallel for the Japanese women's soccer team.
Today is a great day in a beleaguered nation that could use some great days. Horray for them.
b
