Re-Cap of Women's Olympic Qualifying Games So Far..Day 2

January 20, 2012

Mexico vs Guatemala 5-0
USA vs Dominican Republic 14-0

This was another busy day.  As I walked into the Hospitality area with my crew, a couple new people on shift with me, I showed them the area and explained what I needed from them.  I told them it will be a bit slow in the beginning for the fist match but will pick up with more people coming into the suites to watch the USA match which is exactly what happened.

A funny thing kept happening though.  As the teams and their staff were trickling into their suites, I kept being mistaken for being Spanish by the Dominican Republicans.  They would come up to me speaking in Spanish and then I'd tell them that I don't speak Spanish other than what I've learned on Dora the Explorer thanks to my nieces. The only word that stuck though was "Ola!". I might try Google translating a few phrases into Spanish to try on Tuesday when they play again.  Dora the Explorer obviously wasn't cutting it for me.

Mexico and Guatemala played first.  I was actually shocked to see so many Mexican supporters show up.  It was great.  Everyone was in great spirits and dressed up for their team in the nations colors and wore sombreros.  It was very festive in the lower bowls.

The Mexican team showed why they are one of the stronger teams in this tournament.  The team impressed alot of the volunteers with their type of play.  It was all clean, crisp passes and they played dominant.  It was obviously they are going to be one of the dominant teams in the end.  Quite possibly coming down to Canada or Mexico in the Finals.  The USA is obviously in as I'll later recap.  Goals on the Mexico side came from Marilyn Diaz, Dinora Garza and Maribel Dominguez scored 3 times - twice in the first and another in the second half to make it 5-0.

 USA and the Dominican Republic played the second match.  We all knew the USA was a strong contender coming into the tournament but here is where we actually see it for ourselves.  Within the first 6 mins of playm the USA team were up on the board 3-0.  And it kept getting worse for the Dominican Republic.  By the end of the night, USA had routed them 14-0!  While watching the game from the stands, I could hear the Canadian fans supporting the Dominican Rep whenever they were able to defend or move the ball up the pitch.  On the flip-side, even after USA scored the 14th goal, the American fans were shouting "One more goal! One more goal!".

As if that wasn't bad enough, the American team and Head Coach were celebrating each goal and showing much disrespect to the opposing team.  After the game, the Head Coach and the team were criticized for not downplaying each goal scored after they had gone up 5 or 6 goals.  At that point, they should have just walked away instead of air pumping their fist and jumping into their teammates every single goal.  I'm not sure if this score reflects the USA team and how strong they are or if it reflects on the Guatemala team for playing poorly.  In any case, everyone was glad when it was over.  You never want to see a team get slaughtered like that.