Olympic tickets are usually purchased at least a year in advance, so we never know which nation's athletes we are going to see. In fact, we often don't know whether we were going to see men or women. But sometimes you get lucky. Today, we’ve got a women’s football (that's soccer for you heathens in the US 😉) quarterfinal match between Japan and the US at Parc des Princes.
Sean is still unwell, and he decides to be safe and stay home. Bummer! Parc de Princes stadium is at the 8 o'clock position with respect to the center of Paris, not far where the Seine loops around and starts flowing northeast. We take the Metro 13 line to Invalides and then change to RER C. The transportation app says that we’re going to have a 1.7 km walk to the stadium. When we come outside, we see why. The station is on the Paris side of the Seine and the Parc des Princes is on the other side. We do have a nice walk across the Seine with a great view of the Eiffel Tower, which we’ll be visiting tomorrow. Most of the bars and restaurants along the way are packed with Olympic spectators who have decided that they would rather eat anywhere rather than in the stadium. It is not that the venue food is bad, there just are too few choices and there are only so many times you can eat ham and cheese sandwiches. But we are clearly late to the party, so we continue on to the Parc des Princes. This stadium seats just under 50,000 people and is the home of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) – one of the most famous football clubs in the world. Here are a couple views of the stadium before most people have filed in:
Our seats are about halfway up in the stands, close to one of the walkways around the stadium so we get to spend a lot of time people watching. One that was interesting was a guy, clearly American, pushing two strollers and followed by a 6-year-old. He tries to take his strollers up the stairs next to us, but rapidly figures out that this is not going to work. So, he went to Plan B. He folded up a stroller in front of the first row of our section, took one baby up to his seat, comes back, folds up the second one and goes to his seats. That plan worked great for about 45 minutes before one of the security guards finds the strollers. He and the dad have a “conversation”, and ultimately helps the dad carry the babies and strollers to a place where they can be stored. As he passes by, Beth says to him “You are a brave man, sir!” He laughs and explains that his wife and another kid have tickets for basketball. Okay, we brought an 18-month-old to Sydney, but taking 4 kids under 6 to the Olympics IS crazy!
The US women’s team, ranked #1 in the world, was undefeated in pool play, beating Zambia, Germany and Australia. Japan, ranked #7 in the world, had 2 wins and 1 loss, losing to Spain and beating Brazil and Nigeria. On paper, this game should not be close. There is a huge skill difference between the two team, but games are not played on paper. Japan uses a strategy that helped them beat the US in the 2011 World Cup: sit back, play defense and wait for the US to get frustrated and make a mistake. For 90 minutes, this strategy works pretty well. Japan’s defense holds, but the US, having seen this approach before, is pretty conservative as well. As a result, the score after 90 minutes is 0-0 and frankly, the game has been pretty boring with only one shot on net for each team. In the Olympics, if the score is tied after 90 minutes, the teams have two 15-minute extra periods. If the score is still tied, then they go to penalty kicks – the absolutely worst way to win or lose a game. I’d much rather that they play until someone scores, no matter how long it takes. Fortunately, we don’t have to go there. Trinity Rodman, the daughter of former NBA basketball player, Dennis Rodman, scores during the first extra period stoppage time. She has been the best player on the field for the whole game and is likely a more complete soccer player than her father (who couldn’t shoot to save his soul) was a basketball player! Japan still has 15 minutes to tie the score, but it is clear that they are worn out after all the defending they’ve done and never really threaten. US – 1, Japan – 0. Here are some pictures:
The trip home was uneventful. It is pretty hot and humid again, so we aren’t very hungry and decide to just get takeout from the Monoprix – this time there is no Powerade. This is perplexing to us as all Coke products are always ubiquitous at the Olympics. It becomes a kind of running joke – who is stealing all of the Powerade? Steps for the day: 9,061.
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