The China Chronicles: Korea

On a rather damp evening in Chengdu, our United States squad took the field to face North Korea. We could see confidence written across the players faces, ready for a challenge. However, 90 minutes, it was not all smiles for the girls.

From the moment the whistle blew, the pace of the game was the complete opposite as Sunday's Germany/Argentina matchup. After a scoreless first half Abby gave the US a 1-0 advantage after firing a shot that slipped through the fingers of goalie, Jon Myong-Hui. Shortly after, our girl got knocked in the back of the head, a pretty dramatic bloody scene. For a split second, the US fans' hearts stopped beating, hoping and praying that she would be ok. While Abby was out, the Koreans scored one, then scored another. "Rain, rain go away" is what Hope must have been thinking as she watched one easy shot slip through her gloves and into the net.


Now with even more determination in their eyes and Abby back on the field, the US was pushing up and creating plays, doing whatever they could to keep taking shot after shot. The girls finally got theirs when a muddled deflection landed in front of O'Reilly and she pounded it into the right upper 90.

Keeping us on the edge of our seats, minute-by-minute counted down and with 4 minutes left, Tash Kai came in. Fresh legs for the US looked good and with her first sprint to the ball, we were all imagining a big golazo by our hero. Alas, the whistle blew to end the game: 2-2. In all reality, to our US WNT, anything other than a win is a loss. The girls have a few days to reflect and learn from this doozy of a first game in China. This was a wakeup call, but they will be ready for Sweden. Tune in on 9/14 at 5AM EST on ESPN2.