(please include: matches you either saw in person, watched on television, or read about) Top 12 women's matches ever (I had to select 12 instead, all of these were too good) 1.) 1999 WWC Final (China vs. USA) 2.) 2011 WWC Quarterfinal (Brazil vs. USA) 3.) 2000 Olympic Final (Norway vs. USA) 4.) 2003 WWC Final (Germany vs. Sweden) 5.) 1991 WWC Final (Norway vs. USA) 6.) 2011 WWC Quarterfinal (England vs. France) 7.) 2011 WWC Quarterfinal (Japan vs. Germany) 8.) 1996 Olympic Semifinal (Norway vs. USA) 9.) 1999 WWC Quarterfinal (Germany vs. USA) 10.) 2008 Olympic Final (Brazil vs. USA) 11.) 1999 WWC Quarterfinal (Brazil vs. Nigeria) 12.) 1998 Women's College Cup Semifinal (North Carolina vs. Portland - four overtimes) Just missed out: 1999 WWC 3rd place match (Brazil vs. Norway) 1995 WWC Semifinal (Norway vs. USA) 2002 Women's U-20 World Cup Final (USA vs. Canada - Tarpley scores game winner) 2004 Olympic Final (Brazil vs. USA) I'm sure I'm missing some other classics. And if today's Brazil vs. USA match would have been the WWC Final (instead of a Quarterfinal), it would have topped this chart at #1 (even above the China vs. USA match from 1999). The 2007 WWC just didn't provide enough drama. There were really no true classic matches in that WWC. Germany was too good, and nobody really gave them a great game. The 2007 WWC Final (Germany vs. Brazil) was somewhat of an exciting match, but isn't anywhere near good enough to make this list. In fact, you could argue the 2007 WWC Final was the least dramatic WWC Final match ever played. Norway also dominated Germany in the 1995 WWC.
Mostly borrowing the OP's order but dropping games I missed: 1.) 1999 WWC Final (China vs. USA) 2.) 2011 WWC Quarterfinal (Brazil vs. USA) 3.) 2011 WWC Quarterfinal (England vs. France) 4.) 2011 WWC Quarterfinal (Japan vs. Germany) 5.) 1996 Olympic Semifinal (Norway vs. USA) 6.) 2002 August - WUSA regular season (Atlanta vs. Washington) Both teams up for a playoff spot, Washington wins after being down 0-1 with three goals: one Mia Hamm taking on the entire Atlanta back line and winning, one Bai Jie scoring on a header while standing on the end line, and the winner with seconds left in stoppage time on a corner kick header from Pu Wei 7.) 2002 August - WUSA Semifinal (Washington vs. Philadelphia) Hottest game I've ever attended in person. On Philly's artificial turf, the Freedom shut down the top scorer in the league and hang on for a 1-0 win. 8.) 2003 August - WUSA Final (Atlanta vs. Washington) Two goals by Abby Wambach, including the winner in golden goal overtime, lead the Freedom to the third and final WUSA Founders Cup 9.) 1999 WWC Quarterfinal (Germany vs. USA) 10.) 2008 Olympic Final (Brazil vs. USA) 11.) 2007 W-League Championship (Washington vs. Atlanta) Freedom win their second championship keyed by a goal in the first 45 seconds set up by a brilliant interception and run from Ali Krieger and an assist by Lori Lindsey. (Rebecca Moros - now with the Flash - actually scored the goal.)
Depends on how you define 'top' of course - for appropriate combination of quality, drama, and stakes here's what I have off the top of my head (in no particular order): USA-Brazil 2011 WC QF Brazil-Australia 2007 WC QF Australia-Canada 2007 WC Group Play Germany-Sweden 2003 WC Final Norway-USA 2000 Oly Final USA-Germany 1999 WC QF Brazil-Nigeria 1999 WC QF Bay Area-Atlanta 2001 WUSA final Washington-Atlanta 2002 WUSA in August Carolina-Washington 2002 WUSA final I haven't watched a lot of Oly games, so I'm sure I missed some good ones there. And I did not include the 1999 final, pretty awful game to watch.
I was at the Rose Bowl in 99. It was hot. The Chinese wore red. Unfortunately the game was pretty dull and the PK's slightly tainted with home field advantage.
I was there too. The fact that the 3rd place game that preceded the final wasn't any better made for a long afternoon. Nice that we won, but I would not rank it as a top match. And wow was I dehydrated afterwards... I haven't seen footage of it, but I imagine the USA-Norway 1991 WC Final should be on the list.
1.) 1999 WWC Final (China vs. USA) 2.) 2011 WWC Quarterfinal (Brazil vs. USA) USA residents would rank these two as the best ever. I've seen the replay of #1, and it gets a "not really". The ref made the game yesterday with all the cards and odd calls. It was a sleeper outside of her. Abby's header breathes some life into it. The penalties were just penalties. You could see it coming that Hope was going to make a save on the Brasilian girl. Based on her body motion, she just didn't belong in that shoot out, and she sent a high ball with no pace, more to the inside than the outside, at the top goal keeper in the tournament.
1: 2007 WWC Group stage: Japan - England (2-2) 2: 2008 Olympics Group stage: Japan - New Zealand (2-2) 3: 2011 WWC Quarterfinal: Japan - Germany (1-0) 4: 2010 U-17 WWC Semifinal: Japan - Korea DPR (2-1) Excuse me for being japanocentric.
You left out one of the most exciting and important matches of all time.I won`t question you motives in doing so...I`ll just leave it at that. The Semifinal 2003 - USA vs GERMANY 0-3 Even the US coach April Heinrichs called it back then the Greatest Match in Womens History. Silke Rottenberg had a legendary goal-keeping performance ( btw. to me she is the greatest Goalkeeper of all time,yes much better than Angerer who was incredible in 2007). It sparked the end of the the US dominance and the beginning of the German Reign. http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Articl...any-3-0-In-Semifinal-Of-Womens-World-Cup.aspx The loss was the first for the U.S. on American soil in either a Women’s World Cup or Olympics and tied the largest margin of defeat in U.S. history ( until 2007) This leads me to 2007.Yes Germany was by far the best team, but Martas show vs the US in the 4-0 can`t be forgotten.No matter how much I hate her play-acting sometimes, in 2007 she played much cleaner and honest than now and left us with the greatest goal in womens world cup history. Maybe an American didn`t find the World Cup Final 2007 exciting,but you can bet you bu.. that the rest of the world loved it.Brasil hitting the post,Germany playing tight defense, giving Brasil some of their own medicine in the rugged kind of way and of course Angerer saving Martas penalty,which could have changed the outcome of the game. From the German perspective I can tell you that one of the most important games will never be on this list.It was the the penalty shoot-out in 1989 European Cup Semifinal vs Italy.It was the first womens game shown live on German TV and the goalkeeper Marion Isbert saved three penalties and shot the last penalty herself to win the game 5-4. The game was so dramatic and 4 million Germans watched it on TV that it left a lasting impression. Germany went on to win its first European Championship. I think every country will have different greatest matches concerning their importance. For Japan the win against Germany will propably be one of the Greatest matches of all time and it`s ok.That`s how women soccer will grow. P.S. Good Luck for the last 4 remaining teams and may the best one win.
I can't make a TV list because I am not a cable subscriber! For games I actually attendend: 1 *Mia Hamm scoring 2 goals at Philadelphia for team USA 5:0 Nigeria. http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/womensworldcup/usa2003/results/match=69290014/report.html 2 *Villanova's Kristin Dunst's golden goal in the 109th breaks scoreless tie http://www.villanova.com/sports/w-soccer/stats/090602aaa.html I love the college games and the sudden victory element 3 *Independence 2, Sky Blue 2 (0:2 halftime) http://www.phillysoccerpage.net/2011/04/11/sky-blue-fc-2-2-philadelphia-independence/ DiMartino scores the equalizer in extra time Some day I may get to travel & compile a true top ten.
The 99 game of course and then there was a WC final or Olympic final between the U.S. and Germany that the U.S. was heavily favored but Germany won. It may have been a semi-final. So those 2 and then of course yesterday's USA/Brazil game.
I`m pretty sure you mean the 2003 WWC semi-final Usa vs Germany that I was talking about. http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/blog/_/name/purdy_jacqueline/id/6696004
Silke was the best goalkeeper in history. Too bad that she doesn't seem to get the credit she deserves. Girlfriend was on it in that 2003 final match.
The shootout in this game was similar to England-France. Nebraska had the lead early, then Sharolta Nonen made a mess of her kick and it quickly swayed back to the other team. Both teams had numerous golden chances to score in the OTs, but somehow conspired to finish any of them. http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=38&SPID=26&DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=4188
What about the U20 World Cup Final between the USA and North Korea in Chile 2008? Alex Morgan scores the game winner/silver boot. Syd LeRoux gets the golden boot!
This is porobably symptomatic of availability and viewership.... I'll admit, even though I've been following soccer since '06, (women's soccer since '07,) then number of non-WPS women's games I've actually seen, whether in person of on TV, is embarrassingly small. And I was under the impression college games haven't really been on TV regularly until recently anyway.... I may or may not try to put together a top 10 list for myself...
Yeah, but it is hard to see replays of some of these games. I coach, and my top 10 list is filled with games my girls/women have played in. Until more games get more showings, it is hard to come up with much of a list. I wasn't at the 99 Final, but I did see it and was pretty bored. It's a great win and all, but not much of a game and I've pretty much forgotten the game. I started to watch the replay over the weekend but gave up from lack of interest.
Greatest women's college games I've seen are small in quantity. A lot of times, the team that wins by one goal, ends up winning on a "mistake" by the other team or goalkeeper, more so than pure adrenaline and perseverance in actually earning the goal (such as Abby Wambach's inspirational goal over Brazil in pure adrenaline and perseverance of accomplishment). The 2007 women's college cup semifinal between UCLA and USC (featuring Lauren Cheney vs. Amy Rodriguez, of hated rivals UCLA vs. USC) was a classic College Cup match. It didn't disappoint in excitement. The 1998 college cup semifinal between North Carolina and Portland went to four overtimes (they didn't have penalty kicks back then). There was like 150 minutes in that match in total, that it had to be put on two DVD's (instead of one). I bought the DVD of that match on "ncaaondemand.com" for about $20 or $25 or so a couple of years ago. It's funny how they had to put it on two DVD's because the match lasted so long. I watched it a few days after receiving it in the mail when I had the time to watch it. That's how long the match was, as I had to wait a few days to even find time to watch a long match like that. I think I popped it in the DVD player at around 10:00 at night, and didn't get to bed until after 1:00 in the morning. It was a long match, and a midnight snack was chewed down somewhere in the middle of it, as I had to take a break just in the middle of watching it. I haven't watched it since, but what a match that was. The 2nd best women's college cup final I've ever seen was the 2001 North Carolina vs. Santa Clara match. North Carolina back in those days just never lost. Santa Clara was a HUGE underdog. Sure enough, they came out and pulled out the 1-0 upset victory while barely holding on at the end in winning what was dubbed the greatest upset victory in women's college sports history at the time. The best women's college cup final I've ever seen was a year later. The 2002 Portland vs. Santa Clara final. What a wild game. Christine Sinclair was a young pup back then, but was basically as good back then as she is now in overall raw talent. She carried that team, and Portland won that match in the 2nd overtime on a golden goal from Sinclair. These are probably the greatest women's college cup games I've ever seen. They were all sheer classics.
Okay.... here's my small and highly-limited-selection list: (Yes, I know it's only nine; I have a bad memory, there aren't any others that really stick out to me) 1. 2011 WWC quarterfinal, GER 0-1 JPN 2. 2011 WWC quarterfinal, USA 2-2 BRA 3. 2009 WPS regular season, WSH 3-3 STL 4t. 2011 WWC group stage, GER 2-1 CAN 4t. 2010 WPS regular season, STL 2-0 BAY* 6t. 2009 WPS regular season, STL 0-0 LA* 6t. 2009 WPS regular season, CHI 3-1 LA 6t. 2009 WPS regular season, BAY 3-4 WSH 6t. 2009 NCAA championship, UNC 1-0 Stanford (All seen on TV except for *starred games, which I attended) I wish I could've watched all WPS games, all 2011 WWC games, any 2007 WWC or 2008 Olympics games (darn Chinese time zone), NCAA stuff... 2009 EURO, too, though I'll pass on all 2010 Gold Cup stuff. But yeah, I know there are more exciting games out there that I just couldn't view. *sigh*
2007 WWC semi-finals: Brazil 4 USA 0. Highlights: 1. Hope Solo was controversially dropped by the US coach in favor of a veteran goalkeeper. 2. Marta showed her silky individual skills in two brilliant moments in the 76th and 79th minute. The latter resulted in a solo goal (and goal of the tournament). 3. It is the heaviest defeat of in history of the USWNT. 4. The unbeaten run of 51 games by the US ended. 5. The 2 teams combined to produced 31 shots on goal. 47818 in attendance. Too bad it wasn't in high definition.
I think they had penalties, but you had to play 4 OTs before getting there, which makes the goal all that more dramatic, because there wasn't going to be a 5th OT.
I remember watching this match in high definition. In fact, all 2007 WWC matches were on in high-definition, as I had them all stored on my Hi-Def DVR at the time (and that exact old DVR box is long gone now, as I wish I still had those 2007 matches, at least the good ones).
A guy named Dave Brett has a website where he sells copies of classic sports games. The 1991 final is available. I own a copy. You will find it fascinating - the game has evolved considerably.