Thought I’d revive this thread and post an updated Top 10 (in chronological order): United States 0 vs. China 0 (PK 5-4) (1999 Women’s World Cup Final) Boston Breakers 4 vs. Sky Blue FC 0 (2010 Women’s Professional Soccer) United States 2 vs. Brazil 2 (PK 5-3) (2011 Women’s World Cup Quarterfinal) Japan 2 vs. United States 2 (PK 3-1) (2011 Women’s World Cup Final) United States 4 vs. Canada 3 (AET) (2012 Olympic Semifinal) United States 5 vs. Japan 2 (2015 Women’s World Cup Final) Western New York Flash 4 vs. Portland Thorns 3 (AET) (2016 NWSL Semifinal) Seattle Reign FC 5 vs. Sky Blue FC 4 (2017 National Women’s Soccer League) Sky Blue FC 5 vs. Seattle Reign FC 4 (2017 National Women’s Soccer League) Netherlands 4 vs. Denmark 2 (Women’s Euro 2017 Final) (Very tough to move the ‘13 Breakers-Chicago game with Leroux’s hat trick out of the Top 10, but I felt the new games I added were slightly more worthy)
United States 0 vs. China 0 (PK 5-4) (1999 Women’s World Cup Final) United States 2 vs. Brazil 2 (PK 5-3) (2011 Women’s World Cup Quarterfinal) Japan 2 vs. United States 2 (PK 3-1) (2011 Women’s World Cup Final) United States 5 vs. Japan 2 (2015 Women’s World Cup Final)
Abby Wambach's last ever high school game (state championship match). Up 3-0 with 19 minutes left. Her team loses 4-3.
I mean, I really liked some games from the FIFA 2011 WC... Germany vs Japan, USA vs Japan and Brazil vs USA although the late US goal against Brazil was so god damn awful defending that I can't stand to watch it WC 2015 had one really good game in my opinion, and that was the semi final clash up; USA vs Germany although whenever I think about it the referee comes to my mind everytime... Germany vs France was also a good one
I would probably do a separate list for women’s college games, since there are so many more games to consider… Haven’t researched enough college results from over the years to definitively say which I think are the ten greatest, but here are some from recent years I’ve either watched or read about that would be definite contenders: 2017 NCAA Championship- Stanford 3 vs. UCLA 2 2016 Regular Season- Florida 4 vs. UCLA 3 (OT) 2015 NCAA 1st Rd- Boston University 2 vs. St. John’s 1 (OT) 2015 ACC Tourn. Final- Florida State 2 vs. Virginia 2 (FSU PKs) 2015 Regular Season- Boston College 5 vs. Miami FL 4 (OT) 2014 NCAA Tournament- Virginia Tech 4 vs. Georgetown 3 (OT) 2014 Regular Season- South Carolina 3 vs. Florida 2 2013 Regular Season- Boston College 6 vs. Hofstra 5 (OT) 2013 Regular Season- Florida State 4 vs. Boston College 3 (the FSU-VT NCAA semi from that year was a good one too) 2012 Regular Season- Arizona State 5 vs. USC 4 (2OT) And one more really old one that wasn’t mentioned previously in this thread: 1990 NCAA Tourn.- UNC 4 vs. NC State 3 (OT)
Lots of good ones from the 2011 WWC....others were the USA-France semi, the France-England QF, and from the group stage Germany-Canada, Germany-France, England-Japan... My favorite game of 2015 WWC was the final.
My favorite game of 2015 WWC was the final.[/QUOTE] Easy to understand why. For an American fan, it was a wonderful game, and made less stressful by the early blizzard of goals. And, it was over for sure when Heath scored goal number 5, easing the stress. Plus, it was a historic game, moving the USA back into the ranks of countries whose most widely watched soccer game ever was played by its women's team. But, blowouts by definition are not great games except for the fans of the team watching. Thus, I would have to rank, say, the 2011 WWC final higher than the 2015 WWC final because it was a closer match, despite the result that pained me.
Totally understand all of this. This was discussed earlier in the thread, and I explained the criteria I was using (blowout can only qualify if it's a team I like winning a game against a quality opponent that was expected to be close in style) as opposed to your criteria that both teams needed to have played well. I honestly wasn't sure if the person I was quoting in post #56 had gone back and read those older posts or not (most likely not). My intent was simply to let him/her know which game was my personal favorite in contrast to theirs, not necessarily to debate it to that extent again.
It's interesting though because the new games I added more recently (the four pro ones and the college ones) are actually more in line with your original criteria. Maybe that's just the way it worked out, but I did decide to omit UNC vs Penn St 2012 from the college list at the last moment... On the other hand, if BU (the only college team I have strong loyalties to) had ever won a Patriot league final or NCAA tournament game by, say, a 5-2 score, or beaten BC by a large margin, I would have undoubtedly included it.
Just read about this one. Perhaps I should have included it https://equalizersoccer.com/2011/10...-top-atlanta-beat-in-first-ever-founders-cup/
I think we have a new possible contender for this list- this past weekend's NWSL match between Portland and Chicago (ended 4-4). Not all great games have to be high scoring, I know but this one really did have it all including a crossbar hit in stoppage time after the late equalizer (and a Sinclair hat trick).
This year's WWC was a great tournament overall but I can't think of any particular games that would rank as serious contenders for a Top 10 ever witnessed list. The two best games of the tournament IMO were the US-France quarterfinal and Scotland vs. Argentina. If the proper amount of stoppage time had been added in SCO-ARG and either team had scored a winner, now then we'd be talking about a real contender.
Not sure this was significant enough of a matchup to be considered a real strong contender for the greatest college games list- just an opening night nonconference game- but at least one team that was involved was ranked: Texas 4 Gonzaga 3- missed pen at the end that would have tied it https://texassports.com/news/2019/8...s-gonzaga-in-season-opening-thriller-4-3.aspx
Florida State beat BC 5-4 this year so that could maybe be another contender for the greatest college games list, although FSU was up 5-3 in the 2H and BC got a late consolation so it's not like there was a winner right at the end or in overtime. It was tied 2-2 at half and then 3-3 though so a lot of back and forth action.
With no Olympics, a shortened NWSL tournament and possibly no fall college soccer this year, think it's pretty clear that we're likely not going to get very many new games that are potential contenders for these lists in 2020. One more really old game involving the club I used to be a diehard fan of when it existed, that perhaps I should have included as one of the Top 10 is San Diego Spirit 5, Boston Breakers 4 from WUSA in 2002. According to the archived info I could find, Julie Foudy scored the winning penalty in stoppage time for the Spirit and Lilly had 2 goals for the Breakers in the loss. The game was at San Diego.
It would be hard to include any game that just finished 1-0 on a Top 10 greatest games ever list with so many higher scoring ones to choose from, but if there ever was a 1-0 game that maybe could actually be a contender, it is Portland's upset of NC in this year's NWSL tournament behind closed doors. Just because of Eckerstrom's amazing goalkeeping performance and the magnitude of the upset. Another college one I forgot about: Tennessee 4, Ole Miss 3 (OT), 2011. Ole Miss had a stunning 3-0 halftime lead (against most of the run of play) but UT came back with 3 to tie it in the second half (also hit the post) and scored the winner in OT. https://utsports.com/news/2011/10/7/Furious_Lady_Vol_Rally_as_15_Tennessee_Soccer_Tops_Ole_Miss.aspx
Best college game of this season so far: Florida State 4, Virginia 3. Still holding out hope that the Patriot League can get a spring 2021 season in....