But back to the Olympics!
How the sport works
It was a pretty good game between USA and Japan. It was frustrating at times to see the Americans in particular bunch up, neglect the wings, and generally wait for the ball to be passed directly to a teammate instead of moving around to create space.
Both teams had some good scoring opportunities but both goalies were great. I can't begin to go on about what a fantastic game American keeper Hope Solo had. She was incredible and I think Japan should be proud to have gotten even one goal past her.
Final score: 2-1 for the USA.
Even though we didn't see Canada beat France, we did get to see them receive their medals!
Medal results
Gold: USA
Silver: Japan
Bronze: Canada(!)
As we turned down our street to walk home, I saw an Olympics VIP car round the corner and noticed it said, “Uzbekistan,” under the license plate so I took off like a shot to catch the car, yelling in Uzbek for them to wait for me. The car stopped at a red light and, once I had reached it, I had no idea what to do! I was on the driver's side so I tried to get his attention but that didn't work. I rounded the car and the rear passenger window was open, so I launched into a full Uzbek greeting (“Hello, how are you? Is everything well? Is your work well?”) with my hand on my heart. A stunned coach leaned out the window to thank me and to respond that he was indeed well, that everything was well, that his work was well, and how was I doing? The light then changed to green and they drove off. Had I been thinking clearly, I would have invited them in for tea. How rude of me to not have done so!