We won our first game of the Olympics tonight 2-1 over Argentina. It was hot (35degrees), muggy, and polluted evening in the Tianjin Olympic Stadium. I looked as if I had taken a shower in my uniform before the game even started. You could see the dim haze of pollution in the air that was magnified by the stadium lights. We had a shaky and ugly start to the game as we couldn’t seem to link any good passes together and we allowed Argentina to play too much. We got our act together and started pressuring hard against Argentina. Chappy (Candace Chapman) scored our first goal (the first Olympic goal of Canadian women’s soccer history) off a rocket shot outside the goalie box. We had a lot of other chances before Kara Lang scored in the second half on a beautiful near post header. We had one breakdown in the second half and Argentina hit an unstoppable shot that hit the upper corner of the goal. I had one goal chance in the last minute of the game and I hit the post. Frustrating.
The atmosphere in the Tianjin Olympic Stadium was amazing. The stadium is absolutely enormous and there were about 25,000 fans scattered throughout. The first half, the crowd was surprisingly silent. Normally you can’t hear the player next to you yelling with a crowd that big, but this time you could almost hear a pin drop. The second half was a different story. The game became more entertaining and the crowd really got into it. Also, by the end of the game there was more like 40,000 fans total that came in for the double header with China. Our next game is going to be exciting against China with all those fans.
August 6th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Congratulations from the Canadian Expat Association. Canadians living all over the globe are extremely proud of all of you.
GO CANADA GO!!
August 6th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Good start girls!
Not great, but a good start indeed.
Norway beat the U.S.!!
Good Luck on Saturday!
August 6th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Check out the blog, Marts! Too cool. Congrats on your first win…I’m so proud of you!
ed
August 6th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Hey there! Awesome game you guys just played. You must be very happy as much as all the rest of Canada back home or in China cheering you guys on!!!!
Keep it up, you guys are great, Bring home the GOLD!
August 6th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Hey, cool site and congrats on the win, keep up the posts, its nice to read what its like for you, I especially like the bus trip story, Oh, and try to hit the net next time eh!
August 6th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
congratulations on the win! Well Done!
August 7th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Awesome win Martina!!! Love the blog page!!! xo
August 7th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Good shot, T, next time aim a bit lower. Love mom.
August 8th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
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August 9th, 2008 at 2:04 am
Thanks from Squamish. We’re all excited about watching you represent us and Canada.
August 10th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Congrats! I already want to know how the second game went… I was helping Kalli to move into her new Vancouver pad…but Tyler was watching you on TV! I will have to go knock at his door in the morning!
We love you and send you the best Squamish energy ever!