It wasn't hard to figure out why Ella Sanders was visiting the Buffalo Wild Wings on Market Street early Tuesday evening. She was the young woman wearing the red Mia Hamm No. 9 soccer jersey. She was one of the most vocal cheerleaders throughout the United States women's 2-0 World Cup semifinal win over Germany, which filled at least 80 percent of the restaurant's 61 HD televisions.
"It's so great to see so many people come out to watch this game," said Sanders, who grew up near Franklin, Tenn. "I started playing soccer when I was 6, and I can't wait to see this team come to Finley (Stadium) in August."
United States' Carli Lloyd (10) celebrates with teammates Ali Krieger (11) and Morgan Brian after scoring on a penalty kick against Germany during the second half of a semifinal in the Women's World Cup soccer tournament Tuesday, June 30, 2015, in Montreal, Canada.This team - this masterful, defensive demon of a Red, White and Blue side - is now 90 on-field minutes from coming to Chattanooga next month as the World Cup champion.
And should it play out that way, should the U.S. go on to defeat tonight's Japan-England winner in Sunday's final for its third-ever World Cup crown, having those champs visit Finley might rank as one of the four or five biggest sports moments in the Scenic City's history.
It would certainly fall somewhere within striking distance of the 1991 U.S. Amateur golf tournament at The Honors Course, the subsequent NCAA men's golf championships at the Honors in 1996 and 2010, Michael Jordan's visit to Engel Stadium as a member of the Birmingham Barons baseball team and 17-year-old Jackie Mitchell reportedly striking out Babe Ruth and two other mighty Yankees at Engel on April 2, 1931.
And while those Finley tickets go on sale today at prices expected to range from $30 (to sit on the raised grass beyond the Chestnut Street end zone) to $249, that's still six weeks away. What the women accomplished in Montreal on Tuesday night is real and fresh and exhilarating, another example of what soccer has become in this country when starting out on somewhat equal footing with the rest of the world.
It could be decades before we win the men's World Cup, but we started out decades behind in both experience and interest on the men's side. As a writer friend of mine once observed in print, soccer is what it is throughout the rest of the world because they can't afford to play (American) football.
United States' Julie Johnston (19) heads the ball toward the goal as Germany players defend during the first half of a semifinal in the Women's World Cup soccer tournament, Tuesday, June 30, 2015, in Montreal, Canada.
But to see Buffalo Wild Wings and almost every other downtown Chattanooga bar filled with multiple televisions packed with Women's World Cup fans is to know that love for the sport is growing at a breakneck pace in the U.S., its popularity born when the nation fell hard for Hamm in the 1991 World Cup win.
Then came the 1999 final in the Rose Bowl, Brandi Chastain pulling off her jersey in victory, a moment that was probably as beneficial to sports bra sales as Jordan was to Nike basketball sneakers.
Unfortunately the women have come up short since then, their 2011 World Cup final loss to Japan an especially painful one.
Perhaps that's why Tuesday's U.S. hero Carli Lloyd, who finished with both the game-winning goal and an assist, said afterward, "We just have to keep our foot on the pedal. We've still got one more to go."
Perhaps that's why U.S. goalie Hope Solo, who has given U.S. opponents no hope in allowing zero goals in the last five matches, was quick to say, "We've still got one more game to play."
For those reasons and more, you get the feeling that USA women's soccer always approaches the World Cup to win it, the moral victories so trumpeted by the men never acceptable on the female side.
What happens Sunday is uncertain, of course. But the passion for this team is not. Sanders hasn't just played soccer since she was 6. When she was 10 she went to Birmingham's Legion Field to see an international match. Her Mia Hamm jersey is actually her second one, replacing one she wore out as a child.
"I'm coaching a Chattanooga Sports Ministry soccer team at Highland Park," said the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior. "So I thought I needed another Hamm jersey."
And women are not the only ones excited about both the Women's World Cup and the Finley exhibition.
Germany's Simone Laudehr (6) and United States' Morgan Brian (14) battle for the ball during the first half of a semifinal in the Women's World Cup soccer tournament, Tuesday, June 30, 2015, in Montreal, Canada.Fellow UTC student John Gibbs from Memphis was also in the Wild Wings crowd Tuesday night.
"I grew up near Richard Mulrooney, who used to play for the U.S. men's team," Gibbs said of the current University of Memphis coach. "One of his best friends was (U.S. men's soccer legend) Landon Donovan, and Donovan would come visit every now and then. I just came out tonight to support the women."
And come Aug. 19, Sanders and Gibbs and thousands of others likely will help pack Finley to support what could be the World Cup champs in a friendly against Costa Rica.
"I'm going to buy the $30 tickets and sit on the lawn, along with most of the other college kids," Sanders said.
Come Sunday evening, expect most of the seats at our town's sports-themed restaurants to be filled with U.S. women soccer fans, hoping to will a World Cup champion rather than a runner-up to Finley 50 days from today.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.