A few minutes past 6 p.m. on Monday, Finley Stadium executive director Paul Smith finally found a few free minutes to talk, or at least write, about this evening's open practice for the U.S. Women's World Cup champions.
"Easily the busiest we've been in my tenure," Smith said in an email regarding the free workout that runs from 5 to 6:30 and Wednesday's 6:30 p.m. sold-out "friendly" against Costa Rica. "It's a fun time for Finley. But it's a lot of activity - controlled chaos."
The chaos began 11 days ago, when 18,227 showed up for the Chattanooga Football Club's heartbreaking 3-2 extra-time loss to the New York Cosmos in the National Premier Soccer League national championship game. It was the sixth largest crowd in the stadium's 18-year history and set off a work schedule for Finley's staff that is becoming its own Ironman competition.
The grind continued with last weekend's high school football jamboree contests. Now come this evening's U.S women's soccer team's free practice that's open to the general public and Wednesday night's friendly.
"There are just a tremendous amount of details that have to be attended to," Smith said of the world champs' visit. "But it's been great and it makes us that much more ready for the return of the Southern Conference champion Chattanooga Mocs."
Vancouver, Canada - Sunday, July 5, 2015: The USWNT defeat Japan 5-2 to win the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Final at BC Place.Indeed, lost in all the understandable and justifiable excitement over the U.S. national team is that the preseason No. 8 football Mocs will host preseason No. 9 Jacksonville State 18 days from today on Sept. 5 at Finley.
But first the most popular soccer team in U.S. history - at least by television ratings - brings its stars, especially Carli Lloyd and Abby Wambach, to the Scenic City, complete with an ESPN2 audience for the Costa Rica match.
Not that the 35-year-old Wambach apparently expects or wants much action this week. Befitting her station as her sport's all-time leading goals scorer, she spent much of the last three weeks relaxing on her family's island in Alexandria Bay in the Thousand Islands region near Rochester, N.Y. Due to that vacation, she played sparingly in the team's 8-0 rout of Costa Rica on Sunday in front of more than 44,000 at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field. But surgical procedures involving Sydney Leroux and Alex Morgan have left the U.S. team thin at forward, which prompted Wambach to tell the Pittsburgh media:
"Syd and Alex are ruining my Victory Tour experience. I'm happy to just get subbed in for the last five minutes.''
If those coming to Finley for today's practice and Wednesday's match don't want to be held up by security staffers for far longer than five minutes, they need to make certain they leave all bags at home.
"Just don't bring a bag," Smith wrote. "No backpacks, no diaper bags, no one-shoulder sling bags. Just leave them at home. You will be wand-ed by security for metal objects. If you have been to a Titans game, it will be that tight. The Chattanooga Police Department will be checking, so just go to Finleystadium.com and look over the prohibited items."
What won't be prohibited, however, is showing one's patriotism and support for the World Cup champs, and that's just fine with the U.S. team.
"When we walk out of the tunnel and we see all the red, white and blue, you can't help but be motivated and be inspired," forward Christen Press told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after Sunday's game. "When you see that many people screaming - the little girls, the soccer players, the future of our sport - you just are reminded of exactly why we're here."
And now they're here in Finley Stadium, beginning with a free practice at 5 this evening
Let the controlled chaos begin.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.