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United States beats Japan 5-2 for record third Women's World Cup title
The United States beats Japan 5-2 for record third Women's World Cup title.
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Craig Gordon finally caved in.
Just last summer, Gordon was outspoken in his disbelief of and dislike for the love shown to soccer in Chattanooga - an area where football, baseball and basketball have long been the sports of choice, although the success of the semi-professional Chattanooga Football Club in recent years has helped soccer build momentum here.
A longtime sports fan, Gordon, a 28-year-old commercial photographer and Chattanooga resident, wasn't ready to give soccer a chance.
Until now.
Gordon is among those who have purchased tickets - more than 20,000 were sold - to see the U.S. women's national soccer team when it faces Costa Rica in an Aug. 19 exhibition match in Chattanooga. Tickets for the Finley Stadium "friendly" went on sale this past week, and it took less than 24 hours to sell out the match that will be televised on ESPN2.
At the time, those who bought tickets didn't know if they were going to be watching the Women's World Cup champions or runners-up. The United States wasted little time answering that question in Sunday's final against Japan in Vancouver, building a 4-0 lead on the way to a 5-2 win that claimed the country's first World Cup title since 1999.
That helped Gordon's interest. Of course, it didn't hurt that the women's team is easy on the eyes, in Gordon's assessment.
"I don't follow soccer much, but this is good for the city," Gordon said Sunday. "It's good for soccer fans to have this match in our town."
It took a lot of work from a lot of people to make the Chattanooga match happen. Key officials in the city, from Tim Morgan of the Chattanooga Sports Committee to Paul Smith, executive director of Finley Stadium, had to be on top of all of the small details. The presentation put together for U.S. Soccer officials on their visit was everything it needed to be, and rumors of the event surfaced as early as mid-May before being confirmed in late June.
"I'm excited," Grace Academy coach Gretchen Hammel, who is also general manager for the Chattanooga FC women's team, said recently. "I'm proud of the Chattanooga FC administration for the work they put in to make this happen. It's the work many years ago that's put them here now - doing little stuff that's put them on the map and helped make this happen. That plus a lot of hard work to get here. It boosts the program, CFC and the community.
"I think the women's national team is lucky to come here. It's a great city, and I think we'll represent well."
Chattanooga has shown its support so far with the quick sellout. Gordon said the next step is making sure the experience surrounding the U.S. women's team's trip to the Scenic City is a good one.
"What I want for Chattanooga is for the event to be a good night," he said. "I want the ladies to go out, enjoy Chattanooga and tweet all about it. I want it to be a win-win for everybody involved.
"Hopefully they'll go out, get some MoonPies, RC Colas, Oatmeal Creme Pies. We've done well with events like the Ironman and the (USA Cycling) bike race, and this can only help us get more events in town and more things that Finley Stadium could host."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.