Since the last World cup, women's soccer has seen an unprecedented growth in fans, sponsors, and financial support. There was a time not too long ago, when no one knew that the U.S. had a National team for women. This was true, even for women who played soccer in a collegiate setting from which the rosters are chosen. Now, however, we are familiar with the U.S. team and their victory over China in the 1999 World Cup final. We have seen them on the covers of Time magazine and Newsweek and issues filled with an over brimming optimism for the future of Women's National Team soccer.

In the time it took for their exposure in the media to finally explode, their opponents in the world's game have begun to play a much better quality of soccer. In the past, the women's team has experienced superiority to the other nations around the world on the playing field. They have only had to worry about a few big names such as China and Norway for any real threat of losing. If you remember, in the 1995 Olympics, they faced China and came away victorious, only to be faced by a more intense and physically fit China squad in the '99 World Cup. The teams are getting better around the world, and this fierce competition is only driving the sport to greater heights.

A perfect example of this is the 2000 Olympic final between Norway and the U.S.; both teams fought steadily for the 90 minutes, each team trading an aggressive offense and defense. Then it looked like Norway would take away the gold as they put away goal number two in the second half. The score stayed deadlocked at 2-1 Norway, until Tiffany Milbrett tied the game with a header near the closing minutes of the second half. As Olympic rules go, in the outcome of a tie game, the two squads play another fifteen-minute overtime period.

This was a very challenging test of endurance for the starters who had already been running for the past ninety minutes. This overtime period was unproductive. As the pressure mounted, both teams managed to stump each other again and again. So what does the Olympic/Fifa rules say? Another 15 minute overtime! If no one scores on the second over time period then the winner is determined by a shoot out; just like at the end of the '99 match against China. There wasn't a need for that as Norway caught a fluke bounce and turned the game into a victory, crushing the U.S. teams efforts for the gold medal.

A long ball dropped into the U.S. backfield was not cleared properly by the fatigued defense, and a Norwegian striker clipped the ball with her arm. This brought the ball to her feet and soon into the back of the net just past the outstretched U.S. goalie. Now this is where the fun part comes in: did the Norwegian striker play the ball with her arm intentionally or not? If it was intentional it means that the goal does not count, and it's a foul. A foul in the penalty box means the U.S. gets a penalty kick against Norway. This penalty kick could have made the difference in the U.S. bringing home the gold not the silver medal.