Penalty kicks might be the most dramatic thing in sports. Two teams play 120 minutes of intense, closely-contested soccer in a knockout round and it all comes down to 10 kicks from the spot. That is the ultimate in drama, or so we think.
There is one thing more dramatic -- a goal in the 123rd minute when a match has been nothing short of pants on head crazy and seems destined for penalties, only for a team to grab a winner seemingly out of nowhere. That is otherwise known as the impossible happening and on Monday in the Olympic semifinals, Alex Morgan made the impossible happen with a goal that put the United States into the Gold Medal Match at the expense of Canada in a match that the English language does not have words to accurately describe.
And to think, that came after Christine Sinclair tried to carry the Canadians on her back with an amazing hat trick, Megan Rapinoe had an Olimpico and a 20-yard rocket off of the post for a goal and a controversial penalty late on to get the U.S. level. Bonus, it happened at Old Trafford, which lived up to its nickname as the Theatre of Dreams. This match could not have been dreamed up by even the trippiest of people on all of the drugs.
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