The Netherlands vs. the U.S.A.: What in the World?

     So, who am I rooting for?
     This is not exactly how we intended it to be: The Netherlands as soccer World Cup champions, yes. But the intention was the Dutch men's team.
     Holland could rule the soccer world Sunday -- the Dutch women, that is. Who would have imagined that?
     One slight problem: The championship-game opponent -- in Lyon, France -- is the United States of America. Our women's team, the reigning World Cup champions going for two in a row.
     Dang it, what a dilemma in my mind.
     Love both countries, love both teams. 
     So, I am rooting for the winner and will feel for the loser. But both countries, both teams are winners for me. I will always root for both, never pull against either one.
     My No. 1 sports dream is for The Netherlands' men's team -- as I often have said and written -- to win the World Cup championship. That was my first sports love, starting in about 1952 when I was 5 years old ... in Amsterdam.
     Wrote about this in June 2014 as the men's World Cup was about to kick off (my history of Dutch sports fandom):http://nvanthyn.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-oranje-hup-holland-hup.html
         (Short version: The Netherlands men have come heartbreakingly close to winning the World Cup six times -- three championship-game losses (1974, 1978, 2010), twice in overtime, and three other outstanding teams that either made the semifinals or lost to the eventual champions. Painful losses, all.)
        Here it is five years later, and I am writing about women's soccer, and happy to do it.

The U.S. team has had fun celebrating
 its goals, and success.

      The American team has gotten lots of publicity, or notoriety, during this tournament as the prohibitive favorite. A fun team to watch, except for the players' over-the-top goal celebrations. 
     Those irritate many fans. I am among those who think they could have, should have, toned it down. But that's sports today -- the look-at-me, look-what-I-have done, showoff style. We can accept it, or we can let it irritate us and complain.
     Whatever ...
     (Not getting into controversy about the off-the-field back-and-forth with the Tweetmeister. That's showoff territory, too.)    

The Dutch women's team has been on quite a roll.

     Meanwhile, the Dutch women -- who are the reigning European champions -- have kind of sneaked through to the championship game. But that 12-game winning streak in major tournament play is impressive.
      Still, I expect the U.S. team fully expects to win Sunday's game and, to be honest, I expect that, too.
       But even before Holland had scored the winning goal (in extra time) Wednesday in the semifinal against Sweden, an old friend -- yes, Mike Richey, we're old -- asked who I would root for in the title game.
      I was/am Dutch, spent my first 8 1/2 years in Amsterdam, am reminded every day by pictures here in the apartment and any mention of Holland that Mom and Dad's families were Amsterdamers.
      Since 1956, we have lived in the United States; that's 63 years if you're counting. We have been U.S. citizens for 58 years. Proud of it. 
      But proud of Holland, too. It is a beautiful, very progressive country, innovative in so many ways. And one of the world's greatest soccer countries, despite its very small size.
      And I have said and written this often: The world's greatest fans. If it is speedskating -- Dutch skaters have dominated the world the past decade -- or cycling or, well, any sport -- the orange-clad fans are as over-the-top as the U.S. women's soccer team's celebrations.
      Yes, better than LSU fans or Yankees/Red Sox/Cubs fans; pick a team's fans, I'll take the Dutch fans.
      To answer Mike Richey's question of who I am rooting for, as I told him, I cannot choose. It is like choosing between rooting for LSU or Louisiana Tech. More personally, it is like choosing between my children or grandchildren. They are all No. 1.
        To be honest, I have watched little of this women's World Cup. I have monitored the scores on my phone or computer; recorded a few of the games and watched some afterward. Just have other things to do, to keep me busy. Less stress that way, too.
         But I am familiar with many of the U.S. team players and like watching them play. Cannot name one Dutch player right away, but our friend Kip Coons -- a co-worker in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram sports department a decade ago -- pointed out Wednesday that the Dutch head coach, Sarah Wiegman, spent a year playing as a midfielder with the North Carolina Tar Heels' dynasty program. Among her teammates on the 1989 NCAA championship team: superstar Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly and Carla Overbeck -- all then or about to be Team USA stars.
     Looked up Wiegman's background: First Dutch woman to play 100 international games, extensive coaching career. Impressive. 
      Her team's efforts have been impressive, too. Proud, too, of how far women's athletics have come.
       Only wish Dad was still here to see this. He loved athletics -- as many of my readers know -- and he especially loved soccer, or voetbal as we knew it in The Netherlands. He introduced me to the game a darned long time ago.
       (And, just as an aside, Dad was born 100 years ago Saturday.)
       I will be thinking about him Sunday; Mom, too. They would have loved this.
       If you care, if you watch, enjoy the game. May the best team win. They are both winners to me. I will be alternating between Hup, Holland, Hup and U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A.