London 2012, Women's Soccer Semi-Final: France v. Japan

Women's soccer tickets were released after the main lottery, so we were able to get tickets to Japan v. France at Wembley Stadium. 

It was super-easy to get to Wembley from our flat in Belsize Park. Just a short ride on the Jubilee line, then a 20 minute walk to the stadium.

Seats were assigned, not chosen, so we were very excited to see that we were in the front row. 

Front row, no way!

Don't let the pretty deceive you. Necib plays like a man (in a good way). She was the most skillful player on the pitch.

The Japanese team graciously bowing to their fans after the game.

We waited for over an hour in this line, just to get the tube home. One of the lines was broken, so it took longer than normal. When we went to the final, later in the week, it took a lot less time to get to the tube. It's pretty well-organized, however, considering that Wembley holds 80,000 people, most of whom arrive and depart by public transport.

Olaf is anxious to get home and watch the US play.

It was a good game. Japan was a better team, but France had better individual players. We were so into the match at halftime, that Olaf logged onto the Olympics website from his iPhone and bought tickets for the women's soccer final. 

The USA was playing Canada in the other semi-final match. We caught the second half of the game when we got home. It was the best, most intense match I have ever seen in my life. The energy and skill levels were insane. The scoring was a big rally, Canada goal, USA goal, Canada goal, USA goal. The game even went into overtime. 

Obviously, Olaf and I were rooting for the US. We were screaming and going crazy in our flat, until, finally, we won. Neither of us slept that night. We were too excited about the final match later in the week :)