It certainly was a nightmare night for the U.S. women's national team.
Not only were the USA denied in their quest for a third world championship, they were embarrassed by Brazil en route to a 4-0 loss in the FIFA Women's World Cup semifinals. It was the worst defeat in the team's proud and amazing 22-year history.
So what wrong? Plenty.
Here's a short synopsis:
Brazilian brilliance: Before getting into the USA's faults, let's give credit where it is due. The Brazilians were superb. They run around as though the ball is part of their feet, very much the same as the men do. They work for each other and their skills and speed are superior.
Then there's Marta, who at 21 is called "Pele in a skirt," although it is not known whether she wears one. Marta has her own samba style of dancing with the ball and around defenders. If she isn't named FIFA Women's World Player of the Year for a second consecutive time, it will be stunning and highway robbery.
The scary part is that Marta is four years from her prime, given that many players peak or begin to peak at that age.
"We produced a perfect performance," Marta said. "We are creating history by making the final and that is not down to me, it is down to a great performance by our team."
Brazil made the U.S., particularly its midfield and some defenders, look slow.
"We knew what they were going to do," U.S. captain Kristine Lilly said. "What happened was we got off what we wanted to do. They were beating us to the ball most of the time and had the momentum going their way.
"We're just trying to keep our heads above water and Brazil was a better team today."
This could be the start of the golden age of Brazilian soccer. Only time will tell. First, Brazil has to best defending champion Germany in Sunday's final.
Gifting goals: The U.S. gave Brazil a 20th-minute present when Leslie Osborne headed the ball into her own net off a Formiga corner kick.
No team in the world, including the U.S. can afford to do that. Once they got the lead, the Brazilians played with even more confidence. They were difficult to stop.
The red card: Referee Nicole Petignat's call on Shannon Boxx's second yellow card a minute into stoppage time for tripping Cristiane at midfield was a dubious one. But the U.S. had to live with it and died with during its attempt to play catch-up soccer in the second-half. It's difficult to play that way when the other team has the ball for long stretches of time.
"It changes the whole course of the game," U.S. striker Abby Wambach said. "I am not going to sit here and make excuses because we could've come out stronger."
The U.S. midfield: The USA's midfield weakness of a possession game and no great passer was exposed as they constantly failed to get the ball to Wambach on a consistent basis. With their No. 1 attacker essentially nullified, no one else could pick up the slack.
Lilly, a iron woman who has looked her 36 years of age in the past few games, and Heather O'Reilly, who hasn't lived up to her expectations to be a consistent goal-scorer, did not fill the gap.
Michael Lewis is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
