There are all kinds of enduring lessons here: the difficulty of making good decisions under stress, the standards we use to measure young people which are not fair, how even the most talented have their moments of insanity or human error. The morals of this story are myriad.
What AM I talking about? The split second, incredibly bad, junior high mistake made by the most talented women’s soccer team in the world: the U.S. team in the World Cup finals.
There was only nine minutes left to play in regulation time. The U.S. was ahead 1-0. Many unfamiliar with soccer won’t realize how hard goals are to come by, especially at this level. Such paltry scoring is the number one reason I hear people say they don’t watch this sport. But the action and athleticism shown in soccer is stupendous.
All our ladies had to do was hang on to their lead, the way they had done many times before. Then came a kick from the Japanese. It wasn’t a particularly good kick, but it was enough to center it in front of our goal. To always kick away from the goal when the ball is that close is drilled into third grade players. Rachel Buehler tried to clear it out, but instead of kicking it away from the goal, she kicked it weakly across the face the open net right to Ali Krieger, who unbelievably did the same thing in the opposite direction.
That “gift” was “handed” to Miyama, one of Japan’s best scorers. She was right there between the defenders to capitalize on their mistakes and pop it into the back corner of the net as the helpless Hope Solo watched the ping pong unfolding in front of her.
Was a US victory not to be because of how Japan needed an actual and moral victory to overcome the horrors that have befallen that beleaguered nation?
God hasn’t given me any inside information on how He feels about World Cup outcomes, but I do believe Romans 8:28 is still true. God’s Word, the Bible, guarantees that “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Note the clear conditions for this verse to be true for you. Are you working on God’s purposes for your life? Do you love Him? Then you can KNOW the behind-the-scenes Master who loves you is working things out for our good and His glory.
Something—or some One-- bigger than skill, fate or destiny was clearly at work at the World Cup. He’s also at work where you can’t see Him in the “game” called “your life.”
