Sunday’s Women’s World Cup soccer Final between USA and Japan is going to be amazing, thrilling, historic. What do you need to know to be fully swept up in the excitement? A little background never hurts.
Let’s start with the home team. USA has long been a superpower in women’s soccer.
An iconic moment from 1999. Chastain says Sunday's final will be “a clash of cultures in both game plan and philosophy.”
They broke onto the world stage in 1999, when 90,000 people filled the Rose Bowl to watch USA play China in the final. The score was tied 0-0 at full time and remained so until a nail-biting penalty kick shootout resulted in a USA win. Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain became stars, and the game brought huge attention to women’s soccer and athletics.They haven’t won a World Cup since, and they’re ready.
USA’s playing style has been characterized as a relentless hustle, never-say-die approach. This team bristles with talent. Hope Solo might be the best goalkeeper in the tournament. Star forward Abby Wambach’s late-game goal against Brazil last Sunday was the stuff of legend.
USA has flourished under the coaching of Swede Pia Sundhage. Hope Solo, pictured here, says of Sundhage's coaching style, "She said, 'You guys are creative, you are soccer players.' She wanted us to think and read the game for ourselves.... She lets the game come to us.”
Japan has displayed discipline, savvy and skill throughout the tournament. But there’s something more. Shortly before Japan faced two-time defending champion Germnay in the quarterfinals, Coach Norio Sasaki gave showed his players slide-show images of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan’s northeastern coast on March 11, killing more than 15,000 people.
“They touched us deep in our souls,” midfielder Aya Miyama told reporters.
Hope Solo sums it up: “They’re playing for something bigger and better than the game. When you’re playing with so much emotion, that’s hard to play against.”
We’ll see how they do on Sunday. Join us. Details here.
It’s event season again here at the Lark, and we have a lot coming up. Our Family Film Series has been a great success. Sponsored by the Sellers and Koeppel families, the series has been our way of offering an easy and affordable afternoon activity for kids and parents alike. Tix are $5 for kids under 12, $6.75 general. As a special part of the series, on 1/29 & 1/30 we’ll have Sing-along WIZARD OF OZ, with SF Opera chorus member Kathleen Bayler leading us in song (same ticket prices except adults are $10 at the door, $6.75 in advance).
Part of our NT Live series, KING LEAR comes to our screen on 2/3 and 2/5. The title role in this most dark yet transcendent of Shakespeare’s works is taken on by that most humane, most nuanced, most astonishing actor, Derek Jacobi. We are proud to be able to offer this caliber of performance, and we hope you’ll join us.
On Feb. 6 we’ll have Super Bowl XLV live onscreen – great for families who like to gather friends together but prefer to skip the clean-up or who have kids too young for the sports bar. Our Sports Onscreen events have grown in popularity. Ticket price Includes one soft drink or beer, popcorn and hot dog or pizza. Join us!
By popular demand, we’ve added a showing of FELA! on 2/10 at 7:00pm. Tony Award winner and living legend choreographer Bill T. Jones helms this amazing production, which he says is “rooted in the big questions of my life, questions like creativity, transgression, rebellion, sensuality, history, race, power. And there’s something about the man that calls out for a very poetic treatment. His life is so mythic in its scale.”
Stay tuned for more – not least, our Seventh Annual Academy Awards Party, coming up on 2/27.
With a perfect record of predictions for the 2010 World Cup, Oktopus Paul was one among many remarkable performers we had the privilege of witnessing during this exhilarating series of sporting events. The Lark Theater presented three of the games live on the big screen, with two sold-out houses. It is thrilling to watch a live sporting event here in the dark on the very big screen with a house full of like-minded fans and an up-close view of the action. Today, Paul goes into well-earned retirement. But we will continue to bring you live sporting events; next up, Super Bowl 2011.
Meanwhile, it’s summer, and these breezy, fog-conditioned days won’t last forever. Come in and cool down with us Friday mornings through mid-August at Family Film Fridays, where tickets are only ONE DOLLAR for kids 12 and under, and only FIVE DOLLARS for everyone else. See our website for details on this and more.
And there are three more Met Opera greatest hits coming your way in the next few weeks: LA BOHEME, TURANDOT, and CARMEN. If you haven’t had the amazing experience of the Met onscreen – or if you haven’t seen one or all of these brilliant productions – we hope you’ll take this opportunity. We don’t need a psychic octopus to know you’ll enjoy your experience.
