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What I am talking about is the United States Women's National Soccer Team visiting Ford Field to take on the Chinese national team in a friendly competition. The national team last was in Michigan in 1993 and hasn't been back since.

After Wednesday's match however, I believe they may change. Over 12,000 people braved the elements and drove to downtown Detroit for the 7:30 p.m. start. There was much pageantry, as the teams were led out by metro Detroit youth soccer players and the National Anthems were played for each team.

The United States, who were gold medalists this past summer at the Olympics and are regarded as the best team in the world, controlled much of the game. The game's lone goal came off the foot of USA midfielder Heather O'Reilly in the 32nd minute. The US finished their 2008 campaign with a impressive 33-1-2 record for the year.

The game served as a homecoming for Michigan natives Kate Markgraf and Lindsay Tarpley, who earned the assist on O'Reilly's goal.

The loudest cheers of the night were for Markgraf and Tarpley, as the crowd, which was composed of mostly high school and youth soccer players from all over the state were thrilled to see the home-state women playing at the highest level.

And it was a high level of soccer, as both teams were very skilled and tough. The goal came off a very interesting sequence in which a quick attack led by Tarpley and Tina Ellertson forced a back pass that was picked up by Chinese goalkeeper Zhang Yanru, earning a indirect free kick from just eight yards from goal. Zhang was issued a yellow card for her infraction and then a bit of chaos ensued as China set up its wall on the goal line. Zhang shoved Tarpley hard in the back several times before being warned by referee Margaret Domka.

When order was restored, Angela Hucles rolled a short square pass to Carli Lloyd, who blasted her shot at goal, but it was deflected away by the Chinese wall. The USA didn't let China clear the defensive third and the ball was played back into Tarpley, whose looping shot from just inside the penalty hit the crossbar and rebounded straight to the crashing O'Reilly. The U.S. midfielder had time to quickly settle the ball and blast her shot under Zhang and into the net from eight yards out.

The most impressive thing for me was seeing the varsity jackets from all over the place, including a few from our own area. David Garr from Goodrich, a pretty good soccer player in his own right, was there, as well as a girl from North Branch that was asked to go on the field and kick a ball onto a jersey which she got to keep after accomplishing the feat. Not to mention the nine-player contingency from Millington that I brought with me.

One of my players summed up the day best though, as he surveyed the field midway through the first half. He looked at me and said "Hey coach, how about that? We are at Ford Field watching a game, and the home team is winning!"