US women pull off an improbable feat

Shannon Boxx (7) and Christie Rampone lead a star-spangled celebration after beating Brazil, 1-0. (Ricardo Mazalan/Associated Press)

BEIJING - It had been the longest of all years for the US women's soccer team and for its goalkeeper. The Americans had taken their worst beating in history from Brazil in last autumn's World Cup semifinals and Hope Solo had been shunned by her teammates for criticizing coach Greg Ryan for benching her.

But on a cool and moist evening inside the House That Mao Built, the US wrote a fresh gilt-edged page for its five-ringed storybook, stunning the favored Canarinhas, 1-0, on Carli Lloyd's goal six minutes into overtime before a crowd of 51,612 at Workers' Stadium last night.

"It feels amazing," said Solo, after her teammates had won the gold medal for the third time since 1996 and left the Brazilians shocked and weeping on the ground. "I am on cloud nine, just floating out there."

Of all of the triumphs at Olympus, this was the sweetest for the Yanks because it was the unlikeliest. They'd struggled from the first few minutes of the tournament, losing to a Norwegian team that didn't make the medal round. They squeaked past the Japanese, 1-0, and had to go to overtime to beat the Canadians in the quarterfinals.

The Brazilians, who'd battered the US, 4-0, in their Cup meeting, had run the Germans dizzy in their 4-1 semifinal triumph here. This finally appeared to be their time. "We thought we were going to win," said coach Jorge Barcellos. "We were very sure about it."

And yet the Canarinhas fell short in overtime again, just as they had in Athens four years ago when they played the Americans off their feet and lost on Abby Wambach's header. "Everybody knows that we wanted to win the gold," said Marta, who was thwarted all night long. "And again we came out of the match without it."

The US may have had its problems in the Cup, settling for bronze at the last two tournaments. But when they come to Olympus, the Americans turn into goddesses. While they couldn't match Brazil for speed, flair, or invention, they brought defenders to the ball and knocked yellow jerseys around like pinballs. And whenever snipers Marta and Cristiane slipped through, Solo rose up and denied them.

Her biggest save came in the 71st minute, when Marta fired a close-range rocket from the left side that Solo swatted away with her right forearm. "I was getting ready to get up and commemorate," confessed Barcellos, "but, unfortunately, it didn't go in."

That was the kind of save Solo insisted she would have made against the Brazilians in the Cup debacle if Ryan hadn't gambled on Briana Scurry instead. For her unwelcome candor, her teammates ostracized Solo, and Ryan banned her from attending the bronze medal match with Norway.

But when Pia Sundhage took over as coach, she asked the players two questions: Do you want to win? Do you think we need goalkeepers? "We have to move on," Sundhage said. "This day, you could see that we did."

Solo was an imposing presence in the final, soaring to knock aside crosses and punch out corners. And once her teammates began finding their rhythm and attacking with boldness, they nearly won the match twice in the closing minutes of regulation. Angela Hucles ripped a skimmer that keeper Barbara had to dive to save. Then, just before added time, Amy Rodriguez broke in alone and chipped a ball that Barbara had to leap to block.

So it came to overtime, as it has at the last three Games, and when the Americans saw their rivals sitting on the ground during the break, they began laughing. "They were cramping," said defender Kate Markgraf. "We knew we had a chance."

It came in the 96th minute when Rodriguez, with her back to the goal, fed the ball to Lloyd just outside the box and Lloyd cracked a left-footer to the far corner of the net. "Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would have scored the goal that gave us the gold medal," said Lloyd, who just missed another when she hit the far post three minutes from the end of overtime.

Nor would Solo have dreamed that she'd have gone from outcast to heroine on the global stage. "It was unreal," she said. "You hear those words all the time, but I really couldn't fathom it. It's like a storybook ending. It's something you see in Hollywood or in fairy tales, but it really played out. My life doesn't play out like that all the time."

This time, in the same country where she and her team hit bottom last year, there were victory flags draped around shoulders and gold medals hanging around necks. "I went through hell for the last 10 months," Solo said. "One gold medal can't make up for that. But this completes the journey."

John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.