Army Beat Marines 3-2 in an Amazing Soccer Comeback!

First-as I live vicariously through my son, here is one of my favorite Tyler soccer stories from his youth…

I grew up in Kansas City-a big Royals and Chiefs fan-and my son Tyler was born there. We did not move to Denver until he was about 9.

One year when he was 5 or 6 we signed him up for baseball. As the coach was handing out uniforms he asked Tyler what number he wanted. Tyler said he wanted number 5.

The coach said; “I bet you want that because it’s George Brett’s number!”

Tyler’s response; “No-that’s my dad’s number!”
(“5” was my number when I played collegiate soccer)

So it was with great pride and a more than a hint of living vicariously that I watched my son last night help the All Army soccer team defeat the All Marines in a stunning comeback after being down 2-0 at half time to win the gold 3-2 with 2 minutes left in the game. The feelings were amplified when he was selected to play for the All Armed Forces USA team soon after. They will now play Brazil, Canada, and 2 other countries in a regional soccer tournament here in Abilene Texas starting this Thursday.

If by some miracle they win that tournament I have no idea what happens next. In countries like Brazil, most of their best soccer players at one point played for the Brazilian armed forces team in their youth. The pride in playing them is that you get the experience of playing the future soccer stars of the world who end up playing in Europe and on the Brazilian national team at some point-and probably getting “it handed to you” on the field.