[nas] Fwd: 2004 "Best of U.S. Soccer" Winners

Begin forwarded message:

> From the U.S. Soccer Communications Center -- December, 22, 2004
>
>
> 2004  “BEST OF U.S. SOCCER” WINNERS ANNOUNCED
>
> Olympic Gold Medal Champion U.S. Women Receive Eight of 11 Awards,
> Including Best Performances, Best Goal, Assist & Fashion Statement
>
>
>      CHICAGO (December 22, 2004) – U.S. Soccer announced today the 
> 2004 winners of the increasingly popular “Best of U.S. Soccer” awards 
> after a month of fans voting online at ussoccer.com, where people had 
> a chance to vote for one or all of the 11 categories once a day from 
> Nov. 19-Dec. 17.
>  With an historic year that included tears of joy from a dramatic 
> overtime Olympic gold medal finish and tears of sadness from the 
> retirement of a trio of legends, the U.S. Women’s National Team 
> deservedly earned a whopping eight of the 11 awards.
>          The retirement of Joy Fawcett, Julie Foudy and Mia Hamm after 
> amazing 18-year careers that included two Women’s World Cup 
> championships and two Olympic gold medals was the obvious favorite to 
> win Best U.S. Soccer Story, which it did with a sizeable 41% of the 
> vote.  Their storybook ending in Athens was second with 32% of the 
> vote.  The Men’s National Team’s year of late-game heroics that helped 
> them to an impressive 8-1-6 record and qualified them for the final 
> round of 2006 FIFA World Cup Qualifying finished a distant third with 
> 10%, but the saga of qualifying will undoubtedly be one of the top 
> stories of 2005.
>          The U.S. Women’s exhausting 120-minute performance to hold 
> off a relentlessly attacking Brazilian team and gut out it out for a 
> gold medal earned the Best Game Performance (Team) award with a 
> whopping 55 percent of the vote, the largest majority of any of the 
> awards.  The U.S. Women’s equally intense semifinal win over Germany 
> finished second, while the U.S. Men’s 6-0 rout of Panama in World Cup 
> Qualifying was third.
>          Best Game Performance (Player) went to perhaps the best 
> women’s soccer player of all time.  Mia Hamm's all-over-the-place 
> performance and game-winning assist in the Olympic semifinal, which 
> avenged last year's WWC loss to Germany and gave the team the chance 
> to go out with gold, won with 39% of the vote.
>          Hamm also won the first ever Best Assist award, appropriate 
> for a player that finished her career with a ridiculous mark of 144.  
> Her patented dribbling drive to the end line and precision pass 
> through traffic that Heather O'Reilly deftly finished for the 
> game-winning overtime goal in the Olympic semifinal over Germany on 
> Aug. 23 barely beat out Kristine Lilly’s assist on Abby Wambach’s 
> game-winning double overtime header by just two percentage points.
>          But although the Wambach goal lost out on the previous award, 
> it was a shoe-in for the new Best Late-Game Heroics, beating out the 
> O’Reilly goal and four worthy candidates from the Men’s National 
> Team’s year of edge-of-your-seat finishes.
>          In the third and final new award for 2004, the gold medals 
> and Olympic wreaths won by the U.S. Women’s National Team on the 
> podium in Athens, Greece, won Best Fashion Statement, edging out Abby 
> Wambach’s gold Nike Mercurial Vapors and U.S. MNT midfielder DaMarcus 
> Beasley’s signature diamond-encrusted “7” necklace.
>          The final two awards won by the U.S. Women came after the 
> Olympics on the 10-game “Fan Celebration Tour,” including Best Goal.  
> It came in the second game on the tour, a 3-0 win over Iceland on 
> Sept. 29, when Abby Wambach, the only U.S. player in the offensive 
> half of the field, gathered a pass, flicked it over two defenders at 
> her back and then hit a 22-yard looping blast that shocked the 
> opposing goalkeeper.  Abby’s wonderful individual strike was in the 
> top spot by just a hair with 31%, two percent ahead of Lindsay 
> Tarpley’s rocket that gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead in the gold medal 
> match.
>          Wambach also helped create the Best U.S. Crowd, when half of 
> her hometown of Rochester, N.Y., filled up every inch of Frontier 
> Field to catch their local hero kick off the “Fan Celebration Tour” 
> with a surprisingly close 4-3 last-minute win over Iceland on Sept. 
> 25.  With an all-time high stadium sell-out crowd of 14,780 screaming 
> “Abby!” in unison and holding “Absolutely Abby” cards in their hands, 
> it was an ideal kickoff to the successful tour.
>          Best Soccer Fans went to the Sam’s Army contingent that 
> packed the North Stands in Foxboro, Mass., for the U.S. Men's first 
> home qualifier of the semifinal round, a 2-0 win over El Salvador on 
> Sept. 4.
>          Ginger’s Ale House of Chicago became the first back-to-back 
> winner of any “Best of…” award when they received 19% of the vote to 
> win this year’s Best Soccer Bar. The Brittania Arms of San Jose, 
> Calif., finished second, just ahead of inaugural winner Summers 
> Restaurant (Arlington, Va.).
>          Last year’s Best Soccer Store winner, Gotschalk’s Soccer 
> (Boston, Mass.) got leapfrogged by Soccer Shack of Rochester, N.Y., 
> and the local chain of Soccer USA stores in Austin, Texas, who won 
> with 18% of the total vote.
>          Below are the top three vote-getters for each of the 2004 
> “Best of U.S. Soccer” awards.
>
> Best Soccer Bar:
> 1. Ginger's Ale House (Chicago, Ill.)         19%
>  2. The Brittania Arms (San Jose, Calif.)         14%
>  3. Summers Restaurant (Arlington, Va.)         13%
>
> Best Soccer Store:
> 1. Soccer USA (Austin, Texas)                  18%
>  2. Soccer Shack (Rochester, N.Y.)               14%
>  3. Gotshalk's Soccer (Boston, Mass.)            11%
>
> Best U.S. Soccer Story:
> 1. Hamm, Foudy and Fawcett Finish Legendary Careers                    
>                         41%
>  2. Veterans, Young Stars Lead WNT to Gold in Greece                
>                                     32%
>  3. Last-Minute Heroics Help MNT to Long Unbeaten Streak, Final Round 
> of Qualifying    10%
>
> Best Fashion Statement:
> 1. U.S. Women's National Team's gold medals and Olympic wreaths       
>   39%
>  2. Abby Wambach's Olympic-winning gold Nike Mercurial Vapors       
>              30%
>  3. DaMarcus Beasley's blinged-out #7 diamond necklace               
>                     16%
>
> Best U.S. Crowd:
> 1. 14,780 (sell out) – Sept. 25 @ Frontier Field (Rochester, N.Y.) – 
> U.S. WNT 4, Iceland 3    28%
>  2. 45,048 – June 2 @ Cotton Bowl (Dallas, Texas) – U.S. MNT 1, Mexico 
> 0                                  27%
>  3. 39,529 – July 11 @ Soldier Field (Chicago, Ill.) – U.S. MNT 1, 
> Poland 1                                    13%
>
> Best Soccer Fans:
> 1. The Sam's Army contingent in Foxboro, Mass., for the U.S. Men's 
> first home qualifier     23.4%
>  2. Friends, family and fans that went to Greece to support the U.S. 
> Women at the Olympics             23.2%
>  3. The 150,000+ fans that witnessed the U.S. Women’s "Fan Celebration 
> Tour”                              22.4%
>
> Best Goal:
> 1. Abby Wambach’s skillful flick and volley– U.S. WNT 3, Iceland 0 – 
> Sept. 29          31%
>  2. Lindsay Tarpley’s bomb in Olympic final – U.S. WNT 2, Brazil 1 
> (2OT) – Aug. 26          29%
>  3. Landon Donovan’s clever finish – U.S. MNT 6, Panama 0 – Oct. 13   
>                             14%
>
> Best Assist:
> 1. Mia Hamm to Heather O'Reilly – U.S. WNT 2, Germany 1 (OT) – Aug. 
> 23            28%
>  2. Abby Wambach to Mia Hamm – U.S. WNT 4, Iceland 3 – Sept. 25       
>                         26%
>  3. Kristine Lilly to Abby Wambach – U.S. WNT 2, Brazil 1 (2OT) – Aug. 
> 26                      15%
>
> Best Late-Game Heroics:
> 1. Abby Wambach's “golden” game-winning header – U.S. WNT 2, Brazil 1 
> (2OT) – Aug. 26    40%
>  2. Heather O'Reilly's game-winning flick in the semi’s – U.S. WNT 2, 
> Germany 1 (OT) – Aug. 23        26%
>  3. Eddie Pope's game-winning tap-in – U.S. MNT 1, Mexico 0 – April 
> 28                                           13%
>
>  Best Game Performance (Player):
> 1. Mia Hamm’s tireless work all over the field – U.S. WNT 2, Germany 1 
> (OT) – Aug. 23    39%
>  2. Ed Johnson’s hat trick in just 18 minutes – U.S. MNT 6, Panama 0 – 
> Oct. 13                              19%
>  3. Abby Wambach’s five-goal performance – U.S. WNT 5, Ireland 0 – 
> Oct. 23                              16%
>
> Best Game Performance (Team):
> 1. U.S. WNT 2, Brazil 1 (2OT) – Aug. 26 – Athens, Greece               
>      55%
>  2. U.S. WNT 2, Germany 1 (OT) – Aug. 23 – Athens, Greece           
>           13%
>  3. U.S. MNT 6, Panama 0 – Oct. 13 – Washington, D.C.               
>               12%
>
>
> --ussoccer.com--
>
>
>
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