SALT LAKE CITY — As 20-year-old Saki Kumagai put the ball into the net that gave Japan the World Cup win over the top-ranked U.S. women's soccer team, dawn was breaking in Tokyo.
And the light that was slowly spreading across the sky was the perfect symbol of warmth and joy that the Japanese women's soccer team offered their disaster-ravaged country by winning its first World Cup in Germany on Sunday night.
Their win doesn't ease the angst of a nuclear crisis.
It doesn't clean up the rubble or bring back any of the 23,000 missing or killed.
It does not restore roads or rebuild businesses. It does not return lost homes, crops and personal belongings swept away by fire and seawater.
It does not change the harsh, daily reality that has come to define daily living in Japan, after March 11. That's the day a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, subsequent Tsunami and continuing nuclear crisis obliterated nearly everything about their former lives.
The Japanese women's ability on the soccer field changes none of that.
But for three glorious weeks, the grit and grace of the Japanese women has allowed those battling constant stress and sorrow to escape, to be free and, finally, to be giddy.
And now, on what is a national holiday meant to express gratitude for the blessings of the sea (Marine Day), the entire country can revel in the victory of the Nadeshiko — or beautiful flower — the symbol of the Japanese soccer team.
It was difficult to root against a team like Japan — even for fans of the gutsy, determined U.S. women's team. The World Cup final pitted two tournament favorites, and the game was a thriller, decided, of course by penalty kicks. After coming from behind twice — once in regulation, once in extra time, Japan broke the 2-2 tie, with a 3-1 victory in penalty kicks.
To understand why the win is so monumental to the Japanese, consider where these women have come from and the weight that they carried.
In Japan, a country of more than 125 million people, 25,000 girls are registered to play youth soccer, according to CNN.
Compare that to the U.S. where 40 percent of the 18 million children playing soccer are girls. In fact, an estimated 18,188 women play collegiate soccer, according to FIFA.
Understand, then, what it means to a group of women who are more often ignored than celebrated, and until about five years ago struggled to get any funding from their national governing body, despite quite a lot of high-level success, including a fourth place finish in the 2008 Olympics.
And then, consider that they carried with them onto the pitch each game — the hopes of a country that until this week, didn't have the energy or heart to worry about anything as trivial as a women's soccer title.
In preparing his team to face defending World Cup champions and host country Germany last week, Japanese head coach Norio Sasaki showed his players pictures of the destruction in Japan.
The impact was profound.
"They touched us deep in our souls," Aya Miyama, told reporters of the photographs.
And despite their empathy, they knew the limitations of sports in the real world. Scoring goals would not feed the hungry or comfort those who'd lost loved ones.
Thankfully, however, these women also understood the power of the games.
"As a player we cannot do very much for Japan," said captain Homare Sawa, the five-time world cup player who scored the tying goal in the 116th minute of Sunday's final. "But at least we can try and play as hard as we can."
That's the beauty of sport.
It can, under the right circumstances, provide a transcendent moment.
The victory over the U.S. will not change the daily struggles of the millions working each day to rebuild their battered country.
But those women represent the resilience of that country, and in doing so, they provide inspiration and joy to those who've never even dribbled a soccer ball.
They dedicated goals to their countrymen, they unfurled banners that thanked the world for its support, and they invoked the strength of the Japanese people who've shown the world their best under the worst of circumstances.
And so, the Nadeshiko and the people of Japan are as united by this unlikely victory, even for just a few hours or days, as they have been by their collective, desperate grief for months.
And maybe U.S. veteran Abby Wambach summed it up best: "The magnitude of all of this can get the best of you. Japan just kept coming, and they never gave up. I think their country is very, very proud of them."
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