This isn’t your big sister’s U.S. women’s national soccer team. They have had to fight for every goal, every win they earned during this World Cup, and now they will play in the finals for the first time since the U.S. won it all in 1999.

The U.S. — the No. 1 ranked team in the world — was one of the last teams into the field of sixteen. They had played themselves into a hole, and needed to beat a stout Italian side in a two-leg playoff just to punch their tickets to Germany.

But, inside of the last four days, the U.S. team has vindicated their ranking and the U.S. soccer fans’ loyalty and admiration.

We often make much of our American arrogance, our propensity to believe we are the best no matter how great our competition might be. And when we are not the best, we often are at a lost to understand how we lost.

Had the U.S. team’s quarterfinal game against Brazil ended differently, no one would have blamed the U.S. players if they had wondered how they lost. But they weren’t interested in wondering how they lost; only how to win.

After 120 minutes of soccer, the U.S. pulled out an equalizer on the head of Abby Wambach, and put the game away on penalty kicks. Four days later, against France, with the game tied at one and the bouncebackability of the U.S. in question, Wambach came up big again in the 80th minute.

She towered above French defense to put a corner kick from Lauren Cheney into the onion bag. And as if that wasn’t enough, the youngest member of the U.S. team in Alex Morgan cemented the team’s first trip to the World Cup finals in 12 years with a beautiful chip over French goal keeper Berangere Sapowicz.

Another team may have been able to beat this French team handily. Another team may have played better offensively from the 10th minute to the 79th, but I don’t think another team would have had as much heart.

The U.S. will play Japan Sunday in the finals in Frankfurt, Germany.

— RJ Young, professional writing grad student