U.S. women's team 'blowing up' after world tunes in

By David Leon Moore, USA TODAY

DRESDEN, Germany � Anybody out there notice a lot of extra ringing, buzzing and beeping in the air during the last 24 hours?

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  By Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP

  Abby Wambach, left, and goalkeeper Hope Solo celebrate winning the quarterfinal match against Brazil at the World Cup on July 10 in Dresden.

By Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP

Abby Wambach, left, and goalkeeper Hope Solo celebrate winning the quarterfinal match against Brazil at the World Cup on July 10 in Dresden.

Oh, that was just America's soccer heroines corresponding with their growing number of fans.

"Blow-ing up," Shannon Boxx said Monday about the voice messages and e-mails she's gotten on her cell phone since the U.S. delivered a miracle finish to beat Brazil in a high-drama World Cup quarterfinal Sunday.

"It's been so fun," Boxx, a veteran midfielder, added. "I turned the phone back on after the game, and right away I had about 30 e-mails, a couple of texts. I don't do Twitter, but the young ones all have Twitter and they've been getting tweets from the most random people, which is very cool.

"It makes you appreciate the people back home supporting you. We're kind of building. You're hearing, 'I never watched a soccer game before, but now I'm watching.'"

Some of the random fans congratulating the players on Twitter: basketball's LeBron James, football's Aaron Rodgers and Hollywood's Tom Hanks.

"That's pretty cool," Boxx said. "It's fun to hear that these big names back home that you watch and idolize are watching women's soccer."

Midfielder Heather O'Reilly said her Twitter followers almost tripled overnight. "I think this game has really got people talking," she said.

The U.S. won 5-3 on penalty kicks after a 2-2 tie that was highlighted by an Abby Wambach goal with about a minute left in overtime.

O'Reilly, a New Jersey native, got a kick out of news that U.S. highlights were shown on the big screen at Yankee Stadium. "That's unbelievable," she said. "It's amazing that it's getting outside the soccer world. I think soccer people were following us. Now the general sports fan is picking up on how special this team is and how special that game was."

"Somebody," she added, chuckling, "said that Derek Jeter's Sports Illustrated cover might get bumped for this win."

The U.S. women play France in a semifinal Wednesday.

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