The Soccer Chronicles: Between Matches, a Hallowed English Stadium

Andrea Comas/X90037, via ReutersHeather O’Reilly, center, in a less relaxing moment (the game against North Korea on Tuesday).

Heather O’Reilly, a midfielder on the United States women’s soccer team and a two-time gold medalist, will be writing regularly for the 2012 London Olympics blog. This is her fifth post.
Well, we changed cities once again, which is a good thing! It means we made it out of our group and are continuing on our quest.
This time we traveled by bus from Manchester to Newcastle, as English countryside rolled past. A Starbucks stop before we hit the highway brought us all a little joy and a taste of home on this winding Olympic road that we are on.
I have spent a lot of my time resting, putting my feet up, preparing for games and watching “Friday Night Lights” with Rachel Buehler (great show, by the way).
But I am aware that it is also important to take in the scenery. Although we all have our “eyes on the prize,” we have been doing a great job digging into the Olympic environment. For example, as we were about to sit down for a team meeting, some of the players reminded the coaches that an important swimming final was about to start. Pia [Sundhage] said, “Well, go ahead, then!” and we all excitedly ran out of the team meeting room to the TV and huddled around to see Team USA compete.
I thought it was cool that Pia recognized that even though the meeting was very important, it was also crucial that we enjoy the Olympic scenery. A few days ago, we had a walk-through of Old Trafford the day before our match there. The entire team was in complete awe of the stadium.