I think we all felt we were going to win.

One of the sentiments was the only people that could hold us back was ourselves.

Let's go out and win this thing.

510,000 fans, 99 goals, 26 games, 15 days, 12 teams, all leading to one decisive final.

USA versus Norway for the first women's World Cup title.

The U.S. had absolutely dominated the tournament, scoring 23 goals while conceding only four.

Their high-energy pressing had throttled their opponents.

But it also left them tired, and FIFA's compressed schedule didn't help.

The final would be the U.S.'s sixth game in just 14 days.

Here's April Heinrichs.

You're getting to the finals and you're spent because of the road to get there and you're exhausted, and you've got very little left

because, you know, you've got physical fatigue, but emotional fatigue.

What's more, the U.S.'s arch-rivals, the Norwegians, were relentless.

The only team to this point that had given the U.S. trouble was Sweden, and Norway destroyed

Sweden four to one in the semifinals.

Their star, Linda Medellin, describes her team this way.

We never gave up, so it was like tigers coming one after one after one all the time.

That's what the U.S. was up against, a Norwegian team that was mentally tough,

that wasn't afraid of the Americans or anyone else.

It would be easy for the U.S. to go into this final focused on their exhaustion or feeling

intimidated, but they had an iron will from all the grueling preparation.

Anson Dorrance made sure to remind his players what they had been through to get here.

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