CLARKSVILLE - With Austin Peay State University women's soccer standout Tatiana Ariza joining the Colombian national team for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, head coach Kelley Guth and assistant coach Jeremy Sullivan made the trip to Germany for the games.

Throughout their stay, Guth has agreed to provide her insight about the games, the travel experiences and the general excitement generated by women's soccer on the world's biggest stage.

By: Head coach Kelley Guth.
FRANKFURT, Germany - After an adventurous first day in Germany for the Women's World Cup, we set out for Moenchengladbach for what was sure to be an exciting match between heavily-favored Brazil and up-and-coming Australia. It was a three-hour trip and our travels were much less complicated today.

The fans have been spectacular here. On one of our stops we met a family from New York that was touring Germany and stopping to catch games along the way. They told us how one of their family members had cancelled out of the trip and they had extra tickets. They offered us tickets for Germany vs. Nigeria, Thursday, but already we were slated to see Canada vs. France at the same time.

Canada is a team that I am excited to see. I really believe if Canada can get a result against France - even though they already lost to Germany - they may have a chance to make it to the next round.

When we arrived in Moenchengladbach we were transported by bus to the stadium (Stadion im Borussia-Park), which was about 10 minutes away. It was a beautiful stadium, which was fitting considering it is host site for the semifinals.

Our tickets were pre-purchased, so I immediately went to the will-call line to pick them up. While waiting in line, I saw another familiar face. It was Florida State head coach Mark Kirkorian and his wife. Although he was not the head coach when I played at FSU, it was still awesome to see him as we have met several times in the past. He also recognized me and introduced me to his wife as "Kelley Poole, who had played at FSU a few years back."

Our tickets were quite outstanding! They had us in section and row one on the lower level, which placed us directly behind the goal. We couldn't believe it! We were sure to get a few close ups with Brazil shooting towards us in the first half.

The game was spectacular. It was very exciting to see Brazil, a true contender for the title. We all talked about how exciting it would be to see Marta (one of the tournament's best players) up close.

The first half was action-packed and surprisingly to us, Australia was a great match up for the Brazilians. Australia had a small forward who was destroying Brazil's back line, leaving us all to wonder who she was. It turned out to be Lisa De Vanna - who we all thought to be the player of the match for sure. She had a couple of really good scoring chances, but could not finish.

In the second half, Rosana scored in the 54th minute but Australia kept fighting the whole way only to come up short. The tempo of the game was fantastic and Australia is now by far my favorite team to watch. They have very good players and a great work ethic as a team. Brazil is very dangerous and the Australians played with them the whole way.

On the ICE train back to Frankfurt, it traveled at speeds upwards of 160 miles-per-hour. Crazy! We returned to the hotel at midnight and are headed to Bochum, Thursday, for France vs. Canada.