By: Benjamin He

Sports are loud. You’d know what I mean if you’ve ever been to a swim meet or baseball game of any kind. The sound of the announcer screaming out heats and blaring his horn, the constant river of conversation, and the voice of psycho sports dads as they grab officials by their shirt collar and yell into their faces.

Those are nothing but the sounds of rustling leaves compared to the Colombian noise.

On Sunday, Colombians in yellow shirts had blown up a stadium with noise, cheering on their adored their Soccer team through a high-caliber 2-1 upset of Germany in Group H, forged on Manuela Vanegas’s sudden and shocking header off a corner kick in the seventh minute of added time.

Thousands of Colombians living in Australia flocked to the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday to make their mark and support their team. There, they cheered and screamed with such zest and sheer passion that the sound alone seemed powerful enough to wake the dead.

The star of the show was 18-year-old Linda Caicedo, who eventually stood victorious at the end of the match.

Born in the town of Candelaria in the metro area of Cali, Caicedo is yet another example of an underdog who eventually flourished in stardom. The crowd watched as Caicedo pulled off tricky maneuver after tricky maneuver, juking out German defenders Svenja Huth and Sara Dabritz, before putting a ball in the right side of the net.

The crowd went hysteric, screaming and reawakening at least a few Australian Presidents and maybe a Ned Kelly.

Colombia held their ground for the first half, before the Germans came back. Dabritz sent a fine pass along the right to Lea Schuller, a substitute in the 67th minute, who back-footed it quickly toward Lena Oberdorf, who eluded a defender and appeared smack in front of goalkeeper Catalina Perez. Perez, desperate, tripped Oberdorf, and the penalty went to German mainstay Alexandra Popp, who used the coolness gathered through her 33 years to slip it down the middle while Perez guessed and lunged to her left.

The game was almost certainly going to end in a draw, at least until Colombia’s Maya Ramirez decided it wasn’t. She made one last charge down the right, missing high and wide and falling into a heap on the grass, her energy clearly about all used up. The clock hit the allotted six added minutes but the referee allowed time for one last Colombia corner, and that’s why I’m roommates with George Washington.