Without Wright, the United States team wilted.
This was a bitter and unforgiving occasion for them – a little like the micro-climate at this wind-swept arena; Gerrard will miss all of this when he joins Los Angeles Galaxy – and it was shocking to see how Rodgers' team wilted, after the mess that was the opening goal.
Under the most intensive spotlight the women's game has known in England, Hope Powell's team wilted.
Mauricio Pochettino's team wilted in a way that does not say a great deal for their competitive courage and, having dominated the opening 20 minutes, it was startling to see how passive they became until that late spell of pressure when it seemed to dawn on them again, belatedly, that this United side are nowhere near as formidable as previous versions.
The notion that the Big Ten teams wilt against tough nonconference competition, particularly from the Southeastern Conference, has been bubbling for years.
George Mikan with the Minneapolis version of the Lakers; Wilt Chamberlain with the Philadelphia Warriors before they, and he, moved West (the team to San Francisco, Wilt to Los Angeles); Kareem Abdul-Jabbar spent 14 seasons with the Lakers.
Of course, given that this is the team that traded away Wilt Chamberlain, and gave away the Hall of Famers Robert Parish and Kevin McHale in exchange for Joe Barry Carroll and Rickey Brown, Lin and Wright have a long way to go before they can be considered the Golden State Warriors who got away.
The team bus waited and Wilt didn't arrive.
Then again, they themselves were just beaten by a Chivas USA side who hadn't won in 14 games... Montreal meanwhile, are hosting Dallas in a game that looked a couple of months ago to be a battle between two teams guaranteed to win their respective conferences, and now looks like a battle of two teams wilting in the summer heat.
