soccer soccer soccer

[UMFan83]

They look terrible against Netherlands tonight

[UMFan83]

Edit: Wrong thread

Edited July 27, 2023 by UMFan83

[UMFan83]

I guess I’ll take a draw given how this match started. Assuming everyone beats Vietnam, USA will advance with a result against Portugal and be eliminated with a loss

[Derwood]

It was fun just for the number of chances and how chippy the game got. Horan scoring after her dust up with the Dutch player was pretty sweet.

Can't believe they don't play again until Tuesday

[stitchface]

15 hours ago, Derwood said:

It was fun just for the number of chances and how chippy the game got. Horan scoring after her dust up with the Dutch player was pretty sweet.

Can't believe they don't play again until Tuesday

They're just so sloppy in the final third . . . need Rose LaVelle healthy. Horan and Van De Donk are club teammates . . . kind of funny. The dutch were hacktastic.

[wolf stansson]

Yunus to AC Milan.

 

 Hope you all have your Paramount+ subs.

 

weah -Juve

Wes - Juve

Pulisic - AC

Musah - AC

Balo - Inter or AC

 basically half our starting 11 in Serie A at 2/3 clubs.

[stitchface]

1 hour ago, wolf stansson said:

Yunus to AC Milan.

 

 Hope you all have your Paramount+ subs.

 

weah -Juve

Wes - Juve

Pulisic - AC

Musah - AC

Balo - Inter or AC

 basically half our starting 11 in Serie A at 2/3 clubs.

they played a friendly yesterday . . . is Weston staying at Juve then?

[wolf stansson]

Looks like it. He’s so good at breaking into teams, I have no doubt he can get back into the regular rotation

[stitchface]

Dest gets into Clasico - probably wishes he hadn't. Did nothing to help his cause being abused by Vini

[bukie]

The USWNT almost didn't get out of their own group, having to change tactics to bunker late vs Portugal to hold onto 2nd place.

 

Likely Sweden in the knockout round next, and Sweden is considerably better than the Netherlands or Portugal.

[Derwood]

This has been a very frustrating team who is clearly not living up to their hype

[stitchface]

8 hours ago, Derwood said:

This has been a very frustrating team who is clearly not living up to their hype

what hype? They are two time defending champions undergoing a transition. They just aren't as good and are missing their two best forwards and have their best mid playing center back. 

[Derwood]

8 minutes ago, stitchface said:

what hype? They are two time defending champions undergoing a transition. They just aren't as good and are missing their two best forwards and have their best mid playing center back. 

 

Hype like "they're deep enough to field two competitive teams". Perhaps that was before the injuries?

[UMFan83]

20 minutes ago, stitchface said:

what hype? They are two time defending champions undergoing a transition. They just aren't as good and are missing their two best forwards and have their best mid playing center back. 

Would you have said before the WC started that the US are still one of the 3 most talented teams if not the most talented team in the tournament?

Definitely going through a transition, definitely some legacy roster spots given out that are hurting them, definitely some major injuries hurting their attack, but still cant help but be disappointed with the performance so far.

[bukie]

Here's a solid article on what's going on with the USWNT at the World Cup:

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/the-uswnts-problems-explained-161944708.html

 

TLDR:

- The system Vlatko is trying to implement is such a poor fit for the roster, nobody knows what it's supposed to be.
- The poor form has shown for a while now, but Mallory Swanson was stealing some wins to make the results look better than the performance. Then Swanson tore her patellar tendon and the attack is invisible.
- The lack of domestic women's development in both youth and pro league has allowed the rest of the world to catch up faster, and none of this current roster plays in what are now better European leagues. So players like Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman were probably overhyped as attackers coming into the tournament.

[wolf stansson]

I’ve been a huge NBA fan my whole life, and I’ve never seen officials protect a player and team like Miami got last night. 

[Tim]

2 hours ago, wolf stansson said:

I’ve been a huge NBA fan my whole life, and I’ve never seen officials protect a player and team like Miami got last night. 

There was an NBA game last night?

[wolf stansson]

On 7/28/2023 at 1:00 PM, wolf stansson said:

Looks like it. He’s so good at breaking into teams, I have no doubt he can get back into the regular rotation

 

Big Wes remains undefeated at breaking into teams and endearing himself to managers. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

2 hours ago, wolf stansson said:

I’ve been a huge NBA fan my whole life, and I’ve never seen officials protect a player and team like Miami got last night. 

I had heard the PK was soft and finally watched the video and yeah, that's about as soft as they come

[UMFan83]

32 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

I had heard the PK was soft and finally watched the video and yeah, that's about as soft as they come

Maybe that was part of the conditions in his contract?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Just now, UMFan83 said:

Maybe that was part of the conditions in his contract?

What's hilarious is Messi didn't even draw the PK or take it.

[bukie]

As bad as the USWNT has looked, I'd rater be them than Canada, Brazil or Germany right now, I guess.

What a weird World Cup. Only CONMEBOL team to advance was Colombia. Three CAF teams advance (Nigeria, Morocco, South Africa). Jamaica advances but Canada does not.

[soccer10k]

6 hours ago, bukie said:

As bad as the USWNT has looked, I'd rater be them than Canada, Brazil or Germany right now, I guess.

What a weird World Cup. Only CONMEBOL team to advance was Colombia. Three CAF teams advance (Nigeria, Morocco, South Africa). Jamaica advances but Canada does not.

You posted an article earlier about the rest of the world catching up to the US. Seems like the rest of the world is catching up in general. 

Just using the world rankings, three teams from Post 4 advanced, and none of them were New Zealand’s group. Four teams from Pot 3 advanced, including two that won their group (though Switzerland was in New Zealand’s group).

Of the 6 top seeds that were in Pot 1, only three won their group and one (Germany) didn’t even advance.

Seems like I’ve heard a few “first ever win at the World Cup” also.

[stitchface]

22 hours ago, soccer10k said:

You posted an article earlier about the rest of the world catching up to the US. Seems like the rest of the world is catching up in general. 

Just using the world rankings, three teams from Post 4 advanced, and none of them were New Zealand’s group. Four teams from Pot 3 advanced, including two that won their group (though Switzerland was in New Zealand’s group).

Of the 6 top seeds that were in Pot 1, only three won their group and one (Germany) didn’t even advance.

Seems like I’ve heard a few “first ever win at the World Cup” also.

First ever win is largely attributable to expanded field I would guess.

 

Conmebol is historically not strong in women's soccer except Brazil.

 

I guess regarding the hype, I think it was unfounded or based on the last two world cups. I am not sure how I would judge most talented - that is a difficult thing to assess. The fact that the US had no replacement for Becky Sauerbrunn speaks volumes to the lack of depth. For me though, the problem is not the forwards, it's the mids. Sullivan is just not close to peak Ertz level. Damelo is nowhere close to LaVelle. With Ertz in the game, the 8 (Horan) can stay forward and basically add an attacker. With Sullivan, she is having to drop much deeper and put even more pressure on the 10. My point was that the hype was based on past performances and ignorance. I also think some corners of the world love to throw shade on the USWNT so they are just waiting to gloat.

 

Germany's elimination is shocking. Still, the US now gets their bugaboo team Sweden without LaVelle and then Japan, who has looked like the best team in the tourney so far (though I think their result against Spain is not reflective of how good they are).

 

As far as development, the US is screwed because our programs are run for egotistical and greedy local clubs. European pro teams are trying to develop pro players so they focus on development. Our clubs focus on volume and unrealistic promises of college scholarships. Until the US finds a way to prioritize development over wins, we will continue to decline.

[stitchface]

Musah confirmed at Milan