This was a good time for them to put their best game of the tournament together. Hope they have one more performance like this left.
2015 Women's World Cup
- Thread starter Titans Bastard
- Start date
And when the German closes their eyes at night and they're tortured by their subconscious for the evil they have done, it will be with thoughts of us they are tortured with.
I don't know if I'd say they dominated, they were much better in the first half, but Germany was the better team for most of the second half. US caught the right breaks and were able to string it out the last 15. If Germany converts their penalty and goes up a man they almost certainly win.Sportsbstn said:
Well to be fair she said she's one of the best in the world when she has her confidence.DLew On Roids said:
She looks confident.
That was a badass performance. I'm excited for the rematch (either from the last World Cup or from 1776).
Fifa president Sepp Blatter will not travel to Canada for the final of the Women's World Cup on Sunday for "personal reasons".
"Personal reasons" = "Doesn't want to do a perp walk."
"Personal reasons" = "Doesn't want to do a perp walk."
After watching the replays, Lloyd took a fantastic penalty. Perfect really. USA being +2 on penalties is not something I would have bet on before the game.
Just because I have been steaming about this article for a week..... I wonder how Billy Haisley felt watching that second goal. He is the man that wrote this:
I wonder if he still thinks they are just a bunch of thoroughbreds out there with no real skill because, you know, softball or something.
http://screamer.deadspin.com/the-uswnt-must-evolve-or-die-1713413264
I wonder if he still thinks they are just a bunch of thoroughbreds out there with no real skill because, you know, softball or something.
http://screamer.deadspin.com/the-uswnt-must-evolve-or-die-1713413264
He's still for the most part right though. The USWNT wins usually because they are much better athletes, even in this the most technically sound game they played, they were at their best when they used their superior speed, they aren't exactly Japan out there.Gunfighter 09 said:
It's cute that Landon thinks he would have lasted five minutes on the pitch in Manaus or against Belgium.
Alexi Lalas @AlexiLalas 2h
2 hours ago
Alexi Lalas retweeted Landon Donovan
Agreed. @J_Klinsmann should have taken @AbbyWambach.
2 hours ago
Alexi Lalas retweeted Landon Donovan
Agreed. @J_Klinsmann should have taken @AbbyWambach.
USA going to the final is deserved.
*2-0 is one goal too much, but no differene anyways.
*Ref should have given a red card to Johnston.
*The penalty for USA should have been a free-kick. (The contact didn´t continue, that´s bullshit. She fell into Krahn after the foul, that´s the contact that continued into the box. The foul happened outside. The ref missed it, because she was going full-speed and fell about 5 feet into the box, so she thought "the foul must have happened in the box".)
*The match won´t end 1-0 for USA, if you just leave the penalty off, it´s a completely different game anyways plus they play with ten (wo)men so it´s completely unpredictable. In yesterdays match, a win for USA was deserved, considering how many chances they had. Those shots were closer to the goal and either missed by just a little bit or were saved by Angerer. The Germans missed by a wider distance, because they also shot from bigger distance most of the time and didn´t create many dangerous chances.
*I´m looking forward what happens if the USA play Japan. I didn´t see Japan play in this WC, but based on what i read it´s basically technical ability vs. physical dominance, so I wonder who will be the winner. Considering Japan had an easy route and just close wins (so far, let´s wait if they can beat England, I know...) USA is the favorite.
*2-0 is one goal too much, but no differene anyways.
*Ref should have given a red card to Johnston.
*The penalty for USA should have been a free-kick. (The contact didn´t continue, that´s bullshit. She fell into Krahn after the foul, that´s the contact that continued into the box. The foul happened outside. The ref missed it, because she was going full-speed and fell about 5 feet into the box, so she thought "the foul must have happened in the box".)
*The match won´t end 1-0 for USA, if you just leave the penalty off, it´s a completely different game anyways plus they play with ten (wo)men so it´s completely unpredictable. In yesterdays match, a win for USA was deserved, considering how many chances they had. Those shots were closer to the goal and either missed by just a little bit or were saved by Angerer. The Germans missed by a wider distance, because they also shot from bigger distance most of the time and didn´t create many dangerous chances.
*I´m looking forward what happens if the USA play Japan. I didn´t see Japan play in this WC, but based on what i read it´s basically technical ability vs. physical dominance, so I wonder who will be the winner. Considering Japan had an easy route and just close wins (so far, let´s wait if they can beat England, I know...) USA is the favorite.
How has the overall tone been in Germany? I'd understand some vitriol today although it's tempered by the fact that the German players missed the penalty. DOGSO red cards are always kind of shit and unclear, but the penalty was rightly awarded and the penalty was missed. Think it's an entirely different match if the goal is scored there and US goes down 1-0.
Cellar-Door said:
Agreed. But I would emphasize the point that if the women's soccer game continues to grow and flourish, then the US women may find that the best athletes in the world won't help them remain a powerhouse. In America we get excited about the "bigger, faster, stronger" measurables, but even in the NFL they are overrated. In soccer the kind of field vision and real time information processing that you see in athletes like Tom Brady or Wayne Gretzky - neither of whom are very impressive physically - is much more important.
But - and here the big but (pun intended???) - you need the right structure to nurture the intangibles of a good soccer player. If coaches at the U-12 level aspire create a mini-fiefdoms and be the Nick Saban of U-12 soccer in East Peoria, then they're going to recruit big strong fast kids who win 50/50 balls and play a high energy long ball game. That makes it really hard to nurture that tiki-taka style possession game that wins in the highest levels. If you want to nurture the best pros, then it actually means being worse at the lower levels. Europe has the right infrastructure and educated soccer moms and dads who understand this. In America it's "my kid's stronger and faster, so she should play".
Cellar-Door said:
FWIW, I disagree with this, at least insofar as last night's game was concerned. The USA outpassed Germany in midfield and was better organized tactically. There were many times when USA players used subtle but difficult touches to create space, or played tricky, well-weighted passes into spaces that German defenders weren't expecting, or pulled off difficult dribbling maneuvers that required real technical skill. This all stood out to me because we'd seen so little of it earlier in the tournament (apart from maybe Rapinoe). [SIZE=14.4444446563721px]Meanwhile, they closed down very well in midfield and held the shape well, and Germany had real problems getting players forward into open spaces, leading to the Germans getting frustrated and trying too many long-distance shots. [/SIZE]They didn't beat Germany by playing kick-and-rush, they were the better technical/tactical team over 90 minutes, against the top-ranked team in the world. They still needed some luck from the referee because their finishing was poor and Johnson made one bad individual mistake, but in general it was an impressive performance.
Sadly it is almost unnoticed I would say (you can go to sport1.de, the biggest sports station and you see news about the U21 Euro final between Sweden and Portugal and William Carvalho not changing teams to Bayern before you get to the news about the women...).teddykgb said:
I mean of course nothing is in the newspapers (match started at 1am tonight) and there was only a little talk in the radio and ...and it´s not a mens WC. Last year, it was basically the same problem when we played in Brazil (although if I remember correct, most of the matches Germany played were either earlier at 9pm or at the weekend, so kids and families could watch, too), but i doubt that the kids this morning knew anything else than the two sentences from the radio, if at all.
In most sports news or even at BILD (which is mostly gossip and pretty critical, if you see sports talk), you see everything is accepted. The players are interviewed, Celia Sasic says she is responsible for the loss, Nadine Angerer says "we win as a team, we lose as a team"...USA was a powerhouse coming straight at us and they were better than us today.." and Coach Neid says that she´s proud of what the team deserved and the ref decided the match with the wrong calls on the red card and the penalty. (--> of course the ref somehow decided it and as fans we can say this...as a coach with some humility, you could say that the ref didn´t have the best day, but that USA was the better team, period.)
Nobody says that Neid is somehow bitchy, refuses to take any blame on herself or refused to change anything (tactic-wise) in the match, despite the poor showing. She doesn´t say a word about being outplayed. She leaves now and Steffi Jones (former player with no coaching experience) takes over. Many in Germany don´t understand this move for Jones, as with the mens´teams, you can see that the DFB takes a lot of pride in education, learning and experience as a coach (you have to coach for a year with the C-license to start the B-licensing classes and so on, it´s not as if you can just march through the licensing classes without coaching in between). Then you see Steffi Jones who has worked for the DFB as a player ("worked") and as the organizer for the World Cup 2011 in Germany and then as a director for youth, women and football education in schools until today. She has zero coaching experience.
coremiller said:
This is spot on. I don't see how anyone could have watched yesterday's match and seen it as the triumph of athleticism vs training and skill. The U.S.'s tactics were more creative than Germany's and, as you say, the touch on the passing was often quite remarkable -- certainly much better than the Germans showed (and way better than the U.S. showed earlier in the tourney). Certainly it's true that they were at their best when using their superior speed (Alex Morgan's, in particular), but it's not one or the other. The French, for example, also had superior speed and skill, and I thought out-classed the Germans in their match even if they didn't win.
https://twitter.com/SoccerInsider/status/616349803958652928
https://twitter.com/SoccerInsider/status/616350711668965376
Those are good numbers.
https://twitter.com/SoccerInsider/status/616350711668965376
Those are good numbers.
I'll be interested to see the numbers for the final on Sunday. As good as the ratings were yesterday, the game started during the workday on the west coast.
Why STL doesn't have an MLS team yet is beyond me. Ever soccer game played there gets huge crowds, and the TV ratings are terrific for both national teams.Titans Bastard said:
Also, Japan's unis look way better than I would have thought pink on dark blue could look.
I think it's just a lack of any rich guy in that area who has said, I want an MLS team. It's the spiritual home of US soccer (something like half of the 1950 team came from there, and St. Louis clubs have won the Open Cup over 10 times) so I would have to think MLS would be open to placing a team there.Cellar-Door said:
It's actually probably more stadium related. I know a STL guy tried to buy Real Salt Lake with the intention of moving it, and one of the Anheuser Busch bigshots who is involved in the potential Rams stadium has shown interest.Spacemans Bong said:
Of course there is Kroenke, but I guess if you own Arsenal it is hard to get excited about an MLS team.
Sure, but the keeper didn't look like she knew that. She let is short hop her then panic slapped it over the bar.swiftaw said:
yep. Though it could have been DOGSO, so England might be better off with the penalty than a red.DennyDoyle'sBoil said:
It's on Fox Sports Go, if you have a cable account you can authenticate with.Hee Sox Choi said:
