Team USA Women's soccer team lost today in WWC -I'm bummed

[judaspriestess]

:cry: :cry: :cry:

I know most Americans don't care about soccer but I do. I am so damn disappointed. And we had just beat Brazil last week. Damn, damn, damn.


HANGZHOU, China (AP) - The streak is over, and so is the United States' bid for a third Women's World Cup championship.

Brazil and its star player Marta put on a dazzling performance against the Americans and cruised to a 4-0 victory in the semifinals Thursday, ending the U.S. unbeaten streak at 51 games and sending the Brazilians into their first title match, against Germany on Sunday.
Brazil went ahead on an own-goal in the 20th minute, and Marta made it 2-0 soon after. Cristiane and Marta added goals in the second half, with Marta becoming the tournament's leading scorer with seven goals.

The U.S. played the final 45 minutes with 10 players after midfielder Shannon Boxx was sent off in first-half injury time for a contentious second yellow card.



http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/7270538

[KamaAina]

1. See, it really is just like men's soccer

we suck at it. :puke:

Say bye-bye to that new women's league, which now won't have any stars (unless they import some). And without that -- well, four more years of suckitude... Even the men's game, which hasn't gotten any bounce from Beckham as yet, could have used a U.S. win.

This is now two events in a row in which the vaunted U.S. has miserably failed even to reach the finals -- and recall that Brandi Chastain's 15 minutes of fame began after she clinched a PK shootout. So much for dominance.

Boy, Brianna Scary must've been really sharp. :sarcasm: I doubt she could get hired as a greeter in Vegas at this point. Laughlin, maybe?

[musiclawyer]

Actually, they already decided to roll back new league to 09

start date. The moment I heard of that decision made this past summer, I suspected THEY KNEW the the present USA Women might not win the cup. Like I said in an earlier post, it's a very real and big problem that there are only a handful of national federations in the world that can field a true world class team capable of being called world champion. They can't just play each otehr all the time..... Tha being said, I do think a women's league in the good ole USA now becomes imperative. The ladies need some place to play and get better. (Sorry Swedish league, but we have better options). Luring people like Marta over here (Stateside) every summer against which Americans can play all the time is key. Friendlies against the likes of Finland and Mexico etc leading towards a world cup etc won't cut it anymore. Old boss, meet the new boss..............

[riverdeep]

15. The women's leauge isn't in danger.

It's two years away, there's an Olympics in between which if they fire Ryan and rehaul the team, have a good shot at winning, and it should be packed with foreign players.

And today was NOT Scurry's fault. She was a back-up goalkeeper and should have stayed that way. This is all on Coach Ryan. The women did the best they could with what they had.

[GOPisEvil]

22. Well, the US did win the gold medal at the '04 Olympics.

Oh, and the previous women's league had players from around the world. Do you think all the guys that play in England professionally are English? They're not. Some are even...American.

[ceile]

2. 4-0?!

What a horrible showing!

[Ellen Forradalom]

3. man that sucks

However, I'm glad they're important enough that their loss briefly made it above the fold at nytimes.com.

[musiclawyer]

4. I saw this coming a mile away

(And BTW millions of americans care). It's just that DU is not a good soccer demographic) But back to the game. First, this outcome was pre-ordained when the coach made the goalkeeper "switch"; effectively telling his attackers that he did not trust them to score goals; effectively adding an extra ton of pressure to the defense before the game even started, and screwing u the team chemistry to boot. I coach competetive girls. And my assistants are all females who played at high levels and they all told me that you can get away with an 11th hour goalkeeper switch on a men's team, but not a woman's team that has been through hell and back with one one keeper. Suddenly she's not back there! = problems. I don't know if that's true or not but this outcome sure supports their assertion. Second, the USA looked rather ordinary against S. Korea, Nigeria and even England for much of the run of play. Ever since the days of Cindy Parlow, the USA has been devolving into a team much like England men(lots of long high balls and some set pieces.) And sorry, no team can completely get away with playing two 36 yesrs old in the World Cup finals--men or women. The USA is is now paying the price for choosing size instead of skill at the highest levels. It can overpower most teams, especially the smaller teams. But Abby Waumbach cannot take on defenders, and she is neutered if you take away her service. Shannon Box is great in the air and could take down a VW, but she was never going to catch and slow down Marta even if she had not beed red carded. The next Mia Hamm and Tiffant Milbret are out there, but may have been overlooked because they were an inch or two two small. Brazil is the model of women's soccer in the 21st century: speed everywhere; skill everywhere-- size being just icing on the cake, not the cake. Germany vs Brazil. That's going to be the best women's game in the last 10 years. USA Soccer needs to soul search right now, and that might not be a bad thing. This was coming.

[judaspriestess]

7. Hope Solo was pretty pissed off about the switch

and did not hide her feelings, basically brought up many points that you have heard. I applaud her for that.

very disappointing.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. ...

[KamaAina]

9. That draws you a booking for taunting

One more and you will be sent off from the Lounge. :-)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. ...

[KamaAina]

16. Great. Now I have to dig out my gray striped card!

:rofl:

[Erva]

37. Holy Cow

That is one awesome cat!

[Oeditpus Rex]

14. Well, the referees are really clamping down these days

Only last week the Belgian captain was sent off for having a Sony radio cassette player. And Gonerelli, the huge Italian defender, was sent off in Turin for having his sitting and dining room knocked through to form an open living area.







This is not the proper photo of Jimmy Hill for this bit; that would have him dressed as Queen Victoria. But there are limitations to the internets.

[soleft]

6. I'm so damn unhappy I saw this thread

I recorded the game to watch when I get home. Damn, knew I shouldn't have gone online.

[judaspriestess]

8. Sorry it was all over the news this morning when I woke up

so I knew without watching the game either.

[KamaAina]

10. Think of it this way

that would have been two hours out of your life that you would have never gotten back. :puke: :puke: :puke:

[soleft]

11. Actually - you're right - I tape Yankees games and if they lose

I don't bother to watch.

[riverdeep]

12. I saw it, great game, even if the USA lost.

The US looked bad all tournament. They squeeked by, not dominated like they used to. Even though they were winning ugly, they were improving slowly every game. By the second half of their last game against England, they looked like they finally had come together-like a championship team. But they were winning in spite of Coach Ryan, not because of him. Today, the chickens came home to roost. He put in Scurry because he believed she matched up better against Brazil. Fine, it's unheard of, but whatever. BUT, he didn't a) give any warning to the rest of the team, especially Hope Solo and b) even more importantly, didn't give her any playing time to get her, and the rest of the team, into condition and in-sync.

Brazil, for their part was absolutely beautiful. Even non-soccer fans would appreciate that performance. They were controlling play from the beginning. First, an unfortunate own goal, then a scorcher by Marta. Just before the end of the half, a bad bad call that had the US playing one down, 10 on 11. Yellow cards were going up left and right on both teams. By the second half, Brazil showed why they're called the Samba Queens, they were just dancing on the ball. They made the US look like a group of junior high girls. Marta, in particular was fricken' outstanding. Bad substitutions by Ryan sealed the deal.

The amazing thing is, the US team is so much better funded and better supported than Brazil. Sometimes passion and talent can overcome a lot of resource handicaps.

BTW, the game is going to be re-broadcast tonight at 10 pm eastern on ESPN2. Watch it for Brazil!

[musiclawyer]

18. Are the knives out for Ryan?

If so, that's kind of a good thing because it means that the country has finally become a "football nation" with some passion about the national team. I coach an ordinary class 3 team full of barely-teenagers, and even I get the feeling that the knives are out sometimes. So clearly it's real hard being Mr. Ryan right now. But he needs to stay, regardless of his mistakes, at least through the Olympics. We'll see if he's learned anything and measure if he's really what we want long term for the program.

[BuddhaGirl]

28. Brazil played beautifully!

It's too bad for the U.S., but they're obviously in rebuilding mode after the retirement of the stars.

Brazil doesn't get much financial support from their country and no corporate sponsorships. And during a specific time frame had only played 16 matches compared to 60 played by the U.S. Imagine how great they would be if they had the support the U.S. team has!

[riverdeep]

17. One correction.

"And we had just beat Brazil last week."

I think you must mean last month, maybe? In any case, I believe they actually met in June.

[judaspriestess]

19. whoops my bad you are right it was in June

it was a friendly USA won 2-0. I don't know why I was thinking last week.

Anyway, Marta sounds like the female version of Ronaldinio

[NeedleCast]

20. Soccer is the most destructive sport in the world!

I lear't it in GD

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1903747

[GOPisEvil]

21. Lost? Hell, they got beat down.

I don't think the goalie change had much to do with it. Brazil was clearly better on this day.

[trof]

23. Aw, I'm sorry. Have a friend who's really into that.

She is an amateur player and has been getting up at 1 and 2 a.m. to watch the matches.

[alarimer]

24. It's pathetic that I never even knew this was going on

That's how poorly publicized the World Cup is in this country, especially for the women. I would have watched it had I known.

[GOPisEvil]

25. If you watch ESPN, you'd know.

However, most of the media isn't covering it to be sure.

[madrchsod]

26. i`ve done some bone headed decisions in my 17 yrs of coaching

youth soccer but i`ve never done anything as dumb as the us coach did today...why did he pull the best goal keeper in the world and replace her with someone who has`t started in several years? what the hell was he thinking...i turned off the tv after the first goal because i knew the usa was going to lose when she failed to block the first goal...

[Blue_Tires]

27. that second yellow card was certainly a crock

[musiclawyer]

29. Yes, it was a crock

The Ref was real quick on the rigger throughout the game, but she was consistent. What you did not see is the American attackers go direclty at the Brazilian defenders, and make THEM foul. The best teams use a ref's style to their advantage as well. The American really don't have attackers(or those in their prime) who can take on defenders 1 v 1. O'Reilly, Chalupny, Lloyd Lilly, Waumbach--all good players who like to make runs and can pass, but are not very good putting a defender on her heels and trying to blow by. Yeah, it's a bitch but the USA Women are no longer the dominent team. That Brazil spends a pittance on their program compared to the millions spent by USA soccer to field a world class team is telling. But more important than re-evaluating how it and chooses its national team, US Soccer, needs to scrutinize even more that it has already how little girls ( and boys) all over the country are being taught to play. A lot has been writeen on this, and it's really for another post--perhaps on the soccer Board but that's the reality. Marta did not become Marta playing two adult supervised practices a week and then a game on saturday a few months a year. She became that way playing on her own every day, for hours, basically from the time she could walk. Bend your mind around that concept.

[judaspriestess]

30. I was able to watch most of the second half of the game

It was painful to watch. No excuses for Team USA but being down a player did hurt them tremendously.
Brazil was fantastic. BUT I will agree with Hope Solo, she could have stopped those goals, they bounced off Scurry and rolled in, they were not powerful strikes. Team USA's players looked disheveled and shocked. You can't blame Scurry as she did her best but Hope Solo went 300 minutes without allowing a goal and they really messed with the team's chemistry. I think switching the goalies was also an inadvertent insult to the Brazilian team, in essence telling them, we don't need our best goalie to beat you, that only added to their desire to beat USA.

This is exactly what happened with the dallas mavericks in the nba this past post season. Avery Johnson switched up the lineup which turned out to be a boneheaded move. Don Nelson, Avery's mentor, smelled blood and went in for the kill. Pretty funny choke job by the mavs. Not a fan of them obviously. But basically a classic example of "if ain't broken don't fix it."

[musiclawyer]

31. I follow the USA men a little more closely, but the more I read

about how the coach Ryan was selected, the more alarmed I am. Apparently, he was not the best qualified and a lot of more qualified ladies were passed over. It that is true, that's a shame. And yes, at that level, you CANNOT change a successful keeper unless you've been alternating them from the get go , which very few coaches think is a good idea from what I can tell, and from my own experience.

[judaspriestess]

33. you have any links to the stories about how Ryan was selected?

sounds intriguing.

[musiclawyer]

35. Here is one

http://www.womensoccer.com/refs/comment_refs/com-dum_27sep07.html

I googled some other stuff last night but didn't keep any

[redqueen]

32. Yeah... I'm bummed about it too...

I was fine with the ecision to replace Solo at first... cause I figured the coach knew what he was doing, and I wasn't up on their history.

Now that I've read about the history, I think it was a HUGE mistake, and he should be fired for it.

[NewJeffCT]

34. Not a huge suprise they lost, but 4-0 is a huge surprise

I figured they could have at least kept it close... hopefully, they can find enough young talent to bring them back to the top in the future. But, it's time for some of the older players to move on into coaching and whatnot - I remember Kristine Lilly from college!

[MissHoneychurch]

36. That means Germany plays agains Brazil in the final

:wow:

That ought to get interesting. Of course I am for Germany :D