Play begins Friday Night 8pm CT vs Vietnam
Rose Lavelle former Badger is on the team.
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Preachy, Entitled. Whiney. Delusional. Disrespectful.
I hope England kick their ass.
There are a few bad apples. Rapinoe for one shouldn't be on the team. There are a few young players starting to get playing time. Dennis Rodman's daughter Trinity.
I wonder if Megan would support me if I declared I was a female, and at 63-years-old promptly became the best goalkeeper in the tournament. 😀
@GBFanForLife posted:Play begins Friday Night 8pm CT vs Vietnam
Rose Lavelle former Badger is on the team.
Yanks favored by 6 1/2 
FOX TV
We were favored against Vietnam in 1972 by more than that and that didn’t work out so well.
Yeeeehaaaaa USA, USA, USA, up 2 -0 @ half time. 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸
Next game vs Netherlands, Wednesday night, same Bat time, same Bat station.
They will definitely need to play better to win this one. Alex Morgan? Can't make a penalty kick? Time for the old to go.
Maybe the US is starting to jell after that second half against the Netherlands. Horan bailed them out with the header, but they had some other chances. They're still a little anxious when they get into the final third, especially Rodman, but they are getting down the pitch cleanly and easily. They just don't have the patience in the final third to break down the D to get better shots. That's the youth showing; even if they don't win it all this year, the future certainly looks bright as the rest of the world is beginning to catch up.
And to think that I stayed up to watch the entire game vs Portugal.
My take: The post was the MVP of that game. Brutal showing. The 4-3-3 Andonovski runs is not suited to who is on the team; it's a basic stay-in-your-lane offense, while he has speedy kids who could run all over and create if he'd let them or if he'd use a more creative formation better suited to his players.
As far as players... Rapinoe is done: too slow, plays so far off her mark that they get a free release out of the back, no power on her passes and they're not accurate. She needs to sit and cheer her teammates. LaVelle played with some drive but recklessly, and when she saw how lackadaisical her teammates were she tried to do too much and dribbled directly into the D more than once. And she got another yellow so she's out against Sweden. Horan would show, and then disappear. Same with Morgan and Smith and Williams. While Ertz has been steady at center D, the middle is in a muddle, and Ertz should move back there to direct traffic and provide some steadier play. Girma, Dunn, and Fox have been okay.
On the Portugal shot that hit the post, it was a cold Sonnett who entered in the 84th, took a chance, and tried to tip the ball away in the air and whiffed -- not a smart play at that stage of the game -- and Girma didn't take the tactical foul. Dumb moves.
I know he didn't have to win this game to advance, but Andonovski's strategy and substitutions are a total mystery. Most of all, it's disheartening to see this offense so dull and predictable when the players he has are speedy and creative. They have a lot of ability even if they are young, and he's the one bottling them up. Unless he wins the whole thing, Andonovski should be gone.
I have NFI what that coach is doing but unless something changes they're going to flush a golden opportunity to 3-peat right down the crapper
@Fandame
Its obvious you know your soccer. Hopefully these young ladies learn a thing or two about maturity, both athletically and with their social justice stances/utterances .
I have not followed anything but the headlines, but when I see comments about this team, it seems 50% of Americans are rooting against them. I realize it’s not socially acceptable to say this, but sometimes you just gotta shut-up and dribble. 😀
Why are people listening to Rapinoe?
Toxic Alpha Lesbianism? 😀
I just met someone who has a relative who works closely with the team. She said that with the exception of one player, they are all terrific people who are polite, down to earth, and really nice. What some people didn't like is that before their first WC game, some of the players didn't stand with their hands over their hearts and sing along. Really, that's what I read. I mean, not every athlete does that in any sport, and the women were standing at attention and not screwing around. I just watched Spain's team standing the same way during their anthem in the knockout stage, but I'm not aware of any criticism of them for that.
Another thing some don't like about this team is that some of them -- Rapinoe, Morgan, Saurbrunn, etc. -- were outspoken and fought for equal pay with the men. The women's team has had far greater success and the in-person crowds bigger for the women, yet they were paid much less, had crappier travel arrangements, etc. For example, in 2011, when the women placed second in the WC, they got $1.8 million, split evenly among the 24 players. The men's team made it only to the round of 16 in 2010, yet they were awarded $5 million. (In 2014, FIFA gave the USMNT $35 million for losing in the round of 16 while the women received $175,000 for winning it in 2015.) Well, Rapinoe, Morgan, et al., fought that inequality, won, and many see that as wrong.
You can argue with their social justice stances, but women's teams tend to be more public about their stances. Almost every player in the WNBA, for example, took a strong stance in the George Floyd killing; Serena took a very public stance about the double standard in umpiring. Rapinoe probably caused a longer-lasting ruckus about her kneeling (even though it was only one USWNT game) than did Kaepernick. I could explain why I think that is, but... 
And it's the same thing for any super-successful team after a while: people start rooting against them for whatever reason and sometimes no reason. The Patriots, the Lakers, the Celtics, Brazil in soccer, etc., are some examples.
I am just totally enjoying this WC as so many unexpected teams advanced: Morocco, Jamaica, South Africa, etc. And they beat traditionally strong teams, so they earned it.
The pay differential is called sponsorship. Find more sponsors
@GBFanForLife posted:The pay differential is called sponsorship. Find more sponsors
Nope, that's not how it works. To the spoils go the winner, not the best sponsored. You've got to fight for every dollar.
Didn’t the US men and women each have their own negotiations with regard to how they would be paid? Was there a gun to their (the women) heads to make a bad decision? What does FIFA make on the men’s World Cup vs. the Women’s? Asking for “equal pay” strikes me as being the same as WNBA players wanting parity with NBA players. Yes, our women have been more successful on the world stage, but if the payment pot is worldwide , what am I missing?
@Blair Kiel posted:Didn’t the US men and women each have their own negotiations with regard to how they would be paid? Was there a gun to their (the women) heads to make a bad decision? What does FIFA make on the men’s World Cup vs. the Women’s? Asking for “equal pay” strikes me as being the same as WNBA players wanting parity with NBA players. Yes, our women have been more successful on the world stage, but if the payment pot is worldwide , what am I missing?
They renegotiated. That's a thing, you know? Stop taking it so personally. It's business.
I’m sorry for expressing my pain. The struggle envelopes me.
It’s the Pisces.
@GBFanForLife posted:The pay differential is called sponsorship. Find more sponsors
Nope. The money also comes from US Soccer. For example, it used to be the men earned $5,000 from US Soccer for losing a friendly match, while the women earned nothing for a draw or a loss. If they won, the men earned $17,000+ while the women earned $1,350. The crowds for both have been about the same.
The growth in the fans at women's games has been surprising. Last year crowds in England topped more than 91,000 two times; 80,000 once; 68,000 once. This year, they've had 83,000 and 77,000. And I'd venture to say, more people in the US know more USWNT players than they do USMNT players.
I will say that I think attendance at this year's World Cup will drop just because of location; it's expensive to get to Australia and New Zealand!
@Blair Kiel posted:Didn’t the US men and women each have their own negotiations with regard to how they would be paid? Was there a gun to their (the women) heads to make a bad decision? What does FIFA make on the men’s World Cup vs. the Women’s? Asking for “equal pay” strikes me as being the same as WNBA players wanting parity with NBA players. Yes, our women have been more successful on the world stage, but if the payment pot is worldwide , what am I missing?
The women renegotiated but had to go to court first. Things now are more equal. By all accounts, this year's travel and accommodations for the USWNT have been excellent. Some players commented on the difference.
So ummm.....a ball that doesn't fully cross the goal line counts as a goal. Ok then. Great game
@Pikes Peak posted:Broke the plane
@Boris posted:So ummm.....a ball that doesn't fully cross the goal line counts as a goal. Ok then. Great game
Losing in pens sucks, especially when it's by justahair. In soccer, just like hockey, the entire ball has to cross the line for a goal, and it couldn't have been any closer.
During play, it's the same: a ball has to entirely cross a sideline -- even if it's in mid-air -- to be out.
A little here, a little there, but the US lost its only real goal-scorer when Swanson went down before the WC. So it goes...
Nigeria just lost to England on pens. One of those amazing 0-0 games where there were a ton of chances and miraculously no goals.
My people (TM) remain proud. 😀
@Goalline posted:Nigeria just lost to England on pens. One of those amazing 0-0 games where there were a ton of chances and miraculously no goals.
That was unreal how close Nigeria came to upsetting one of the favorites! They hit woodwork, the England goalie had to make some great saves, and just a really good game. You could tell when it came time for the pens that Nigeria was really nervous, it was so new to them. Fun to see how far the women's game has come around the world.
That was a flurry of goals in the last 10 minutes! Spain has been my darkhorse all along. They play with toughness, and they play together. Love their demeanor. Now, let's see if Australia can hold off England!
Ah, dang. I wanted the underdog Australia but 'twas not to be. That was a heck of a screamer by Kerr though. England is everything they said right now: clinical, experienced, well-coached. I still love Spain -- their passion, their toughness, their passing -- but I think right now the medal is England's to lose.
My dark horse came through! Yesterday, I told my kid that I really wanted Spain for their passion, passing, and the way they play the game, but I thought England would cut them up. I did not count on Spain's defense. They totally flummoxed England with their double- and triple-teaming D and then the transition offense. England had nowhere to go and once they turned it over had to scramble back on D, then try to reset their offense when they gained it back. Spain never tired of playing great D. The only thing that bugged the heck out of me from Spain is their delay tactics. It took a little long for the ref (from the US) to crack down on the cheap time-wasting.
If there was anything that England could have done better, it would have been to start James and change their formation earlier. James was causing trouble, but it could have been because she was really rested as well. I heard England went to a 4-3-3 with James to start the second half, and it seemed they picked up their game.
Spain deserved the win. Congrats, Spain!
A side note: Just after the game, Spain's goal scorer, Olga Carmona, learned that her father died just before the start of the championship game. Apparently, he had been ill for quite a while.
Just when you think you're on top of the world, it all comes crashing down.