Good morning folks. The U.S. women’s Olympic team is taking on Japan in what is a crucial match for the Americans after their 2-0 loss to Norway.
If you are watching the match, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the match.
TK it makes total sense. Thanks for the input. I feel the USSF is our biggest hurdle in being good at this sport, not lack of interest.
wait who won? usa or japan?
” PROVEN incompetenc ei sbeyond me”
this is just to funny.
Note – As for the womans generation excuse. Freaking hilarious. Hilarious. I am wrong? Ha. Watch those old matches and watch now. We won 95% of the time through physical prowess. Fact. We have 90% more resources than every team out there excpet for a couple. Fact.
Watch how toher team make triangles, use tactics and technical ability compared to ur guys. I would have loved to see or “golden age” play now.
I respectfully say – you are clueless about this. Delusion. Other teams play much better now. Passing, positioning, technically, tactically. Physically we can’t bully them anymore. Thus, we struggle. It’s just gonna get worse.
Bank on it. You are living in a dream world my friend. dream world.
Guys, I’m deeply involved. For th efirst 10 years of Brandenton we did nothing. We celebrated kick an drun, so give it a rest. Our big youth clubs – the same.
They are only NOW, because of th ecomplete lack of progress and success attempting to change this. Only after a decade of clear failure on th etechnical and tactcial levels.
The clowns in charge of changing it? The same ones who didn’t know nay better in the first place. Good luck. Keep drinking the Kool Aid boys.
We don’t have the brains or experince across the board. Fcat. We are still techinically and tactically naive a fter a decade of kick and run B’ton. Fact. Spare me the flag waving BS. Most in charge don’t know how to change because they don’t have the ability and for most it’s not politically in their best interest. Fact.
The USSF is th eenemy in mnay, many ways. If you actually know th epeople and how it works. I do. We need that building blown up, an attitude adjustment (admit we aren’t as smart as people with experience who grew up with the game at high levels) and start from scratch.
Keep dreaming your little dreams. The way the USSF works you will be waiting another couple of decades. Why so much slack for such PROVEN incompetenc ei sbeyond me. We get what we deserve I guess.
You have to be joking JG. Size what size. Wambach, Boxx, and Rampone are big and that is it. A-Rod, Carli, Kai, Heather O, Stephanie Cox, Tobin Heath? These gals are not big at all… US Soccer is actively rebuilding it’s Women’s program as is evidenced by some of the smaller and more skilled players listed above so you are just as wrong as TK.
One more thing. I agree the talent is out there, but not necessarilly in China. The team needs to be re-built, but the politics of US Soccer probably won’t allow that.
I agree with TK. Skilled players are sacrificed for size in the US. Its been a trend for the last 5-7 years. And the “changes” that are being implemented will probably increase the gap, not decrease it.
The mentality of the US soccer system is “top-down”. Its about the coaches, not the players. Sundhage is doing her best, but the talent isn’t there. This is a far cry from the “eight wonders” team.
The US is going to limp through this stage, but they’ll be very lucky if they get a medal.
What they’ve put on the pitch just isn’t good enough right now.
You take away Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach, and you loose a lot of technique, skill, and experience.
I’m watching the Canada-China game right now, and the Chinese women have some great players on the right flank. Canada has most of the possession, but if it wasn’t for their forwards ability to link with each other, they wouldn’t have anything in the final third.
TK, you are wrong on just about every point. Our coaches are absolutely aware that we are lacking in technical and tactical areas and they have been putting programs in place to address those needs (residency in Brand., FLA, a professional league, the US Development Academy and professional team youth academies, etc.).
Considering we were without a professional mens league in which our players could play meaningful matches, and we were relying on a high school and college system that limited the number of practices and games, the US has gone a long way to adjust to make our training more comparable to the rest of the world.
Amy Rodriguez has a lot of potential…she had quite a few near misses. The US had some close calls but easily dominated the match. Japan can string passes together but never found a way behind the US D. Rampone, Markraft and Mitts played very well. Their distribution of the ball was not as bad as another poster stated. Cox however really seems out of place at left back.
TK: Your political rant is way off base. We are an emerging soccer nation vis a vis the USMNT and the gals are rebuilding after our golden Hamm-Akers generation.
Tim,
It’s because the Japanese were nor arrogant and self absorbed like us when they started their program. They bought many coaches with experience from Europe and SA to teach their people and have them learn.
We on the other hand thought we could do it on our won. No real experience, track record, just starting out, and we are gonna use college coaches, kcik and run US youth coaches an dpeople who learned fom textbooks and barely played. We still do for th emost part.
There is a reason that when a foreginer comes here, or one of our guys goes there, naive is the most often word used. We are still a naive soccer nation. From the USSF, to writers on down.
The woman dominated through size/speed, numbers and thorugh no one else playing. As more cathc up physically they are exposed for their tactical/technical weaknesses that college thrives on. Same issues as the men.
You got it. It’s coaching and admin. We have enough players with talent to consistently be dangerous, men and woman, we are to arrogant, politically selfish (USSF) and not humble enough to admit we don’t have the brains. We also have way to many clueless people in th eUSSF who just want to keep their cushy jobs who have zero soccer understanding. We will never get a top coach for the men. They will not put up with that crap.
Still, it starts at the bottom. Our youth system is ineperienced and corrupt. They play to win trophies, big physical kick and run works best at young ages, and they don’t teach, and most don’t know how to teach, technical and tactical soccer.
If you understood who was in charge at the USSF, youth/ODP evaluating, goals, teaching and the knowledge of most clowns in charge you would gett depressed kick.
Long, long, long, long, long way to go.
Get used to it.
Very hard to change something this entrenched, this clueless and corrupt. The way it is.
Olympics comes in handy when you have to wake up early to take care of a newborn. US Women played better, but they still look shaky on defense and too often their passes go no where.
I’m watching the North Koreans play, and those women knock the ball around with a purpose. Doesn’t always go somewhere, but to me they at least hit the ball with some pace. If the US hit more passes like that it’d be a step in the right direction. Nice and crisp…
I only watched the end of the game and Japan seemed to be playing better. I can’t believe that at the end of the game, they did not show any highlights, or at least the goal, from the game. It was on USA Network.
Japan was clearly the better team and far more skilled. Same thing happened for them in their mens game. Man do they have good coaching or what cause their mens and womens team are way better coached and the players are so much more technical than ours. Maybe we need to send our players there.
What Channel is the game on? still going?
You are not alone Ted….Boxxy just misses!
1-0 US at the half. Carli Lloyd with a bomb from outside the half.
Why am I up at 5 a.m. CST watching women’s soccer? Why, oh why?