Oh sure! A likely excuse! Dude, it's Europe. In August. shameless stereotyping. except it's true! That's alright, you can save it for the next game. We drama queens have to keep up a certain standard of whining and pouting around here. At least you have a next game. I, on the other hand, have nothing further to live for, o woe is me... *sob*
Swedish TV keeps gleefully replaying all of the day's disappointments (and yes, there were several). Among these 'highlights' is a short post-game interview with Nilla Fischer. Her normal interview face is a little cocky, a little aggressive. Today, however, she looked sad. The interviwerer says to her point-blank, you can play better than that... to which Fischer has no good reply. Is she wiping away a tear? Surely not...
The interview with Fischer here. (To play the clip you have to scroll down a little bit, past the list of today's other disappointments.)
Hopeless for the sack, no plan B. England nevers comes back from behind and win in a knock-out game. Because plan A caters only for defending leads or level scores.
What's that you say, England is hopeless in the sack? Well, it's true that their performance tonight was uninspiring.
That's England (or Team GB whatever) for you. Well, it doesn't change much for the USA, it's still (at least) a free silver medal for them.
it is their usual sadly, they dont come back in a knock-out game in tournament if they go behind..or maybe they did like 10-15 years ago
There are a couple of posters upstairs trying to say that Powell is a really good coach that just had a bad game. I was yelling "Do Something" at my screen but to no avail. And I wasn't even really cheering for GB. I wasn't cheering against, either, but the do nothing coaching approach was incredibly frustrating. I probably would have had an aneurism or something from frustration if GB was "my" team.
For England/GB, playing at Wembley vs the famous gold shirts of Brazil, in front of a huge crowd, and a national TV audience, was as good if not better than a WC final for them. That single game and it's resulting media presence, became the highest moment for everybody concerned with British women's football, and with Powell in charge of England, unfortunately that's likely to the best moment they all probably get to see for some time to come too. Versus Canada, the calls and the bounces didn't always go GB's way, but the whole game in the stands, and out on the field, also looked like it was taking place the morning after the night before. I don't see where Hope Powell and her ideas for the senior England side go after this. Most of her team have already peaked, with blatant rebuilding needing to be done too. Hmmm... Mo Marley?
Actually, the only team that managed to come back from behind in the QFs was France. And this scares me like crazy for my beloved Nadeshiko Japan... I have got the uncomfortable feeling that France is the stronger team around... I guess, after all, Canada vs GB shouldn't me as much surprising as it seemed for many... Yes, GB was the home team at Olympics, but hadn't Canada always be ranked higher than England?
in france there are juilletists and aoutiens. this year i'm moit-moit, and am assuring ze permanance in this moment. so i takes a mo to check thread heading... fart in your general direction!
as a BS veteran i make it a point of honor to build sweeping generalizations on limited and shaky foundations. from the few matches i've seen, madame powell is atrocious in all aspects of NT coaching: group selection, lineups, strategy and tactics, match management, substititions, personal rapport and communication. she bears in my opinion such clear responsability for the performances i've seen from england that in spite of having been quite certain that canada would put them out, and soundly, i am not prepared to state that GB, in the absolute, is an inferior team.
Seed dispersal: And on the subject of coaches, an Unsubstantiated Rumor (i.e. a twitter dropping) has it that a player on Team Sweden is calling for Dennerby's resignation. I won't name her because I haven't bothered to check... although I'll just point out that the player in question was on the field the whole time against France (so you know it's one of the Usual Suspects), and didn't really contribute much (although that hardly narrows it down, does it?). Coaches can be bad too, sure, but they can hardly be blamed entirely when the people actually on the field are playing like crap (sidelong glance at Team Heebie-Jeebie)... Edit: Well that wasn't too hard to substantiate... I went to the TV site looking for something else entirely and there it was. But it's more fun to play 'guess the player' than to just click on a link, right? "She's got the moo-ooo-ooo-ooo-oooves, she's got the moves like..." If you understood that hint, you're a hopeless geek. How am I supposed to learn French through football when you use such existential vocabulary? 'In France there is July and August. This year I'm me-me, and trying to live in the moment.'
I wondered if she was carrying an injury or something given how invisible I thought she was vs France. I thought Dennerby's contract ended after the Olys? Did I get that wrong (which wouldn't be all that surprising)? I guess I got that idea b/c Pia's contract does end this year. And there's been lots of talk (though none recently) that she's going to or wants to coach Sweden next.
It does, thats why she think it is a good idea to have him repalced with someone new now. And made it known before SvFF got the idea to extend his contract.
Oh fer pete's sake, another US–Canada game. Is there anyone out there thinking the outcome is in doubt? Everything's going to be fine. Have a cookie.
Nicht so schnell or something like that. We could've said the same thing about Japan just a year ago. And not just the USA
*snort* Pish-tosh and italics are far too good for the likes of Team Sweden. But let's not change the subject. Are you seriously worried that the Team USA will lose to Kanadia? Because... well... come on.
I'm with kolabear here. This semi w/ Canada makes me too nervous. They're going to get us at some point and I'd rather it not be tomorrow. They've put together some very nice games this Olympics...
Well, without taking a moment to check thread heading (because then I'd have no excuse for wimble-wambling off course), I just wanted to say how pleased I was to have remembered that little snippet a few weeks ago when a co-worker asked me if I was going to play anything on the stereo in honor of Bastille Day. And although I'm not generally a fan of the old romantic movies, it was a fitting time to pull this off of YouTube as well.
Well, I know this handwringing is very unseemly. Like the US was Sweden or something. And it's true that isn't Hedvig in goal, is it, so we're not Sweden. Maybe I can comfort myself with that.