US v. China, April 10, 2014 in San Diego: Pre-, during, and post-game discussion

You can buy that theory if you want.

 

I know you can't stand her for whatever reason, but I'd include Lloyd in that group. I don't think there's anyone who can say she isn't playing the best she's ever played. She still has a few years left IMO.

The same guy who was looking for any reason he could find to put her on the bench? That Ryan?

 

Anyone have a link to a full replay of this match?

 

She hasn't logged in since October, so I think you were safe from her before.

 

USA Soccer Archives has it up.
You have to register with their site, if you haven't already done so.


U.S. Soccer Fusion Technology.
Coming Soon.

 

^^^^

LOL @ that avatar. Well done, WPS.

 

Well Well @WPS_Movement I see your sense of humor is still intact.

That is going to inspire me to change my own profile I think. Wanted to get something new before the season kicked off.

 

is this site legit...? i can't watch anything, keeps telling me I have to download weird applications...

 

Yes it's legit.
If you haven't downloaded a torrrent file before, then download "utorrent".

 

I thought the Wambach for Brian sub was a little odd. The game was in hand and Brian is trying to learn a new position. Why not give her the minutes and take off Lloyd or Holiday?

 

seems to me this is just shallow thinking.

in the player development crapshoot that is soccer, if you have on the roster some of the world's best, and the limited budget that women's soccer affords to invest in and develop players, it is silly to just jettison the already tried and true in the hope that if you discard them and take the time to invest in the next young player they'll be good too. so many really sure fire young players have been invested in only to become absolute and unquestioned busts.

it's always the best use of your limited money to get the most out of the ones you've already developed while you pick the top up & comers and (in u18, u20, & u23 camps) bring them along wisely so that they are ready to step in when you push the brandi chastains out.

there'll always be disagreements over my player, your player, & ussoccer's player. i was posting. for leroux's callup long before she got a look from the coaching staff, because when I saw her in the 2008 wwc, i thought her a better player than morgan. I think she even won the golden ball. but probably on tony's recommendation, who saw them in camp every day, they called in morgan who eventually kicked arod out of the way. arod had to scramble for minutes by the olympics, saw the writing on the wall, and took her maternity leave before she lost her contract (which she probably will at the end of this year if she doesn't hit some home runs in the nwsl).

can they improve on the system? i'm sure. but in spite of the inevitable and perpetual disagreement over my player, your player, and theirs, it seems to be working pretty well to me.

 

If no WC title since 1999 is working pretty well then there is nothing to discuss.

 

i said the system can be improved. i would hope we can discuss that. i don't pretend to have the answers. i just don't think that throwing away good players while hoping younger ones turn out to be as good is one of those answers.

i'm certainly not satisfied that we haven't won any world cups since '99. but winning world cups and olympics was always going to be increasingly difficult once soccer cultures began paying attention to their women's teams. we won when few soccer cultures cared about woso. we still have the best record in the big tournaments, so there's no reason, imho, to throw out the baby with the bath water, but...

i) that's just me. others want a revolution.
ii) even if we had won every world cup since '99, i'd still look for ways to improve.

 

And if we'd done that, others still would want a revolution.

 

No one is talking about revolution or throwing the baby out with the bath water.
We are talking in general about the method, approach that T.S. was using , are we not ? That was not a revolution by any mean and it's got him fired . That is the argument.

 

There is no baby thrower until a new coach is appointed. Ellis has the position of interim coach right now.

It's not clear who's turn it is in the bath.

 

That's up for debate though. I highly doubt that Gulati and the US Federation hired Sermanni to prop up the veterans, while he went rogue on them by calling up all these youngsters to camp. My gut tells me that the reason TS got fired was based more on performance (or lack of) than his philosophy. Like others have mentioned, I'm sure during the interview process he was told that we are all for experimenting with a new system, but we still need to get good results. In 2013 everything was going well, but when the US lost to Sweden and then came out flat against a Denmark team that won't make the WC, Gulati decided to make a change. Look at what happened to the men's Brazilian coach that took over after the last WC. As soon as he came on-board he decided to revamp the entire squad with new blood. After a few bad results against mediocre teams the Brazilian Federation brought in Scolari as a replacement. When you think of yourself as the best team in the world it's very difficult to swallow loses against mediocre opponents even if you're just experimenting.

 

And again it is my argument that trying to win games now such as games at the Algarve is detrimental to our development and progress. We've been doing that for years and how far has it gotten us? No WC trophy since 1999.

What do they call "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result" ? Insanity, that is what.

 

I won't necessarily disagree with that. It's certainly a valid point. I just feel that the US Federation did panic with the results and that was the primary reason for the firing. They became super paranoid (whether valid or not) about the USWNT losing early at the next WC, and the negative impacts it might have on the future of the NWSL.

Perhaps Gulati and Co. figured that the old system with the Olympic squad we can probably still easily finish in the top 4, even if we don't win the WC. However, if we revamped the whole system under Sermanni and gave all this young talent starting spots we could potentially lose in the round of 16 to a team like England, which would be a disaster.

 

not really.

i was replying specifically to this "revolution":

 

No, it's not working pretty well. The USWNT has become an exclusive club for certain players and their buddies. It's hard to break into that club. They have IMO, a sense of entitlement about them, they circle the wagons around each other, put pressure on coaches and it's hard for a young talent to break in unless a powerful coach like Swanson insists that his star player gets a look with the USWNT.

Yes, I'm tired of looking at the same old hens out there. And it has nothing to do with my player, your player, etc. IMO. That's my perspective and my right to my perspective.

In the women's game we always talk about chemistry. The girls have to like each other or else they don't play nicely together. Unlike in the men's game. So thus we keep the same, ole, same ole, often because of "chemistry". This notion is so silly, IMO.

You can't tell me that in this country full of women's talent that there isn't anyone that can challenge Lloyd, Rapinoe, Wambach, Rampone for their position. I bet there is. But they have to be given a real chance, just like Klinsmann does with the men's team.
How can Klinsmann turn over his team with less talent to chose from while the USWNT cannot and plays with players that have been on the team for 10-15 years? Why? You can't tell me that the talent isn't out there.

There is no reason that some of these players should be on this team this long.

I believe we do have better talent in the women's game in this country that never get a real chance to prove themselves on the USWNT due to these stupid contracts, exclusiveness, circling the wagons, "chemistry", and the need to play the "stars" politics for revenue.

This team IMO, has become more of a political joke rather then about soccer.

 

believe me I get this view. i understand it.

i just completely disagree with it. we'll just have to agree to disagree here.

it's nice to notion that there must be that hidden gem somewhere that must be better than lloyd, or pinoe, or abby, at what they do. but apart from the ones who have some promise and have been called in, name them. where are they?

believe me, if there is that player available, like Mallory Pugh, (the u17 player already moved up to the u20s), ussoccer will move them up and not renew somebody's contract.

klinsi has the backing and foundation of 100 years of successfull men's club soccer to develop, evolutionarily cull, and cash out his players for him. then he just picks the best germans. he has very little development costs.

there is a cost to developing a top uswnt player. once you get one, it's stupid to let her go before you have gotten all her energy and experience for the team simply because you hope the next youngster will be as good. many a soccer expert has lost his shirt backing a sure young phenom. it's a crapshoot. and we don't yet have a thriving weekly pro woso system to bear all the cost for us. So...

keep what you got.

let the Brandi's go in spite of their protestations, and

bring the lerouxs, dunns, brian's, tymraks, and pughs along slowly.

didn't say it can't be improved, but I like....

 

As the old saying goes, a bird in hand is better than 2 on a tree. The way I look at it is that you hope that the younger talent continues to develop in College, then with the U-20 and U-23 teams, and finally in the NWSL (or a European league) until their time comes to be called into camp with the USWNT. It's not like these girls are sitting home playing video games all day until they get to train with the national team. Also, even when Sermanni was coach did players like Tymrak, Brooks, Hagen, Killion, etc. really develop their game that much by training with the national team for a couple of camps? Of course, Dunn, Brian, Engen and Press have benefitted from their significant playing times, so Sermanni should be applauded for that.

My philosophy is to keep your best players on the team as long as they're performing at the highest level (e.g. Lloyd and Solo). For instance, how would any of us feel if our boss came over one day and said that even though we're doing a great job and performing at the highest level, they have a hunch about this new kid and are willing to take a chance on firing us and hiring them instead. How would that make someone like Morgan or Leroux feel about their future with the team if the US Federation is willing to break ties with them as they hit their peak in their late 20's?

Again, the criticism towards Abby or Rampone is certainly warranted since we have noticed a recent drop off in their abilities from their full potential a few years back.