As posted elsewhere, I blame the Canadian media for a lot of this. No one, especially the media gave a crap about them before the Olympics but as soon as they got the whiff of controversy they ran with. Im sure few of the Canadian players were used to their sudden celebrity and said a lot of things they wouldnt have said if media people werent egging them on. Certainly the last thing they needed to do was provide blackboard quotes for a team that pretty much owned them. I was also taken aback the prevailing view that if Canada had won the semi, they would have gotten gold. I think a win over the Japanese was optimistic at best.
hotjam2 - thanks for posting the videos! Was this on Canadian national television? Seems inappropriate on many levels, including the host (i will not comment on his plastic surgery). And Tancridi saying "I wish her (LLoyd) head was flattened...." I mean, really..? They also spent most of the segment focusing on the past, specifically the Olympic semi's, instead of looking forward or talking about the future.
Is Courtnall good enough to compete for a place on the US team as a defender? If she is, maybe Sermanni should invite her to a future US camp. What Canada really needs is a "Canadian" Sydney Leroux. It would open up so much space for Sinclair to operate if she has a strike partner like Syd.
Not right now, she certainly has the potential to in the future, though. I do think she could make Canada's squad for the 2015 WWC. But the 2019 WWC is likely the earliest for the US with the depth we have there right now.
Oh really? and the US bench along with Pia jumping up and down and high fiving while beating a poor team like Guatemala by 13-0 is classy? The US has also shown some little class at times itself, especially Carli Lloyd in my opinion. Look what she did in the last game against Brazil. And don't get me started on cocky attitudes. The USWNT are the queens of cocky attitudes, IMO. And racist allegations? It's possible a drunk or two may have said something stupid, but I think that was way overblown as well. I actually liked this video.
There is a huge difference between gloating/being cocky and intentionally injuring someone. Now I'm not pretending that members of USWNT have never injured another player, but they doesn't go around bragging about it on TV afterwards. That shows that Tancredi's unapologetic for the act. Which is a lot less class than cheering about a goal in a 13-0 victory. So much less class that I don't even know how you even thought it reasonable to compare the two.
I take it that the interview was a few weeks after the Olympics. But look how disrespectful and odd these Canadians broadcasters sound, it's like their working a pro wrestling match
Exactly. It's called false equivalency. Some people around here have a glaring lack of perspective. For the record, I expressed my unease with Pia's exuberant celebrations in those blowout games. I've also repeatedly chided Abby Wambach for her diving and theatrics. I couldn't stand her trying to get Portland Thorns defenders red-carded in the NWSL final, for example. I'm under no illusions that the USWNT are a bunch of angels. Gloating happens. Playing the referee happens. Late slide tackles happen. Those things are bad sportsmanship. But intentionally trying to hurt an opponent in a sensitive area of the body, while not making any attempt at the ball (i.e. head stomp), is a far worse offense. Not to mention the gleeful reminiscing about the incident afterwards. That anyone could defend and/or rationalize it is astounding to me.
I'm all for rivalry and competition but....Wait, did the host just say "flathead" Lloyd and the team Canada busting up laughing about it?!? Disgusting and classless IMO Makes me respect all those players a lot less. Why are they joking around about hurting these players? If these were male players they would have been penalized for their remarks on national television. I don't know who I dislike more in the women's game, Canada or Brazil. I hope the USWNT scores 10-0 and Rapinoe cartwheels on their faces!
I love a good rivalry, and I love brave players who play aggressively and physically. I actually have no problem with the commentators in the video above who were understandably miffed at Leroux's actions. (Do I understand why Leroux did it? yes, but the scoreline being what it was, I can understand why Canada felt like she was rubbing it in.) I don't even have a problem with the host naming off the "b*tchiest US players", as comments like that are often part of a good rivalry. What I do have a problem with is any player joking about almost intentionally injuring another player...and an injury to the head no less. In my mind, there's a huge difference between kicking intentionally at someone's head and stepping intentionally on someone's foot or hand. Both are certainly bad sportsmanship, but the first can lead to serious, traumatic injury, and then to joke about it with the media?!?....that's the definition of classless.
That's why I will never support any team that Tancredi plays for. She proved herself to be a classless thug.
The videos were posted not long after it happened. I remember at the time it was enough for me to cement how I currently feel about the team and admittedly it is part of why I don't see the US team gaining much from constantly playing them.
this goes into details into why Leroux flashed her US emblem(which got her a yellow card) after scoring her goal in the last game vs Canada
Ive been brushing up on my Canadian leading into Friday's game. Last night I watched the 2012 CONCACAF final. Id forgotten how rough a game it was. The physical style employed by the Canadians in that game was a tactic, not a life choice, but if u choose to play that way it has its cost. U no longer get to say poor us and they dont respect us. U get the respect u deserve.
Well, she's a member of my hometown NWSL team Chicago Red Stars so yes, I will root for her. She's also a grad of the college women's soccer team I've been a religious fan of for over 19 years, University of Notre Dame. So yes, I will be rooting for her to play well.
if you like brushing up, watch the recent Brazil vs Canada game. Canada once again plays the game very rough, sending a couple of Brazilian players off on stretchers. But since this was from a tourney and Brazil only needed a tie to advance(CAN needed a win) you don't know if they faking their injuries. You can hear Herdman yelling "hold the line"(at any cost) in this one
Interesting 5 people rep'd this because it's one of the most insightful inciteful things I've read in a while. Like "let's go get those scalpin' injuns." Brain or neck damage, c'mon. You left out she could have eaten her soul too. And rugby, hockey, football, lacrosse, and most contact sports are death matches. And every ball into the box and elbow to the head is attempted murder. Feel free to keep dramatizing til the day you pull up daisies about that evil witch of the west, but perhaps one day you'll wake up and put on the coffee and think maybe stuff happens when you play for keeps, there was no injury, and the Olympics were a year and a half ago. From Wayne Rooney's bio: Everyone is a champion, a hero, a classy athlete, a selfish bum, a cheap fouler, and a loser. Everyone has high and low moments. Everyone. Except Bobby Orr. And because of a split-second reaction by one player and an "alleged" comment that not one single person on the entire planet has ever substantiated (including forensic analysis), the grand sum of which has somewhere between little and bare minimal to do with the Canadian women's team, they deserve to be beaten and stoned to death. For someone with a flair for the dramatic your flair for logic is a bit wanting, but then they always are, you never see a dramatic logician. Probably because logic just isn't dramatic. But I'm rambling. By the way, nothing to do with talk show, but in the game, Melissa Tancredi is an absolute hero. She has an extremely rare trait of stepping up when the game is on the line. That also repeated in the Britain when she single-handedly took Canada out of group with two game winners and a game-tying goal in the third game. A lot of people don't like Suarez, Balotelli, John Terry or Ashely Cole (how dare he step out on Cheryl). The art and the artist. One of the great riddles of life. You or anyone else wants to dislike Melissa Tancredi and the Canadian women, feel free. Life's short though and there's plenty of saints and sinners and ammunition on all sides. I'm Canadian and at that a rare Melissa Tancredi fan (enormously under-rated and appreciated inside the country), so I'm probably the last person to convince anyone, but there is a different perspective and viewpoint to all this. Personally, I hope it's 90 minutes of great action. I've followed Canada/U.S. women's games for 30 years and seen all the flavours. Although the total goals for and against average is something like 5-1 it seems it's something like a coin flip lately if Canada can keep it close to a goal or if it's the Americans pulling away by three or more.
Funny you mention Football. The last incident I remember where a player stomped on the head of an opponent, had that player was suspended for 5 games. So while I won't attempt to dramatize things, I won't try to water down how bad "stepping on an opponents head" is. Stepping on a hand, an elbow in the ribs, a trip, etc. Is not equal to a blow to the head, PERIOD. People get beaned in baseball. But the moment you throw at someones head, things change. All things are not equal...
The last one was actually two games, which is the monetary equivalent of jack squat and the same thing Rooney got for the crotch. And which the NFL gives out for body slams and dog-fighting and is one game more than accidentally shooting your own leg, various incidents involving police, and removing and swinging someone's helmet. I also don't remember Tancredi being suspended by the FIFA Discipinary Committee like Sinclair.
My project last night was the Olympic semi, a game I've watched many times...but I noticed something new. I've given the US coaching staff credit for "finally" putting Lloyd on Sinclair after the third goal (apparently they learn slowly but they do learn) Watching last night I realized I was wrong. Once again the future Mrs van Hollebeke lined for the battle of short vs tall and Solo screamed for her to switch with Lloyd. They remained like that for the rest of the game and the rampage was over.
Yes, criticizing a dirty play and hoping for a comprehensive U.S. victory are just like wanting to hunt down "injuns." Exactly like it. You got me. Also, your labeling my post "dramatic" is rich. Pot calling the kettle black, much? Sorry but I'm not the one deploying rhetorical flourishes about eating souls, the "evil witch of the west", and beating and stoning teams to death. Melissa Tancredi does have a knack for stepping up in clutch moments. I never said she didn't. Without her Canada maybe doesn't even advance out of group play at the Olympics. I respect her grit and her toughness. I do not respect her flagrantly aggressive, unsporting behavior on the pitch, nor her attitude afterward. Head injuries (or the potential for them) are nothing to joke about.
Sinclair scored once on O'Hara and twice on Buehler if memory serves...then Solo moved Lloyd on her who is much closer in size to Sinclair.