I was drunk but more like denied at the door when we were creeping what was next door. None of the players had arrived yet but we did see them arrive and I escorted what I think was Horan's family to where exactly it was since it was a pretty nondescript place between a bar and brake shop
I agree with this. I am mostly disappointed for Taylor Smith and Kristen Hamilton and I hope they heal quickly.
more like two English coaches going at it; otherwise the Champions League final between the two French teams, Lyon & PSG was an dull affair, as PSG was content to park the bus & likewise, Lyon just triangle passed the ball to themselves for most of the game & OT. as they knew they would win a PK shootout(which is what happened as well the week before when both teams played to a scoreless draw in the French Cup final). Last week's Thorns/Pride semi was the NWSL at it's best(easily best pro club woso game I've seen all year from anywhere around the world), this final was it at it's worst(brute physical;only tactic seemingly employed by both sides is to ripped the ball off from a defenders foot) Cliveworshipper@ your a stats man, why on earth do we need so many English coaches in the NWSL?(other than they all speak English, lol)
Silly — So we can all run around saying “nil” , of course. I’ve been asking that about the national team for years.... considering England has never beaten the USA in a World Cup finals, men or women, you wonder if it is who we want to emulate.
Latest Thorns schedule: Thorns land at PDX at 12:45 for fans who want to meet them at the airport. Fans are asked to gather at the departure (upper) concourse. The team will be recognized at halftime of the Timbers -DCUnited match, where the men’s side tries to nail down their playoff spot. (I have front row at the South End for that match) And the day will conclude with a rally after the match. It is free and fans will be admitted for free at gates 2 and 4 at approximately 7:15. They learned from last time. They waited a couple days and by then some players had left for other clubs and commitments. This will allow fans to recognize Henry, Nadim, and others projected to leave for new clubs and/or Nat team commitments.
Haha. You are right. It was hyperbole. If Vancouver gets a team, there will be a Cascadia Cup for women. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_flag#/media/File:Flag_of_Cascadia.svg ( flag of the People’s Democratic Republic of Cascadia, AKA “Doug”)
I keep thinking of the Final of Euro 2017 - it was magnificent. The NWSL Final was an embarrassment to women's professional soccer. I think Rachel Daly once said something to the effect: "in England before games we talk about strategy; in America we talk about going into battle." I am far, far from being a Europhile, but we need to have the pendulum swing, at least some, in the direction of the Beautiful Game. Bigger, faster, tougher, meaner, aggressive soccer needs to give way a little - players need to care if they are going to foul the opponent when making a tackle. When they stop caring, things get dangerous, and ugly.
Meh. It’s easy to be beautiful when everybody runs around at half speed. Those 12-0 Lyon matches are boring as hell. The fouls will stop when refs get the guts to make the calls -both ways. Why the Doniak foul on Heath at the end of the half wasn’t even called a foul sets the tone. Raso earned a card, but Zerboni fouled her 30 seconds later pretty much the same way and the ref lost her card.
To an European eye (I live in Europe and I am Italian) this what sticked out more as negative about this final match. Referees should be there to protect the players and to protect the notion of a good, fair game. Or it just becomes a thugs' war. In this game there were mean, careless fouls and there were obvious retaliations, and many of both were condoned by the ref: this just shouldn't happen.
And how many World Cups has England won as compared to "America"? Perhaps one should interpret Daly's meaning in that context? As I recall, one of the reasons Henry came to play with the Thorns was to gain experience in what it means to really be prepared to "go into battle." She got that experience, and it will make her a bigger threat from France than she was before she came here to play. Let's hope she can't spread that to her French teammates. If she does, watch out!
] The European eye must be in need of cataract surgery or something. it’s not unique to American referees. I’ll remind you of Howard Webb not giving Nigel DeJong a red card for the karate kick he gave Xavi Alonzo in the 2010 WC. Webb also neglected to card Vanbommel for his assaults.. Two Euro teams and a Euro ref. The same year Nigel broke Stuart Holden’s leg and effectively ended his career without a card at all from the European( Dutch, I think) referee. This was in a FRIENDLY, not even a match that counted for anything. ( but I got BALL, ref! ) He did the same in Manchester and the Milan in the Italian league without sanction. What he did get was suspensions from league disciplinary committees when the leagues realized he was reducing team assets. Webb was just one one of the enablers who has allowed Nigel to go from league to league breaking legs and ending careers without getting red cards. He’s been run out of most leagues in Europe and out of the MLS, but he doesn’t get red cards. After a season and a half here, he’s now in Turkey sending people to the hospital. Not to say USA refs aren’t equally culpable. Playing for the Galaxy, he ended Darlington Nagbe’s day and the next Two weeks games with a horrific challenge and referee Allen Chapman didn’t see fit to give a red card, which the league did retroactively and an additional 3 games. But Nigel stayed in the game and the Galaxy salvaged a tie. So Chapman decided the match. h Again, you can see him pointing “I got ball, ref! It took a repeat performance in Seattle for him to FINALLY get red, whereupon the Galaxy ended his contract because he wasn’t an asset any more. So back to Europe he went.( Turkey and Galasataray this time.)how do you say “I got ball” in Turkish? Refs always say the are hesitant to give the second yellow or a red because they don’t want to be the cause of the outcome. Of course, by swallowing whistles and losing their cards, they are doing exactly that. In this championship, both teams knew the ref left her red card in the locker and played like it. (Howard, for those of you who lost track, is now directing the implementation of video replay for ussoccer. The jury is still out on that, and there appears to be no money or will to implement it in the women’s game.) I wish it had been in place when Spain beat the Netherlands. The Dutch would have ended the match with 7or 8 players on the pitch. That was in Europe with a Euro ref, so don’t preach about how much better things are there. The only league I watch with few bad uncalled fouls is maybe la Liga, certainly not the Italian league. You guys had Gattuso, for god’s sake. I saw the last Juve match where’s a punch to the face went unsanctioned. “ no foul....hey! You’re bleeding. Go off and get that taken care of.”
The ref that didnt card deJong on the Holden foul was Cuneyt Cakir from Turkey. Great uefa referee program. And I blame Xavi on word replacement.
Ah, ok, you're talking about men's soccer. A different sport, that I stopped following many years ago, so I don't know what you're talking about. Someone told me it's an intersting sport, but I don't care much...
but the more aggressive/physical game seems to be the 'new world order' in woso.. Both Australia & Canada NT's have stepped up more physically & it's paid obviously major dividends for them. In a way, the NWSL got what they deserve, both coaches were from Great Britain(a country well known for it's rough n tumble style) as well as others like Harvey, Senammi & Beard. Once you tell players to fight tooth n nail out there, it's hard to them BUT don't hurt anyone as the momentum will carry you when tacking. Cliveworshipper got a point that over in Europe, games can be dull, especially since they don;t have no draft & teams that are richer tend to buy the best players & turn them into way overly stacked teams. So we're stuck watching most of the time, one sided games. I do like the German Bundesliga however, just yesterday they had a grea game as the 2nd best team in Europe, Wolfsburg, was held to a 2-2 draw by Potsdam.Turned out to be an exiting game as WOL short passing was countered by POS long passing. Here's highlights https://tv.dfb.de/video/highlights-vfl-wolfsburg-vs-turbine-potsdam/19542/ a few injuries, but no one leaving because of it,
Like Blisset, I do not follow the men's game. One way to look at this is that those injuries were Nigel DeJong's fault, not the referee's fault. Based on a number of years following the women's game, I have higher expectations for the women's game, which is why I brought up the Women's Euro Final as an exemplar. I am not trying to set a standard, the women already have done so. I am not advocating losing the "tough" and "aggressive;" I AM advocating losing the "careless," i.e. not caring whether your challenge is a foul or not and not caring for the welfare of your sister professionals.
The Doniak foul on Tobin should have never happened. Because Tobin should have had her 2nd yellow well before that.
I did go to the game. And I'm glad I did. Even bought me a 2017 NWSL Championship souvenir shirt. There were a lot of Red Stars fans in the stadium. I was surprised and proud. Next to Portland's and Courage fans the Red Stars jersey was next to represent and there was quite a few. There have been many comments over the past few days on the game, referees, the rough play, etc. That has all been covered, so I want to comment on the atmosphere of the game. Outside before the game it was pretty much a non-eventful atmosphere IMO, with a few things going on. There was a tent where Abby Wambach and Heather Mitts were taking pictures with fans and signing the usual. A guy doing trick soccer dribbling, a DJ doing music. Nothing major, IMO of what you would expect of a professional Championship game. I know the report says there was a some 8,000 fans at the game, but Portland's Riveters made it seem like 20,000. They were everywhere. Not just the fairly large support group that was doing the cheers but they were all over the stadium seats. Hats off to you. Rose City Riveters IMO were the atmosphere. There was a sizable Courage fan base as well, but Portland's was by far the loudest and better organized. I stayed long after the game was over and after the awards ceremony ended, watching Portland players and fans, stuff they may not have showed on TV. The players soluted their fans over and over. That's how much Thorns fans mean to the team. They ran up to where the Riveters section was and showed them their trophy to the delight of the large group of Riveters that remained in their section. Then each player went up with the Championship Trophy and took a picture in front of the crowd of supporters and the Riveters did not disappoint with loud cheers for every player who came up in front of them. Then all the players went up the bleachers and surrounded their supporters, some mixing in with them and began singing various songs and chants with them. AWESOME SIGHT for any NWSL fan regardless of team loyalty. I just stood there on the side watching in warm jealously and awe. This is what I want to do. This is what I want to see for Chicago and my Red Stars. The bond and connection between a city and their beloved team. A fan base who flew in mass some 3,000 miles and who at the top of their lungs sang out and filled the stadium with "PT...FC!!" as the referee's watch ticked away the last few seconds of the game. It would gave any big soccer fan goose-bumps. I was debating whether to go to this game since my beloved Red Stars were not there. I was even thinking of just going to Epcot for the day and forget the game. But I am glad I went as I love this sport and am a big supporter of the NWSL and want to see it around for many years to come. I did go to Epcot, but the next day. One day it will be my turn to watch my team lift the trophy high in the air, but today I congratulate the Portland Thorns and their incredible fan base for the 2017 NWSL Championship.
April 22nd was the first time they played. I'm aware the second time they played there were injuries and international call-ups. The women were in better shape in the April 22nd games than in the Championship Game. You don't believe they were more physically fit after playing 26 games, do you?. You didn't include the adrenaline of being in a Championship game. That is a factor.
I disagree. Nigel has had 19 multiple day suspensions in his career. Of those, all but two were the result of league discipline he received after referees only gave yellow cards. He has broken legs or sent players on the disabled list multiple times. Clearly, what they teach referees “careless” and “reckless disregard” mean is broken, along with Stuart Holden’s leg. I’m using Nigel as the example because he is so well documented, but it’s the pattern, not the player, that is important.
Gotta love it. Open season on Heath is OK, but NNC can do no wrong. the Thorns just played the style NNC has made its mark with. Zerboni leads the league in fouls and no mention of her play whatever when she did exactly to Raso what Raso got a yellow for. Which come to think of it, is what happened in the 2016 semi.
I'm sorry. I must have missed where Portand had to use 2 subs on legit injured players. Maybe it was during my bathroom break.
Thanks for your wonderful post! Made me feel like I was there with you. And this is the kind of festive atmosphere sorrounding a game that I always found typical especially of the women's game. I wish you can live the same with Chicago soon. Although I am not sure if before or after a well-deserved Seattle's win. Oh, and, when you went to Epcot, I hope you didn't forget to ask about Morgan...
Hurray! and Bravo! Asked about one particularly unoriginal chant directed at the city of Portland, Sinclair shrugged it off and then offered this gem about having profanities directed at her team and her city. “I’ve been waiting my entire career for people to care.”
I think you may have ignored my point that it was Nigel that caused the injuries, not the referees. I understand many people feel it would be their fault for not locking the garage if bikes get stolen, when it is not their fault, it is the thief's fault. It is the players who are making these dangerous fouls, not the referees. Players' culpability notwithstanding, there is a fairly ubiquitous attitude that players should (or will) push the limits and find out how much they can get away with, which puts the referees in the position of having to draw the line. I fully agree that referees need to be way less tolerant of "careless" and "reckless disregard" and call more of those fouls. A poor analogy would be: it seems that a player who is 'a little offside' is called as actually being offside most of the time, so being 'a little careless' or 'a little reckless' should also actually be called as careless or reckless most of the time.