That was painful. A bunch of us were at Darcy's, in the end ok that a draw was coming out of this - and then - gut punch. Everton aren't we.
At least there will be one skilled team to cheer on at DSG in 2019. https://www.ussoccer.com/womens-national-team-tickets-2019-dicks-sporting-goods-park
I have not watched the Women's team in awhile but what I remember was they are more athletic than skilled. But, yes, point taken.
Youth movement (significant player turnover since 2015) brings some skills including the two Colorado natives.
Of the two Colorado natives, one is a key player and the other is really good. Interestingly, neither played college ball. Hopefully I'll be in France come June and July. Last time I was at a WWC was 2003 in LA. US finished 3rd, Germany 1st.
More are choosing to go pro earlier, skipping the college route. Either way, they need to make sure the skills improve at that age, based on how poorly the US U-17 women did at their WC recently. College ball has really been the ticket over the past few decades, it will be interesting to see if the pro game offers the same improvement.
It seems like the pro route has the possibility to provide much more in terms of development. But I suppose it depends on clubs putting resources into developing players who turn pro at 16 - 21 years of age. This includes strength and conditioning, nutrition as well as age appropriate technical and tactical training. I suppose at schools like CU, there is a very good nutrition as well as strenght and conditioning program. I just don't know if they can get enough training and certainly not enough competitive matches. Interestingly, CU has a player, Marty Puketapu, who has had a cup of coffee with the full New Zealand national team. She wasn't a starter this season as a sophomore but did score some key goals. It will be interesting to see if she gets a call-up for the World Cup. She wasn't part of Football Ferns qualifying side that went through qualifying.
Senior Andre Shinyashiki becomes Denver’s second DI All-America selection in program history (Dunk in 2015 and 2016) #PioneerTogether https://t.co/sM3kJCc0U2— Denver MSoccer (@DU_MSoccer) December 7, 2018
Tomorrow? Don’t you mean today? (Due to my flight back from Tokyo in a few hours my Saturday is 40 hours long)
Hudson has really spoiled the whole country of New Zealand for me. I won't even go there on vacation.
Michael Parkhurst, on Atlanta's MLS Cup: "It's incredible. I mean, what a night here tonight. You can't say enough about it. The support that we get is incredible. It's such an awesome place to play. The facilities, the staff, the fans, everything's just top notch, and hopefully it's taking MLS 2.0 to the next level, because it's great for the league and we're enjoying it." Like the thread title says, absolutely no Rapids stuff here. Are you listening, RFO?
The MLS N&A thread seemed to take this view, too. What do people find so annoying about them? I find Seattle and Portland to be much harder to take.
I find most of the new MLS clubs unlikable for a combination the following reasons: 1) The fans know very little about the sport. 2) They know even less about MLS. 3) They know even, even less about supporters culture. 4) Their club basically starts on third base and never had to endure the hardships and mistakes made in the early days. 5) If they get off to a fast start they develop massive complex about how they are superior, everything they do is perfect, and that what they're doing has never been done before. Not all new clubs hit all 5 of these points, or to the same degree. However, Atlanta specifically is hits all 5 of these on steroids. Say what you want about their big crowds, but they are by far least knowable fans I have ever interacted with. And for all the praise Arthur Blank gets lavished on him, all he's done is basically the same thing the old NASL did, or Nu-Seattle for that matter...piggy back on the NFL's infrastructure and splash some cash on a few flashy things.
I sort of stumbled on to this while reading USA WWC stuff, it is a long read but was worth every second for me, maybe even some life lessons tucked into a few places along with some good 'this really happened' humor: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/lindsey-horan-uswnt-this-is-happening
Actually had a great time other than the rain getting to and from the stadium. The Timbers Army was great but all of the Atlanta fans were in full voice. One ironic thing, when Arthur Blank hammered in the golden spike, the cheering and affection from the crowd was huge ... wonder what kind of reception Stan would get at any of his teams?