I've mentioned this before. but at last year's AC final, Germany had sort of a secondary back line/ 4 of it's 5 starters came from their Wolfsburg club(a team by the way is currently only in third in Bundesliga standings). Not trying to make excuses though as the AC proved to be full of experiments by various teams including the US with the Mewis sisters & Brian, or Denmark, who(vs US) incredibly pulled out for 4 of their back line at half time but still held on to win. here was Germany's back line vs Morgan in last year's AC final Shult(gk) Maier(right fb) Wenzing(right cb) Henning(left cb) Feisst(left fb) here would Germany's very best lineup fifa poy Angerer(gk) Schmidt(right fb) Krahn(right cb) Bartusiak(left cb) Kemme(left fb) Morgan was 23 years old when she won last year's mvp at AC, Marozsan is only 21. Due to her recurring injury from last August and returning delays, we don't even know if Morgan will ever be back to her 'prime' days. Where as Marozsan keeps getting better(by the months!)
Marozsan could very well be a future MVP type player. However, unless someone proves themselves a the highest stage (WC, Olympics) it's still too early to tell yet. For example, on paper someone like Schelin is outstanding, however, she has fizzled when it comes to major events.
From a German/ European point of view, the WC and EC are the highest stage - the Olympics a mere distraction.
Well the WC is just around the corner, so it'll be interesting to see who steps up and takes over the tournament. As far Marozsan is concerned, her play definitely reminds me of Lothar Matthaus. That guy was my favorite German player.
Yes, I am also looking forward to the WC. Let`s see what Marozsan and other promising stars can accomplish there.
They need to switch the World Cup to a different year then(or 1 year after the Olympics), because whoever wins the wc usually ends up being ranked #1 by fifa for one full year, until whoever wins the Olympics(usually US) who get to stay a whole 3 years on top! After the US disastrous showing at AC, we'll see if that theory holds up when next week's rankings come out
If the Germans won the Olympics as often as they win Euros, Im sure it would be considered a much bigger deal.
Im told the silly system FIFA uses to rank the women takes into account games from the 90s forward so even a huge tournament like WC doesnt effect the rankings drastically.
Maybe they would care a little bit more. The most popular sports leagues in Germany in declining order: 1) Bundesliga (men`s) 2) Bundesliga II 3) Bundesliga III / Handball-Bundesliga/ DEL (German hockey league) / Basketball-Bundesliga 4) foreign soccer leagues / women`s soccer league Add in the CL,Europa League, WC and EC and soccer is so dominant in Germany that every other sport is living in its shadow. The only time people watch other sports is during the Olympics, every 4 years. From a German point of view, watching soccer at the Olympics just feels wrong.
here are some interesting attendance stats for some of our euro posters who say that the Ufa Euro championships are more important than the Olympics; Sweden 2013, the only size crowd showed up for the final. Other wise most of the games were played in sort of minor league soccer stadiums but even so, only Sweden's games were sell outs. But here is the attendance figures through the quarters; final; 41,301 semis; 16,608 9,260 quarters; 7,468 9,265 10,435 7,448 considerable less people went to watch the 2009 Euros in Finland final; 15,877 semis; 2,765 4,621 quarters; 1,866 1,708 7,247 2766 but now check out these stats at the 2012 Olympics, played where else but in London finals; 80,203 semis; 61,482 26,630 quarters 12,866 10,441 28,528 28,828 all though they don't want to admit it, I think this indeed shows that Europeans prefer the Olympics over the Uefa Euros
London has more inhabitants than Sweden oder Finland. The Euros are broadcasted all around Europe every 4 years. In this day and age, TV viewing figures matter more than people attending a match. The Euro 2013 final between Germany and Norway was watched by 8.91 million Germans alone. The Olympic soccer final between the USA and Canada pulled in 4.35 million viewers in the US. So you could also argue that Germans care more about the Euros than Americans care about the Olympic soccer tournament.
IMO, if let's say the Germans wind up winning the next WC over France or Sweden in the finals, then the women's Euro Cup will gain a lot more traction with the rest of the world (similar to the men's side). However, with the USWNT and Japan making the finals in the both the last WC and Olympics, a case can be made that the best competition wasn't even playing in this tournament. Again, this can all change if a European team wins the WC in 2015.
This isn't exactly a fair comparison because the Euro final was on broadcast television in Germany, whereas the Olympic final was on a relatively unpopular (at that time) cable network in the US. The 4.35 million viewers was the largest NBC Sports Network viewer numbers at that time.
Well getting the EPL this season has done a lot for their profile. They still don't draw in the ratings that ESPN gets, though. According to this article, NBCSN's all-time most watched event still only garnered 5.5 million viewers. One nice thing of note from that article, the 2012 Olympics women's soccer final had more viewers than the 2014 Olympics USA vs Russia men's hockey game! (I know it's not a final, but USA vs Russia in hockey is one of the most notorious match-ups)
is this news? it's soccer - germany's game of thrones. yes, i know it's women's soccer. this is why some comparisons are odious. americans love to have their kids run around and kick the ball so they don't kick down the furniture in the house. but they're barely interested in really playing the game or worse watching it on tv. there are more important things to do and sports to look at than watch soccer especially (even tho i'm a huge fan) women's soccer. americans seem to like big events like the olympics. soccer just happens to get caught up in it.
So that's who the guy was that we saw at the Algarve Cup on the videos and sitting by Coach Tom that looked like Tony Dicicco. It was former Red Stars coach Omid Namazi: Steven Goff @SoccerInsider 12h Omid Namazi, former Iran national team assistant with pro women's coaching experience, to join U.S. women's coaching staff No wonder he looked so familiar.
In fact I wonder if it shouldn't be locked, since the discussion drifted away from the topic big time. And it's already more than one week that the tournament is finished. Or better: locking the thread woulbe probably be unfair, because still there could be some relevant info that someone could add up, even at one month or more from the event. But I guess that people that are by now discussing completely different topics should do that elsewhere.
I can see how Germany loves the Euros, after all they've won it 6 straight times! Even though Neid had numerous injuries and started some new kids in the final, I honestly believe a German 'B' team made out players that never been capped before, could of won the title too. That's not as far fetched as it sounds since my list would include half of the Turbine Potsdam team, conquerors of Lyon(in the CL) aka the French NT(ranked #5). I do believe that Germany deserves & hopping they get the new #1 ranking, as Sermanni does need a wake up call, especially after his disastrous showing at the AC with his lineups of college kids & NOT so good oldies
Sermanni doesn't need a wake up call, I think that some of USWNT players needed one. The college players are not responsible for poor result. They were only 2 that played in a whole tournament. Brian was solid, the other one S. Mewis was unlucky enough to play the Denmark game. I think the only disastrous game was that against Denmark and I agree that this lineup had too many players playing at positions different that usual. I can agree also that some of the older players underperformed. They were trying different things and this was the best place to do it. Of course USWNT players and coach are disappointed with the results but now they know better what to do next. More competition for no 1 spot in FIFA rankings can only be good and I think in the future there won't be so much gaps between top teams.
Denmark showed us what Rapinoe can really do if someone lights a fire in her pants. I'm still a little distressed that she was allowed to play for nearly two full games before she was benched. I don't think its fair to blame any one player for what happened at the AC. However, if Tom had benched Rapinoe at half time against Japan we would could be looking at a completely different result in all 3 games. In the Japan game HAO was dominating but on the opposite side we really just needed someone who wouldn't turn the ball over. and over. and over. Then Rapinoe would have had time to think about her lazy play and would have started the Sweden game the same way she played in the Denmark game, with fire and pizazz. That to me was the turning point of the whole tournament, when Tom decided to let Rapinoe play through a slump when she wasn't slumping so much being lazy and careless with the ball. I don't blame Rapinoe for that, this was a coaching error through and through.
What Rapinoe really needs is someone right behind her who can take her spot. While it's easy to say take Rapinoe out, who does he replace her with. Playing Mewis instead certainly didnt right the ship. Heath seemed to have limited use status. Tymrak was exiled to Elba. Holiday is still on holiday. Other than general embarrassment being a motivating factor, fighting for her job may be the best cure for Rapinoe.