U.S. women’s national soccer team likely heading to RFK for final Olympic tuneup https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...405c1e-1ad4-11e6-b6e0-c53b7ef63b45_story.html
"Training camp will open in early July and include a home friendly July 9 or 10 in a Midwest city to be determined. Typically, the U.S. team plays the same opponent in consecutive matches, but because of a two-week gap between them in July, different foes are being lined up." WwwwwwwwwwwwhhhhoooooaaaaaWhooooo Dallas is technically in the Midwest, if its not, I'm declaring it in the Midwest. Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please
If I may interject a technicality, if only to give @jackdoggy hope... Technically Jefferson Davis was never President anywhere, since the Union fought and won the Civil War on the assertion that the South had no right to secede, and never recognized the Confederate States of America as a real and sovereign nation with its own official President. To quote General Grant in the 2012 movie Lincoln to a member of a Confederate peace delegation: "There's just one country. You and I, we're citizens of that country. I'm fighting to protect it from armed rebels. From you."
I went to a school founded by Thaddeus Stevens, so I am aware of the inaccuracies in the Lincoln movie. Among those is that Grant or Lee were considered US citizens by the Union. Technically, Davis was recognized as President of the Confederacy by US President Andrew Johnson in the 1868 amnesty he proclaimed for Davis holding that office. Davis accepted. His citizenship rights were not restored. They were also not restored in 1876 because of a clause in the 14th ammendment that excluded office holders of states in rebellion. And he and Lee were excluded specifically by an 1872 general amnesty. Davis was offered a pardon later, but said in 1881 that he refused and regretted nothing. He was also celebrated until a few years ago in Texas on his birthday, June 3, until the celebration was combined with RE Lee's on Lee's birthday as Confederate hero's day, an official state holiday. Lee got his citizenship back posthumously in 1976 by act of Congress. Davis got his back in 1978.(October 17) I suspect @jackdoggy knew this.
The "Midwest city" is .... Chicago: http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/201...-africa-at-soldier-field-in-chicago-on-july-9 The WNT will face South Africa on July 9 for the very first time.
I knew my argument was a stretch, so I was waiting for someone to overrule my technicality with another more accurate technicality. I sense you most likely recited all of those facts and dates off the top of your head, so ironically I spent more time looking up the exact quote from the Lincoln movie than you did compiling the information for that miniature thesis.
I do believe that Grant was considered a US citizen, though. I imagine that was a typo and was intended to be "Davis..."
Yes! I won't have to travel far to see the July 9 send-off game between USWNT and South Africa. This game will be at Soldier Field while the Taste of Chicago festival is going on in Grant Park. And guess who is playing that evening at Taste of Chicago Pavilion? Billy Idol! So I am going to spend the whole day Saturday July 9 downtown Chicago, first going to the USWNT game at Soldier Field, then taking the short walk a couple blocks north on the lake front to the "Taste" where I will be getting my 80's groove on with some Billy Idol. "Eyes without a face..." Woohoo, can't wait!
I agree. They couldn't get Canada, Brazil or even Mexico to play them? The score will be something like 8-0 with everyone hugging each other after ever goal like they really did something.
That's sort of how I felt against the depleted and clearly disorganized Colombia team. But those blowouts still seemed to prompt a sunny triumphant response from many on these forums.
It's difficult to schedule a top opponent at this juncture, particularly on relatively short notice. But they were contracted to play somebody so... I think they were very fortunate to secure Japan, even if it's a young squad. Teams that don't make the Olympics are focusing on the next WC three years ahead. There's much less incentive to travel to play quality exhibitions right now, gate revenue deals notwithstanding. So it's mainly down to participants in Rio this late in the picture. But many of the better financed feds have already nailed down their prep phase plans by this point. NZ or MX would have been nice. Australia would have been better than nice. But I'm certainly glad they're not playing Canada so close to the games. The last thing they need is another "bloodbath" leading into the Olympics.
Just because the game has not been publicly announced does not mean that it hasn't already been planned. I doubt its really short notice, as I'm sure USSF has been planning for sendoff/prep matches since the USWNT qualified. New Zealand would probably be nixed since they're in our Olympic group, and I'm not sure the current version of Mexico is significantly better than South Africa. I would not be surprised to see the last game as one against a UEFA or AFC team if any have decided to stopover to train in the US before heading down to Brazil; I'd be a bit disappointed but not surprised if the final opponent is Canada. In any case, I'd say one "easier" team out of 3 in the preparation matches is pretty good.
Matches in the lead up months prior to the previous Olympics were announced much earlier. Does this absolutely rule out the possibility that they weren't ironing out the kinks for long planned matches against said opponents behind the scenes? No. It doesn't. However, it's certainly in the best interest of venues, vendors, not least the fans, if they confirm and announce them as soon as practicable. Therefore it is much more likely that agreements with these particular opponents to play these matches have been on relatively short notice. That may be for numerous reasons. Difficulty arranging matches with other preferred opponents and other extenuating issues. Securing a suitable venue/field can also be tricky. The late announcement and opponent in question certainly does little to preclude this likelihood. South Korea and Australia would be solid tune up tests. I'm just not keen on playing a Canada or Sweden type opponent so close to the games.
A classic. Nice to see someone associate that song with him first instead of the ubiquitous "Mony Mony" which is to Billy Idol as "Don't Stop Believin'" is to Journey. Just listened to it again and remembered what a great song it is. Enjoy the live show, and more importantly, the game.
736709494214823941 is not a valid tweet id Nooooooooooooo😥😥😥😥 https://t.co/kDltSvamd2— Ali Krieger (@alikrieger) May 29, 2016 I think Kriegy speaks for all of D.C.
Initial reports from Goff about two weeks ago said they expected ~30,000 in attendance. That was hard to believe unless they actually had some decent prices for tickets. As time went on, that was becoming even more unlikely so I always imagined the numbers weren't adding up. Also, there was the matter of an opponent... sometimes people forget about those.