i keep thinking who BC is ....let see, Briana Scu..oh no, not her, oh yes i got it, it's Brandi Chastin, what about GB ? i have no idea.
and she also knows that coaching position is a great place to be, so she'll keep doing it until she is removed by angry fans !!
I found this tidbit in today's USA Today interesting... http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/2004-06-24-notes_x.htm Kinda makes sense I guess....on July 3rd is when the team plays Canada. It'd be nice to name the squad now and then work on stuff with those players instead of mixing and matching the 30 some odd players that are in camp now. IIRC....Lorrie Fair wasn't planning on playing in the WUSA festival, but I read somewhere (heck probably another USA Today article) that Heinrichs talked her into playing in it. I sure hope that the college kids like Chalupa and Tarp and Ozzy aren't getting hosed by Sunday's festival since they are not able to play in the games. They've been busting their asses in camp and deserve the same amount of chance as the players playing on Sunday. BChaz is not playing on Sunday and will be a sideline reporter instead. If it is true that the final Oly roster could be named by late next week....how strong of a chance does she have to make it? While I think it's good to use Sunday's game as another tool to evaluate the players, I think it should only make up a portion of April's total evaluation practice. If indeed she is going to make her decision by the end of next week...at least get the players back into Home Depot for a good couple of days of training camp and let that weigh more heavily in her evaluation.
good commentator choice by nbc. didn't know he was it instead of andres who they had last time. off topic i know, but anybody knows who will do color?
Lori Walker, who is the women's soccer coach at Ohio State will be color-ing for J.P. http://www.nbcolympics.com/sports/5018067/detail.html (you can find a listing of every sport's announcing team there; Marcelo Balboa will help out on the men's side). Paul
She was also paired up alongside of what's his name...Rob Johnson or sumpin' like that...doing Freedom games on CSN.
if we fail again this time, i'm done with WNT, i'm not gonna watch them again nor read about them, i'll direct my attention to the MNT full time.
Interesting that Andres isn't back for the pbp. It will be different to have the Olympics without "GOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLL!", like last time. Good choice, though. While I like his celebrations on the goals, his commentating throughout the match can be irritating. JP is by far the best American soccer commentator of the ones I've heard. Good knowledge of the game, and talks only when he needs to. Haven't heard of this Lori Walker. If anyone has, is she better or worse than Wendy?
That would be Dave Johnson, and I wonder just how much of that commentary Marcelo's going to be doing in English vs. in Spanish. I know he's fluent in both but I had gathered that most of the Men's Soccer was going to be only on in Spanish so that Telemundo could draw some people exclusively. Come to think of it, a crew of Andres Cantor and Marcelo Balboa could actually be really, really good. In either language.
It doesn't make sense at all--evaluating players at a WUSA "festival" game? How can players prove themselves in that environment--unless April is using the WUSA festivals as an excuse to weed out founding players she doesn't want on the team (i.e. Mac and maybe Brandi?) It is so too late to even matter...what, we have 3 international friendlies left--3 "full team" games vs. 2, what difference will it make? Still, I think we should wait till after the Canada game to name the roster. Then the college kids can play, and the founders can have a more "real" setting to compete in. That said; April should have picked her Oly roster a long time ago...grrrr.
She did pick her team a long time ago. Problem is, she didn't tell anyone. Lorrie Fair could score ten goals in the WUSA Festival but still wouldn't be going to the Olympics. I feel bad for those who have been training this whole time and knowing they are not even going to make it no matter how well they play.
A lil' blurb on Brandi's foot injury... http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/26/SPGU17CIOM1.DTL
A real fan loves his/her team through the good and the bad, they don't just jump ship because their team has lost a few matches. And "fail again"......I wouldn't consider finishing in the top three of the last 4 (yes, that's every) World Cups and winning Olympic Gold and Silver Medals failing.
An even better question is how strong of a chance does the US have in Athens without her on the roster? We all saw the Japan game.
i guess you right, but, we used to be on top with everyone far below us....we outplayed everyone in the game and scored bunch of goals all the time, played beautiful attacking soccer, alot of great combination play that resulted in beautiful goals.
We've upped the ante on women's soccer and created a world of better play and better competition......again, not a failure.
I asked Celo about that last weekend in Grenada and he said most of his work would be in English, but it was likely he would do some work in Spanish.
Thanks, Andy, I fixed it too. PS...love the avatar! It's Happy, it's Fun....it's Happy Fun Ball. May stick to certain types of skin. If Happy Fun Ball starts to smoke, seek shelter immediatly and cover head.
You're right...I should have said April needed to name the Oly roster a long time ago, because I believe too, she's had the team picked for some time.
Not at the beginning. She came in not too long ago and was just recently awarded a contract to be on the team.