The complaint, and there were well over 100 posts on the usually dead USSoccer site, was bait and switch. If they had announced certain players would be given a rest for those matches when tickets were put on sale, then people could have made an informed decision whether they wanted to invest hundreds of dollars in taking the family to see the team sans those stars. This wasn't an injury or a fluke of selection. This was a planned thing and should have been announced much earlier.
She was the marketing face of the sponsors for the two years leading up to the tournament. From starring in her own commercials to being the background of a LeBron James McDonald's commercial. The only way she wasn't on the WWC15 roster was a broken leg (a la Abby and Beijing)
Brings to mind, when we were in Canada at US games, and we saw a bunch of them, not once did I hear anyone complain about not seeing enough of Morgan.
Landon Donovan's elimination from the roster left a lot more money on the table, despite equally unworthy roster spots being filled ( cough...Wondo) https://www.thestreet.com/story/12725957/1/cutting-landon-donovan-lost-sponsors-for-world-cup.html It still happened. But you may be on to something. The coach that drew the ire of Nike and other sponsors is no longer there. Jill maybe learned something.
Is this Klinsmann we're talking about? I'm pretty sure he was shown the door for a lot better reasons than just ticking off sponsors.
That basically proves my point. And because of the money in the men's game, sporting concerns are mostly insulated from such considerations. The USMNT could choose to leave Donovan behind. I contend that's not the case with the USWNT for fundamental financial reasons. The MNT is still marketable with Donovan. People are going to buy/watch/consume the Men's World Cup regardless of whether he's there or not. People really are rooting for laundry. The Women's game isn't there, yet.
I've basically stopped watching their games at this point. Every time I watch it's some collection of new faces with the same old problems. The team never plays as well as they should. They all look like they've never played together and look like they can be overrun by any athletic team. They never look motivated or confident. They never look like they believe they are the best team in the world, even though it often looks like they are the most talented. It's just too frustrating to watch.
The last hurdles have been placed on the track for Coach E. A weak performance in the summer tournament combined with losses to arch rival Canada in November might convince the densest of USSoccer officials that their team is much closer to another 16 year drought than retaining the cup. On the other hand, a strong showing in both spots cements Ellis at least until the WC flop in France.
Please don't give the competition any ideas. After all, they might prefer to cement JE as coach, especially after OG-16, SBC-17 and the floundering around they've been doing ever since WC-15. They might just decide to send their B team to these events. The last friendlies vs. Sweden and Norway JE didn't even use all her subs and clearly focused on getting results -- two years before WC-19. She must be feeling some pressure. Sweden played them straight up after tactically playing quite differently in OG-16 and narrowly lost in an even game.
Herdman as our new coach? That would be like hiring Donald Trump to coach the USWNT. I rather have godawful Jill Ellis if that was our only option. OR better yet, aren't there any great American coaches around besides the late Tony that would work?
Wouldn't want Herdman as the coach because he is too desperate for attention but u have to admire how he has rebuilt the Canadian program top to bottom. Meanwhile Ellis, Heinrichs and their merry band strive to turn the US into a 2nd division program
Because she owns Sunil Gulati. He would never dare challenge Jill on anything. Strong leaders know how to make bold moves or manipulate their way toward adjustments. Not only is a leadership change not in play, but Mr. Gulati is too bashful around a female head coach to push for any adjustments going forward for the USWNT. I called this scenario the day Jill took over for Tom Sermanni. Gulati is more passive around a female coach on this team. We could even have Michelle French coaching this team with worse results, and he still wouldn't do a thing about it. He had the deer in the headlights look when he was involved in presenting the awards at the SheBelieves Cup when the USWNT finished in 4th (last) place.
Excluding the two Russia games, the USWNT are now averaging 0.5 goals per game in the other 6 matches this year. All of those 6 matches were against Top 15 teams, but that's still embarrassing.
Who's going to fire a coach who won the last WC just because the team hasn't looked great in recent friendlies? Yea, maybe it's a sign of trouble ahead, or maybe she's experimenting with the roster, trying new players, as she obviously is--and performances two years before the next WC don't mean that much. I can't imagine that she won't be coaching through the next World Cup. She'll get the benefit of the doubt and probably should.
Hello. Ahem. Welcome to the USA women's subforum. Good luck to the Netherlands against the Lutefisk Ladies. And good luck in the USA women's section...you're gonna need it.
Ellis's right to experimentation essentially allows her carte blanche. Nevertheless, it doesn't mean that she can't be held accountable for any of the team's slipshod performances between now and the World Cup qualifying tournament, especially not if such performances continue to accumulate. She needs to demonstrate some signs of progress, and lately such signs have been few and far between. Losses at home against three top ten teams would be less concerning if they didn't seem to display fundamental and systematic areas of weakness for the team (such as inability to convert on even one scoring opportunity), which seem to be worsening if anything. The pitiful play from the U.S. last night may indicate that, rather than showing how the team is taking steps to address its list of chronic problems as exposed by the SheBelieves Cup, the Tournament of Nations will simply extend that list. Eventually the ship has to brought back on course, and right now it looks like it's sailing further off the edge of the map instead. Benefit of the doubt is not an unlimited resource, and it may diminish rapidly if not rewarded with a periodic good faith payment. Illusion or not, the perception of Ellis' experimentation as aimlessly throwing darts at the wall in hopes of hitting the board is difficult to invalidate without evidence. If Ellis doesn't begin to demonstrate that she has a plan and that the team is moving, at least ever so slowly, in the right direction, confidence in her leadership may reasonably dwindle. These bruises to the pride of a once mighty team might very well one day prove to be reliable investments in the team's future success, but at current it takes a fair amount of imagination to have faith in that belief.
I think the exchange at 2:05 is highly relevant to the current state of mind regarding this team. Richard Attenborough's character = Jill Ellis Jeff Goldblum's character = USWNT fans (the body language makes it even better)