At halftime of the Chivas-DC game during Wynalda's yellow card/ red card segment, he gives the us women's team a yellow card.. "Shannon Boxx has a bad knee, Abby wambach has a broken toe, they'll be playing North Korea in the opening game, so watch out they better not take this North Korean team for granted." First of all, Boxx is 100% back, second, Abby's toe injury is minor and was weeks ago, and third, this US team never takes anything for granted. They are one of the best prepared teams all time not only physically, but mentally as well. They know full well how good this North Korean team is. One of the players (or was it the coach himself) even went so far as to say the North Koreans are the best in Asia right now. Wynalda, what the hell are you talking about? Is this some sort of plug for the opening game or something? If so, why the hell would you give them a 'yellow card'?
Mr. Wynalda has gone off the deep end. None of what he said made sense... What the heck did he mean when he said "this coach brings a bad attitude"? If anything, the players like Greg Ryan MORE than April Heinrichs...and the attitude and morale is soaring.
Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes I disagree. But when I disagree I completely, flat out disagree with him. He really should keep his mouth shut if he doesn't know what he's talking about.
I think Wynalda just likes to torque people off. This is the man who once hired an airplane to tow a banner over a game asking that his own coach be fired. None of what he said made sense. His injury claims were out of date and overblown, and I don't see any evidence this team would enter their first WC match with a 'bad attitude'. Anyway, aren't yellow cards generally given AFTER a foul is committed, not in anticipation? He probably was asked to promo the WWC/WNT, and chose to do so in typical Waldo fashion.
He privately probably thinks they're gonna roll over North Korea, but who's going to get up at 2 or 5 am to watch that? He's just building drama for the game for ratings and buzz... I'm 98% sure of that.
I was watching that also last night and I couldn't understand his comment about Greg Ryan. Where did he get that from?
Wynalda is just pissed that the USWNT will rack up a third spiral trophy before the USMNT makes it to a semi-final.
I think Blitz has it right: Wynalda's petulant b/c for all of the promotion that US Soccer give the men, the women consistently outstrip them in victories and actual popular appeal. When I watched his coverage of the MWC last year, I wanted nothing so much as for him to shut the (#$*) up.
I actually thought his coverage during the World Cup was decent, but on a side note, I hate how he always talks about how he and Dominic Kinnear and Tom Soehn are good friends...and then bashes Bruce Arena... Oh well, I guess at the very least, as other people said, it's good he said something- even if it rubbed people the wrong way.
Wynalda's commentary in most cases isn't particularly insightful or accurate. It seems he's more interested in blurting out controversial comments that may get him some personal noteriety. What ESPN should do is make him sit and watch Julie Foudy so he learns how be a commentator, and he'll probably learn a good deal about soccer from her as well. Maybe if he's nice, Julie will let him look at the trophies she collected with the USWNT.
My opinion of Wynalda is that he makes a decision about what's going on in the game or what the story of the game is going to be before hand and then spins everything that happens to fit his view. I can't stand listening to him.
I watched the Red Card, Yellow Card segment with great anticipation since it is what all the kids talk about the next day. I think that was his worst segment yet. He was just rambling on about nothing that made any sense. For a second I thought he was going to complain about the uniforms, but he must be receiving endorsements from Nike or something. Waldo and ESPN deserve red cards for that segment and the presentation of that game. There was no logic in his rant. It was like he was reading a BS post.
I doubt either teams' fans would have recorded the show in the first place. It was at a time when people could see it live
If you have ESPN360, the game is still up. I haven't looked to see if the segment is there, but the game is still there.
Do you guys REALLY want to get into why there's a trophy disparity between the men and the women? The "jealousy" argument is pretty weak. And I'd certainly argue the "outstrip in actual popular appeal" at this point. Since Mia and her buddies have retired, attendances, at the very least, have been vastly in favor of the men (unless someone can show me that's not right - I didn't look it up, but the impressions that I've been getting has supported that).
I'm sure the men's attendance is better than the women, but I can't believe the Brazil match isn't sold out. They should have made it a double header with a Bears game.
You make it sound like the fate of worlds hangs in the balance. It's pretty simple, really. Compared to many the men's team in many nations, the USMNT blows. Compared to the women's team in any other nation, the USWNT is at least equal and for the most part superior. That's why they have a winning record against every nation. The USA has more top female players than any other country but very few top male players. I agree Wynalda probably isn't any more jealous of the USWNT than he is of anything else, but he does strike me as a guy who's generally jealous of other people's success. As for popularity, I think the USMNT definitely has more fans, but I doubt many people admire and look up to that team the way many do the USWNT.
You mean men's sports are more popular than women's sports? Wow, how enlightening... Next thing we know you're going to tell us the sky is blue and double stuffed Oreo's are bad for you.
Did Waldo say something about his giving the yellow card during the US-Brazil men's match? I was watching online while watching another match live and had audio problems.
FWIW - The US men were in the 1930 semifinal. Regarding the depth of men's and women's soccer worldwide, yeah you don't want to go there. I didn't undertsand Waldo's comments either. I thought maybe there was an arrogant comment (Mitts?) made in camp that I missed that he was referring to. I didn't get the injury thing at all. As someone suggested, he might have been pimping the game for his network - but there had to be a better way to do it.
Yes. He said (after Dave O'Brien talked about the US's schedule) something along the lines of, "I took a lot of slack for giving the US women a yellow card the other night...I just heard from an inside source that the North Koreans are very fast and good and the US had better be ready."