yes it was. branam already had ball and then they undercut her.....i believe it was #4... she is one tough goalie...
does anyone know how I can watch the whole match - or at least more than the few highlights thats been shown ! like the hit that Branam took and the yellow cards I painstakingly followed through Matchtracker ( the streaming doesn't work and i'm in Australia) doh wish I had a way to see the championship still awesome game hooooyeah
Check Sky Blue FC's website http://www.womensprosoccer.com/ny/video/index.aspx If it's not up now it should be in a day or two
I went back to look at the play again. The corner kick was taken at 81:45. The player that hit Branam was #24, Fletcher. However, it is clear from several views that #4, Tancredi, gave Fletcher a two-handed shove into Branam. How a referee could *not* caution Fletcher, at a minimum, is beyond me. Interesting comment by the announcers about the time needed to deal with the injury having broken the SLA momentum. Lots of truth there. NRWO played with a bit more intensity and heart after Branam got hammered. I think the players saw that it was only 10 minutes and each one realised that she could gut it out and worry about the consequences later. Solid defense, but not a boring bunker, and an opportunistic offense. Well earned victory.
Perhaps a better question for the ref forum, but in a situation where one player pushes her own teammate in a such a manner that said teammate clears out an opponent which she might otherwise not have fouled, why give the card to Fletcher? I'm not convinced that Flethcer would have made the same level of contact w/ Branam w/o Tancredi's "help." But yeah, there was very little protection of the keeper by the ref there.
I agree. The referee should have booked both players Fletcher and Tancredi. It was brutal and could have seriously crippled the GK. Fortunately Branam took full advantage of the situation giving herself lots of time to recoup knowing well that referees never really add all the time wasted at the end. The next game with L.A. Sol will be a doucy. Kudos for Rampone who is acting as player and coach. Not bad at all.
Well played soccer game by Sky Blue, especially the 1H where they put on a clinic on how to play professional soccer. Great passing, one touch soccer and creative playmaking - wow, very impressive. They deserved to win this game and were better team yesterday. Good timing for team overall to be playing their best soccer of the year right now in the playoffs. 2H was little rough and not as inspired as first half....not sure why they substitued out Heather O. in 2H who was best player on the field (besides Solo) for most of the game? Weird move. Should be great championship game between two worthy teams.
Yeah, that was world class. It reminded me of what a pro male player would do. In fact some pro male players probably couldn't even make that move. That move sent SkyBlue to the Championship in LA because it set up the goal.
And it's a good one. St. Louis wasn't attacking that much up the flank, and Parker can defend. Keep her fresh for LA.