Pre/pbp/post 7/10 WWC USA vs. Brazil

Discussion in 'USA Women: News and Analysis' started by Namdynamo, Jul 6, 2011.

  1. Dr 7

    Dr 7 New Member

    Jun 15, 2011
    When the German women won the World Cup for the first time in 2003, they also had the jerseys with the 3 stars for the men.I think back then nobody was thinking about the stars over the crest that much.Did the US and Norway even have the stars back then? Well when Germany won that World Cup the women decided they wanted the stars to represent their achievements and not the mens.
     
  2. Non-dairy Creamer

    Feb 28, 2007
    I was just pointing out that the three stars inside our crest are because we have stars on our flag and that's been a part of our crest forever and the stars that represent the WC's are above and outside the crest for every team that's won the world cup, that's the difference. I was just correcting you and telling you why you were wrong on the issue. You'll note we have 2 stars above our crest which represent the 2 WCs we've won and not say,,,, north dakota and arkansas.

    why Brazil has not incorporated stars inside their crest for the stars on their flag I can't tell you, you'd have to ask them. It's obviously not very important to them, afterall, our flag is nicknamed the "Stars and Stripes"

    Australia has stars on their flag (southern cross) and the southern cross features inside their crest but , alas for the Aussies, they have no stars outside their crest because they haven't ever won the world cup.

    so don't think of it as 5 stars on our crest but rather 3 stars inside our crest as part of a normal design that we've had for many, many years and 2 additional stars outside and above our crest that symbolize the 2 WC victories of the US women's national team in 1991 and 1999.
     
  3. jd6885

    jd6885 Member

    Jun 30, 2001
    Tacoma
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Seriously! They had me so WORRIED! Especially when Ian kept saying, "Oh surely this has to be it now..." In my anxiety, I took his and foudy's words as fact. To be fair Grandpa Ian and Granny Foudy had barely any sleep the night before, as they said earlier.
     
  4. Lark Howorth

    Lark Howorth Member

    Nov 18, 1999
    Houston, TX
    If referees would actually make them retake penalties 70% of the time then maybe players would stop encroaching. The initial penalty was a bad call, but the encroachment was a violation in black and white. If we don't want to get called for that, then we need to stay out of the freaking box before the kick--it's a simple thing to do and she brought it on her teammates by jumping in the box early. Since exactly one player on the field entered the box early, I assume the referee had made it very clear she'd be watching for it the encroachment.

    Still, the penalty should never have been called to start with.
     
  5. BrooklynSoccer

    BrooklynSoccer Member+

    Jan 22, 2008
    ahahha. i did too. counting and recounting.. then they'd say extra time and i'd think...is this stoppage time, who's confused? and then, of course, my remedial math skills did prove to be true.
     
  6. Non-dairy Creamer

    Feb 28, 2007
    seriously, if every infraction was called in "black and white" they'd get no playing in.

    twas a very soft call, and the encroaching player didn't have an effect on the ball anyway which makes it even worse.
     
  7. orcrist

    orcrist Member+

    Jun 11, 2005
    Bay Area, California, USA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    So why doesn't our men's team have stars on theirs? :cool:
     
  8. FawcettFan14

    FawcettFan14 Member+

    Mar 19, 2004
    Colorado
    I am so, so proud of the U.S. team right now. The game itself was not a pretty one by any stretch, not by either team. The U.S. was generally quite poor in attack. But it had as much drama as I've ever seen, on par with the 1999 final and 2000 Olympics vs. Norway when Tiffeny Milbrett tied it during the last minute of regulation (only this time, the U.S. won!).

    Abby Wambach deserves a freaking standing ovation. She's not 100% fit, was not very prominent in the flow of play, but she nearly scored on that left footer in overtime, and then did several minutes later. Unbelievable. Megan Rapinoe, as well, deserves kudos for that inch-perfect cross. Any lower, and Andreia would have caught it. Any higher, and it goes out of bounds. She has been inconsistent during this World Cup with her crossing, but stepped up when it mattered.

    I love the symbolic poetry of this game. Score in the first minute and the last. Twelve years to the day since the 1999 shootout. All five PK takers score. Goalkeeper saves the third one. Fantastic.

    Also, I'm usually not one for personal insults, but screw you Erika (and the rest who made the game ugly). And suck it. I hope this loss stings for a long time. If it weren't for your egregious feigning of a broken back (which you were miraculously able to heal from and hop up from the stretcher after leaving the field), you would be in the semifinals. Justice is served.

    I love Hope Solo. :D And Christie Rampone. :D And Ali Krieger. :D

    Bring on France. In a way, I think they offer a stiffer test than Brazil, who had glimpses of individual brilliance but were not cohesive at all (cough, kind of like the U.S., to be perfectly honest). I place all the blame upon Kleiton Lima. He took a spectacular Brazil team, with much of the same personnel as last time (they did miss Daniela and Maycon, though), and made them pretty mediocre. For shame.

    So, so proud. Thank you Team USA.
     
  9. thegamesthatrate

    Jan 9, 2007
    Overall, well said, FawcettFan14.
     
  10. FawcettFan14

    FawcettFan14 Member+

    Mar 19, 2004
    Colorado
    I feel bad for Beuhler, but this may be a blessing in disguise. Could this be Becky Sauerbrunn's golden opportunity to shine?

    Or will Pia shift LePeilbet inside and start Cox on the left? This seems more likely.
     
  11. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006
    there are three stars on the mens shield.

    of all the things to talk about today, you pick THIS?:rolleyes:
     
  12. Plxix

    Plxix BigSoccer Yellow Card

    Mar 13, 2006
    Repeat after me: there is NO corruption in Fifa.
     
  13. casocrfan

    casocrfan Member

    Nov 25, 2004
    San Francisco
    Great, entertaining game. Absolutely. Not the best soccer but that's what you get sometimes when two teams are battling as hard as these two were.

    Both midfields were defending so much that a lot of the rhythm of the game was lost but the individual efforts by players like Wambach, Solo, Marta, Formiga, et al was just a blast to watch.

    I agree with the French assessment. I love the way they play as a team with skill. Their speed up front will give us problems, but our midfield might be able to out muscle their midfield. It will be a great game.
     
  14. orcrist

    orcrist Member+

    Jun 11, 2005
    Bay Area, California, USA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    What, we have to pick one thing? :rolleyes:
     
  15. cleansheetbsc

    cleansheetbsc Member+

    Mar 17, 2004
    Club:
    --other--
    cough, cough! Brad Freidel cough, cough!
     
    Gilmoy repped this.
  16. tcrawdad

    tcrawdad New Member

    Jul 31, 2005
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Only the yellow cards are wiped out?

    Dang shame for Buehler
     
  17. CoachJon

    CoachJon Member+

    Feb 1, 2006
    Rochester, NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think I was most impressed (vs. amazed, elated, dumbfounded, etc), most impressed by the steely-eyed precision from each US player who kicked the PKs after fulltime.
     
  18. orcrist

    orcrist Member+

    Jun 11, 2005
    Bay Area, California, USA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Suspensions are never wiped out. Cards reset with suspension anyway. So she effectively has a suspension and no cards.
     
  19. orcrist

    orcrist Member+

    Jun 11, 2005
    Bay Area, California, USA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Every last kick looked like it was shot by a machine. Talk about nerves of steel.
     
  20. BlitzSpiele

    BlitzSpiele Member

    Sep 7, 2007
    And here I thought Jeter's 3000th hit would push the WWC and USWNT off the front page. While Jeter had a super accomplishment, the USWNT's story is much more compelling and dramatic.
     
  21. philafan

    philafan Member

    Mar 20, 2010
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Jeter was yesterday, while WWC was today. 24 hours is an eternity in today's news cycle. By tomorrow it will be the baseball all-star game.

    What's great about this for the women's soccer is that on ESPN really have given some great coverage to WWC over the past fews weeks in terms of the amount and type of coverage. Hopefully that will be enough to generate some more crossover appeal in the US and give a temporary spike in WPS interest.
     
  22. Andy Zilis

    Andy Zilis Member+

    Mar 9, 2005
    Rochelle, IL
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The subs made more sense today than against Sweden, though I think (again) that Lloyd should have been the first to be replaced. She was in a position where one bad tackle would have seen her ejected, and she was pushing it with that handball near midfield. She wasn't playing particularly well either. Rapinoe was disappointing until the late stages of overtime, at which point she started playing really well. A few nice crosses including the one to set up the tying goal, and she buried her PK. The Morgan sub made sense and I can't say she played a bad game, but similar to the Sweden game, she wasn't as involved in the game as I'd have expected. When it came down to it, it was the aging forward who had played the entire game who was getting the scoring chances. And Heath was surprisingly good after looking completely lost in the Colombia game.

    The defensive switch actually worked well. Smart tactical move by Pia and Lepeilbet played a pretty good game as a result. Considering some people on this board were expecting Brazil to run up the score before this game (despite not having played particularly well in the first round), those people should be praising this defensive line to the heavens. Rampone was excellent, and Buehler was incredibly unfortunate to have that call go against her (didn't look like a foul at all).

    Fantastic response to going down a player. The 67 minutes before that weren't very good, but I'm willing to look past that considering how the team responded. Brazil looked like the team down a player at times. For all of the criticism Boxx gets, I think she deserves to be out there. Pretty solid game for her overall. If a central midfielder deserved to be benched, it's Lloyd, but even she had her moments. If that header (which only missed by a few inches) had gone in, the game would have been put away in regulation. That was right before Brazil leveled the score.

    And Wambach came up huge. What offensive threat we had today was generally focused around her. She hasn't had a great tournament, but goals like this are why she has to be in the game, all game, every game. She managed to turn it up a notch in overtime. And Solo was obviously the star of the shootout. She made some good saves in the run of play, though Marta's corner kicks seemed to give her some trouble late in the game.

    The team is going to need to finish better than they did against Sweden to get past France, but I don't think France is as good as I thought they were after the first round. I doubt they're going to put any headed corner kick goals in against us (the 2 against Germany were down to bad marking), and England gave them a lot of trouble despite having obvious fitness issues towards the end. They'll have their starting goalkeeper back, but that still seems to be a weak position for them.

    I have a feeling the Brazilian federation just couldn't be bothered to get Nike to design a separate uniform for their women's team. It looks identical to the men's uniform. Kind of like how the Chicago Fire's affiliated PDL (4th division) team wears last year's Best Buy sponsored jerseys. That's how far down the pecking order their women's team is.

    If the stars represented the whole federation, both Germany's men's and women's teams should be wearing jerseys with 5 stars, just like Brazil does. USA men would ridiculously have 2 stars above the crest.
     
  23. Juanele

    Juanele Member+

    Aug 4, 1999
    Colorado, US
    I don't recall much trouble from England other than their goal. The play was terribly one sided. If not for their failure in the final third I would say France were the most dominant of all the winners. The US can certainly score on them as France's weak point are their centerbacks and goalkeeper but they will also give the US some trouble as well.

    With how much (or lack thereof) support Brasil gives their womens team I wouldn't be surprised if this is true.
     
  24. StarCityFan

    StarCityFan BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 2, 2001
    Greenbelt, MD
    Club:
    Washington Freedom
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I haven't looked at the replay, but other people have said that the same player who encroached was the first one to get to the ball and clear it. So she gained an advantage from encroaching. This might also explain why it took so long to make the call.
     
  25. thegamesthatrate

    Jan 9, 2007
    A few observations are in order.

    1. This was not a particularly well-played game. It was dramatic; it was exciting; it was memorable; it was riveting; it was significant. It was not well-played. At times the technical ability of both sides to string passes together looked non-existent.

    2. Pretty effective defense by the USA, and Rampone played with verve and skill reminiscent of Carla Overbeck. Krieger was ok defensively but the other two defenders looked too often susceptible to being beat. Fortunately, they were not beat too often today, but we need some more speed and passing technique from someone else on the backline other than Rampone.

    3. Our midfield seemed nonexistent, particularly after the first 15 - 20 minutes. Boxx played well from a defensive midfield perspective, but she is not a reliable offensive passing force. However, she does not have to be if the other midfielders are delivering effective service. Today, service was non-existent. In fact, to a large degree, so was the usually effective Heather O'Reilly after 20 minutes. Where did she go?

    After the game today, ESPN showed the '99 Final right afterwards. It became apparent what the US needs at midfield. Michelle Akers. Oh, well, she's retired. And, let's face it, a team does not easily replace the greatest player ever.

    But, there should be some semblance of forward passing ability at midfield. The reality is that not one midfielder showed today a consistent ability to pass well, to put the ball to where the recipient is supposed to be running instead of either to where the recipient is to where the recipient cannot possibility arrive in time.

    Indeed, the lack of service from midfield is the biggest reason for the problems that the Wombat is having getting chances. When the defensive line clears out, and boots the ball downfield to Wambach, she is as good as anyone at pulling it down. But, when she controls it back to midfield, the lack of effective passing means it's not coming back to her.

    4. Amy Rodriguez did not seem to make one accurate forward pass all day. And, she's not good enough on the dribble to beat many world-class defenders. And, too often, she seems to lack the game sense to be where the Wombat is flicking the ball. I think someone else deserves a shot in the semis. And, great cross in the last minute of OT notwithstanding, I'm not sure it's Rapinoe.

    5. Big day for Hope Solo. I have my issues with her past behavior, but if one is going to assess Solo's performance today on the merits, she gets one of the three stars (Rampone and Wambach, of course, get the other two). Besides saving the two penalties, she was effective in the net, gathered a dangerous cross nicely and functioned as an effective outlet for back passes and a vacuum for anything near the 18-meter box. As an American fan, I have to say that today I'm glad she worked her way back onto the team.

    France will not be a pushover. That team will present many of the same challenges Brazil did. We will need some changes to address sluggishness on the back line and lack of service from midfield. But, it's better to be in the semifinals than going home. Go USWNT!
     

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