Tomorrow or Wednesday the roster for the Algarve Cup 2008 will be released. Even though the list is not out yet, there is first-hand news from Heather Mitts telling if she is in or out. http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=70053219&blogID=359172909 So, she is going to Portugal, but not playing. She will be training with the team while nursing a quad injury. She is also saying that they are leaving on monday. Is that the 25th? Interesting approach from Pia. She is really building upon the Olympics. Like it, like it, like it. Should we start looking at streaming options for watching the games???
Why take an injured player all the way across the pond? She must be really well liked by her teammates or well connected, because I think her days with the full team our done. That ship has sailed, too much young talent. Plus I doubt, coming from personal experience, her knee is ready.
mitts was the best right back the team had. she also filled in at left back. no young talent has her beat for that spot when she gets healthy again.
At one time she was a top defender, but she is nearing 30 and her injury is not helping. The key is how much longer until she is 100%. I believe she will be ready for the Olympics and on the roster, but to say that no young talent has her beat is silly since she has been on IR for a year.
I was never sold on her being the "best" right back we had. Yeah, she had/has(?) the wheels, but she got caught out of position a lot of time and also had a lot of dangerous mis-clearances. Her experience is a asset, but I don't see how she's better than Rampone at that position.
She's not. Not even close. Not to say that she doesn't have value or the potential to earn a spot. Pia obviously thinks she does.
Mitts was the best right back for a while now until her injury. IMO the Brazilians would not have had circus show with our defenders if she was playing in the WWC last fall.
You are kidding yourself. They would have eaten her for lunch. For the record, I'm not a Mitts hater. I think she is a good player. She has speed and toughness and she was beginning to develop some savvy. Still had some work to do in that area. Hopefully she has recovered enough to make an impact. The smaller roster makes it tougher. And, she is not in the same league as Rampone, yet. Not to say that can't be on the field together. Rampone is quite versatile but I've always liked her on the right best.
I've seen Mitts over the years develop into a very reliable defender. The reason I say the Brazilians IMO, wouldn't have done that to Mitts is cause she is tough as nails. The first time one of them would have tried that "cutsie pie" stuff, Mitts would have cleaned her clock. She's small but quick and tough. April said that about her and Bret Hall told me the same thing about how tough she is as a defender when I asked him about her one time.
because before her injury, nobody, imho, played the position better. and, believe me, i was a mitts detractor, pointing out every time she got beat for a goal. but that was an oft-repeated mistake, which she cut out. in addition, again before her injury, mitts was the regular starting right back on the team - including when rampone was on the team. it was the position she was playing, i think, when she got injured. when both of them played, many times mitts would be at right back, and rampone would be at center back. i get the "rampone is better" argument, although i don't agree. again, if mitts gets back to full health, i won't be surprised to see her back at her old position in a month or two. lots of ifs tho. if she gets back up to speed, if pia is looking for the same thing ryan was looking for at that position, if no other newbie pops up....
Ah yes. see it here a red card for letting someone run up your back. Amazingly, that call by Nicole Petignat is only the second worst piece of refereeing in World Cup history (any guesses on the first?)
well, maybe, but there were players on both sides who got one yellow. Anyway, I was going to say that referee Graham Poll's three yellows to Croatia’s Joe Šimunić was the worst bit of refereeing of all time (homage to Muhamad Ali), but on second thought, since that failure had no real impact on the game.... Nicole wins.
good point, I thought she deserved to get tossed a couple of minutes earlier when she committed another hard foul. In that game it seemed like she spent most of her time committing fouls...
my goodness, here we go again.... every stupid thing a player did, every addle headed mistake they made was part of ryan's game plan. doesn't make sense to me, but that's what it appears to be.
actually i agree as well. The specific call was bogus, but she had gotten several passes only moments earlier where she should have gotten red. which is just another thing that pisses me off about ryan not taing any responsibility and consistenty reffering to the bad calls. It was clearly his plan to come out and play like thugs. He spent the last week whining about the aggresive play with Brazil. I will give the Brazil coach props because he really out htough ryan, came out, played relatively clean (for brazil at least) and made us look like a bunch of asses.
Enough already! A player can fart and you'll find a way to blame it on Ryan. How long are you going to continue with this? I don't mind so much blaming him for tactics or handling players, but come on now your just trying to find things. A player makes a silly tackle and you blame it on Ryan. If she played soft you would have blamed Ryan. We all know you hate this guy. It's really personal. But maybe that's the kind of person you are. Stop it already.
So your are saying the teams resonse against Brazil wasn't to come out playing Unusually aggressive? I think anyone who is honest could see that was in fact part of their plan and as coach he has a say in that. I don't think pointing that out is unreasonable. The only one getting all personal about it, imho is you. You dont have to agree with me, but its pretty clear what happened that game. Had oxy been carded on the prior play which she could have and should have, then what would Ryan have said? Frankly the ref's mistaken call only gave Ryan something else to hide behind.
Its in: UNITED STATES WOMEN’S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM 2008 Algarve Cup Roster U.S. WNT Algarve Cup Roster by Position GOALKEEPERS (2): Nicole Barnhart (2) (Gilbertsville, Pa.), Hope Solo (5) (Richland, Wash.); DEFENDERS (6): Rachel Buehler (1) (Del Mar, Calif.), Stephanie Cox (4) (Elk Grove, Calif.), Tobin Heath (1) (Basking Ridge, N.J.), Kate Markgraf (7) (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Christie Rampone (8) (Point Pleasant, N.J.), Cat Whitehill (8) (Birmingham, Ala.); MIDFIELDERS (7): Shannon Boxx (5) (Redondo Beach, Calif.), Lori Chalupny (5) (St. Louis, Mo.), Angela Hucles (4) (Virginia Beach, Va.), Carli Lloyd (3) (Delran, N.J.), Leslie Osborne (4) (Brookfield, Wis.), Lindsay Tarpley (6) (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Angie Woznuk (1) (El Cajon, Calif.); FORWARDS (5): Lauren Cheney (1) (Indianapolis, Ind.), Natasha Kai (3) (Kahuku, Hawaii), Heather O’Reilly (6) (East Brunswick, N.J.), Amy Rodriguez (3) (Lake Forest, Calif.), Abby Wambach (5) (Rochester, N.Y.).