.....pick up bitter pill.......GULP....... Another gut wrenching playoff defeat for our Beat. To all of our ladies I would like to say that I had fun watching you strive for the title this year. I hope there is a WUSA next year so that we can make another run at it. We had a couple great chances in the second half but we just couldn't find the net. Our hearts go out to Nancy regarding the ejection. She made a professional foul trying to save our season IMHO. She is a great player and will be back for us next year. I hope the Beat takes this opportunity to look at the weaknesses that have continually plagued the team. Top to bottom we are the most talented team in the league but we have a few glaring weaknesses. We need a fast winger badly to give our midfield some width. Our most obvious weakness is our problems containing physically powerful forwards. We own just about everybody accept Carolina and Washington and it is no surprise that they have Beergut, Foflopulos, and Wambach.
Um, we Charge have a corner on the market on that. We seem to think smaller is better. It isn't. And why did Stone wait to pull the trigger and not send Callie in there until there were 3 minutes left in regulation? Paul
This is heart-wrenching. We had many opportunities, but like the last five games of regular season and the post-season...our offense pretty much came up flat. We seem to get near the top of the box then look to pass off to someone looking for the perfect goal...too many touches in the final third...we need to just speed it up down there and pull the friggin' trigger. With that said...I love this team and I support them with all my heart. I know we're gutted, but that probably doesn't come close to how they feel. Heads up guys... you did us proud. Thanks for one of the most exciting games ever (the semi at Herndon). It is my opinion that Wambach fouled Nancy. She pushed her down then tripped over her. It should have been Wambach's second yellow, not Nancy's. Wambach should have been cooling her jets in the locker room, not accepting the MVP award. ESPN showed it replayed over and over again and it was obvious that Wambach pushed her down. By taking Nancy out... our defense suffered and there was no way to contain Washington's attack with us playing a man down in back. But, that's the story of the WUSA... the ref's making the largest impact of all.
Nancy said after the match that the foul was a good call, she had no complaints. The refs didn't cost the Beat, if anything, the refs got them to OT. If you wanna complain about a bad call going against your team, the Freedom could make the same claims about the foul that led to a pk.
I have not seen anyone talking about the game winning play. The minute my dad and I saw Meier receive the ball we both jumped up and shouted offsides!!!!!!! I have not rewatched it but it sure as hell looked off and if someone knows why it wasn't I would love an explanation because I think once again the refs and their no calls screwed us. I think the Nancy-red card was the right thing... unfortunatley... I mean I hate saying it but thats the proper call for that and Wambach gets away with a lot yes and I wish we had actually injured her one of the many times we took her down because she is a damn good faker and then getting up and being fine. The red card was the right move although I hate to see it happen!
No complaints here. Great match. Didn't end the way we wanted it to, but I still love this team and all the players. I'm with Kim, keep your heads up.
But Wambach pushed her down...you can't deny that...look at the replay!!! If anything it should have been a foul...not another card. Gaston was taken down plain and simple...she made a cut and a Freedom player clipped her hip...taking her down and stopping the attack. I'm gutted, plain and simple. Put me on ignore if you don't like my point of view. It's difficult to come this close...again...and lose...again. Perhaps next year will be a different story, but I can't even begin to think of next year. I guess it's time to concentrate on things that get ignored during soccer season. I need another beer...
Damn! That's too bad! The tape ran out after MAribel's first blaster in overtime, can't comment on the red card. But my god is that Anson Doorknob ever a freeking annoying twit. Finally he stops saying offsides, but the PK call was clearly a PK. Gaston got taken out. Wambach fouls a player and Doorknob says "obviously big player syndrome". No you dork, Wambach just took a player out. Freaking idiot. Do you think the league could come up with a less biased announcer?????? Hamm and Wambach need to be paired together up top. Maybe Heinrichs will realise this, hopefully not though, (I'd like Canada to not have to defend that duo). Washington's offense seemed to falter when Hamm was pushed back to midfield..........
Wambach was skating on thin ice for me and that should have been her second yellow. Meier wasn't offside. It was a great move to stay on.
Augustyniak did what she had to do - she committed the foul. A foul is a strategic option, and she took it - committed the foul on the sure goal in order to risk the kick (in fact she was smart in doing it just outside the box). She admitted as such. If you watch the replay (I have, several times, without my Beat-colored lenses {nor are they Freedom-colored}), Nancy pulled Abby down. *That's what she was supposed to do. That is why she didn't question the card with any conviction.* And WRT Meier being offisdes, you could only determine that if you were on the sidelines. The camera angle was not perpendicular to Meier as Little served the ball. It isn't a call you can judge at a distance, or on TV with center-line, above-field cameras. It appeared to me that Bivens kept Meier onsides, and then also gave Abby too much room. BondOne
I've watched the replay a couple of times and I don't think Abigail did any "hard" pushing on the Twin. Fended her off with her left arm...yes...but it wasn't like Hooper's right elbow into Meier's face earlier. If Abigail forcibly knocked down the Twin then yes perhaps a foul shoulda been called. IMNSHO, the Twin was already going down when she had to foul Abigail. Nothing on the various replays showed anything conclusive that Abigail forcibly pushed her down. You don't see her left arm straightening out or go fast in a downward motion causing Augustyniak to go down. What I see, and believe me I am trying to be unbiased here, is that Abby's arm appeared to have whipped down cuz Augustyniak went down and Abby's arm lost it's "support" if that's what you want to call it. I hope that made sense. On the game winning goal...looking back at the start of that whole sequence...as the ball is played up the Freedom's right...you see the Beat midfield pretty much stand still...Augustyniak #2 was on Meier and Bivens was the only other defender back there and she was on Abby who was going up the gut and Mia was on the far side totally UNMARKED. With the Beat down to 10 players, and nsa brought this up...Jones was off the field at this time with an injury of some sort...so it was 10 v 10...would it have made sense to throw more players back there to defend against a Freedom onslaught. Totally agree with BondOne on her take on Bivens giving Abby too much room. It's hard to tell on TV but me thinks Abby created space between her and Bivens. I think if Bivens marked Abby more tightly then maybe we wouldn't have seen the goal. ------ Great season by the Beat. Heck great three seasons by the Beat. One of the most consistent teams the past couple of years. Hats off to them. I've already pegged this team as a playoff team in 2004. Hopefully the league is around long enough so that they can lay claim to a FC trophy.
I was pondering where the hell Nonen was on that play on my drive home, (it was the longest drive ever), unfortunately I can't bring myself to rewatch that one just yet. "The Train Wreck" was a complete nonfactor for the 10+ minutes she did get - I would have liked to see more Dominguez. Couldn't agree more -- it wasn't meant to be this year, otherwise Maribel's OT shot has eyes and finds the net. AJC ARTICLES: Wambach's second goal steals crown from Beat By WENDY PARKER http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/beat/0803/25beat.html 'Do or die' play for gutsy defender By Michelle Hiskey http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/columns/hiskey/index.html PHOTO GALLERY: http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/photos/2003/beat/founders/image1.html
Thanks Beat, we love you! and THANK GOD the Ham & Cheese love fest from the announcers is over! Should have made that a drinking game. Hamm is in our defensive corner against Bivens I think...Hamm takes the ball away from our defender... "You can never underestimate the ability of Hamm to play both offense and defense. Her hard work right there just started another Freedom counter attack." Right... Hamm disposed Bivens and then promptly passes the ball to a Beat player. Great stuff from God's gift to the WUSA! Anyway, thought Augustiniak did what she had to and at the last possible minute so that the Ref would consider not giving the Freedom a PK. I fully expected the Ref to award the PK. BUT... when you have the best keeper in the league, I'd much rather you give her a chance to make the play and stay shoulder to shoulder with that forward. I bet Wambaugh shanks her full sprint shot just like Mia did on a one-v-one with Scurry earlier. And if you're gonna get a caution, do something to earn it rather than by yelling at the ref please. I'd much rather see a yellow as a result of our actions rahter than our mouths. Great job ladies. Way to keep fighting till the end!
Oh, and something we wouldn't want to forget about in all this confussion of Abby, red cards, ect... is that Charmaine Hooper actually made a penalty kick in a pressure situation! I tried not to get my hopes up when we were awarded a PK because we all know THAT is dangerous when cheering for our team, so I was very much so pleasently surprised when Hooper made it with no problem. She didn't even have a celebration afterwards which seemed to say, "No sweat, just part of my job. I do it all the time." Anyway, I didn't want this important detail of improvement on behalf of the Beat to go unnoticed. In all seriousness, the Beat played their hearts out and the effort was there, especially in the second half. I would nominate Scurry, Nancy, or Leslie as our team's MVP player of the game and had it gone the other way, one of those girls could have easily had a gigantic key in their hands instead of Abby. Our defense again held us in the game so many times but we had many good offensive chances that we just seemed to miss the final pass on or delay shooting moments too long. No matter the outcome I am still proud to be a fan of the Beat and I am looking forward to next year already. One of these years has got to be the year of the Beat...
My seats were in the first fow righ on the 18. Nancy fouled Abby, and it had to be an automatic red card given the rules. She did the right thing, becaseu Abby would surely have scored. The ref fortunately saw that it was outside the box.
I think it was a great game, quite even. No shame to lose. We had great chances in the second half, and a few inches one way or another we cold have been up one or two goals. I actualy prefer to have lost the way we did than go to PKs like the Wash/Boston game.
Bottom line is that our team played great and is actually the better team top to bottom IMO. Washington just had one player that we couldn't stop because of her size advantage. More power to Washington for recognizing it and exploiting it. For the 2004 season I would like to propose the "Whining Wambach Challenge" for those beer drinking Beat fans behind the goal. For this drinking game, every time Wambach.... 1. Whines 2. Puts her hands in her hair while she looks at the ref with a blank stare after she has been whistled for knocking the crap out of somebody 3. commits blatant thuggery everyone takes a sip. Everytime Wambach dives, you have to kill your beer.
Hey- did you not see my post above?!? Hooper MADE her PK in Founder's Cup III, therefore tying the game and giving her team a great chance to win it. You can't talk about her whiffing PK's right after she made the most important one of the season. Hooper missing her PK in Founder's Cup I is old news. She's redeemed herself. And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Abby steal the catagory of Most Fouls Committed from Hooper this year. Abby is more vicious. But I like it that way so you won't see me complaining about either Abby taking out little people or Charmaine taking out the weak ones.
Why wait 'til 2004? Start the game during WWC'03. There's six hangovers I'll have to deal with in Sept. and Oct.