How so? she went straight to the pros from HS. if she has not done it yet, why would she do it now? Why is she still being given chances on the NT when she has yet to prove her worth?
Winning makes all counter arguments moot. However, the nature of WoSo in the US will skew players towards being older. Many younger talented players cannot afford to wait for a NT chance earning what was a min of 14k per year 2 years ago, living in poor conditions. Against an allocation system, a backdrop of more than one failed league and a true evaluation every 4 years, the squad was always going to skew older.
The men missing the last WC had nothing to do with the age of the team but rather it was because of really bad coaching and a near total lack of leadership on the team. The coaching has not become better but the team leadership is quite clearly improving. We do not have a leadership problem on the WNT and we will have to see if the coach is good or bad or neither.
I was not able to watch this continuously, so I may have missed some of Rapinoe's contributions and won't comment on play yesterday. But if she can't go 90, she shouldn't be selected for an 18 player roster. For a 23 person World Cup roster, sure, you can afford a couple of situational players but not for the Olympics. I'm not a huge Lloyd fan but I would be happier with her than Rapinoe. However I'm not sure that someone's big game form from 2015, for example should be much of a factor in 2021 unless it is clear that she can recapture it. Lloyd has always been and up and down player. The US has a 50% chance of landing in a group that guarantees a runner up in the quarters and another hard match match 2 days later. Say Australia followed by Great Britain or Japan or the Netherlands. The roster selection needs to take this into account. It will be interesting to see what happens with the roster selection and performance for She Believes for than for Colombia give the disparity in talent.
Yep. Look no further than Kristie Mewis. It took her a few years, but she started making rosters again.
If you look at the state of US women’s soccer; there’s over 1000 college teams with an estimated 39k players, but then after that there’s only 10 pro teams around & with usually a starting pay of $20K. So there’s almost nowhere to go after graduating. We loose a lot of promising talent & longevity[who ever sticks around playing for peanuts in these so called pro clubs, here or abroad] seems to be the key to making the national. Guess the USWNT is it’s own brand that makes its own money through tv contracts, attendance revenue & merchandise, but it be nice to have an touring college all-star/u23 team so we can scout out more potential players
Looks like The Olympics are going to be cancelled. So these matches are pretty much just to keep things ticking over for the team. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...-of-tokyo-olympics-because-of-virus-lf868xfnd
Worth noting that IOC president Thomas Bach told Kyodo News yesterday that the Summer Games will be held as scheduled and that there was no Plan B— Vincent Lee (@Rover829) January 21, 2021 Japan has officially denied that report, saying the Olympics will go forward as planned: www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2020-government/japan-government-says-no-truth-to-report-of-possible-olympics-cancellation-idUSKBN29R0BB There is no truth to a report about the possible cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics, Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Manabu Sakai, a government spokesman, told reporters on Friday, denying a newspaper report that the event would be called off. The Times reported on Friday that Japan’s government had privately concluded the already-delayed Tokyo Olympics would be cancelled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. There is a greater likelihood of having no spectators at the Olympics though, but that's far more preferable than having no Olympics at all: www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2021/01/21/olympics/summer-olympics/iocs-dick-pound-says-fans-not-must-tokyo-olympics/ Veteran International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound on Wednesday reaffirmed his belief the Tokyo Games will happen this summer despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, saying the Olympics can go ahead without fans in attendance. “The question is, is this a ‘must-have’ or ‘nice-to-have,'” Pound told Kyodo News. “It’s nice to have spectators. But it’s not a must-have. “Nobody can guarantee (that the Olympics will go ahead as planned). But I think there’s a very, very, good chance that they can, and that they will,” he said. According to Pound, a former swimmer who has been an IOC member since 1978, there are six or seven scenarios under consideration concerning spectators, with one being that only Japanese residents will be permitted to attend events. “It’s certainly one option…In the end, the decision will be based on risk. And the bottom line, they say, is that it’s better to have the games, even if there are no spectators, than it would be to cancel them because there are no spectators,” the 78-year-old Pound said.
For the lineup today, Sophia Smith is still out with whatever small injury she picked up during warm-ups last game. Mallory Pugh also is rehabbing an injury from training and will not play. Vlatko Andonovki says Sophia Smith will be scratched tomorrow night as a precautionary measure.— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) January 21, 2021 Vlatko reports that Mal Pugh picked up an injury on day three of #USWNT camp, has been rehabbing since.— Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) January 21, 2021 In the press conference yesterday, Vlatko also said there would be "significant" lineup rotation as he wanted to play his best XI in the first game and experiment in the second.
I'm looking forward to seeing Emily Fox (If she gets a roll out). I regard to West Ender's comments (lol JapanTimes) I will defer to Blissett to explain the principle known as 顔を立てる or Kaowotateru.
I guess the injuries have resulted in Rapinoe getting the start again. Certainly not her play. Also captain... she can lead the team in disrespecting our flag....again
Macario was an easy guess for CF. I thought they might have Horan start for Rapinoe. At the half probably will see Horan and K. Mewes in for Lavelle and S. Mewes. Wouldn't be surprised to see Rapinoe replaced in the 2nd half by Dunn.
That lineup could easily result in a rather huge score for the US. There are some quite hungry players with something to prove and a vet or two looking to redeem themselves from below average performances in the last few matches. The players can also read (at least most of them ) and I am sure they are aware of the probability of the Olympics getting canceled so they really want to assure a position on the SBC team. But I predicted a pretty high score in the last match so I could be wrong here as well. But I don't think so.
I think an interesting combo would be Horan playing the #9 role. She has a long history as a striker, is strong, technical and holds the ball well, can finish with her feet and head. Have Macario play as a slightly withdrawn forward behind her. She is excellent running with the ball at her feet and striking from distance. Both of them are true footballers meaning they understand space, putting the right texture on the ball, etc. We have plenty of midfield depth with Ertz, Lavelle, the Mewis sisters, Sullivan. I think we can afford to shift Horan to a more advanced role. If Press continues her sterling form as a LW she starts out there. RW is Heath or whoever else is in best form— Williams, Pugh, Smith, etc. Of course, Lloyd and Morgan will have something to say about this idea, at least in the short term.
I guess I'll have to keep posting my great respect for Megan Rapinoe both as an athlete and as an activist.