This board has talked long and hard about aging veteran players, diminished performance, etc. Do not recall Press's name coming up in those discussions. Her speed, her ability to shape a shot, and her decent passing coupled with her national team credentials make her a valuable asset at least in my eyes. Obviously, something we are not privy to happened behind the scenes. And that’s fine. Surprising but fine.
Any of us who've ever been part of any sports team, office, or other type of group enterprise know that there are interpersonal dynamics among equals and involving managers, bosses, whomever. Sometimes unfortunate dynamics. Perhaps we'll know more someday about whatever presumably happened involving Christen Press. Perhaps we won't. In my view, Press has had a long and distinguished career for the USWNT. Perhaps she will play again for the team; perhaps she won't. Right now, while she is recovering from a torn ACL, I think it's a ridiculous time to debate whether she is or isn't better than Megan Rapinoe, Mallory Pugh, or anyone else. If some feel it IS necessary to have this debate today, then I'd like to see it done with respect and decency.
CHRISTEN PRESS. WHAT A STRIKE ⚡Scores her first regular season goal for Angel City and puts them up on the road 💫 pic.twitter.com/3ASRv2oTrX— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) May 15, 2022 Brilliance
We’ve beaten Mexico by an average of 4-0 the last half dozen times but they were all on American soil. They’ve yet to cap Ordenez(the speedy winger from NC Courage). From what highlights I’ve seen from their league, the goals mostly seem to come through sloppy errors from either their defenders or GK. But maybe there’s more than meets the eye; the popular Monterrey club will compete against the bigwigs(Portland, Chelsea, Barca) this August(so we’ll get an better picture on their quality). What could help them supposedly sold out home crowd & maybe they’ve started training camp earlier(neither US of Canada have started theirs). My understanding is that 4 of the 8 Concacaf teams qualify for the World Cup, plus 2 more(group 3rd place finisher’s) get to go to an massive wild card tournament. So hard to say how serious the various NT’s are taking this?(as compared the Euro camps started weeks ago Angel City comes in well financed & showing a very strong defense that so far only allowed 7 goals in 8 games/Pugh’s CRS should of been down this year with Davidson, Gautrat & Watt out with long term injuries & they gave up Ertz. Gordon & Johnson to the expansion clubs. So give credit to Pugh for stepping up with 6 goals now & her club tied for first place, Rodman’s Spirit has definitely faltered a bit, possibly due to the NWSL for overextending the Challenge Cup into the regular season. The wear & tear of it particularly hurt the two finalists(as the champs, Courage, are currently in last place) Press hasn’t been that much of an influencer at the major major tournies(WC & Olympics)goal wise; 2015 WC(1goal) 2016 OL(0 goals) 2019 WC(1 goal) 2021 OL(1 goal) zero playing time at the 2015 WC finals/11 minutes in the 2019 WC final
In WICC this year it’s Portland, Chelsea, Monterrey and Lyon. Barca picked a preseason club tournament competition close to home.
Hotjam, no one is arguing against Pugh. That has been said repeatedly here. Press is a much more proven and successful international than Rodman and Midge, and she was having a strong NWSL season.
Not really what? That is all pretty factual. Pugh is killing it. Rodman struggled at the She Believes Cup (or at least did nothing to impress). Press was playing well for Angel City. Press has way more caps and goals and experience at the international level than Rodman and Purce. What is 'not really?'
If Mexico does not beat Jamaica or Haiti, the Mex vs USA game could be a really tense affair. But I predict that final game won't mean much because both teams should beat Jamaica and Haiti.
No according to concacaf the second and third place teams will play a playoff on September 2023 to determine the Olympic spot
Just to underline the question: this is about the Olympics. I don't think anyone is questioning whether the USWNT will qualify for the WWC because the top 4 teams automatically qualify for the WWC and the 5th and 6th placed teams (3rd in each group) go to an interconfederational playoff. For the 2024 Olympics, the winner of this tournament will qualify automatically for the Olympics and for the 2024 W Gold Cup. The 2nd and 3rd placed teams in this tournament will play a home-and-away playoff series in September 2023 to determine the 2nd CONCACAF team that will go to the 2024 Olympics. At least I think its a home-and-away series; that isn't really clear on CONCACAF's website. All we know is that there's just some type of playoff series between the 2nd and 3rd place team in September 2023. Whether it's home-and-away might very well depend upon which two teams are playing.
Would be fun to see the USWNT involved in that straight after the world cup and could be a good money maker for the USSF.
I'd rather we win this tournament outright. USSF makes plenty of money from friendlies, which they fill every international break with anyway. The only other time the US has had to play in a playoff (2010, which was also the only time the USWNT hasn't won a qualifying tournament), those matches with Italy weren't very well attended. But, I guess that was before the rebirth of the team's popularity post-2011, and none of the matches in 2010 had that big of a crowd.
Haiti’s one claim to fame is that back at the 2018 u20 Concacaf, semi finals. their youth NT was able to keep the stacked US squad to an 0-0 tie till succumbing in the PK shootout. After that they beat Canada for 3rd & went on to the U20 WC where they tied Germany. Unfortunately don’t think Haiti has the resources to keep them going into senior/adult hood(as that youth squad actually was trained in the US) Same thing with Jamaica, who has an all volunteer staff & players when they played at the 2019 World Cup, and then ironically, the four best players of Jamaican extraction are all on the Canadian NT! scouting Mexico is hard, as idk if their finally using the half dozen current NWSL players(they’ve American born anyways) otherwise it’s that continues 0-4 losses we got to use as an metric, but their home grown league trying to gain respectability as rumor has it Club America has signed Jenni Hermoso, star striker of the Barcelona club. Vlatko proven to be an excellent ‘friendlies’ coach, but flopped somewhat at his first major tournament(as the pacing of the Olympic squad was quite off). The big test should at his revenge against Canada, wonder if Vlatko job will be in jeopardy if he looses again to them?
We don't have to jump all the way back to 2018 or 2019. The senior WNT played Jamaica in 2021 and won 4-0. They played Mexico twice in 2021, both 4-0 wins. They played Haiti in 2020 Olympic qualifying, a 4-0 win. (They also played Mexico in that tournament, another 4-0 win.) Rather than discussing if one team will upset the USWNT (the only possibilities, imo, are Mexico since they're playing at home and Canada in the knockouts), we should be taking over/under bets on 4-0 wins.
that’s what I meant; we should actually steam roll through against mostly underfunded/under infrastructure opponents, but don’t you think USSF should put up some kinda cautionary red flag out there if Vlatko somehow managers to mess up again? and/or will we accept another loss to Canada?
You don't need competent legal counsel, you don't need world renowned medical experts, you don't need to employ financial geniuses, the only thing you need to remember about our CONCACAF Championship Roster: However, you do need a sofa equipped with seat belts and those HANS devices that they use in NASCAR. And of course, access to your favorite adult beverages.
ESPN article about Rapinoe accepting her new role on the team and a comment on roster selection that I'll quote here: Rapinoe: "Rosters are not a compilation just of, go pick the best players and hope for the best. It's about constructing an organism that works together on and off the field, that works not necessarily harmoniously all the time, but that the right pieces fit for certain reasons and for reasons most people don't understand."
If "the right pieces fit for certain reasons and for reasons most people don't understand," it would be educational, helpful to fans, and advancing the game if someone who does understand would explain how the pieces fit, thus making them the right ones. I assume that the first part of the statement is true, but I think we are worthy of getting a better second part.
That's kind of complicated as it sounds like Pinoe is talking about team chemistry. How do you explain a teams ability to work with one another within the Vlatko system? Some will be better at it, and Press will not (apparently).