Here are his predictions for the 2003 season: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/columnist/dure/2003-03-31-dure-wusa_x.htm http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/columnist/dure/2003-03-31-dure_x.htm Feel free to punch holes in it. I am sure he'll be happy to respond in his next column or on here.
This guy's clueless! Why does he even bother? Geez, last year he had Washington and Carolina picked to finish in the bottom two. He should stick to curling.
Beau dont know diddily, the charge in 1st? he forget Iverson recoginised the better goal and left the team and ever since, their D is swiss cheese...meanwhile the freedom with minnert will be unbelievable once she gets here, great speed, a constant threat up top in wambach who should be on the NT (YOU HEAR THAT APE!!!!) and of course MIA! I see no way the freedom wont finish first and bring Mia her founders cup...My freedom will have a great year...what does Beau know
Beau Dure, as an observer of the Charge, I can make a couple points. 1) Hope Solo is indeed talented 2) the Charge have lost Iverson and Zhao, and replacing them will define their fortune. Right now, the Charge expect Mary McVeigh to replace Iverson. And Pavilna Scasna, the 20 year old from the Czech Republic, after a couple years at Bayern to replace what Zhao gave out wide. The net difference is a reduction here. But Dee Arrington will take WUSA by storm, ACC player of the year, will instill fear in wusa defenses. And there's still Smith and Pichon to worry about. Smith is healthy, and she has NO international committments except a match against USA. When it comes to the Charge, what they've lost defensively has been offset by offensive gains. The key is how much problem will there be in the losss of Iverson?? Right now, Atlanta and DC and Carolina are very composed defensively, and have NO obvious weakness. Still the Charge are Brazil circa 1982.
1958 or 1998 And Smith is very Zidane like... Pichon=Trezeguet??? still those French defenders in the middle are very athletic... and Mitts and Benson do look like their outside backs...
Re: Re: Beau Dure of USA Today makes his WUSA predictions I was gonna say the exact same thing. Only I was gonna use more colorfull language. The Freedom will once again make this Beau guy eat crow.
True but the thing about the France team of 1998 was that David and Thierry were not totally gelling yet. A remarkable team without a go-to striker. Except for Guivarc'h. Henry was the leading goal scorer with 4 goals and they were against Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Pichon= Fontaine Smith= Kopa Though I do like the comparisons between Zidane and Pichon, I think Pichon would prefer being compared to her friend, Monsieur Pires.
Re: Re: Re: Beau Dure of USA Today makes his WUSA predictions Well, I agree with his point about the Freedom midfield (or lack thereof), but you could say the same thing about last year's team, and they didn't do too badly.
First off, I would like to thank Mr. Dure for covering the international pastime on a newspaper that covers anything but soccer. (usa today) I always enjoy reading Mr. Dure's coments he's one of the best sport columnist that we have in the soccer universe. Keep the Netminder rolling! PS: Since I'm not a sport columnist...my Crystal Ball says: There is HOPE for the USWNT!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Beau Dure of USA Today makes his WUSA predictions I'm not too worried. We got Bai and Steffi from the get go this season. Plus things can only get better once that other german arrives.
Re: Re: Beau Dure of USA Today makes his WUSA predictions But who do you pick to win the FC? That *was* a regular season prediction, right? Unless you're picking Atlanta-Philly and San Jose-Carolina as your semifinals, and a Philly-Carolina final? Paul
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Beau Dure of USA Today makes his WUSA predictions Uh...you ain't got Bai and Steffi from the "get go"
That wasn't very subtle. What chat? Well, I would ask if the WUSA would be interested with an expansion team in Texas instead of LA. CA has 2 teams already...Oooor they can move the Cyberrays to LA!!Yes!!
WUSA preseason and pregame reviews up on http://www.cybersoccernews.com/index.shtml under the various team links.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Beau Dure of USA Today makes his WUSA predictions Steffi si, Bai no. But we lose Bai before the end of the season.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Beau Dure of USA Today makes his WUSA predictions Bai isn't expected to miss to many games and she has already spent the full pre-season with the team. So the chemistry is there.