While we breathlessly await the quarterfinals, this is also a chance to quickly reflect on some of the superb players who, unfortunately, will not have a chance to shine in the knockout stage. Hopefully, we can look forward to seeing them at a high level of competition soon - the Olympics in 2008, the Euros in 2009, the UEFA Women's Cup, maybe a new women's league in the US in 2009. My nominee for Best Performance in a Losing Cause (Group Stage) is... Canada's Erin McLeod. MVP-level goalkeeping, especially in the games against Norway and Australia.
One of the commentators on ESPN (Tony diCicco I think) said that Canada planned on platooning the goalkeeper job. But during the first game against Norway, he added that McLeod's play was so good that she was making a case for starting every game, which of course is what happened. The position's been unsettled for a while and maybe someone who follows Canada more closely can tell us why. Karina LeBlanc was mentioned as the #1 back before the last World Cup but I remember Taryn Swiatek stepping up in a big way in that tournament. McLeod had the rough game against the USA early this year but I thought she might be their best bet in goal. She was a great goalie for Penn State and I bet some people here remember that incredible semifinal with Portland that went to penalty kicks (who had Cori Alexander in goal) a couple years back when Portland went on to win the NCAA championship. So she seems used to pressure situations.
Karina started for Canada in 2003 and didn't look sharp in the 4-1 loss to Germany. Pellerud went with Swiatek for the remainder of the tournament. Fast forward to 2007 and Karina has been out due to injury for quite some time and has just recently been fit enough to play. Pellerud likely went with the keeper that looked best in practice - McLeod.
Thanks, CAFAN, for the info. Too bad about LeBlanc. So it is two World Cups where she was the presumptive #1 GK for Canada. Now it doesn't look like it will ever be her time to shine on the world stage. Sinclair, however, continues to impress and is, I think, the other Canadian candidate for Best Performance in a Losing Cause. (Why was it that she was playing so far back in the midfield against Australia? Makes less sense than England having Kelly Smith there)
Miho Fukumoto. Isn't it terrible that we don't know the names of most of the players from Asia? I had to look it up just now on fifa. I didn't see Germany/Japan. So she played well there and in the other games she was one of 3 goalkeepers that didn't let a ball bounce over their heads?!! Again, as with Erin McLeod, it's not a good sign when your standout player is your goalie, but I suppose that's often the case in losing causes. Meanwhile, we didn't seem to hear much about Homare Sawa. I'm sorry to say, she never seems to do much in world Cup or Olympic games. If I wanted to get more responses to a thread, I suppose I should ask instead, Who were the biggest flops in the tournament? Although for the most part, I think the most highly regarded stars have, on the whole, come through. Still I shudder to think what name might pop up if I start that thread, so I'm not about to... Oh wait, the Swedes didn't do all that much either this time around... (ouch!)
Yes, I though it was quite a good game-- I recommend it if you've recorded it and are just waiting for the free time to play catch-up (as I am doing all the time...). Fukumoto had a number of really nice saves that kept Japan in the game (at least theoretically, as they never really threatened Germany too much). Sawa is one of my favorites, and she had a pretty good tournament in '03, but you're right, she was quiet this time around. Anyway, Japan had a lot of possession, and did demonstrate that one can handle Germany with lots of small accurate passes. If some team can just combine more upper body strength with that nice possession game, they might have a good shot against Germany... Please don't start a "Biggest Flops" thread, as Sweden will most certainly figure prominently in it! And anyway, I think you're right that for the most part the big names have done all right for themselves. Too bad though, for the game's sake, that Kelly Smith couldn't manage a bit more against the US. I am biased, of course, but I'm not the only one to note this fact: Nigeria has come a long long way since 1999 and 2003. "Group of Death" isn't a strong enough phrase for that group.
Oh, I dunno. Sweden may get off fairly easy in a Biggest Flops thread. Most of their biggest names are either retired or injured (Mostroem, Jonsson, Ljungberg even). Only leaves Svensson and everyone knows the rest of the team is patched together. Nigeria? I'm too lazy to look it up right now but someone here made the great observation that Nigeria was the only 4th place team to get any points in the standing, and that they only relinquished 4 goals in the tournament compared to 9, 15 and 18 (!) for the other cellar-dwellers - New Zealand, Ghana, and Argentina.