who hurt you dude? I’ll come off it, when you get a clue. These players are COACH KILLERS! I bet you’re the same guy who cries/whines at work about everything, and blames his boss because he can’t get a promotion.
In fairness- experience has been useful in the tournament. I guess with Covid and the associated travel restrictions it would have been difficult setting up a more challenging match schedule ahead of the games to try and get the team in better shape.
Let's go with your premise for a minute. "These players are coach killers" So why are they on the roster? Why doesn't the coach get rid of them? Are we saying Vlatko doesn't have the final say over the roster? Then that's the problem and the first step in solving a problem is defining it. The US has played as many preparatory games as just about anyone else and the NWSL is on a full schedule again this year. Other teams, too, are showing some signs of fatigue from the demanding schedule, but the other remaining teams haven't looked this depleted.
YIKES, on paper, Emma should of had the way stronger squad than Barcelona, but ended up loosing. 4-0 in the CL final. I mean, that score line would of gotten an USWNT coach fired(as a certain Greg Ryan would agree). Chelsea gave a ton of money for Emma of which she was able to buy at least 2 of the 3 top ranked players(Kerr & Harder) in the world as well as impressive list of others, yet still MU led the league more than half way through till they got hit with an ton of injuries(Heath, Galton, Russo). She was strictly in using the same old starting lineup over & over ala Vlatko & Wiegman). Thus seeing chances decline for the once promising Blundell, Spence, Carter & Beth England of making the GB/ENG NT as they sat mainly on the bench(along with Jesse Fleming) during most of the season, so could add career killer under resume as well interesting that the Barca coach resigned(he did get really good chemistry from his team), but I’m not sure if it’s cuz he did something inappropriate or just got picked up by an higher paying men’s coaching job( which is an problem right now for woso(
Ugh, thanks for reminding me about MU's sad freefall. I really thought they will have a Cinderella story, but alas! Hayes and Taylor are basically the same mediocre coaches who are just riding on the coattails of all these great players that their clubs are able to buy. But you know what happens when you go up against another team with great players but with a good coach, you get Barca making both of them look like Sunday league clubs.
Does anyone have evidence of what specific directions the USSF gave to Vlatko when they hired him? Does anyone have evidence of what specific instructions the USSF gave to him about who should or should not be on the roster? I am asking these questions seriously. I am not interested in opinions, beliefs, or conjecture. I am asking for evidence: the specific documents, statements made by those actually involved in the hiring process, etc. I am not asking what you think the directions and instructions should have been. I am asking about what they actually were. Unless we know the actual facts, everything here is ....
hope you can magnify this, last year Chelsea woso club spend 5.6 million pounds in wages & other expenses while loosing nearly 1.9 mill. MU actually made 82K profit
It's reasonable to be skeptical of our own criticisms and to distinguish what is speculative vs what is supported by hard evidence. Nevertheless, I've responded to this type of comment on other threads. What do we expect? The Pentagon Papers? (Sorry to all you kids, which is most of you now, who might not remember what that was all about) Is there a reasonable time to QUESTION AUTHORITY when we don't have all the information, when it is AUTHORITY ITSELF WHICH CONTROLS THE INFORMATION? This is one of those things which goes beyond soccer, beyond sports, but is a lesson in things which affect us as citizens. There is a problem when institutions are less than forthcoming, when there is acute lack of transparency. I think you used the great word, opacity, not long ago, though in a context I can't quite remember at the moment/. The problem is the firing of Tom Sermanni, for instance, and the mystery surrounding it, a mystery that the Federation created by not explaining in any convincing way Was losing at Algarve a big factor or not? Was bringing in too many new players a big factor or not? Who was bothered by it? We're asked to trust and it's reasonable that some things are a matter of trust. But trust can be lost and when it is, the blame doesn't automatically lie with those who no longer do the trusting. Hell, even the recent Hall of Fame voting which has snubbed HOPE SOLO should make us suspicious. Is this an organization, is this a culture, which simply demands and expects too much conformity for its own good? Look, I know Megan Rapinoe is a sensitive subject for a lot of people and she has been a truly great player for the US. But so was Abby Wambach. Until she wasn't. We can all see with our own eyes how Rapinoe rarely has the energy for 90 minutes a team needs from a player on the pitch. Often she lacks it for 45 or 60. If the coach — and the Federation supposedly behind him — can't be forthright about what most people can see with their own eyes, whyfore then should they trust them on the things the Federation won't let them see? Jonathan Tannenwald of the Philadelphia Inquirer, who I really like as a sportswriter, made it worse with his recent article which claimed Vlatko was hired, a) to win Olympic gold, and b) to transition to a new generation of players. Well, where was the evidence, the memos, the quotes-on-the-record, the affidavits? Where was the proof? Vlatko and the Federation want us to accept things without evidence, without proof, just on their say-so. And their defenders think it's okay and the burden of proof should be entirely on us who have no access to their internal communications. "The Party told you to ignore the evidence of your own eyes and ears. It was their final and most essential command" — George Orwell "1984"
kolabear, I agree with your most recent post. On the other hand, when a poster says "He was hired to do this" and then goes to a conclusion as to what should happen as a result of what happened, it is fair to ask if the poster really knows what he was hired to do or simply is offering an opinion. I do not give the poster demerits if he or she only is offering an opinion, but I do put the poster in the "not necessarily credible" column for stating his or her opinion as fact. I think, as your post suggests, that we do not know exactly the goals the USSF assigned to Vlatko, any specific instructions it gave him, and any constraints it gave him. In fact, there are a whole lot of facts we do not know. Given that, I think good posters take care to recognize that. I know that some posters respond to this by saying that everything posted here is just an opinion and should be understood that way even if not explicitly expressed as an opinion, but I do not think that is true. Some things posted are facts and some are opinions and I think truly good posts distinguish between the two. I most certainly am not saying posters are to blame for not knowing the facts. If the USSF has kept things confidential, it is on them when we do not know the facts.
Lieke Martens and Caroline Graham Hansen, who also had impactful performances in the semifinal 2nd leg, against out of position, inexperienced fullbacks? Not sure how good of a coach was exactly needed for Barcelona that day. Throw in the nature of that 1st minute OG, a debatable PK for the 2nd goal, and Harder not having a good finishing day, and it was simply a 1st half for Chelsea where nothing went right.
Off topic here, but I guess as soon as you had a second view on it, it basically stopped feeling so "debatable".
I was fine with the call, but I recall it being debatable on repeat viewings as well. My memory is that Hermoso kind of initiated the contact and went down looking for a call, but maybe I'm wrong. Of course, we can just disagree.
One thing I think that's worth commending: Rapinoe absolutely refused to let anyone throw Vlatko under the bus. Took responsibility as players.— Beau Dure 🇺🇦🌈🖖☮️ (@duresport) August 5, 2021 Good for you Rapinoe!
Maybe Orange Man can be the next coach. He seems to know what the team needs in order to win: "They should replace the wokesters with Patriots and start winning again" https://www.businessinsider.com/tru...mpic-soccer-team-after-they-win-bronze-2021-8
Coach killers? Or maybe some coach are not national team material.! Vlatkl isnt national team material.
Its funnt that the best game this team played all tournament was when they said screw it when it came to vlatkos plans.
I have mixed feelings on Vlat's coaching. However, he let his team get out of control with all their woke protests. It shows he id not in control of them, they control him. Wasn't it Ellis that lost Rapinoe's number for awhile after she first started kneeling? I am willing to give Vlat some more time IF he starts a next serious generation movement and gets the protesting stopped.. If that means weeding out the cancers that have started it... so be it. We have enough time and cannot go to the next WC with this team
You think it was Rapinoe and kneeling that was the issue? LOL They might want to look places like poor first touch and lacking the fitness to execute the press that got them the WC title. Dawn Scott, their fitness coach for about 10 years until after the 2019 cup went back to England amd now coaches in their system. I’m not convinced they have an adequate replacement.
Dawn Scott actually just resigned from the FA. In a statement it seems that she'll be working on some projects with FIFA now. I'd love to see Dawn Scott back with the USWNT, but I'm sure she's moved on.
Yeh, that protesting wrecked the USWNT in the 2019 World Cup. That's why the U.S. was eliminated by Monaco in the group stage. Plus Megan Rapinoe played horribly that year. Wait, did I get that wrong?
Rapinoe's kneeling is now practiced by a lot of players on a lot of women's teams. However, it almost cost Rapinoe her career. She knelt first on September 15, 2016 -- and she played little and didn't start another match until July 27, 2017. The official word was that she was injured -- but actually Jill Ellis and the soccer federation was trying to get rid of her. That's my opinion, backed up by comments in Rapinoe's book. But, she rose from the dead. Ellis and the federation decided they had to have Rapinoe on the field and she came back better than ever. The rest is history. Speaking of history, if you want to make it, you have to have the courage of your convictions. Rapinoe had it. Most people don't.
it is worth noting that Rapinoe is taking a lot of backlash lately, not only from Republicans on place like facebook & twitter, but here as well as from Subway owners Megan Rapinoe's Post-Olympic Woes Continue as Subway Franchises Want Her Dropped so wonder if the USSF is well going to scapegoat her in order to safe the butt of the real problem for US failure to win gold; Vatko? on the other hand USSF been always about marketability,. so wonder if Rapinoe will even part of usual fall tour(probable either named 'the Farewell' or 'Bronze is the New Gold' tour) or even get an send off game in her honor? usually close watchers of the USWNT tend to be Democrats / liberals, but fringe watchers, soccer mom & dads who will whine & whine on how their taxes got to go to help the disadvantage wjile not minding to pay the exorbinent select/travel club costs for their kids, tend to be Republicans.....and a lot of these fringe fans make up those that attend USWNT tours vs the tomato cans of the world. So will be intersting how this transpires....
I think that any attempt by USSF to exclude Rapinoe from the "we got a medal tour" would be greeted by a boycott of fans (including me) and other players. In the words of Reggie Jackson, Rapinoe "puts fannies in the seats." Alex Morgan used to be the player all the young girls dragged their parents to see, but it's now Rapinoe. I think Rapinoe and Lloyd have the power to decide how and when they will retire -- although I expect it to be soon for both. Moreover, we haven't found (and haven't looked much) for an adequate replacement for either of them.
Plenty of blame to go around, but I think Rapinoe was more correct in this assessment. Players played awful to their standard of play.