I finally watched the US-Germany game last night. What a great result! Horan did not look like comfortable at all. In fact the way she was moving made me think she must have been carrying an injury. She got caught on the ball a couple of times losing possession and made a terrible back pass that nearly resulted in a German goal in the first 5 minutes. She did have a couple of nice long passes to spring the counter attack in the second half but I was really surprised she played the full 90 minutes. I hope she bounces back before the knockout round. Also, hoping that the injury to central defender Tierna Davidson is not serious.
U23 side got the job done. This team reminds me of the early 2000s team - play with joy and better than sum of parts. The senior squad could learn a thing or two. There’s a spirit and chip on their shoulder for this side that’s been missing for a bit imo. Welcome back American soccer. Can’t wait for Friday. Don Garber will be lighting a candle. EDIT: in particular loved watching Paredes, Tessman and Yow today. And great clean sheet from the veteran CBs.
Good day for the US Teams. Within 36 hours of each other, the women and men advance out of the group stage to the quarterfinals at the Olympics and the Men U-20 team quality for the U20 World Cup.
I had the exact same thoughts about the character of this team. Drive & grit & confidence like the US teams of old. Paredes and Yow - wow. Skill and attitude. Especially loved Yow’s soccer IQ and killer instinct.
A good win against a stubborn Guinea side. The US team looks good, balanced, and it's great that they finished second in pool play, and the shutout was sweet. Let's be honest, though, New Zealand and Guinea were overall weak opponents. Full credit though for great goals. Paredes looks ready for the senior team. His Wiki bio says he plays left back and left wing for his club, not right where he's playing in the Olympics. Anthony Robinson could use a backup.
As someone on social media put it, we’ve face planted against weak teams before. This team doesn’t care about style points. Just get the W.
I know this is going back, and not trying to pick on you specifically but so many of the arguments also miss the historical lessons. The USA Women at that point were where the USA Men during the 80's. Barely scraping by to the point they had to sign a contract directly with US Soccer in order to even earn a wage. Sure I wish Women's professional sports had more money, but unfortunately they just aren't as popular. And I can't agree with just "big pay increases" because overall finances has to come into play. Its getting better but this kind of thing just doesn't happen overnight. Insert Bill Burr's bit on this whole topic (but about the NBA/WNBA). His point (funnily said) was about how that WOMEN don't watch women's sports. "Meanwhile, the Kardashians, the Real Housewife shows are making money hand over fist" You want to watch this and not that, fine, -insert money shooting machine sound- drowning these -expletive- in money". "You would rather see a bunch of women tear each other down, then watch a group of women get together to achieve a common team success" Its getting better, and on that point I applaud. I would much rather girls see women's athletes as people to look up to than that influencer crap. And the more that happens the more the women's leagues and international tournaments can pass on that (advertiser) money. As much as this has been "controversial" Caitlin Clark has vastly increased the eyes watching the WNBA. That will only increase revenue, that will increase eyes watching TV, and the Advertiser dollars that follow, then the increase in TV Rights following the advertiser dollars. As much as they hate on her, Caitlin Clark alone may help the WNBA to finally become solvent (currently they are literally receiving funding from the NBA to exist). I agree to your point about the entertainers aspect, equal pay for equal work just doesn't work here because (at the time) I didn't see Alex Morgan trying to score on De Gea, or vice versa. Even Serena Williams said it (about Tennis but her arguments carry over to all sports) "The men's game is just different you can't really compare the two". My main agreement with ALL of the women, is how they are treated. Such as playing on grass vs turf fields, training facilities, travel accomodations and other problems. That point I absolutely agree with.
amen. That's what official tournaments are for, getting that dub. friendlies are for style points. Invite tournaments are a bit of both (such as Copa America) but its still a tournament. You still need that dub.
Bummed for the men. I don’t get it. Marko changed the attacking side with a midfield lineup change, saw the error, and then left him in. What? Subs too late, soft PK, then the wheels fell off. After such a great last two games where we scored 7….why change it??? Full credit to Morocco - they looked great.
the USMNT is now competing with El Tri for which federation has the biggest clowns running the circus. I know the issue is far deeper than a quick comment on a message board but this country has access to amazing talent and resources but is hindered by clowns trying to turn everything into a for profit scheme.
That game was tough to watch, we literally played the game scared. Morocco would get the ball and we would immediately back off. We would get the ball and timidly play forward. then in the 2nd half when we finally started moving forward, our guys would make boneheaded decisions, either doing the Riqui holding onto the ball too long and losing it, or making a pass directly into the path of a Moroccan player.
Ok, but there are different kinds of clowns. There are the manipulative, sneaky, devious clowns that know how to do things right but the personal greed is held far above any thoughts of the greater good so they manipulative the system, cut out pro/rel, make multiple yearly seasons, choose to import/buy talent rather spend/develop their own talent. Then there are the dopey, silly clowns that bump around and try to do stuff but aren't very good at it so they call in all their buddies and family in to help them out. Having said that, at the club level there seems to be people at many MLS franchises who know how to develop talent and/or do things right and other who are are constantly trying to improve on their system like here with Galaxy. They have made moves that tell me they are moving in the right direction and want to become a team that is more than fair at seeking, nurturing and polishing talent. I just dont know where the disconnect lies when it comes to things like this Olympic's bounce. Youth level national have always been a bit of a mistery to me. I am still perplexed that Mexico won this tournament no so long ago.
that was arguably the golden age of Mexican youth talent though, with both Hector Herrera and Gio dos Santos, Salcido and Raul Jimenez. surprised I don't see Carlos Vela on that roster, although his relationship with the FMF has always been complicated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics Also think about it this way, though. We did not call up the best players available, because many of them already ARE senior team players. Imagine if we had Gio Reyna, Yunus Musah. Johnny Cardoso, Joe Scally, Malik Tillman, Pepi, Lund(the players 22 or younger.) on this squad. this is the squad that AREN'T regular first teamers. Ordinarily you would have your first choice youth players in this squad, instead we have our 2nd choice youth players lol.. Now you could make an argument for some of the players not called in, such as Neal or Luna. But that would go back to the "clowns running the show' commentary.
First, Morrocco is a very good team. They were simply better than us. We lost the individual battles all over the field. All the clever 1v1 moves we were able to pull off vs previous victims didn't work vs M. They either matched or exceeded our skill and athleticism at almost every position. The bogus pk calls made things worse and weak gk’ing allowed the 4th goal. I wouldn’t be surprised if Morrocco wins it all. However facing France on their home field will be a tall task, if it comes to that.
I dont know about golden age. There are many players on the Mex list that didn't amount to much. Sometimes coaching, team chemistry, focus and pride come into play that lift a team beyond the sum of their parts. You also gotta remember that our so called golden generation has never done much in Olympic games up to now. It's not just these games and which players we could have brought in. I consider this a huge learning experience in that it is a failure overall. This team did not win a single game against a strong opponent. Good thing is their MLS clubs will get their players back now.
fair enough, and sometimes its a confluence of youth players you have vs youth players other nations have vs opponents you see, etc...
I think the FIFA-IOC conflict over soccer is part of the problem. FIFA probably can't find a way to line their pockets since the IOC is already doing it. However, IMO, the biggest problem is allowing clubs to withhold players, even though it effected teams besides the USA (e.g. France).
Ruben Ramos Jr again starting for the U20s Time to shine! 🤩Your #U20MYNT starting XI vs. 🇵🇦 pic.twitter.com/n744BvCYMj— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) August 2, 2024
I couldn't find the France-Argentina game in English anywhere, except for a replay of the last 17 minutes. Turns out I was saved watching an 80+ minute span of scoreless soccer. I guess I’ll call that a win.
A rematch against Germany. You think that they could have arranged the bracket so that teams from the same group don't play again until the final.
She definitely has wanderlust and often travels with a group of friends from college and our family, but after teaching english for a year in Korea, she is used to and not afraid of traveling on her own. It also helped her get her career started in international shipping. As you can tell. I am a proud father. And to top it off, she will watch and go to Galaxy games with me.