News & Media II: Articles, photos, videos, etc.

If it wasn't clear and without going too far down a rabbit trail that would need to be moved to the PCE forum (admittedly I was the one who started down the path), I'll just say that my initial reaction was primarily a misunderstanding of the council and the appointment (I'd never previously heard of the council.). That misunderstanding led me to think the appointment was odd, which led me to a secondary misunderstanding of who POTUS was referring to.

I corrected my initial misunderstanding, and realized it wasn't odd but a big honor for Lloyd, regardless of who's doing the appointing...so like I said, big congrats to her.

 

Donald Trump and Mallory Pugh would be a nice combination to see working together in the white house.
It would be good to see more members of the USWNT get this type of exposure.

 

Short article on Brianna Pinto, the 16-year-old who was just in camp with the senior team: http://www.socceramerica.com/articl...nna-pinto-called-into-us-n.html?edition=16712

 

FFT feature article on ARod's second comeback from pregnancy: http://www.fourfourtwo.com/us/featu...d-returns-pregnancy-uswnt-forward-battle-nwsl

 

Hashtag #deja vu

 

Carli Lloyd on Men in Blazers: https://soundcloud.com/meninblazers/men-in-blazers-012617-carli-lloyd-pod-special

 

Looks like the #USWNT will have a friendly before the #NWSL season starts. And it’s not just the SheBelieves Cup. https://t.co/hB8YevkxP5 pic.twitter.com/l4P1Kc4fLe

— Backline Soccer (@BacklineSoccer) February 8, 2017

 

The leaked red kit is now official:

You up? We've got something for you! 😉

Introducing our newest kit ➡️ U.S. Soccer dressed #RedToToe.

Specs: https://t.co/ubGXLBa23E. pic.twitter.com/slSp5vwZs7

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) February 15, 2017

 

Two positives about the new red kit.
1) It is a national color of the United States - unlike, you know, black.
2) Solid color socks, no more faded out ones.

 

Funny you say that, cause is has, you know, black stripes on it. The 2016 England away kit looks more 'Murican cause it has blue stripes:


Oh, and remember that whole, 1 nation 1 team thing and how the men and women are supposed to have the same kits... well apparently the men are getting their own special Gold Cup kits:

Meh, the new #USMNT uniforms are innocuous. But the “special edition” 2017 Gold Cup uniforms will be remembered. Wait until you see them. https://t.co/bdAWX5v3Bv

— Alexi Lalas (@AlexiLalas) February 15, 2017

(though I guess the women got their own "special" kit for the 2015 WWC...)

 

Yeah, that 2015 WWC kit was real special.

It still upsets me that the USWNT, upon winning their first World Cup in sixteen years and the third in the history of the U.S. on either side of the game, was forced to wear on the winner's podium the least patriotic kit of all time, a kit without a speck of red or blue. Just Nike brand colors: white, black, and highlighter green-yellow. Even simply including a full-color crest would have satisfied me. But no, Nike thought it was better to let arguably the most important part of the kit blend in [as it did in the 2014 firecracker popsicle kit] and have the socks "pop" instead.

In this new red kit once again the full-color crest is absent. Also completely absent are blue and technically even white [in favor of silver]. Almost everyone seemed to hate the black kits since using black as the predominant color seemed somewhat disrespectful to the American flag. But to be fair, that kit did include all of the flag's colors as well. This one does not, clings to traces of black as well as the Nike's atrocious signature pinstripe sleeves, and in no way looks distinctly American. Rather than paying tribute to the flag, it's just another gimmick, slapped on a Nike template for the sake of a catchy hashtag.

39 completely different kits for the 39 national teams that Nike apparently sponsors might be a tall order, but it would be nice to see a little more creativity and variety, at least for Nike's host nation.

 

Well, at least the USWNT gets to wear the new kit first for a change.

...

It's something.

 

So special that the men never wanted to wear it!

Yeah, it's understandable that they have to re-use templates when they've got so many team, but when they're using the same template for nearly every team they sponsor (and all the ones in the top 50 of FIFA's rankings), that's just lazy. I will say that they did a fairly good job disguising that Turkey used the same template, though.

Fairly certain that's because the men are getting that special kit for the Gold Cup, otherwise they would've waited until after the men wore it to let the women wear it.

 

NEWS: Texas, we're coming your way!

The #USWNT will play two April friendlies vs. Russia in Frisco & Houston: https://t.co/tjh3yM2DQ8. pic.twitter.com/PMAxtbtQ3a

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) February 17, 2017

 

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't Texas been a poor showing recently in ticket sales for USWNT?

 

IIRC, they had the CONCACAF qualifying tournament (?) last year - pretty much in its entirety - and attendance was abysmal (which is why those tweets that went out sometime late in the year explicitly left out competitive match attendance in trying to draw some sort of favorable comparison with the USMNT). Like, super-terrible.

Granted, Texas can be pretty crappy this time of year, but consider that in contrast with more than half of the rest of the country in February.

 

Yes! First thing that crossed my mind, & it's frustrating that they are getting rewarded with another game so quickly on the heels of their last. They're are half a dozen stadiums around the country that have not only not had a game in a while, but have never had a game. Heck when's the last time PDX has had a game?

 

I believe USSF has a financial stake in Toyota Stadium so they seem to do well in the rotation.

 

Last time they played in Portland was November 28, 2012. But my guess is after that big stink the USWNT made about playing on artificial turf, we won't be seeing another game in Portland (or Seattle for that matter) for a long time.

 

Toyota Stadium is owned by the city of Frisco. They have had 4 games in the past 5 years (plus a few days).

1. Feb 11, 2012 - 20,677 - sellout
2. Jan 23, 2014 - 20,862 - sellout
3. Feb 10, 2016 - 8,134
4. Feb 15, 2016 - 15,032

I think based on those first two numbers, you can see why they decided to host the games in 2016. Unfortunately that seemed to split the attendance, rather than having 2 sellouts.

 

The recent USMNT friendly against Jamaica was on turf, as an aside.

 

But yet none of them would have any qualms about playing for the Thorns on the artificial turf every other weekend.

 

Yeah, a lot of people said that was so USSF could say, "See, the men have to play on turf too."

Yep, Portland has the best artificial surface in the country. It's just the USSF wants to avoid any bad press at the moment (especially with them trying to get the new CBA done).

 

Uh huh. It's because it was a Camp Cupcake friendly, and laying grass over the field in Chattenooga was probably a logistical nightmare to even consider.

A lot of people don't really think much.

 

Well, that is part of the reason for the jaded response.