There have been comments to such buried in other threads but let's put them in it's own thread (or revisit an old one?) So...doesn't this make two tournaments in a row where the WNT squeezed into the finals/championship with 1 win and 2 draws or some other unexciting group play record? That's not very convincing. There has been some good individual performances - Wagner wearing her number proudly, etc but..... Is the competition better or what? I'm leaning towards "or what".
Now we are going to complain when we win one tournament, and make it to the finals in another, just because we didn't cruise through the tournament? Is anyone ever going to be happy? Listen, the days of completely dominating teams are over. The world has improved. I know people are going to complain about Ape's subbing, but, did anybody actually see the games from this tournament or the last. We really don't have a clue as to how the play went. Matchtracker and articles are great, but hardly give us a true representation of the play. Can't we just be happy the US is winning. I am. Jay
Nope. We never will be. I would definately hate to be the next coach of the USWNT. You think we scrutinize Heinrichs now....just wait till the new meat arrives. He/she will crumble under the pressure of the BigSoccer intelligentsia. And God forbid we host a future WWC. The criticism whether warranted or not will be massively intense. "April didn't choose my fave player to come into training camp." No but apparently some did...I just don't know how when they are sitting in front of some computer in Podunk, Indiana. We tend to come up with some wildass assumpitions based on MatchTracker. We live in some USWNT fantasy world where there are dancing fairies passing out orange slices. No we really don't but we feel better about ourselves if we pretend we were there on the bench watching everything. No we can't do that either. Us women's posters are a very pessimisstic bunch and we always need to find wrong in every nook and crannie out there.
Complaining ?? OK then, what are your thoughts on why the USWNT isn't so dominating then? Were they ever really dominate???? I just think their play in the past was a little more convincing. They seem to be a bit like Arsenal, great at times but not able to "put it away".
Since we won the tittle, we've never sent our strongest team to Algarve Cup until this one, thats the reason we always lose.
They seemed to be pretty convincing today. But an Arsenal type let-down next time???? Matchtracker...what a wonderful addition to the office!
I love the part where you use the phrase "big soccer intelligentsia". I was overcome with laughter everytime I tried to type it - I had to stop and come back, I found that so amusing. Because we all know, April is in Portugal, at halftime, thinking, " I wonder who I should sub - I better get online an see what BigSoccer thinks. DINO - get me a laptop!"
This tournament doesn't mean anything. The WC and Olympics are the only tournaments that matter. We used to be a virtual soccer machine. Game films could be used to teach young kids how the game should be played. We still win but usually we win ugly. The game now is not a joy to watch and I would never show current videos to anyone. That's what's wrong and it's all happened under April.