Agree here, it you looked closely it was her head slamming into the concrete, err, turf that knocked her out, not the contact.
I agree also, but it was strange. Watching the game again, Zerboni went down like she was dead, didn't move for a minute or two, and then hopped up as lively as can be. Was she faking -- hoping to get a foul call on Long? Adriana is impressive. She gets my vote as the best Flash player in the game. About minute 88 she was taken down in the box. That could have been a card -- and a PK for New York.
Watching in HD, her face looked totally dead for a few seconds. Then she rose from the dead, and I thought that might give WNY an emotional advantage. But seriously, players have died before on the pitch ....
When I was in high school I was sitting on a low wall (maybe 3 or 4 feet high), and my friend pushed me over. I fell back and my head hit the pavement. I then bounced back up and punched him. Except I hadn't really... My other friend told me that I had lain there motionless for a minute or two and everyone had started freaking out. Anyway, point is she didn't have to be faking it to have hopped back up like that.
Here's what I want to see. Find some billionaire who would spring for airfare to let the current NWSL champion and UEFA Champions League winner play at each others home pitch in alternate turns. They flip a coin to see which league gets to host the first year. Say if EUFA wins the toss then the Thorns would fly to Wolfsburg (er..well probably Frankfurt, then take a train). Next year the UCL winner would have to fly the NWSL home pitch and have the showdown here or vise verse to Portland if NWSL wins the first coin toss. I don't want to hear about using a neutral stadium like the men's game. The current inter-continental club match between the South American champion and the UEFA champion held in Tokyo is a total DUD... Zero atmosphere and NO passion by clueless casual Japanese spectators.... unwatchable IMHO. In fact the alternating sites between Europe and South American grounds used to be the set up back in the day. Only after rival supporters started big fights that FIFA decided to go neutral grounds. But come on!.. this is womens football, you're not going to see unemployed Lyon youth hooligan Ultras having street brawls and punch-ups with visiting Rose City Riveter fan groups. I just think it would be so awesome to see these European super teams invade Jeld Wen Field to see who gets global bragging rights.
A few years back, the WPS champion, Sky blue fc went to Europe to play some European champs. Not many people , in the US and Europe knew about it nor cared. So i doubt u can find a billionaire to fund these matches.
If they were to play a Portland vs Lyon challenge series (home & home) I think they fill both stadiums. I picked Lyon instead of Wolfsberg because of Rapinoe. It would likely have to happen in the Spring when both squads r in form. All u need is a sponsor on each side to throw in prize money to get their name attached.
1. Sky Blue has a very small fan base to begin with 2. They went to go play in Turkey, IIRC. Not France. Not Germany. I don't think any of the four teams were from countries with any noticeable women's football fanbase. It's a joke to compare that tournament to a home-and-home of Portalnd-vs-(insert-big-name-European-team-here)
It was the preseason in 2011. SB won in '09. My memory is that there was a comment by SB management that it was cheaper than spending the preseason in Florida as in the previous years. Sky Blue FC Headed to Turkey for Preseason http://www.skybluefc.com/News/Archive/634297.html Somerset, N.J. (Tuesday, January 18, 2011) – A major development has been finalized between Sky Blue FC of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) related to its affiliation agreement with Damallsvenskan side LdB FC Malmö, with the club announcing on Tuesday that it will spend nine days of the preseason in Turkey. In addition to LdB FC Malmö, Sky Blue FC will be joining Russian side FK Energiya and Danish club Fortuna Hjørring for a four team tournament that will commence while the team is on location. “Whenever planning a preseason, it is good for team building to get away for a week to 10 days,” Sky Blue FC head coach Jim Gabarra stated. “Traditionally, teams travel down to Florida and play college teams or other WPS teams. However, we were presented with this really unique and exciting opportunity to go to Turkey and play in a tournament against champions from other countries. We are looking forward to the challenge of playing these teams, as well as the great experiences we will share as a team.”...
Ur not talking about a lot of money...Maybe beIN Sport would sponsor the thing. They r a big Lyon sponsor I believe and have interests in the North America as well. The teams make their money from the gate. What does a sellout at Jeld-wen make the team after expenses at $20 a head? All u need to do is is come up with bonus money for members of the winning team in each game. Considering the amount of money big companies spend on advertising, this is just small change.
I am a bit surprised that no one has mentioned the LACK of attention (medical/trainer) that Zerboni got after bouncing her head on concrete. Isn't the NFL in a proposed $765 million dollar, class-action law suit? 4500 ex players coming forward with ongoing, long term effects from misdiagnosed and/or under assessed concussion symptoms. This is absolutely ridiculous. She was knocked out!! It is inexcusable to put her back on the pitch less than 2 min later. I wasn't at the game, but never saw a concussion or impact test done by training staff. If womens' sports want the same respect and accreditation as male sports they need to start approaching injuries/treatments with the proper assessment.
Did you guys see this video of the huge crowd of Portland Thorns fans greeting their Champions as they arrive at PDX airport: http://www.portlandtimbers.com/vide...pion-thorns-fc-return-pdx-airport-fan-welcome This is professionals soccer and this is how it should be. Well done Portland, well done! You deserve this.
That was just the airport greeting. The real celebration is at noon at Pioneer Square (the main square downtown) on Wednesday. Kids will probably get a long noon break from school. When the Pilots won the NCAA's in 2005 several thousand showed up and politicians made all sorts of promises about future support for soccer and a stadium upgrade for an MLS team (which they kept). After, the team signed autographs for about an hour and a half. one of those politicians was Charlie Hales, then councilman Hales and now Hizzonor da Maer. he rode into the job partly on his support for soccer. I expect you will see something similar.
To anyone that missed the NWSL Playoff (semifinal) matches. I found these links: Portland vs. FCKC: 1st Half Download 2nd Half Download Sky Blue vs. WNY: 1st Half Download 2nd Half Download
Wow, that was a nice strike. On live TV I thought she struck the ball thru the hole in the wall left by Sinclair but she actually hit it to the left of wall and curved it in . Very nice.
I think I did see Zerboni hit the turf with the back of her head. However, if she showed any signs of losing consciousness or being woozy, the trainers would have taken her off. ESPECIALLY after the Wambach ball to head shot early in the season, when none of the head injury protocols were followed, and should have been. Why Zerboni laid there so still after hitting the turf, only she knows. I believe she was a)dealing with the pain, b) collecting herself, and c) hoping for a card. IMO Long is directly descended from Bill Laimbeer of the CHI Bulls - she is a hatchet. On the other hand, if I did not think Lloyd was basically incompetent at tackling, I would put her in the same category.
If you want to characterize people, I have never seen anybody initiate as much contact as Abby does, flop so much, and get so many calls.
I don't think one game would be able to cover the costs of a trip. But due to the marquee names, Morgan & Sinclair, the Portland Thorns would draw large crowds if they did tour Europe, especially in Lyon, Frankfurt & Wolfsburg. Of course to remain competitive, they would of had to play it this coming month. The international tourney in Japan is called the Mobcast Cup which would in November. The NWSL has all ready declined to participate. Most probably due to that a lot of the NWSL players have all ready signed contracts to play part time with European teams. I agree, last year's even was a dud. It involved two Japanese teams(but most of the best players from that country are playing in Europe, one team from the isolated league in Australia, and of course Lyon, who won it.
Dunno if this has been covered all ready but; do you think the Thorns were a better team after Morgan got injured??? For me, I would say yes, because their attack was so obvious, to get long balls to Morgan and let her go 1v1 . Other teams were figuring that out and crunched on Morgan. But the 4 games after the injury, no one new for sure where the Thorns attack was going to come. They kept an sharp eye on Sinclair, but her dummy moves left her team mates open. At least two of the goals against KC were scored that way. Also Morgan's injury left the Thorns midfielders to take more shots.
Actually there hasn't been any statement as to why an NWSL club was not included in this year's Mobcast Cup. Just sayin'. Also, your statements about the teams are off-base. Most of Japan's players - including most of their best, i.e. Sawa, Miyama, Kaihori, etc. - play their club game in Japan. (Even Ohno, Nagasoto, and Tanaka, all currently in Europe, were with INAC or Beleza at the time.) Japan put a big effort to keeping their players in Japan before the 2011 WWC and 2012 Olympics, which is why most of the team is still based there, and even more so a year ago. And it's quite flippant to say "of course" Lyon won. INAC is stacked and played better than Lyon for most of their match, and even Beleza played up to Lyon's game in the second half of their match.
Good point. Even in the finals, with Alex playing, they kept to the system when Alex was out. I don't think the earlier problems were Alex being on the field, they were that the coaching staff had implemented the wrong scheme. This was Parlow's fault. But, when Alex went out they implemented a new scheme that worked much better. This was to Parlow's credit. And, when Alex went in, they seemed to keep to the new scheme, also to Parlow's credit. I have been wondering, over the last four games, whether Sinclair started weighing in strongly with Parlow. Kerr started playing a lot more, and for those who don't know Kerr and Sinclair played together at U of P. Watching them together for the Thorns, they were linking up a lot. While I'm mentioning Sinclair, I think she was one of the best players in the league over the course of the season, especially given the jobs Parlow assigned her. Over the last games, I'd say she was the best player. Much of what she did for the Thorns went unrecognized.
Sorry, Sinclair was the lone-striker which she is pretty much her role in Canada. Tancredi is ok but she isn't top international at any level. You put Sinclair in a familiar sport vs roaming the mid-field and Portland took off. Sinclair is more flexible than Morgan. Injure Sinclair and move Morgan up top in the same formation and you still have some of the same problems. I doubt Portland gets to the championship. The last goal was just icing on the cake, because Lines moved Estelle out of the sweeper spot, trying to go forward, which opened up a lane for Sinclair given Estelle was pushed further left. It's more like a 1:0 game. Good strike by Heath, but need to see that stuff with the national team. As far as WNY, they were a victim of Wambach flopping and diving which completely stagnated the offense last night, followed by Lloyd going cold as ice. Hope she gets it out her mind that's she's an attacking mid-field. I know she wasnt the limelight but she is better backing up Boxx as a bruising mid=fielder. Lines got a lot of mileage out of what he had but his style is still more suited for a faster attack upfront.