player of the year

This is a well deserved!!
She’s the engine room.

 

YES! I'm pleasantly surprised; its totally deserved recognition for one of the most crucial players on the team this year.

 

I would go a bit further. I think she was the most important player. She provide both offensive and defensive support and also linked the two together. Her playing in the center allowed defenders on the outside to slightly overplay the attackers knowing the center would be covered. This was accomplished both by her individual defending and by the fact that when needed she could drop back (when she was playing in the center midfield) to cover for the central defense allowing those defenders move to support the outside and by directly providing support for the defenders herself. Of all the defenders Dunn benefited the most from Ertz's play. Ertz's play made, in my opinion, Dunn able to really shine and be the best defender in the tournament.

She also was able to control and distribute the ball even when defenders were forced to make poor passes to relieve pressure. It is said that you cannot give a great player a bad pass and she made many/most bad passes look quite good.

To top that off she relieved the main attackers, particularly the central ones, freedom from having to be over concerned about their defensive responsibilities during attack thereby allowing their creativity to be displayed much more than it would otherwise have been.

While she did not directly contribute many goals or assists she provided so great support that she was important to most of the goals the US scored.

I think she was really the MVP of the WWC and it is unfortunate that the people that pick things like MVP overlook the kind of play that she provides. It seems that the goalscorers almost always win accolades while the great support players, like Ertz, get overlooked.

The POY award is the least she deserves.

 

Brianna Pinto named USSF's Young Female Player of the Year: https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...ale-young-female-and-player-with-a-disability

 

When they make the announcements like these and if the are going to qualify them with phrases like "With a Disability" they really should say what the "Disability" is and what criteria is for determining what constitutes a "Disability."

I have seen all the players that received these award play several times this year and I never saw any evidence of any disability exhibited in their play.

I do not really care if they have a disability but if the USSF is going to qualify their awards they really need to state what the qualification entails. Also I wonder who are the Young players of the year without a disability.

To be clear I detest labels like that. I have a good friend that lost an eye in Afghanistan he can out shoot me with every weapon I own from bows to pistols to riffles and he beats me at darts quite consistently. If you called his loss of an eye a disability he would become quite angry.

 

There are three awards in that article: Young Male Player of the Year, Young Female Player of the Year, and Player of the Year with a Disability (meaning plays on the Para 7-a-side NT). It helps to read the full article although that article headline is an argument for the Oxford comma.

And in this case, to qualify for playing on the Para 7-a-side NT, also known as CP Football (CP meaning celebral palsy), you have to be male, ambulant, and have had a neurological condition, such as stroke, have cerebral palsy, or have had a traumatic/acquired brain injury. More on Para/CP Football is here: https://www.ifcpf.com/what-is-cp-football

 

The Sporting News selected Carli as their women's soccer athlete of the decade.

The game of women’s soccer took a huge leap forward in the 2010s — and while there were many extraordinary players accelerating that growth, no one stood above the crowd more than @CarliLloyd.

The @USWNT hero is our women's soccer Athlete of the Decade. https://t.co/ADqhP4tY2F

— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) December 17, 2019