In many of your posts these last few months I thought you were way too critical. You just sounded cantankerous. But I may be changing my mind. Regarding the comment I've quoted above, does any new creative player come to mind? I learn better with concrete examples.
With the wealth of talent in the USA there seems to be lack of devolpment at the U-21 level. Thank our lucky stars the W-league serves as an opportunity for a great many players. With all the bemoaning over the demise of WUSA..... the W-league is getting a foothold in more than 8 Cities and 2 Countries (Canada-USA)
Re: Re: Re: the saddest day of my life 'cause i have to leave this board.... I third that. It's just a soccer message board. Let the kid talk.
Regarding the game v. Italy last week: This board is ragging on a team that was missing three important players...1. The best player in the world. Abby was double/triple teamed on all the set shots because Mia wasn't there to take them. Because Mia wasn't there Mac/Lil weren't able to be targets and they lost out on that. 2. Cat. She did the right thing and went back to school to get caught up from being away so long. She was missed big time. 3. Brandi. The defense was able to hold it together long enough without her, but was really exposed in the Germany game. 4. CP and her concussion. She really opens things up a lot. She continually surprises me with her footwork. Huge hole to fill. I don't know very many teams that could lose 4 of it's big time players and be as strong. And it's not like Italy is a push-over. They were better than a lot of the World Cup teams. Yes, the US looked rusty...and yes, they made a lot of stupid passes and had a lot of sloppy play. I just have confidence that they will rebound.
The U-21 team has won the nordic cup 5 year in a row http://www.ussoccer.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=40076&itype=113&iCategoryID=63 maybe they just aren't getting their chance because the players are deciding when they want to stop playing
Re: Re: Re: Re: the saddest day of my life 'cause i have to leave this board.... i've decided just to read them not posting anything, i've lost my confidence (i feel the stupidest person on earth ) but, i still have fun though...
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: the saddest day of my life 'cause i have to leave this board.... You shouldn't feel stupid. Bigsoccer can be a great way to learn more about the sport and kick around ideas with like minded people. I encourage you to keep posting. Just watch the matches with a more critical eye.
Some of the ones whose creative play has dropped are: Wagner - she no longer seems to even try the creative "wow" passes we saw when she first came into the mix. Wambach - She was showing flashes of real creative spark but she became, in just a few games after the WUSA season, simply a target for players to try to bounce a ball off of into goal. Parlow - See the Wambach comments. Hamm - She was making the best in the world look silly, at times, in the WUSA but April seemed unable to put her in a creative mode and keep her there. Then her reward for great play in two games was to sit out a game. This was done in spite the problems that she has shown in the past after being "rested" during a tournament. (Listen to Dicicco's coments during a vouple of games. He said he did that and regreted it and would never do it again.) Many, many of the current crop, both young and old, are making the easy, safe pass all the time and killing off many attacks before they start. I cannot think of the names of players that have shown a creative spark and then disappeared at this time but there have been a few. Actually there should be more but it seemed that April is VERY reluctant to call in creative talent. Just look at how much it took for Boxx to get even a bit of a chance. In fact just look at the games in the last WWC and then this one and you will see that no player that was in both was trying to be creative in the same way this time. In most situations the US, under April, either goes long or makes the safe pass. As April's regime continues there is a steady drop in creative play. Canada is using the direct game to get better we are using the same game to get worse.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: the saddest day of my life 'cause i have to leave this board.... LOL. Don't feel stupid. Just read over what you write, put a couple of secs of thought into what you have written and u'll be fine. Posting on Bigsoccer isn't rocket science..Some people just think it is..
TV rating for USA/Italy game I'm curious to find out the TV rating and or share and how many people watched the game on ESPN 2 last Wednesday? If someone could find out the information and post the link from which you got the info from that would be very much appreciated.