"Thread has got way off topic and run afoul of reasonable discussion. btw - if you want to discussion the Germany v. England match, there is a dedicated thread for that. Thread closed" Dear Bigsoccer Peep: it's bad enough having the entire WWC section virtually hidden when it's currently the biggest, most important story in the sport, but closing the thread discussing the final game because of a couple apples? ridiculous. c'mon. you're not doing your job or don't know how to do your job. WARN, YELLOW CARD, then ban if necessary. this is not rocket science. so i'm starting a new thread on the game and am hoping for the best posting-wise and moderating-wise.
Hopefully it's just locked for a thorough cleaning and will be reopened. The mod really needs to get a better handle on things though, and not contribute to the thread hijacking.
is that the protocol? because that wasn't the message that was presented. the message was we can no longer talk about the final of the world cup, which i'll repeat is ridiculous.
There's nothing stopping anyone starting a new discussion thread like you've done here. But threads can get hijacked to the point it's impossible to get back on topic without a reboot, and that's what happened in the original thread. Just carry on discussing the final here. You get to talk about the game while people who were arguing about off-topic stuff lose their platform. Not a big deal. To be fair, when an important thread like that is locked due to hijacking, it's usually good form for the mod that made the lock to create the new thread for legitimate discussion to continue. That said, there wasn't much legitimate discussion happening anymore, so I can see why that didn't happen immediately.
Should we talk about how Holiday's goal was a cracker but b/c of Lloyd's amazing hat trick, it will be forgotten? Lauren took that volley so well.
If you took all of the starting strikers and offensive midfielders of the entire World Cup tournament, and gave them each 5 chances at that volley, I suspect about 10% of the shots would be on frame. And about 1% would be on frame with the same blistering velocity. Just a beautiful shot.
anybody else heard that Lauren Holiday is retiring from the national team? It's sadden's me & I'll definitely miss her! But going out a winner is the only way to go!
I've been busy with personal issues so haven't been here in a while but COME ON! What the HELL happened to Japan?? They didn't even show up! After being so clinical the entire tourney and hardly allowing any goals they collapse against the USA! This after the Japanese coach said he was so confident against the USA and wanted revenge for the 2012 Olympic loss. His team never showed up! What was his excuse? How did the players explain their collapse after playing well all tournament?
I would like to know too what happened to Japan? I've come to the international women's section of this forum for the last couple of years, and all I kept reading from regular posters(some of them claimed to be pro sports writers) about how mediocre the US is while they kept Japan on a pedestal with their zen like worship of them. Now what the heck happened to those posters? Did they all commit hari kari, or just too humiliated to tell us what happened to their beloved team as we saw the most one sided final in history
I don't recall Japan being put on a pedestal here. In fact, I thought the Japanese were generally underrated by the "experts" -- just as they were in 2011. I thought the best team going into the World Cup was France -- but France proved to be too inconsistent. I think what happened to Japan was like a plane crash. When they happen, it's two or three things going wrong all at once. The first was that clever little corner kick from Rapinoe to Lloyd and while Japan was still shell-shocked from that another disaster...and then another. To be sure, I think the U.S. is a superior team and would probably beat Japan 7 out of 10 games. It reminded me a bit of that game last year (in reverse) in which Denmark jumped out to a 3-0 lead against the U.S. in the first half. Denmark isn't a great team. They were just lucky that day. You need some luck to win a World Cup.
Um, in 2011 Japan punched WAAAYYYY above their weight. Their manager harnessed the "It's up to you for our nation to overcome the Tsunami" which catalyzed the Japanese women to play the most improbable tournament in WWC history. Prior to the 2011 final Japan had NEVER beaten the US--heck, they had never had a whiff of USWNT's collective sports bra. 7 out of 10 is crazy speculation. Try 1 out of 30. Besides, Japan had several close calls and scrapes during the tournament--they were vulnerable and ripe for the picking. Keep in mind the US had four years to plot its revenge.
Well, even in 2011, Japan had had some good results previously. They had come in 4th in the previous Olympics, and came into that tournament ranked 4th. However, we're not talking about 2011 Japan but 2015. While Japan in 2011 was a revelation, since then they've shown that they deserve to be mentioned with the top teams. Besides being in both finals of the major tournaments since (2012 Olympics and 2015 WWC), they've also beaten the US in the Algarve in 2012 as well as drawing with them twice. So out of the games between Japan and US in the cycle since the 2011 WWC, the record is 3 US wins (counting '15 final), 2 draws, and 1 loss....quite a bit better record than 1 in 30.
The 2011 Japan was no doubt better, but still I think the US played a better game overall, just missed too many chances and picked the wrong defender.
One other thing that happened to Japan that has not received enough discussion is that the USA did not let off the accelerator in this game until the score was 5-2. Certainly the USA did not let up after the first goal, and to a large degree not even after the fourth goal (Lloyd had two more first-half chances). Unlike so many soccer teams who think that soccer is a mandate to protect a 1-0 lead at all costs, the USA smelled, sensed and sought conquest early and often. It is so rare for a team to do that in soccer these days that this itself might have caught the Japanese off guard.
In that case, Japan also punched WAAAYYYYY above their weight to get to the 2012 Olympic finals. And WAAAYYYY above their weight to get to the 2015 World Cup finals. Japan has been the second best team in the world over the last four years. I don't think there can be any doubt of that.
Japan was only ranked #4 coming into this game, they've lost the Asian Championship to North Korea the last time out, and don't think they won any major tourney(except wc qualifiers) since the last WC. But what's hampered them is their players is drifting to Europe to play pro ball. I still think it's fishy that they had such an easy way into the finals. The 2nd rated team in their group was #19 Switzerland. They're 16th round opponent was the disappointing Dutch team(euro qualifiers leading scorer, Miedema, didn't have a goal in the tourney). They beat the Matildas in the quarters 1-0, but at the neutral ref's forum, the goal was considered off sides. Then got the 'miracle' own goal vs England. Don't think any team could stop the American juggernaut this time around. Considering Ellis had some of the finest strikers in the world that she didn't even need to use, Press, A-Rod, Leroux. Each one of those would be the best fwd of another team. France looked good in loosing to Germany, but they also lost to #28 Colombia(showing they still got problems to solve). Germany's appalling(and recurring) injury rate is something they got to investigate before they can ever win a world title again.
Their last major tournament before the WC was the Asian Cup, which is the top tournament for AFC teams and also serves as the WC qualification. Japan won it, and North Korea was banned because it was the WC qualifier. You're confusing the Asian Cup with the Asian Games, which are two completely different tournaments.