You can only sell the retirement so many times. In 2000, there were many press reports that this would be the Last Hurrah. Better see them now. The hype for the 2003 WWC was not really about the WWC or the USWNT; it was all about the Last Chance to See These Legends. More talk of retirement. Then the 2004 Olympics roll around and it is the same media blitz: Mia Hamm's last game, really the LAST GAME. Then the tour is announced and it is not just a farewell game or two but ten games. You can only squeeze so much pathos out of this. Having ten farewell games on top of 4 years of imminent retirement press releases is bound to dilute the impact of the last game. Just my opinions.
You are a bitter, bitter man, aren't you? Get over yourself, Thomas. This isn't curing cancer. These are people who play soccer. Shame you have to piss on their every action to try and validate your own lack of self-esteem. I'm not a huge fan of these women, but they deserve better than your insane ramblings.
Maybe the Home Depot Center was not the best choice of a venue. maybe Torero would have been better and would have had weekend dates available. But weekend dates were available at HDC and it is a nicer facility. Just remember, the first time Michael Jordan retired, it was huge news. The second time he retired it was not that big a thing. The third or 4th time nobody said much. I think you have some of the same overkill effect here too.
Well that was pretty fun. Kudos to ESPN for turning Classic into the Mia network for a night. I think the federation should have worked a little harder. Mia Hamm is the most recognizable american soccer player, period. I think a little better promotion was in order. I kept wishing it had been a tribute game instead of a friendly. The current Nats against a team of recently retired, WUSA all-stars, biggest international rivals over the years etc would have been a lot of fun. But still, it was a nice send off. Finally, a little note to Mr. Flannigan: its clear you are passionate in your convictions, but I really think you would be more persuasive if you were little less fast and loose with your facts, and you were a little less nasty. I really don't think you gain anything by coming on this thread for no reason I can discern other than to rain on folks parades a bit.
There were? This coming weekend is the College Cup. Last weekend was the Women's Cup, so that would be stupid to go up against that. Plus, the Galaxy played Friday so I wonder what was happening that kept them from using it on a Saturday. The 27th was Thanksgiving weekend, the facilityw as probablyopen, but that's a poor weekend to play a game due to family issues. The 20th was the "Battle of the High School Bands" at the HDC. The facility was not available on Saturday. The 14th was a little thing called MLS Cup. The 6th was the weekend the women played in Philly. So the facility was in use every weekend except one. That was a holiday weekend. Silly, silly, silly, Thomas. You think you would check your facts, but you never do now, do you?
Seant, earlier in this or another thread some people posted the schedule for the HDC. Remember, there was a lot of speculation here about when and where the game should be, with many calling for RFK. A ten game tour put the last game late in the season for weather considerations. There were other dates available. Don't mean to rain on anyone's parade. The Fed is Not Doing Enough for the USWNT has been debated quite a bit in this forum. I think the timing and duration of the final game made it hard to get much interest going. A ten game farewell tour is going to dilute the impact of the final game. A 3-5 game tour would not have, and would have given the last game more light on it. Endlessly talking retirement and not doing it does not help either. Still, this is 2004, not 1999. I don't see any way you can match the hype that went into 1999.
It's going to take a major, major effort to sell out anything in Los Angeles on a Wednesday night. To get to Carson from my house would probably take 45 minutes or so - and I live 15 minutes from the facility. The 405 is murder. Also (and as sad as this is), it rained all day. Hey, this is LA, it's not supposed to rain here! Finally, so much of the LA soccer fan base is Hispanic, and that population has never really supported the women's game. RS
Here's a link to the first batch of pics. http://womenssoccer.com/images/tour2004/pressconference/default.asp The same link is in this thread below. I figured I'd start a new thread so it wouldnt get buried in an existing thread. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3742108#post3742108
I thought it was a nice farewell match for Mia. She played really well, and deserved a goal -- was unlucky not to get one, IMHO. I thought it was nice symbolism that Wagner and Wambach each scored two goals -- they are the future of U.S. women's soccer. I thought Wagner looked much better than she did in the Olympics and the WWC -- is it just because Mexico doesn't pressure her on the ball as much as the teams we played in the Olympics and WWC, or is Wagner adjusting more to the international game? Wambach is a force, and reminds me a lot of Ronaldo (the Brazilian) -- big, strong, fast, skilled, and dominant.
That's what I thought -- that Wagner just looked that much better because Mexico didn't pressure her on the ball and close her down as quickly as the teams we played in the Olympics and WWC did. But I have to say that I thought it made a night and day difference in terms of how Wagner looked. When she's got some time to hold the ball, I thought she really did some brilliant things with it -- incisive passes, great vision, great creativity, etc. I wonder if she'll ever be able to show these qualities against better competition...
No. The purpose of her existence is to demonstrate the concept of "levels of the game." No need to wonder.
What..She turn you down for a date? Your posts about her suggest an obvious agenda. Lets be a little more objective, shall we?
Yeah, my posts about Wagner convey my opinion (based on available evidence) that she sucks. Mia and Abby turned me down too, but they can play. Seriously, Wags has been given more chances than a kid with a fifty dollar bill at the ring toss. She's not getting faster, she's a liability defensively (although she's picked up the late tackle, "horrific looking but soft" foul but that's related to poor defending), and she can't hold the ball under pressure to use her vision. Don't like my opinion, ask her WUSA coach who couldn't wait to get rid of her. Or ask Ape - who benched her for the Oly gold medal match (maybe learning the lesson of '03 WWC semi-final, when Wags came in for Parlow - who had been dangerous on the right side for us - and would've cost Ape her job in a more soccer savvy country). I definitely have an agenda - I'd like to see the US win forever. Can you make a case that she fits into this agenda?
Morris20 No arguements on Wags. She looked good for 2 reasons. 1.) it was a young Mexican team and they gave her all kinds of space. and 2.) much like C.P. it was an emotional match and I thik eveyrone was feeling it and played some inspired ball. But Wags can not handle any team that preasures the ball. T.F................nah.........waste of breath and a waste of my time.
Oh and what would have Parlow have done that hadn't been done. Maybe they could get a cross that might actually have challenged Silke. Please, the US was more predictable than the number of people that Paris Hilton will sleep with in a week.
Parlow had been one of the few bright spots for the US until she was subbed - I guess the argument is that losing possession in the middle of the field would be preferable to crosses? Actually, what happened was that Mia was dragged out of the middle of the field and we essentially lost a forward because she had to get to the corners and serve rather than receiving serves from CP. Not really great when you're already down a goal. But this is really pointless - it doesn't change the fact that a) Wags sucks and b) regardless, she certainly didn't do anything in that game that you could point to as a reason to dispute that.
Could someone please find out how many people in the US watched the game on ESPN classic. My guess would be 1 1/2 to 3 million.