Haha thats all good, the mens team is the opposite. The lack of funding means that after our golden generation in 2006 we go into every world cup hoping for a miracle especially under an outdated manager. The fact we got as far into the last WC as we did and Argentina didn't completely humiliate us was absolutely staggering. The mens team has the opposite issue. We have such a lack of top tier talent that we need an elite manager to try and squeeze everything out of our list. Our womens team has a lot of top tier talent and we need an elite manager for the womens team to help them reach their potential.
Still 0-0 into ET. Even if the USA were somehow to advance, they don’t look like they have what it takes to win the tournament. And that goes for both our players and their new coach Emma Hayes. Near zero rotation by her has left us looking rather shagged. Please prove me wrong gals! Edit: thanks to my harsh post, and just a minute or two later, Rodman does it again! 1-0
Congrats to USWNT. Some would be inclined to give Rodman the POTM and that’s a good shout, but I thought the most impressive player is Crystal Dunn. She’s a beast.m: 32YO, came back from having a baby 2 years ago, played every minute of this tournament, including 120 just now. No cramping from this woman!
Curious about this. What is the rate of return of women's soccer players after a pregnancy? Don't women lose a bunch of bone and muscle density and stuff during pregnancy? Is her return typical, atypical? Pardon the ignorance.
Found this article to be interesting. Looks like a former USWNT player who did have a baby and wasn't asked back by the team, fought for that not to happen again and got a provision named after her: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mom-us...g-record-alex-morgan-crystal-dunn-julie-ertz/
Exciting finish to the men’s road race in Paris! Remco Evenepoel, the Belgian ex footballer, did the unprecedented(?) double… winning today and a week ago in the time trial. He had a lead of 1:15 in the final 4K and the only thing that could stop him would be a flat tire. Well, that’s what happened… at Le Louvres! But thanks to a close team car and a very speedy bike change he managed to win by about 1:15. Phew!! This guy might be the future. The best young rider at the Tour de France, where he finished third a few weeks ago.
I think it’s super duper impressive, both physically and psychologically. Considering what pregnancy does to your body. IIRC Dunn came back to full training with her club and country in < 6mos. Alex Morgan did something similar. OTOH many others just hang up the boots at that point.
I think Dunn may have had a c section. If you haven’t seen her play, check her out. She’s the epitome of strength, durability, reliability… and some pretty damn good footy skills two!
Not great news for Arsenal. Fox went off with an injury about a minute or two before the final whistle. She looked very upset as she was being helped off the pitch.
It’s actually not that uncommon. There have been USWNT players in the past that came back after giving birth.
True. But also not good for USWNT’s semifinal. Was it her knee or foot? I couldn’t really tell and didn’t read any reports.
Me too but then when she was walking off and cringing, it almost seemed like it was the foot that was causing the pain. Hard to know, but it did not. look. good.
There's legit nothing more impressive in sports to me than women coming back to the peak of whatever their discipline is after giving birth. Marathoners do it all the time and I truly don't understand how.
I used to love that my old housemates netball club used to refer to players missing games with pregnancy as the "9 month injury".
to be fair, I managed to play football only 2 minutes after a massive shit, so I can see how they do it
Off topic, but I have a teammate who says he can't play unless he has a "nervous shit" pre-match, the other week he said he didn't have one and the first half was poor. He had a half time shit and came out and scored 2 and set up 4. Now he is taking half time shits.
And wouldn't you know it, Emily Fox is fit to start today's SF for USWNT. Along with another key back 4 player deemed fit enough: Davidson. And on the flip side Germany are without stars Schuller & Popp. So no excuses... Let's go!
At golf the other dudes go in at the turn to get a beer or hot dog. I go in to take a dump. A tradition like no other.
I expected updates, were you unable to watch the game? I won’t spoil it for anyone that has to watch on replay tonight (I sometimes forget that not all of us are retired). I will say that for me, the best player on the US team is Girma. Her calmness on defense is Saliba-like.
I did watch it. But since nobody on this thread has been very active w/ USA games, I decided to spend my time over in the PBP thread for this match. And there were some Gooners over there too like @Jamooky. I guess I'll stick with your idea of no spoilers here. Except to say that Fox played every minute of a long hard match. Which is excellent news. And she looked good. Someone said they heard it was "just" a hyperextended knee that she had to recover from.
Training > Being daycare I imagine sitting around the house is very difficult for people that have this level of discipline wired into their brains.