USWNT Olympic roster announced

oh canada said:
it's not the social justice dedication that causes a drubbing like that. I posit that it's all the cupcake opponents played, and when they do play better teams it's usually on home soil. Second, I've always contended that other countries just need to have the endurance and courage to press USA for 90 minutes and they will make mistakes because these old timers don't have the deft skill and touch that the new crop of girls coming up have. Congrats to Sweden on a beautifully played game all around. USA will beat NZ and Australia. A first round knockout match vs. Netherlands will be their next real test.

my Canada side didn't look much better than USA unfortunately. fortunately they came away with a point.
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I think the European teams in particular have just about caught up with the US and will shortly overtake them. The US does have the quantity of players, but the Europeans have the quality of development through their academies and competition through their domestic and European leagues.

The reduced number of teams in the Olympics is fortunate for those teams in it, e.g. only 3 European teams qualify for the Olympics based on where they finished at the last world cup. So you have GB (not a team except for the Olympics), Netherlands & Sweden. #2 & #3 in the world (Germany & France) are not, add in Spain (Barcelona just won the Champions league) and it devalues the Gold imv.
 
I think any criticism of the WNT has been skirted around. In the past anyone who said something against them was heavily criticized. Therefore left unsaid. I have mentioned a few minor things in the past but have not posted anything new on them in over a year. Many posts here ring points that have been held back by posters until now. Some of them I agree with. Others not so much. What I will add is that the overall style of play is better then when it was under Pia or April. That’s a good start. But, after the olympics much must change in regards to player selection.
 
The US struggled everywhere especially their ability to put pressure on Sweden's passing game.

Coaching - not making sure we had a CB that could defend against tall headers, not pressing up top first half. not replacing Dunn, Press, and Horan

Press - could not make a good cross, always slightly off pace, playing balls behind players, and just not helping much defensively

Dunn - consistently getting beat

Goalie - can't catch any ball and giving away too many corner kicks. You've got to try to hold on to balls against teams that are very good at the set pieces.

Mewis, Horan, and Lavelle - wasn't winning balls and giving away balls more than intercepting them. Lavelle probably was the best one but her passing accuracy was pretty poor too and she physically was losing the battle.

Rapinoe looked good. Smart and quick player out there.

Ertz - still looks good and was probably the best defensive player.
 
So a country made of 10 million just hammered a country of 300 million. The world has caught up in women’s soccer and will likely pass us just like the men. Macario would not have helped.
 
That was an ass whooping. Sweden dominated every phase of the game, and we looked lost in/out of possession. 2nd to every ball is not a good look.

I can't recall the USWNT struggling like that since the 2015 WC group stages where Jill had Carly Lloyd playing the 6. She finally moved Julie Ertz too the 6 in the knockouts and we have never looked back. Unfortunately Julie's not 100% and looked pretty rusty when she came on.

Our midfield was about a 3/10, gave away the ball constantly and got our CBs isolated 1v1 a lot. We were lucky not to lose by more.

They have just dug a whole for themselves, and need 2 wins to make it out of the group, where Brazil will likely be waiting. If they fail to make it out of the group, they will deservedly take a load of criticism.
 
outside! said:
Of course they would, men and women are different and it is useless to discuss how a bunch of teenage boys can beat a women's team.
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Not entirely.

It highlights the fact that men and women are different and that is why we have divisions between mens and womens sports. But today some people like the idea of men playing on womens teams.

So not entirely useless ;)
 
eastbaysoccer said:
So a country made of 10 million just hammered a country of 300 million. The world has caught up in women’s soccer and will likely pass us just like the men. Macario would not have helped.
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Belgium - 11 million people, Mens team is ranked #1 in the world. Population size has little to do with success on the field.
 
Kicker4Life said:
Belgium - 11 million people, Mens team is ranked #1 in the world. Population size has little to do with success on the field.
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Amazing. Same could said for Iceland. The US is devoid of the top African American athletes. 100% certain if every top African American athlete played soccer their skill, size and pace on the US team would be incredible. We would also need better coaching.
 
eastbaysoccer said:
Amazing. Same could said for Iceland. The US is devoid of the top African American athletes. 100% certain if every top African American athlete played soccer their skill, size and pace on the US team would be incredible. We would also need better coaching.
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That's just a weird statement, wrt the top African American athletes. The US needs to focus on technical ability first and athletes second, not the other way around. The best players are good athletes, some are even great athletes, but they are not the best players because of their athleticism. The top soccer academies are looking for and developing top technical players with top soccer IQ from a young age. They are not concerned with the athleticism when they are young and know they can resolve that relatively easily - they can't resolve the other easily.
 
whatithink said:
I think the European teams in particular have just about caught up with the US and will shortly overtake them. The US does have the quantity of players, but the Europeans have the quality of development through their academies and competition through their domestic and European leagues.

The reduced number of teams in the Olympics is fortunate for those teamsin it, e.g. only 3 European teams qualify for the Olympics based on where they finished at the last world cup. So you have GB (not a team except for the Olympics), Netherlands & Sweden. #2 & #3 in the world (Germany & France) are not, add in Spain (Barcelona just won the Champions league) and it devalues the Gold imv.
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I think the hand writing on the wall is clear as day...The Euros have the funding mechanism, the focus, the resources, the academies, and the best trainers in the world. US youth system pay to play with D license coaches just doesn't cut it anymore. The World has passed and is beyond the US system, and will further dominate in the future. Bad player selection at all age levels is only a symptom of a poor system.
 
chiefs said:
I think the hand writing on the wall is clear as day...The Euros have the funding mechanism, the focus, the resources, the academies, and the best trainers in the world. US youth system pay to play with D license coaches just doesn't cut it anymore. The World has passed and is beyond the US system, and will further dominate in the future. Bad player selection at all age levels is only a symptom of a poor system.
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Agree, I've seen multiple (A level) coaches select big athletes and say they can teach them soccer. I've seen them ignore players who are technically way better and have way more soccer IQ. The talent is there (in the US), but the system sucks.

The MLS academies should help, but their feeder system is still managed by coaches like the ones I referenced, and the MLSs are looking at the "top" talent that those coaches selected.

On the girls side its all about college, for good reason from a parent's perspective. I would that 90%+ of the college games I've seen on TV or some even in person, suck. The standard / level is horrible. Good for the girls for living their dream, but as a system to develop USWNT talent, its nowhere close to what the same players in the Euro academies are getting.
 
whatithink said:
Agree, I've seen multiple (A level) coaches select big athletes and say they can teach them soccer. I've seen them ignore players who are technically way better and have way more soccer IQ. The talent is there (in the US), but the system sucks.

The MLS academies should help, but their feeder system is still managed by coaches like the ones I referenced, and the MLSs are looking at the "top" talent that those coaches selected.

On the girls side its all about college, for good reason from a parent's perspective. I would that 90%+ of the college games I've seen on TV or some even in person, suck. The standard / level is horrible. Good for the girls for living their dream, but as a system to develop USWNT talent, its nowhere close to what the same players in the Euro academies are getting.
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We need a makeover in the youth program. This whole ECNL pay $4k plus a another $6k in travel fees is insane. You can only attract the top athletes with money. This will not work for inner city kids that have amazing talent.
 
Poor coaching debut, poor player selection and starting lineup —why is Alex Morgan and Carly Lloyd there? Off nights from Press, Horan and Lavelle. Good Sweden team, always tough matchup. But, yes, millions paid to play on an increasing exclusive youth sport, and this is the outcome—aging stars, past prime. Based on the numbers of players we see out on the fields every week and all the various elite leagues and flights, we should be teeming with young talent coming up every year. What happened?
 
SoccerFan4Life said:
We need a makeover in the youth program. This whole ECNL pay $4k plus a another $6k in travel fees is insane. You can only attract the top athletes with money. This will not work for inner city kids that have amazing talent.
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All of us who love the game agree with this. Unfortunately that's the not the path that soccer in the US is ever going to take. Way too much money at stake. Letter league soccer is status symbol for many, especially amongst parents of girls. Someone could start a 3rd, 4th, 5th league and there would be takers.

The MLS and USL1 will be the major players in finding and funding talent that normally wouldn't have access to fancy leagues and cool travel. There isn't enough horsepower in the women's game to make a dent. The NWSL struggles to exist year over year.

We really only care about soccer once every 4 years. Beyond that, nationally we don't really care if the gap between the US women's and the rest of the world is closing or has closed. We are perfectly fine sending out DDs to college, getting a great experience, then moving on to contribute to society. Nothing wrong with that really.
 
what-happened said:
All of us who love the game agree with this. Unfortunately that's the not the path that soccer in the US is ever going to take. Way too much money at stake. Letter league soccer is status symbol for many, especially amongst parents of girls. Someone could start a 3rd, 4th, 5th league and there would be takers.

The MLS and USL1 will be the major players in finding and funding talent that normally wouldn't have access to fancy leagues and cool travel. There isn't enough horsepower in the women's game to make a dent. The NWSL struggles to exist year over year.

We really only care about soccer once every 4 years. Beyond that, nationally we don't really care if the gap between the US women's and the rest of the world is closing or has closed. We are perfectly fine sending out DDs to college, getting a great experience, then moving on to contribute to society. Nothing wrong with that really.
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It will have to be a grassroot effort by top players along with college scouts. Don't put your kid in ECNL or a traveling league, do local leagues. Save the environment and your family time. If most of the top players are not in ECNL and doing discovery league to remain local, that's where the scouts will go. Don't let the DOCs convince you that lining their pockets, hotel pockets, and airline pockets to go to Dallas in the middle of June is the only way to be better. Get all the good local players together, form a local team and play to win the national championship.

Colleges-don't scout at these rich leagues, focus on local tournaments and only go to the main regional and national tourneys. If there are no scouts at ECNL or travel tournaments, then top players won't sign up for the travelling leagues.
 
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