2016 Summer Olympics

Horrible job by the referee crew in the men's Brazil vs Columbia game. The Referee completely lost control of the match. The Referee and AR missed a textbook handling foul in the penalty area by Columbia early in the second half. I rarely criticize referees, but at this level the referee crew must do better.
 
These ideas have been around for years, but seem to be coming up again.
The last 3 women't pro leagues had their own venues, management and sponsors. Making money was not the focus.

The professional women's league should role into the MSL and be run by the GMs of those teams. They should play like a warm-up band to the MSL teams. Same venues, same nights.
Olympic team should be gathered yearly from this pro league.

I'm not into the MLS being forced to do this, but I think it would work. My DD played an opener before a men's game and that one game had more than the entire attendance of the entire women's season. They were there for the men's game, but watched and cheered her game.
 
Globe said:
Nice post game comments Hope! Once again way to represent your team & country.

She might be an excellent keeper but she's trailer trash, plain & simple.
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Obviously Hope's words were In-artful. However I do admire her fight. Also in the age of real housewives and kardashians... It's refreshing to see someone like her.
 
Globe said:
It's not like Sweden played catenaccio. Sure, they played a little conservative, probably because they knew they weren't as good as their opponent. But it's not like they packed everyone in the box. At least they scored a good goal. Our's was flukey.
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I agree. Sweden had a plan and executed. And it's good to see the Sweeden US rivalry renewed. Yeah sometimes you lose game to teams that bunker... But no one watching that game thought it was because they had the better players.

The old guard that was leaving was very good. Let's not forget that either. So some growing pains are expected.
 
Tenacious makes a great point...this stats writer makes the argument that the odds were very low for the USWNT to repeat no matter what anyway...

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-u-s-women-probably-werent-going-to-win-the-gold-anyway/

"Tournament favorites usually don’t win — even big ones like the U.S. women’s soccer team. Too many things can go wrong, as they did in the penalty shootout of the USWNT’s quarterfinal loss against Sweden in the Rio Olympics on Friday. A goalkeeper guesses the right way, a usually reliable shooter sends a penalty kick over the crossbar, and suddenly the team is out of the tournament. It was the USWNT’s earliest-ever exit from an Olympics or World Cup."

ap_16225698164675.jpg
 
Well, I hate to see Pia resort to the bunker, and yes it was a bunker. 9-11 players behind the ball at all times, back row of 5 with 4 about 15 feet ahead. This is straight out of Jose's playbook, but lets face it he, and now Pia, have succeed nicely with it. Just lousy soccer to watch. But Sweden should have won it in regulation.

Having said that, the US never had the flair it had for the last few games at WC. Overall my ratings 1 best, 6 awful

Hope 4...some great saves, some howlers, no to mention never an option on a pass back. Needs to prove she still belongs, especially when you bring so much baggage.
Klingenberg 3. Solid defending, good runs up the flank, crosses into the box lacking quality
Engen 3. Very solid in the back. Not much offensive distribution
Saurbrunn 2. Rock solid on defense, good opening of the game
O Hara 4 not enough offensive production in a system where it is critical
Julie Johnson 4 looked bad on the goal to Sweden, looked rusty, not her usual presence in the box offensively or defensively.
Morgan Briant. 3 solid defense, too little offense. When she did get involved she added a lot, just not often enough
Dunn 2 Brought alot of energy and one v one skills that help open up space for her teammates.
Pugh 3 had some really nice offensive runs, much like Dunn can create wonderfully of the dribble...needs to get much better on D
Llloyd 4 Looked out of place, did not make a big impact on any game.
Morgan 2 Scored some good goals, won alot of balls as the sole target play, needed a partner to work with.
Heath. 2.5 Creative attacking player, played some good D, needs to get better on set plays and finishing.

Pia 4. Did not get the line up or tactics right against Sweden, a team that was much less talented. Us team struggled under big expectations, never really hit its strde against the better teams.

Ref 6 missed some game changing calls badly. Need to give up this female ref nonsense, and get the best refs on the field. The game deserves better.
 
NoGoal said:
For the record, Hope Solo has saved the US WNT ass so many times from defeat....most recently vs France in this Olympics.
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For the record, Hope Solo sometimes gets nutmegged on set piece shots from the top of the box....most recently vs Columbia in this Olympics. ;)
Her time's up. She's the Ron Artest of women's international soccer. She just hasn't jumped into the stands to kick a fan's ass......yet.
 
soccerobserver said:
Tenacious makes a great point...this stats writer makes the argument that the odds were very low for the USWNT to repeat no matter what anyway...

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-u-s-women-probably-werent-going-to-win-the-gold-anyway/

"Tournament favorites usually don’t win — even big ones like the U.S. women’s soccer team. Too many things can go wrong, as they did in the penalty shootout of the USWNT’s quarterfinal loss against Sweden in the Rio Olympics on Friday. A goalkeeper guesses the right way, a usually reliable shooter sends a penalty kick over the crossbar, and suddenly the team is out of the tournament. It was the USWNT’s earliest-ever exit from an Olympics or World Cup."

ap_16225698164675.jpg
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Abby took a lot of flack for playing the wrong kind of soccer, but now that she is gone we are going to have more teams try and park the bus. Plainly Pia saw it first... but Sweden won't be the last to resort to counter attacking soccer. And the US offense obviously has some things they will need to figure out because they sure didn't seem to know what to do.

One humble soccer dad's opinion here, but first of all the US is going to have to find someone who is brilliant at set pieces as stop gap measure. Long term they have to improve their tactics to create more attacking space. Having a keeper who was better with her feet then Hope might allow them to push a defender up into a midfield position to support the attack. So I'm not going to loose too many tears if Hope talks herself out of a job if a keeper with better foot skills shows up and offers the team that new dimension. If she wants to make a star of herself by running her mouth then for it to be her downfall doesn't seem totally unjust in a greek poetry kinda way.

That said... Hope is as battle tested and good a keeper as I see us being able to find. Even thinking ahead to the next world cup, I have to yet see a keeper that makes me think they would offer us a better chance at winning then Hope. Honestly I thought it was kind of funny to hear her blame the Sweden's tactics for the loss. You know she'll feel dumb for saying it, as she should. But at the same time we all know she wasn't the only one thinking it. Lol
 
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Hope is probably the best female keeper in the history of the game (You could make a case for Angerer as well) . But time waits for no one, although keepers at least get a little extension. I think her best years are behind her, and they were really good. Now its time for the new guard to step up...need to transition some of the 30+ off the team, including hope and Carli Lloyd.
 
Sweden's plan worked for them again today verse Brazil. They played to a tie and won it during Kicks. Not pretty soccer but it worked and frustrated Brazil and the USA.
 
I have to say, I'm becoming a convert to the "who cares if it's pretty soccer" group. In (American) football, teams play a variety of offensive formations/styles to give their team the best chance to win. Why should soccer be any different? Don't get me wrong, I still want my daughters to learn good technical skills and I would prefer that they don't "play to win" while they are younger/developing their skills but I don't think there is anything wrong with a coach using a variety of tactical skills and/or making adjustments based on their opponent.
 
I found it a bit funny how the crowd yelling "Zeeekaaa" every time Hope punted the ball slowly migrated to them yelling it when any goal keeper booted the ball. Now I am hearing it when they serve in beach volleyball. South Africa World Cup had the sound of vuvuzelas, Rio has "Zeeekaaa".
 
Portugal won with a bunker team, but other than that the recent winners have been Spain and Germany in WC and Euro's who all play attacking soccer. CL, pretty much the same, last winners RM(2), Barsa and Bayern, who all play attacking soccer. So, I think, every once in a while defensive team wins (Portugal, Chelsea, or Italy) but most of the time a good offensive team wins....Thank God! I think the one thing that could end soccer's popularity would be watching two teams coached by JM play each other....slow painful way to detox from your soccer addiction...

So all my point is, destructive, defensive soccer helps even the playing field, allowing teams wit less talent to compete...but wouldn't you rather win with flair?
 
At last - the only reason to watch the Olympics (except for some odd sports that never even get any show time on Wide World of Sports) is about to start - the mens football gold/silver match.

All Germany fans want their team to win gold.

All Brazil fans want their team to win 7-1 or better.
 
That's the kind of goal I like, just like Coach Brendler laid it out in 1961 - wing drive the ball deep toward the corner, flat cross, one-touch shot for the goal.
 
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