USWNT

[Dos Equis]

France goal 1 -- US defender fell down right in front of the goal
France goal 2 -- incredible shot
France goal 3 -- US GK out of position (I used to tell my sometimes-GK son that facing a breakaway he had to pick one of 2 choices - go for the ball or guard the line - but don't get caught halfway)

I would add that goal #1 our 20-year old twice-capped college defender had position and should have played a safe ball out, but instead a more experienced French attacker schooled her on the speed of play of international soccer. Her bio describes her as "easy-going," and that unfortunately was her approach when facing her own goal. The other two goals were the result of silly turnovers (a pass to no one and a midfielder dribbling the ball too long) and quick through balls/direct play by France. We got outplayed, and the lineup once again reflected too much faith in athletes and individual play, and no sense of how to put together the best team that plays together, and that is on the US Soccer coaches.

This is a decent summary.

 

[Kicker4Life]

I would add that goal #1 our 20-year old twice-capped college defender had position and should have played a safe ball out, but instead a more experienced French attacker schooled her on the speed of play of international soccer. Her bio describes her as "easy-going," and that unfortunately was her approach when facing her own goal. The other two goals were the result of silly turnovers (a pass to no one and a midfielder dribbling the ball too long) and quick through balls/direct play by France. We got outplayed, and the lineup once again reflected too much faith in athletes and individual play, and no sense of how to put together the best team that plays together, and that is on the US Soccer coaches.

This is a decent summary.

Totally agree. Ellis played a perplexing line up that to me said she wasn’t look g for results but testing players who may be in consideration for the WC roster. I would have expected a better level of play from the players that got the start, but.....

 

[outside!]

In response to this affront, we should change all of the NCAA rules that currently stunt the professional soccer growth of student athletes by instead stunting their academic growth.

I believe that it is possible to improve the NCAA game without impacting the academic demands on the students any more than they already are. If anything, playing one game a week should make scheduling and time management a bit easier for the students.

 

[Dos Equis]

I believe that it is possible to improve the NCAA game without impacting the academic demands on the students any more than they already are. If anything, playing one game a week should make scheduling and time management a bit easier for the students.

Several coaches I have talked to who are concerned about development, injury prevention, and academic demands, support splitting the college soccer season, which would allow more recovery time between games. September-November, then March-May. NCAA tourney would be in May. Yes, some schools might have shared facilities, but these are not insurmountable hurdles.

If US Soccer was more focused on its mission, it would work with the NCAA to make year-round soccer a reality (instead of advocating skipping college to bet on a soccer as a career). The players are training on their own year-round anyway, why not acknowledge this reality and create a win/win.

 

[MakeAPlay]

Why college coaches (particularly women)? Shouldn't the pool be much larger? We should look for the best coach, regardless of whether they currently coach men or women.

Coaching women and coaching men are two completely different challenges that I believe are pretty evident if you have a female athlete. Managing 23 women is waaaay different than managing 23 men.

 

[MakeAPlay]

That is not what we are likely to do. If US Soccer brings in a male coach for the USWNT, its going to get screamed at for bias and sexism. US Soccer will hire females at the GM and Coach level, with possibly some male assists mixed in for the WNT. Whether the coach can pee standing up or not really won't make much of a difference because the USWNT players have to be better. Based on what France did to us, the GM and Coach are the least of our problems.

I don't care if the coach is male or female (my list had 3 males and 2 females FYI) they just have to have experience coaching women. If you attempt to coach women like you coach men you are doomed to failure.

 

[timbuck]

What do college soccer players do when they are not in season? Are they allowed to play / be coached by someone else for 8 months out of the year?

 

[espola]

What do college soccer players do when they are not in season? Are they allowed to play / be coached by someone else for 8 months out of the year?

There is a Spring season, practices that lead to one or two weekends with multiple games per day in April or May. Sometimes the coaches agree to play full overtimes in those games even if the score is not tied just to get more workout time.

At some schools there is "Captain's Camp" - unofficial voluntary practice time organized by the players themselves ahead of the official allowed pre-season workouts and tryouts.

All year long athletes may have the opportunity to work with conditioning coaches and athletic trainers.

In my son's first year, he joined a local U19 team coached by one of his school's assistant coaches to play in a Thanksgiving tournament, and then played in the school's rec-center indoor soccer league in the Winter quarter.

 

[End of the Line]

That is not what we are likely to do. If US Soccer brings in a male coach for the USWNT, its going to get screamed at for bias and sexism. US Soccer will hire females at the GM and Coach level, with possibly some male assists mixed in for the WNT. Whether the coach can pee standing up or not really won't make much of a difference because the USWNT players have to be better. Based on what France did to us, the GM and Coach are the least of our problems.

Why college coaches (particularly women)? Shouldn't the pool be much larger? We should look for the best coach, regardless of whether they currently coach men or women.

Yes, male soccer coaches are such victims. Where was your defense of such "equality" when the MNT was looking for a coach? The fact is you had to go pretty far out of the way to turn the WNT's first loss in almost two years into an excuse to concoct the notion that women are getting favorable treatment. Seriously, someone posts a non-controversial question about college coaches who might be good fits to coach the WNT and @MarkM responds "why college coaches (particularly women)" Where the f**k did "particularly women" come from? Who said anyone was favoring women? Or even suggesting any woman as the next coach? Who at USSF has said they'll only hire women? You douches are about as passive aggressive as it gets. You're already doing preemptive strikes on the possibility that someone might even suggest that another women would be a good future candidate, and long before it even happens?

I also enjoyed MWN's passive-aggressive statement that hiring even a man won't help "because the USWNT players have to be better". Let me remind you of a few things. The USWNT is deservedly ranked #1 in the world. It has lost one game in almost two years, a friendly in which half its starters were benched. The USWNT is the defending WC champion. What, is Jill Ellis not cooking chicken fried steak to your liking?

If you want to gender stereotype, do it in effectively. Do you know who actually "have to be better?" The men. And the male coaches who couldn't put together a team good enough to qualify for the WC. The male coaches who "develop" our male youth, but so poorly that we have only 2-3 young players who aren't crap. And the douchey male fans who are suggesting we need more failing male soccer people on the women's side. The fact is that men in the US who are involved in soccer beyond coaching their 6 year old kids are almost universally morons and losers, with very few exceptions. To prove this, you need look no further than the VW contract, because the same people in the US who watch soccer are the same ones who drive VWs. Those people are: (1) alpha girls; and (2) beta males. The last thing we need are more soccer betas going around trying to tell women what to do; they're incompetent enough when they do it on the men's side. Get back into your Jettas, boys.

 

[MakeAPlay]

There is a Spring season, practices that lead to one or two weekends with multiple games per day in April or May. Sometimes the coaches agree to play full overtimes in those games even if the score is not tied just to get more workout time.

At some schools there is "Captain's Camp" - unofficial voluntary practice time organized by the players themselves ahead of the official allowed pre-season workouts and tryouts.

All year long athletes may have the opportunity to work with conditioning coaches and athletic trainers.

In my son's first year, he joined a local U19 team coached by one of his school's assistant coaches to play in a Thanksgiving tournament, and then played in the school's rec-center indoor soccer league in the Winter quarter.

Your statement in red would be an NCAA rules violation. You are not allowed to be coached by your own coaching staff during the offseason. You are allowed 8 hours a week starting last week to be coached by your staff. They have conditioning and workout programs supervised by athletic training staff that does not count against those hours. They have kick arounds several times a week.

 

[MakeAPlay]

The WNT lost its first game in almost two years, which is unacceptable. The WNT hasn't gotten smoked by France in a friendly leading up to the WWC since, well, the last WWC, and we all know how horribly that went.

In response to this affront, we should change all of the NCAA rules that currently stunt the professional soccer growth of student athletes by instead stunting their academic growth. In fact, we should encourage more players to skip college completely and go straight pro because the vast sums of money available for women's players. Living in the basement of a creepy Sky Blue fan rent free and making $15,000 a year is certainly a better idea than getting a college degree for most college women. Or just go to Europe right out of HS. It worked for one person, so it must be a good career choice for most.

We must also restructure our entire youth system. 10 years of top down control of the boys' side has worked wonders for them, so we should do more of that for the girls. In fact, USSF should pour tons of time and money into making every child in America play soccer exactly how a handful of people in Chicago believe it should be played, especially when they hire the "right people" to ensure that every coach in America is coaching the one "right way".

We should also fire Ellis immediately. Winning the last WWC in a blow out and going 18-0-2 in 2018 is not good enough. She must beat every team, every time, even with C team players. In contrast, Pia Sundage surely would have still beaten Japan in the 2011 WWC finals even if she hadn't played four of her best players and even if she gave a collegiate midfielder her first cap against a top 20 team playing out of position at outside back. Sundage must be rehired so she can resurrect her strategy of trying to win games solely by bouncing long balls off Wambach's head.

I have an idea. Relax. If the WNT doesn't win the WC, it will be the same result as most of the WCs they've played in. The WNT has been the most consistently good over time and that is going to continue indefinitely, but you're delusional if you think they're worse relative to the rest of the world than they've ever been. The world isn't passing the WNT by. There have always been countries able to challenge and beat the WNT and, go figure, there still are. Right now it is France.

I disagree. Jill does less with more than anyone else other than maybe Michelle and April. If you truly don't think that the rest of the world has caught up with the USWNT and that sides like France and the Netherlands have moved beyond us then we have a fundamental difference in opinions. Tomorrow against Spain will be telling. Spain is ranked 12th in the world and will be by far the weakest of the true contenders in France. If we can't beat them and look good doing it then the odds of beating several of the top 8 teams an unlikely scenario. France looked technical and athletic and it is going to be tough for us to overcome both of those things with the current coaching staff.

 

[espola]

Your statement in red would be an NCAA rules violation. You are not allowed to be coached by your own coaching staff during the offseason. You are allowed 8 hours a week starting last week to be coached by your staff. They have conditioning and workout programs supervised by athletic training staff that does not count against those hours. They have kick arounds several times a week.

I wondered about that, but the coaches said OK. And Thanksgiving weekend is still "in season" if you count the fact that the NCAA tournament did not end for several more weeks.

He got in minor trouble for another thing - staying on a couch in a team Captain's rental during Captain's Practice the week before the dorms opened for pre-season practice, without paying a share of the rent. The school's compliance officer made him sign a "confession" form and make a small donation to charity as punishment (I think it was a local breast cancer support group).

 

[espola]

Yes, male soccer coaches are such victims. Where was your defense of such "equality" when the MNT was looking for a coach? The fact is you had to go pretty far out of the way to turn the WNT's first loss in almost two years into an excuse to concoct the notion that women are getting favorable treatment. Seriously, someone posts a non-controversial question about college coaches who might be good fits to coach the WNT and @MarkM responds "why college coaches (particularly women)" Where the f**k did "particularly women" come from? Who said anyone was favoring women? Or even suggesting any woman as the next coach? Who at USSF has said they'll only hire women? You douches are about as passive aggressive as it gets. You're already doing preemptive strikes on the possibility that someone might even suggest that another women would be a good future candidate, and long before it even happens?

I also enjoyed MWN's passive-aggressive statement that hiring even a man won't help "because the USWNT players have to be better". Let me remind you of a few things. The USWNT is deservedly ranked #1 in the world. It has lost one game in almost two years, a friendly in which half its starters were benched. The USWNT is the defending WC champion. What, is Jill Ellis not cooking chicken fried steak to your liking?

If you want to gender stereotype, do it in effectively. Do you know who actually "have to be better?" The men. And the male coaches who couldn't put together a team good enough to qualify for the WC. The male coaches who "develop" our male youth, but so poorly that we have only 2-3 young players who aren't crap. And the douchey male fans who are suggesting we need more failing male soccer people on the women's side. The fact is that men in the US who are involved in soccer beyond coaching their 6 year old kids are almost universally morons and losers, with very few exceptions. To prove this, you need look no further than the VW contract, because the same people in the US who watch soccer are the same ones who drive VWs. Those people are: (1) alpha girls; and (2) beta males. The last thing we need are more soccer betas going around trying to tell women what to do; they're incompetent enough when they do it on the men's side. Get back into your Jettas, boys.

Did you just get to the chapter on passive-aggressive behavior in your psych 101 text? Wait until you get to the delusional behavior chapter.

 

[pulguita]

Several coaches I have talked to who are concerned about development, injury prevention, and academic demands, support splitting the college soccer season, which would allow more recovery time between games. September-November, then March-May. NCAA tourney would be in May. Yes, some schools might have shared facilities, but these are not insurmountable hurdles.

If US Soccer was more focused on its mission, it would work with the NCAA to make year-round soccer a reality (instead of advocating skipping college to bet on a soccer as a career). The players are training on their own year-round anyway, why not acknowledge this reality and create a win/win.

Other benefits:
1.. Less interference with academics
2. Bigger rosters - all games are double headers first game for record, second game reserves
3. Everyone plays on the weekend - development?
4. Parent gets to see kid play
5. Entire team on same weekly recovery schedule - less injuries?
6. 4-5 trainings per 1 game - development?
7. Less shitty weather during playoffs

 

[MarkM]

Other benefits:
1.. Less interference with academics
2. Bigger rosters - all games are double headers first game for record, second game reserves
3. Everyone plays on the weekend - development?
4. Parent gets to see kid play
5. Entire team on same weekly recovery schedule - less injuries?
6. 4-5 trainings per 1 game - development?
7. Less shitty weather during playoffs

Nice ideas. The full season makes so much more sense.

 

[MarkM]

Yes, male soccer coaches are such victims. Where was your defense of such "equality" when the MNT was looking for a coach? The fact is you had to go pretty far out of the way to turn the WNT's first loss in almost two years into an excuse to concoct the notion that women are getting favorable treatment. Seriously, someone posts a non-controversial question about college coaches who might be good fits to coach the WNT and @MarkM responds "why college coaches (particularly women)" Where the f**k did "particularly women" come from? Who said anyone was favoring women? Or even suggesting any woman as the next coach? Who at USSF has said they'll only hire women? You douches are about as passive aggressive as it gets. You're already doing preemptive strikes on the possibility that someone might even suggest that another women would be a good future candidate, and long before it even happens?

I also enjoyed MWN's passive-aggressive statement that hiring even a man won't help "because the USWNT players have to be better". Let me remind you of a few things. The USWNT is deservedly ranked #1 in the world. It has lost one game in almost two years, a friendly in which half its starters were benched. The USWNT is the defending WC champion. What, is Jill Ellis not cooking chicken fried steak to your liking?

If you want to gender stereotype, do it in effectively. Do you know who actually "have to be better?" The men. And the male coaches who couldn't put together a team good enough to qualify for the WC. The male coaches who "develop" our male youth, but so poorly that we have only 2-3 young players who aren't crap. And the douchey male fans who are suggesting we need more failing male soccer people on the women's side. The fact is that men in the US who are involved in soccer beyond coaching their 6 year old kids are almost universally morons and losers, with very few exceptions. To prove this, you need look no further than the VW contract, because the same people in the US who watch soccer are the same ones who drive VWs. Those people are: (1) alpha girls; and (2) beta males. The last thing we need are more soccer betas going around trying to tell women what to do; they're incompetent enough when they do it on the men's side. Get back into your Jettas, boys.

Were you wearing your pussyhat when you wrote this?

 

[LASTMAN14]

I disagree. Jill does less with more than anyone else other than maybe Michelle and April. If you truly don't think that the rest of the world has caught up with the USWNT and that sides like France and the Netherlands have moved beyond us then we have a fundamental difference in opinions. Tomorrow against Spain will be telling. Spain is ranked 12th in the world and will be by far the weakest of the true contenders in France. If we can't beat them and look good doing it then the odds of beating several of the top 8 teams an unlikely scenario. France looked technical and athletic and it is going to be tough for us to overcome both of those things with the current coaching staff.

Don't waste your time with this individual known as EOL. MarkM owes me a beer for wasting their time.

 

[LASTMAN14]

Were you wearing your pussyhat when you wrote this?

Dude, this individual has no hat, lost his ad-homonyms, repeats their self like a self imposed homeless person. Now you owe me a 6 pack of Pliny the Elders.

 

[MWN]

If US Soccer was more focused on its mission, it would work with the NCAA to make year-round soccer a reality (instead of advocating skipping college to bet on a soccer as a career). The players are training on their own year-round anyway, why not acknowledge this reality and create a win/win.

The problem doesn't lay in US Soccer but the NCAA. The NCAA has opted out of any governance or control by anybody ... other than the NCAA. The principles articulated in the NCAA policy and procedures manuals are focused on "student athletes" and fairness and economics between the members schools. The NCAA's approach is basically to say, all athletes are "Students" first and "Athletes" second ... and we want all of our members to have a fair shot of attracting these students and operating their various varsity sports efforts in a manner that meets the economic needs of the lowest common denominator.

If US Soccer approached the NCAA and said "Folks, we need you to change the rules to help us develop college soccer as a legitimate training ground for the pros" the NCAA would look at them with a blank stare, laugh hysterically and then tell them to "Not let the door hit you, where God split you."

A quick read of the "Principles for Conduct of Intercollegiate Athletics" (Article II) and you will appreciate the depth of the problem.

http://www.ncaapublications.com/s-13-Manuals.aspx

 

[Kicker4Life]

Dude, this individual has no hat, lost his ad-homonyms, repeats their self like a self imposed homeless person. Now you owe me a 6 pack of Pliny the Elders.

Wait till the studies start flowing.....now do you owe me a 6pack if Pliny?

 

[LASTMAN14]

Wait till the studies start flowing.....now do you owe me a 6pack if Pliny?

No. We never agreed on anything. But, finding one is much harder than drinking one.