How may times are you going to adjust your statement about talent .
"You need good players to win" What insight! |
Portugal, Brazil, England all had huge holes in their lineups. This is the point if the last paragraph. National teams are very uneven in talent. You can have the best striker in the world and a goalie who lets in soft goals. Too bad Argentina and France never played in the last World Cup. I think it would have been a close game but Argentina winning. |
Argentina had holes too and key injuries. Their squad was weak on paper, relative to those other teams. You coach and scheme around holes in your lineup to minimize the deficiencies and maximize the strengths. Those are things other than player talent that can make a difference towards winning, especially as the talent pool evens out, as is gradually happening in women's soccer. National team are unlikely to have the cohesiveness or playing style of a Guardiola type team, which takes consistent drilling over long periods of time, but these things can still make a difference at the margins. This is why Scaloni received a lot of praise for the Argentina win, because the team was the least talented Argentina team in a very long time. I'm just going to assume your Argentina/France thing is some kind of weird sarcasm. I hope so, at least. |
You're the one defining talent as the most talented individual. Whoever said that teams are the most important is just wrong. There are plenty of teams who play together in domestic leagues and remain together on national teams for years. They regularly get crushed when players leave their premier/la liga/Bundesliga teams to play for their national teams for a couple of games and then go back to their clubs |
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Talent is never ever enough to win at the highest level
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Uhhh....no I did not. How do you make the jump from "team with the most talent" to "most talented individual"? |
+1. Read Carli Lloyd's remarks after the Portugal game. The players were laughing, dancing, and taking selfies after they were lucky to survive. They are going to get pummelled by Sweden. I am not happy about this. I have been a huge fan since 1991. But this team is a bad mix of players past their prime and newbies who are not ready. Maybe in 4 years. |
Morgan is past her prime. It happens. Rapinoe should not see the field. Go with the younger players against Sweden. They are going to get beaten anyway. This team has not gelled. |
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Talent is not taught, it’s a natural ability
Skill is taught Desire is work ethic and more important than talent https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/why-talent-alone-will-never-be-enough/247605 |
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The U.S. averaged 1.9 passes per sequence vs Portugal.
That's the fewest passes per sequence for the USWNT in 139 games, since a March 2016 loss to Germany. |
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Did anyone see England today? They were amazing IMO. Aggressive, physical, but also quick movement of the ball, individual dribbling to get out of tight spots and great finishing. China is not a bad team, and they were in a low block for most of the game, trying to deny space in the midfield, but England had all the answers. Lauren James is even more of a beast than her brother (Reece) is, and that's saying something.
The thing that stood out for me as far as England is concerned is the speed at which they are able to move the ball, with players moving into space and showing for the ball. And this without the injured Keira Walsh, one of the top CMs in the world who is almost irreplaceable for England (which is why changed their formation today). They just did the job, winning by 1 goal each, in the first 2 games. But they seem to be peaking at the right time. France also impressed against Brazil, but they seem to be awful finishers, needing 10 chances to score one goal. These 2 teams, along with Japan, would be my early favorites for the Cup. However, I am also aware that group play has limited predictive power for the knockout rounds of a WC. Teams like Spain and Argentina, have lost their first games and limped out of group play to win the men's WC in the recent past. So I wouldn't write off Germany, Sweden, even the US off yet. And Australia as the dark horses. |
Ugh, I hate these corporate leadership experts. STFU. |
+1. Really bad soccer by this team. They are not a top 10 team in this World Cup |
Its human behavior. Didn't you learn anything from Ted Lasso |
In 4 years the other team will be a lot better. When England women’s won the Euros in 2022 they had 17.4 million watching. England has a population of 55 million. That is similar to the number the superbowl gets in the US. Those kind of numbers drive more girls and money in to the sport for the next cycle. |