Biles and Holland
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Anonymous
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I hope I am wrong, but I don't think I am.
I think the US WNT will be totally outshined by a Netherlands team that is harboring a grudge from the last WWC. While I would embrace this result as an indictment of the overall myopic, provincial, and tragically flawed US Soccer, I suppose I have just enough nationalism left in me to want to see the US win it again. The situation with the USWNT offers such a contrast to Simone Biles. Biles, recognizing that she was not on top of her game physically or emotionally, had the grace to to step aside recognizing that she would not be a help to her team or herself. This is such a complete opposite attitude as though harbored by players like Rapinoe and Lloyd who seem to never stop seeking self aggrandization or a gold medal in being a pouty old sow respectively. For my money , Rapinoe was pretty useless in the WWC but capitalized on cherry picking goals by abnegating her defensive responsibilities almost entirely. Lloyd, of course, sat seething about her playing time and put her own gripes ahead of the good of the team. The older players on this team just seem stodgy, tired, and unwilling to face the fact that their playing days are over. I remember back in the old days when Sweden, I think, beat the US and formed a human chain, crawling around the field. It incensed Hamm and others to the point that they were practically boiling with rage when they met again. How many teams have the US incited in that same manner as they ignored the fact that so many of those nations were gaining on them at light speed? There is a day of reckoning coming, and it will probably arrive tomorrow. I hope I am wrong, but I don't think I am. |
Anonymous
| Sorry, but when you describe anyone as a "pouty old sow," I discount any other point you may have been trying to make. |
Anonymous
There are so many better points you can make about the recent performance of the USWNT players than insulting them on a personal level. |
Anonymous
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In general in soccer.
Young 22 and under Macário 21 Davidson 22 Prime years 23-26 Campbell 26 Lavelle 26* Older player 27-29 Horan 27 Sonnett 27 Dahlkemper 28 Williams 28 Ertz 29* Dunn 29 S Mewis 29* Old 30 plus Krueger 30 Franch 30 K Mewis 30 Press 32 Naeher 32 Heath 33* O'Hara 32 Morgan 32* Sauerbrunn 36 Rapinoe 36 Lloyd 39* * injured/recovering This is the problem |
Anonymous
lol now do the anti-Trump blue anons |
Anonymous
So you do see how you come across to others. |
Anonymous
. I could quibble with some of your classifications - for example, a 23 year old is viewed by many as a player still developing, and a 27 year old is viewed by many as being in his or her prime - but I understand the broader point about the team being old as a whole, and whether certain older players should have been dropped from the Olympic team in favor of younger players. I think most people would agree the team should have gone with younger players if it did not win the last WC or if the team’s performance had dropped in the run up to the Olympics. However, that was not the case. This team not only won the WC, but also continued its unbeaten streak through the first game in the Olympics against Sweden. This was the second longest unbeaten streak in WNT history, and it included games against many top 10 teams between the WC and the Olympics. When a team is on that kind of streak, it is tough to break it up, and one could argue the players have the right to “run it back” until they are knocked off. Anyway, with respect to the team selection, what’s done is done. I will be rooting for them to win another gold and become the first defending WC champion to win gold. Win or lose, this team will be broken up, with a major re-fresh of the roster as the WNT heads into the next WC cycle. |
Anonymous
It would make sense to rebuild during the Olympics and not before WC. While the Olympics are nice to win the real prize is WC. The last WC should have been the swan song for this roster not the Olympics. |
Anonymous
I simplified the young, prime, older and old. It is position and player dependent but most players career fall generally in those ranges. A smaller forward who depends on quickness and speed usually peaks earlier and declines faster- quickness goes first followed by speed. It’s looking like Dunn has lost a step against Sweden but they are pretty big. A midfielder’s prime is later, goalies seem to play into their 30 with little decline. In general bigger players can stay productive longer vs smaller players. Older players are more injury prone and fade over a season or a tournament with little rest between games. You could see the decline in some players last World Cup. The thing was there were younger players who pickup the slack of the older players- Lavelle mostly. That is not happening now. Lavelle needs to do less defensive work and start the offense in the final third not back at midfield. A “winning” streak that includes international friendlies really does not mean much. Those games are for bringing in younger players and seeing what you have. |
Anonymous
| Last time I checked the coach decides who plays not the players. Are we saying the coach is a useless facade? |