Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She set up 2 of our 3 dangerous chances just now.

LOL Rapinoe should not be on the field. Seriously she is not of the quality the rest of the team. Do you know much about soccer? Even the political correct 1/2 time show was talking about subs. It’s was Rapinoe they were talking about.

DP. Can you explain further? Perhaps I don’t understand soccer very well, but I’m having a hard time understanding how she said not as good as the rest when she saw one of their leading scorers.

Anonymous wrote:i absolutely hate team USA.

Agree.

This Dutch keeper is fabulous.

Anonymous wrote:Lavelle is a beat! What a baller. Best player on the team and the reason the US has done as well as it has.

Best player in the world.

Lavelle is a beat! What a baller. Best player on the team and the reason the US has done as well as it has.

That ref works for USA. A terrible and biased call.

Anonymous wrote:She set up 2 of our 3 dangerous chances just now.

LOL Rapinoe should not be on the field. Seriously she is not of the quality the rest of the team. Do you know much about soccer? Even the political correct 1/2 time show was talking about subs. It’s was Rapinoe they were talking about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought this was a parody the first time I saw it. But no, she really is an angry, self-obsessed little jerk.

https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1147366667313405952

Normal, rational, polite people: "Good luck in the Gold Cup final, guys. We're rooting for you!"

Megan Rapinoe: "F**k you for stealing our limelight."

Give it a break. Her criticism is directed at FIFA for scheduling the WWC Final on the same day as two (meaningless) men’s tournaments. At best, this scheduling decision is a poor decision by FIFA (after all, the World Cup is supposed to be THE biggest game in soccer). At worst, this scheduling decision shows that FIFA views the women’s game as less important than the men’s game.

This all came up because FIFA announced yesterday that they’d double the prize money at the next WWC. Someone asked Rapinoe about it at a press conference for the Final today, and she answered by basically saying that it’s not enough and pointed out ways in which FIFA was not doing enough to support the women’s game. Regardless of whether one personally likes Rapinoe, she is correct on this point. FIFA should be doing a lot more to support the women’s game. The men’s game did not become a multi-billion money making machine overnight and required significant investments in money, time, etc over the years. The women are correct in asking for the same opportunity and investment.

Gold Cup may not mean much, but Copa America matters.

I do find it interesting that FIFA did not influence better timing of Gold Cup, Copa America, and WWC. These three on at the same time is not smart. I am sure there were some scheduling challenges but this could have been done better. Having all three finals on one day is silly.

Anyhow, as far as women asking for more investment ... there is nothing wrong with that ask, but until they have greater viewership outside of an every four year tourney asking won’t matter. People either watch more or they don’t. It is not up to FIFA to make this happen, it is up to the investors, players, clubs, and leagues. Getting in a huff about it publically doesn’t really help, in fact it will turn some viewers away.

1. None of these games are on at the same time, so everyone is free to watch all of them if they want. Rapinoe is whining (as usual) because she knows the other tourneys are going to steal some of the media attention from her. And she and her teammates have gotten used to fawning attention from the sheeplike fangirls in the media who have tossed their professional responsibility out the window in this tourney.

2. The WWC is the only thing in women's soccer that makes any money and gets any real attention from anyone. And whining from the USWNT is going to make that worse, not better. The global audience for the Copa America final probably will be at least 10x that of the WWC final. As for the Gold Cup, El Tri is one of the most popular sports teams in the US as well as Mexico, so you can guess the size of the audience there.

3. I think it's hilarious that the people lining up to take potshots at Phil Neville are jumping through every hoop they can find to defend the USWNT members' bad behaviour at every turn.

One more thing: Scheduling for the men's tourneys is based on the window between seasons in most major professional leagues (which in this case means Europe) so as to minimize disruption to FIFA's biggest moneymaker. So that explains why they're all held in June and July.

Last time I checked July has only just started. Also, Neville is a good coach but a clown of a person. The media loves clowns so he’ll do well.

You might have noticed that tickets are on sale for the Arsenal-Real Madrid match July 23 at FedEx Field. That's a little more than 2 weeks away, which might give you a good idea of when players need to report back to their clubs. People who actually follow soccer, as opposed to USWNT fangirls, already know this.

Also, Rapinoe is a good player but a clown of a person. The media loves clowns, which is why she gets so much attention.

If I understand it correctly, the WWC and Copa America have been on the same 4 year cycle since 2007. Gold Cup is every 2 years. Yet I think this is the first time the men’s finals of those tournaments have been scheduled at the same time as the Women’s World Cup. Point being, FIFA seemed to have figured out how not to schedule these events on the same day in years past, despite the “pressing” needs of the international promotional tours of the European club teams, as they try to draw more fans from North America and Asia.

Speaking of, these preseason friendlies like Arsenal/Real Madrid, are examples of FIFA trying to promote and grow the men’s game. They are great ideas, even if it is hard to get too excited about friendlies. It would be interesting to see what might happen with the women’s game if it received similar promotion efforts. I appreciate the men’s game was built over decades, and it would take time to build the women’s game. But it would be nice to see FIFA take the lead in investing in the women’s game much more than it has done previously.

That’s why I don’t think it’s fair to call her a clown. She’s not the only one to have made this argument, and let’s not pretend like European teams play full strength sides in these ICC-type tournaments. I think they definitely could do more to support and promote the women’s game. Let’s not pretend like promotion and investment weren’t crucial to growing the game on the men’s side. We could barely field 13 teams for the first World Cup and the US actually made the semifinals, go figure. There definitely was room for all 3 finals to be scheduled differently. However, having them on Sunday and all within 3 hours of each other allows for a great day of soccer and sufficient time for analysis for lovers of the game. The answer’s got to lie somewhere in the middle.

What you don't get is that Rapinoe is the problem. Her Professional Lesbian/won't sing the anthem/f**k Trump clown act has politicized the game. And politicization is poison to efforts to draw in a mass audience for anything (except politics, where it belongs). Nobody's going to throw good money after bad and invest in promoting a sport whose major players are pissing off at least half of the intended audience (and I'm not letting Alex Morgan off the hook because she's heterosexual and pretty -- she's part of the problem, too).

Rapinoe argues about everything except what really matters: Why should women's soccer be special? Someone mentioned the Olympics. Well, the list of Olympic sports whose athletes labor in obscurity and relative poverty to get their chance at a medal is a long one. Where are the pro luge leagues? Or rowing? How about volleyball? This is the first time ever I've seen so many Americans wanting to cheer against their own team in a major international tournament. Or just not care.

Maybe Rapinoe and her teammates should try something new and shut up. Let their success speak for itself.

She set up 2 of our 3 dangerous chances just now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh god Rapinoe playing...why? Guess its time to go into this match a player down again.

Rapinoe’s got 5 goals and scored our 4 goals in the round of 16 and quarterfinal games. If she’s good to go, she starts, and Press will do damage coming off the bench and running at tired legs. But the latter is on Ellis to make the sub early enough for it to make a difference.

She got two goals off pks, one lucky free kick and everyone score against Thailand. Watch Rapinoe play. She is a turn over machine, no threat taking a player on, out of position and stands flat footed/not pressing. She is a liability. The team played better in the offensive 1/3 when Rapinoe was out against a better team.

Anonymous wrote:Oh god Rapinoe playing...why? Guess its time to go into this match a player down again.

Rapinoe’s got 5 goals and scored our 4 goals in the round of 16 and quarterfinal games. If she’s good to go, she starts, and Press will do damage coming off the bench and running at tired legs. But the latter is on Ellis to make the sub early enough for it to make a difference.

USA 4
Holland 0

Did Holland even showed up today?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought this was a parody the first time I saw it. But no, she really is an angry, self-obsessed little jerk.

https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1147366667313405952

Normal, rational, polite people: "Good luck in the Gold Cup final, guys. We're rooting for you!"

Megan Rapinoe: "F**k you for stealing our limelight."

Give it a break. Her criticism is directed at FIFA for scheduling the WWC Final on the same day as two (meaningless) men’s tournaments. At best, this scheduling decision is a poor decision by FIFA (after all, the World Cup is supposed to be THE biggest game in soccer). At worst, this scheduling decision shows that FIFA views the women’s game as less important than the men’s game.

This all came up because FIFA announced yesterday that they’d double the prize money at the next WWC. Someone asked Rapinoe about it at a press conference for the Final today, and she answered by basically saying that it’s not enough and pointed out ways in which FIFA was not doing enough to support the women’s game. Regardless of whether one personally likes Rapinoe, she is correct on this point. FIFA should be doing a lot more to support the women’s game. The men’s game did not become a multi-billion money making machine overnight and required significant investments in money, time, etc over the years. The women are correct in asking for the same opportunity and investment.

Gold Cup may not mean much, but Copa America matters.

I do find it interesting that FIFA did not influence better timing of Gold Cup, Copa America, and WWC. These three on at the same time is not smart. I am sure there were some scheduling challenges but this could have been done better. Having all three finals on one day is silly.

Anyhow, as far as women asking for more investment ... there is nothing wrong with that ask, but until they have greater viewership outside of an every four year tourney asking won’t matter. People either watch more or they don’t. It is not up to FIFA to make this happen, it is up to the investors, players, clubs, and leagues. Getting in a huff about it publically doesn’t really help, in fact it will turn some viewers away.

1. None of these games are on at the same time, so everyone is free to watch all of them if they want. Rapinoe is whining (as usual) because she knows the other tourneys are going to steal some of the media attention from her. And she and her teammates have gotten used to fawning attention from the sheeplike fangirls in the media who have tossed their professional responsibility out the window in this tourney.

2. The WWC is the only thing in women's soccer that makes any money and gets any real attention from anyone. And whining from the USWNT is going to make that worse, not better. The global audience for the Copa America final probably will be at least 10x that of the WWC final. As for the Gold Cup, El Tri is one of the most popular sports teams in the US as well as Mexico, so you can guess the size of the audience there.

3. I think it's hilarious that the people lining up to take potshots at Phil Neville are jumping through every hoop they can find to defend the USWNT members' bad behaviour at every turn.

One more thing: Scheduling for the men's tourneys is based on the window between seasons in most major professional leagues (which in this case means Europe) so as to minimize disruption to FIFA's biggest moneymaker. So that explains why they're all held in June and July.

Last time I checked July has only just started. Also, Neville is a good coach but a clown of a person. The media loves clowns so he’ll do well.

You might have noticed that tickets are on sale for the Arsenal-Real Madrid match July 23 at FedEx Field. That's a little more than 2 weeks away, which might give you a good idea of when players need to report back to their clubs. People who actually follow soccer, as opposed to USWNT fangirls, already know this.

Also, Rapinoe is a good player but a clown of a person. The media loves clowns, which is why she gets so much attention.

If I understand it correctly, the WWC and Copa America have been on the same 4 year cycle since 2007. Gold Cup is every 2 years. Yet I think this is the first time the men’s finals of those tournaments have been scheduled at the same time as the Women’s World Cup. Point being, FIFA seemed to have figured out how not to schedule these events on the same day in years past, despite the “pressing” needs of the international promotional tours of the European club teams, as they try to draw more fans from North America and Asia.

Speaking of, these preseason friendlies like Arsenal/Real Madrid, are examples of FIFA trying to promote and grow the men’s game. They are great ideas, even if it is hard to get too excited about friendlies. It would be interesting to see what might happen with the women’s game if it received similar promotion efforts. I appreciate the men’s game was built over decades, and it would take time to build the women’s game. But it would be nice to see FIFA take the lead in investing in the women’s game much more than it has done previously.

That’s why I don’t think it’s fair to call her a clown. She’s not the only one to have made this argument, and let’s not pretend like European teams play full strength sides in these ICC-type tournaments. I think they definitely could do more to support and promote the women’s game. Let’s not pretend like promotion and investment weren’t crucial to growing the game on the men’s side. We could barely field 13 teams for the first World Cup and the US actually made the semifinals, go figure. There definitely was room for all 3 finals to be scheduled differently. However, having them on Sunday and all within 3 hours of each other allows for a great day of soccer and sufficient time for analysis for lovers of the game. The answer’s got to lie somewhere in the middle.

Rapinoe out of position. Press would have gotten in that ball.

Anonymous wrote:Oh god Rapinoe playing...why? Guess its time to go into this match a player down again.

Dutch have a chance now. I bet Rapinoe has pictures of the coach.