Women's World Cup

Arghhh this is hard to watch. 12+ shots on goal with no love. Let's hope the 2nd half is better.

GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Alex Morgan is really attractive, and about 3 years younger than me. I hate now that I am in my mid 20's that all the best athletes in the world are now younger than me.

flountown wrote: I hate now that I am in my mid 20's that all the best athletes in the world are now younger than me.

I don't know. Most of the top Triathletes in the Ironman World Championship are older than that.

I think I am in love with the US goalie...

1999 all over again.

bummer

That was a GREAT game.

The girl who kicked the winning goal formally worked at the failed nuclear power plant in Japan. As much as I'd have liked to see the US win, it's pretty hard to take that kind of a victory away from the entire nation of Japan.

Well played, both sides.

SVreX wrote: That was a GREAT game. The girl who kicked the winning goal formally worked at the failed nuclear power plant in Japan. As much as I'd have liked to see the US win, it's pretty hard to take that kind of a victory away from the entire nation of Japan. Well played, both sides.

As much as I understand the feel good story of the Japan victory, F that, I prefer the USA to dominate in any and all aspects of international sport regardless of the sad montages and feel good story segments the news can put together. Overall a very disappointing showing, there is no way the US should have lost that game.

hobiercr wrote:

flountown wrote: I hate now that I am in my mid 20's that all the best athletes in the world are now younger than me.

I don't know. Most of the top Triathletes in the Ironman World Championship are older than that.

OK, I meant sports stars in general.

flountown wrote: ... there is no way the US should have lost that game.

Ummm... how about the way in which they did?

US moved the ball well, but their defense didn't cut it.

As a FIFA ref who has coached for 12 years, I think it would be a mistake to say they "deserved" to win. Japan played well. US had a LOT of serious mistakes.

They had a few post shots. That's because they had to play too close to the posts to beat the keeper, and had very little multi-player strategy on the striking.

They had a lot of "hooray" moments, but were missing some basics. Japan had very little brilliance, but incredibly strong fundamentals.

I think Japan earned it.

I'd say the US generally dominated the game, save for several glaring defensive errors. But Japan knew the PK was coming, and planned accordingly: the aggressive tackle/red card was an obvious sacrifice meant to shake up a lead player, and they started picking apart Solo before extra time was over. (I don't recall how it happened, but if Japan facilitated the minor injury to Solo's knee, that was a stroke of brutal genius.)

Deciding a soccer match with penalty kicks is nonsensical; it's a completely different game. Might as well go to sudden death badminton. But Japan dominated the PK. The first off-speed goal really got in Solo's head, and the rest was a cake walk.

(This comes from a formerly decided WC soccer hater. I spent a lot of time watching the mens' WC teams fall down and cry, which I found utterly infuriating. The womens' game was just good playing, no histrionics.)

I agree with most of what you said.

The US dominated the ball handling throughout the game. The scoreboard still showed tied 0-0 game 3/4 of the way through.

Once the US scored the first goal, they fell apart. Looked like they actually thought they could dribble away 7 minutes worth of playing time and Japan would just give up.

Great soccer games are about stamina and what you've got left for the end. US had nothing left. Japan knew how to win it.

I also agree about the glaring defensive errors. Unfortunately, soccer games are won by defense, not offense.

SVreX wrote: Unfortunately, soccer games are won by defense, not offense.

I disagree. It is all about offense. (I swear I am not a striker).

I miss the Vuvus from last year.

I would also have LOVED ChryCo to put out another commercial like Washington in a Challenger. Maybe a new Jeep making a beach landing in the South Pacific or pulling up as they raise the Flag on Iwo Jima.

SVreX wrote: The US dominated the ball handling throughout the game

Now that is something to cheer for, if ya know what I mean

93EXCivic wrote:

SVreX wrote: Unfortunately, soccer games are won by defense, not offense.

I disagree. It is all about offense. (I swear I am not a striker).

Offense is more fun to watch. Offense fills stadiums, defense wins games. Just like football.

A team only needs 1 goal to win if they have a good defense. But they may need to stop 20 or more attempts by the other team.

High scoring games are always directly related to a terrible defense, not a brilliant offense.

I would rather play attractive attacking football (I hate saying soccer) then build a strong defense and win.

This is something that enrages me. I didn't watch the whole game, just bits and pieces. The US played a good game but couldn't last until the end. Japan won a hard fought game. And yet, rather than just saying that, the net is abuzz with "US Soccer sucks again, US epic fail LOLOLOLOL".

What the hell man? Of course I want the US to win, but I'm not going to be ashamed or disappointed when we played a good game. We just have to come back harder next time. No one deserves to win anything. You have to earn it.

I found it very difficult to justify the existence of a women's World Cup without factoring in their hotness. The US should have won on hotness alone; the jap women were indistinguishable from the men's team. Aside from the two with a pony tail, how many could you clearly tell were women? Ali Krieger and Alex Morgan were nice to watch.

Overall their passing, technical ability (foot skills, shooting, and imparting movement on the ball (bend, dip, knuckling)), and decision making is comparable to men's college soccer. Extremely frustrating/infuriating to see them cry after giving up the second goal. I told my friend after we went 2-1 up that if they equalized we would lose...

Luckily we're less than a month away from the start of the Premier League!

I got called a sexist by a lady friend for pointing out how many of the female players I wanted to make babies with.

I can not wait for NCAA football to start....

Grizz wrote: I got called a sexist by a lady friend for pointing out how many of the female players I wanted to make babies with.

plus eleventy billion!

And they are great footballers. And I still want to make babies with them!

sad to say to our team.. the Japanese outplayed us. It happens in sports. Somebody has to lose for somebody else to win