OT: Olympics: U.S. Women’s Soccer

[LoboDays]

4 am ET tomorrow.

 

[Bigboote]

Thanks, folks. NBC makes things very difficult to find.

 

[D J B]

Thanks, folks. NBC makes things very difficult to find.

Yes, they do. The other morning, they said the Canada match was on Telemundo, but here in Maryland it was actually on USA Network. NBC was showing the tiddlywinks quarterfinals.

 

[Vowelguy]

US has won 4 of the 8 world cups & 4 of 6 Olympics. The leader but not unbeatable.

Did not medal in 2016. (First time not in top 3.)
Canada has won last two bronze. Sweden won last silver.

 

[eebmg]

US holds on barely 4-3 for Bronze.

 

[cordarone]

Gold medal game reset to 8am ET tomorrow (Friday evening in Japan).
I don't think NBC will care too much now even if they were the ones who reportedly had it scheduled for midday in the Tokyo heat

 

[Vowelguy]

Bummer that the old US players can’t hack it.

oh who scored the 4 US goals to win the bronze?

Rapinoe (age 36) and Lloyd (age 39)

 

[Vowelguy]

US has won 4 of the 8 world cups & 4 of 6 Olympics. The leader but not unbeatable.

Did not medal in 2016. (First time not in top 3.)
Canada has won last two bronze. Sweden won last silver.

8 wins
2 runner ups
4 third place (20O, 07W, 03W, 95W)
1 other (16O)

 

[oldude]

Bummer that the old US players can’t hack it.

oh who scored the 4 US goals to win the bronze?

Rapinoe (age 36) and Lloyd (age 39)

I’ve only seen the highlights of Rapinoe’s 2 goals. Both were spectacular.

 

[TheGOAT23]

Congrats to both teams!

 

[huskyd]

Time to send Vlatko back to Transylvania after he's drained the blood out of the wnt in soccer? There was an historical Vlad known as the "Impaler." Relative?
I'll chip in.

 

[meyers7]

I’ve only seen the highlights of Rapinoe’s 2 goals. Both were spectacular.

Lloyd's finishes were very nice too.

 

[oldude]

Lloyd's finishes were very nice too.

Yes. I just watched the full match replay. The match was night and day different than the 1st meeting between the US & Australia, when both teams were content to basically play an indifferent 0-0 draw.

In this match, the US pushed the attack for 3 qtrs of the game. Their passing was exceptional and even though the Aussies managed 3 goals against the backup goalie, the American team was in control.

 

[LoboDays]

The U.S. had the advantage for most of the game but Australia had a lot of serious opportunities. Way more than Canada had. Most of the conversation here about changes needed deals with the front line but the defenders need a close look too. I think we got the wrong impression about the defensive strength in the games leading up to the Olympics where the competition could barely get the ball over the midfield stripe.

 

[meyers7]

Yes. I just watched the full match replay. The match was night and day different than the 1st meeting between the US & Australia, when both teams were content to basically play an indifferent 0-0 draw.

In this match, the US pushed the attack for 3 qtrs of the game. Their passing was exceptional and even though the Aussies managed 3 goals against the backup goalie, the American team was in control.

Yes, that was quite a bit of a drop off between Naeher and Franch.

 

[cordarone]

Oh.

My heart.....

 

[UConnCat]

 

[Plebe]

Truly the weakest gold-medal winner in the history of the Olympics or World Cup.

Canada fails to score a single goal in the run of play in any of the 3 knockout games. And yet somehow they're the champions.

Sweden choked horribly on the PKs.

 

[cordarone]

, umm k.
Style points aside - [ ]care [x] don't care
Could also point out the US failed to score against either team in three hours of play but nah.
Later all

 

[eebmg]

Truly the weakest gold-medal winner in the history of the Olympics or World Cup.

Canada fails to score a single goal in the run of play in any of the 3 knockout games. And yet somehow they're the champions.

Sweden choked horribly on the PKs.

Feel pretty bad for 36 year old Seeger for Sweden. No one should end a long career missing a penalty kick that would have led to Gold.

 

[meyers7]

Glad to see Sinclair get a gold.

 

[Beemer]

Congratulations Canada!!!

 

[UConnCat]

 

[Waquoit]

It's been said that some of the old players with name recognition (in the past) have gotten a coach fired, when they didn't get their way. Pretty much since the 99ers, the WNT has been an "old gals club". Don't cross the veterans.

The problem is that these players don't make any money unless they are on the national team. So none of them are going to leave willingly. Once you get the name recognition, that seems to trump performance. And like you intimated, none of the coaches have the stones to make the necessary adjustments because they don't want to get fired. Hopefully, US Soccer will see this for the debacle it was and heads roll.

 

[JoePgh]

The problem is that these players don't make any money unless they are on the national team. So none of them are going to leave willingly. Once you get the name recognition, that seems to trump performance. And like you intimated, none of the coaches have the stones to make the necessary adjustments because they don't want to get fired. Hopefully, US Soccer will see this for the debacle it was and heads roll.

During the Bronze Medal game (USA vs. Australia), there was a detailed discussion between the announcers on why the team didn't get younger after winning the 2019 World Cup. I thought it was persuasive, and a lot less conspiratorial than what you are suggesting.

They acknowledged that age was a problem for the team, particularly on the front line. But they noted several factors accounting for the decision to go with older players in this Olympics:

1. The same team, with forwards who were already old by soccer standards, had won the 2019 World Cup in convincing fashion, so there was no indication then that they were over the hill.
2. When the new coach took over immediately after that tournament, he and everyone expected that the Olympics would be in 2020 rather than 2021, leaving him with a very short time to prepare -- probably too little time to select and practice with a drastically overhauled roster.
3. When the Olympics were postponed, it was done only a few months before the event was scheduled to take place. This again created a situation where there would be too little time to overhaul the roster for the 2021 games.

The implication is that if the coach had known in 2019 that the Olympics were two years away, he would have realized that he needed some younger forwards on his roster and would probably have selected and trained the roster differently.

Having said that, the fact that Rapinoe and Lloyd were responsible for all the scoring in the Bronze Medal game suggests that those two players in particular were far from "old timers". Both of Rapinoe's goals demonstrated a very high offensive skill level. I wonder if any younger player would have been able to score those goals.

Of greater concern is the defensive side (giving up 3 goals to both Sweden and Australia, and 2 goals to The Netherlands), where age is not a particular problem. The back end of the formation needs improvement also, though not necessarily by getting younger.