14:54:25) NinerAdvocate: holy crap that USA- Brazil game. The most dramatic sporting event I’ve seen since the US-Algeria game(14:55:12) NinerAdvocate: Absolutely, completely, awesome, and justice was done at the end(14:56:35) ninerID: today i learned that people care about women’s sports and soccer(14:57:27) itsbraille49: i never learn anything(14:58:15) NinerAdvocate: I have absolutely fallen for this women’s team. They’re frustratingly wonderful to watch(14:59:49) NinerAdvocate: BTW, Wambach is going to get tons of run, but Rampone is the best US womens team defender I think Ive ever seen. Super quick and almost always in position, uses her body, her head and her speed. She’s an unsung hero(15:01:36) NinerAdvocate: [url=http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6754634]http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6754634/url NinerAdvocate: "I think that is a prefect exmaple of what this country is all about… we never give up(15:02:28) NinerAdvocate: - A. Wambach postgameThat goal by Wambach in the closing seconds was Michael Jordan-esque. Just willing her team to win. Holy s*** did she drill it.
That ref tried her damndest to give that game to Brazil but the US would not be denied. ABsolutely the most gutsy performance I have seen in ages. The US played a man down for 55 minutes, scoring the tieing goal after playing a man short for 53 minutes, because the ref is a f***ing idiot.
She blew that Brazil PK goal call 3 times: 1) it was not a foul. The US defender played the ball cleanly, Marta just did her best flop and whine routine; 2) It shouldn’t have been a red card; 3) Hope Solo did NOT come off her line. She blocked the PK cleanly. AND THEN THE DAMN REF GAVE BRAZIL ANOTHER SHOT AT IT. WTMFn’F!!
“Phenomenal,” [US Coach} Sundhage said. "Somebodys’s writing this book. It speaks to the American attitude."
What a game though. Amazing resilience.
I saw fans in Germany gear booing the ref and Marta. They knew we were getting screwed.
Marta might be the “best player in the world”, but she lost the crowd today. Almost that entire stadium turned against her.
Oh, and let me say this because it got lost in the shuffle - that play by the brazil defebnder #13 near the end of the game - the fake injury to milk the clock - that may be the worst example of sportsmanship I’ve ever seen. Then she had the audicity to jump off the stretcher and run back into the game. There was a little bit of karma served on the Brazilian team after that crap.
I watched most of the game on replay (<3 ESPN3), I knew we won, I knew how we won, and STILL when it got down to those last minutes, I was getting worried. What a match! Wish I coulda seen it live. Way to go USA!!! Karma is a B!TCH, Brasil!
Hope Solo is the daughter of Han Solo & Princess Leia. She used her Jedi mind tricks to make the team not give up when they went down in OT.
They even got her name from Star Wars 4: A New Hope. :))
Can you soccer nuts give me a reason why there isn’t a set time in soccer? Hockey is probably the closest sport and they still have a set time on their games…
never understood the whole, run the clock till we feel like it thing.
Can you soccer nuts give me a reason why there isn’t a set time in soccer? Hockey is probably the closest sport and they still have a set time on their games…
never understood the whole, run the clock till we feel like it thing.[/quote]
It probably has more to do with tradition than anything, and maybe to prevent time wasting from affecting the game. Also probably to make sure games are done in the same relative amount of time no matter the skill level or strategy.
In college, the clock is stopped by the official and there is no stoppage time.
I do think there needs to be some rethinking of the way time is handled in football (soccer), but it’s the most popular and profitable sport in the world as is, you’re not going to get FIFA to change anything.
Can you soccer nuts give me a reason why there isn’t a set time in soccer? Hockey is probably the closest sport and they still have a set time on their games…
never understood the whole, run the clock till we feel like it thing.[/quote]
It probably has more to do with tradition than anything, and maybe to prevent time wasting from affecting the game. Also probably to make sure games are done in the same relative amount of time no matter the skill level or strategy.
In college, the clock is stopped by the official and there is no stoppage time.
I do think there needs to be some rethinking of the way time is handled in football (soccer), but it’s the most popular and profitable sport in the world as is, you’re not going to get FIFA to change anything.[/quote]
You just made my argument, you wouldn’t have that Brazil crap or the crap that team did to the US men last time if they just stopped the clock when someone went down with an injury. Just make every game 90 minutes, stop the clock for injuries and there you have it… dumb.
Clock is kept on the field by the official, not a scoreboard. Any injury time is added on.
The cheese of Erika’s move was that she was trying to give her teammates a 3 minute rest. They were gassed. The US was so much more match fit it wasnt funny. That lack of conditioning prevented Brasil from really being able to press the 11v10 advatange.
[quote=“NinerAdvocate, post:16, topic:25542”]Clock is kept on the field by the official, not a scoreboard. Any injury time is added on. The cheese of Erika’s move was that she was trying to give her teammates a 3 minute rest. They were gassed. The US was so much more match fit it wasnt funny. That lack of conditioning prevented Brasil from really being able to press the 11v10 advatange. [/quote]
And I bet we are going to see more of that in the future. While most US soccer teams aren’t the most skillled teams (although we are def. picking it up), we are by far some of the best conditioned teams. It’s proven itself in both World Cups so far.
Just because I love soccer doesn’t mean I love everything about it.
One exciting of the time being kept on the field is that the officials are not supposed to stop a match in the middle of an offensive push, but you could make the argument that they already had 90 minutes to make that push, why should this one count?
In theory, if someone goes down for an injury and the clock stops 5 for minutes, then that’s 95 minutes of game time. If the clock stays running, and 5 minutes of stoppage time is added on, then it’s 95 minutes of game time. Same result, different approach.
Our problem isn’t a lack of athletes, it’s a lack of disciplined skill. Our positioning on defense, our passing, our finishing, etc are all dragging behind the rest of the world. Soccer isn’t a sport where the top athletes can dominate the game. You have to be skilled.
I do think we need to execute fundamentals better, but we also need a creative finisher, like Marta or Messi, but in better match shape, and with less of an pissy attitude. Actually, Messi’s fit and not too much of a primadonna, given how good he is, so maybe we just need a Messi. And as much as I hate Marta, she can make something out of nothing, which is a gift - I just dont think you can teach it - it’s instinct + drive. I think if you add a finisher like that to either the MNT or WNT and sure up our uncharacterstically bad back line on the men’s side, we’d have a serious contender on both sides. The women may be good enough without one.
