Thursday, July 27, 2023

[Luv2shoot]

Hey, what a game!
The USA got its "STUFF" together in the second half and did themselves proud.  It sure would have been nice to win that one, but hopefully, they will keep their eye on the prize and win he rest of their games, and get themselves into the finals.  

I am anxious to hear your reaction to the game, Dave. Was your daughter in the stands?  Does she have to pay for every game separately or does her husband get her into the games for free?  That would be a real plus if that were the case.

Can you remember the sound those typewriters use to make?  I can see a sports writer frantically typing the story about the soccer game so that he/she could meet the midnight deadline and get the story submitted in time before the paper goes to press.   

Have a good Thursday all,
LORELL

[Dave]

Love that old typewriter photo, Lorell.

You asked about my reaction to the USA / Netherlands game:

The draw almost assures that the USA will advance to the knockout stage by finishing first or second in their group. Linsey Horan responded to an overly hard tackle (which should have been a foul) in the best way. You've probably heard the phrase "Don't get mad - get even" Horan did both. (That's the way my daughter did it too in her playing days. She was almost always the shortest player on the field. I soon learned not to get upset when someone took her down with a rough tackle. Instead I just waited for the payback. I remeber one game in her coed league when this over 6-foot guy was being unnecessarily rough on the women players, and when they complained he just laughed and said "That's soccer. Deal with it." He made a hard tackle on my daughter, who bounced right back up, saying nothing. About 10 minutes later daughter made a slide tackle, taking him down hard. She looked down at him still on the ground and said "Now THAT'S soccer.")

Back to the USA game. We sure could have used a win, because USA and Netherlands will probably finish with the same number of points, and the first tie-breaker is goal differential (goals scored minus goals allowed) in the 3 games of group play. Currently the US has a goal differential of +3, while Netherlands is at +1. Netherlands third game is against Vietnam, a weak team, and should win by a large margin (by 5 or 6 possibly). The US finishes with Portugal, a much stronger team than Vietnam. If Netherlands wins by 6 goals, USA must win by at least 5 goals to finish first in our group. And why is that important? The team that finishes #1 in our group next plays against #2 in another group (group G if I remember correctly, and that is likely to be Italy, ranked #16 in the world. But if we finish in 2nd, we'd play #1 in group G - probably Sweden, who is ranked # 3 in the world, and always gives USA problems.

Lorell, I forgot to answer two of your questions:

1) My daughter watches from the stands. She has no affiliation with the US team other than that her husband has been part of the team staff for many years.
2) To the best of my knowledge she pays for her tickets herself. I imagine tickets are expensive, but they afford the costs. The US team as an organization (the USWNT) extends some benefits to fans, such as easier access to flights (but certainly not on the team's flights) from venue to venue and some assistance in lodging (usually at AIRbnbs and facilitating booking of non-soccer-related tourist type outings. They (the USWNT) does a fantastic job of assisting fans.

[Luv2shoot]

Thanks for all the details, Dave. I find it very interesting. I also did not know about the goal differential. I was waiting for playoff kicks in the USA vs. Netherlands game. The thing that I worry about too is that Vietnam will not be trying as hard as they were when they played us in the first round. They were a fresh team a week ago with high hopes. It is a lot different now. My husband was cheering for Nam to do well though. After serving in Vietnam for 1 1/2 years, he got to know the people and has a lot of respect for them. He says that they are hard-working people with a lot of backbone.


I know that you are in tune with the game because of all the years you watched your daughter compete in the game. That is pretty big that she played COLLEGE soccer. She had to be good.

My son Wrestled in college too but it was a Division III NCAA school. Unlike you, I never enjoyed watching him wrestle in high school or college. It was difficult to watch one's child get twisted like a pretzel. The one good thing though, was it kept him in college and got him a degree. We still had to pay the vast majority of the tuition, but I am not sure he would have continued his college education if it weren't for being able to wrestle.

[Man From Ironbark]

I don't really follow it even though of all the football codes I think soccer is the best and particularly the women soccer players.
Australia let Nigeria beat us, which puts us on a knife edge. We will have to defeat Canada to be able to progress to the next stage.

[Dave]

MFI...

The Nigeria upset of Australia really surprised me. As you noted Australia vs Canada will determine who advances.

Like you, I much prefer the women's game, for a number of reasons:

1) I detest how the men fake injuries, rolling over and over an impossible number of times, writhing in apparent agony, but if they convince the ref to call a foul they jump up and scamper away. (I regret that I'm seeing signs that the women are adopting this behavior.)

2) IMO opinion, the women are as tough - or maybe tougher - than the men. Two examples from the US Women's National Team come to mind, but no doubt there are similar examples in many countries. My example is Michelle Akers, a star on the USWNT teams in the 1990s and early 2000s which also featured Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy. She was a devastating scorer and later switched to tough-as-they-come midfielder. But she played her entire career with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and that's inconceivable. I remember one game when she jumped forward to head the ball away just as an attacking opponent tried to kick the ball. Michelle caught cleats right in the face and crumbled to the pitch, but was quickly back on her feet and continued playing. (Years later a similar thing happened to Carli Lloyd, who was lying on the pitch after a collision when an opposing player (I will not mention her name) intentionally stepped hard on her face. Carli was back in the game almost immediately.)

3) Also IMO, the top women are just as talented as the top men. About 20 years ago one of the top men's players was asked who he considered the best player in the world. In his reply he explained the many facets of the game in which this player excelled, finishing by saying some like "The best player in the World? Her name is Mia Hamm."

[Man From Ironbark]

All of the above mate. All of the above.
I've only seen one woman fake the fall and she did get reprimanded for it. The women do play more honest soccer.

[Dave]

You wrote - "The women do play more honest soccer."

A big Amen to that.