Now That The Ladies Have Your Attention...

f Marta.

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Except for those Brazilian bitches RT hopesolo Go ahead, jump on the bandwagon and let’s do this together. One Nation, One World, One Team.less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet ReplySailor Ripley
BarkingCarnival

THIS f Marta.

I don’t know a lot about soccer admittedly, but we seem to be getting owned. The US can’t even maintain possession in this second half.

Yeah, we are not playing well, particularly in midfield.

The substitutions seem to have helped. Playing better now.

And as I was typing we scored. US up 2-1 now.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL 3-1!

Great finish from my favorite player, Alex Morgan.

Stick to cycling, France.

Great second half. Could have easily been 5-1.

I was amazed to hear how many of my friends watched that entire match. One friend admitted to jumping out of his chair and yelling “Holy Shit!” after the last goal, to be mimicked by his 2 year old. I was watching because I have 3 daughters, and soccer is my best chance at being involved in athletics. incredible game. Missed today’s, but will be tuned in on Saturday.

Alex Morgan is also my favorite, with Rodriguez a close second. There are at least 5 genuine hotties on the squad.

Has there ever been a coach as successful as Pete Carroll at two different sports? This is amazing.

I think Erika was ‘planking’. It’s a crazy new fad, she’s just on the bleeding edge, following the new trends.

The formation changes made all the difference. Cheney in the center created many more opportunities, and they paid off. Great game, and I’m looking forward to Sunday.

Does this article read as if different people wrote each paragraph?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/sports/soccer/when-americans-are-involved-fate-can-be-fluid.html?ref=soccer

@jmptexas Definitely a big change in the middle. I think it’s also very telling that the US has a higher fitness level than either Brazil or France — the cheeseaters seemed to really fade in the last 10-15 mins.

@ppk
I see what you mean, really choppy and disjointed. It reminds me of a game we would play as kids where someone would draw the head of a monster, fold the paper over so you can’t see it, and someone else would draw the torso, fold that over and so on.

George Vecsey is from the old school.

The old journalism school where you’re taught that paragraphs should be short, because short ones look better in printed newspaper columns.

Never mind the flow, or that most of your readers are online.

Keep things succinct, and choppy.

That, or he’s just getting paid by the paragraph these days.

“Has there ever been a coach as successful as Pete Carroll at two different sports? This is amazing.”

Underrated post.

Thanks 3xhorns.

I must admit it took me a minute to get it but it’s quality.

Does this ruin it for you, babytime?

I didn’t get it until I saw the picture. Freaking hilarious.

Dog, back to the Brazil game for a second. On the missed offside’s call isn’t there an assistant ref on each sideline? I watched the reply a couple of times the other day and didn’t see the assistant anywhere in the replay on the side of the field where the player was offside’s. Whose call is that to make?

the ref also decided it merited a straight red card for Buehler, reducing the US to 10 players.

No fair was Buehler’s day off.

Art -

There is an assistant ref on each touchline but they are only responsible for one end of the field. The one that should have called the Brazilian infraction was on the camera side of the field.

I’m sure HoG will correct me if I’m wrong but I think that’s the case.

Huckleberry is correct, the ARs only cover one half of the field. In the image above, she’s on the near touchline out of the camera shot. She should be level with the last US defender and see the Brazilian attacker about a yard ahead. Perhaps her view of when the ball was kicked was blocked by some other players.

@parlin I see what you did there.

Is Cheeseaters really an insult? If eating cheese is wrong, I don’t want to be right!

Of course not. Just a bit of hyperbole for our Gallic friends.

I think the cheese-eating part of the description is only to differentiate the French from other surrender monkeys. But you’ll have to ask Groundskeeper Willie because he was the first to utter the phrase.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Watching the game, I couldn’t help but get the sense that our women’s team is just like our men’s team if we traded out Dempsey for David Villa. Solid in goal, meh on defense, technically unsound in the midfield, can’t win possession…but the difference is if we can loft one cleanly into the box, Abby Wombach is a totally f*ing deadly target player. Seriously, maybe we should sneak Wombach onto the men’s side. She’s got enough size and an excellent feel for the box.

Oh crap I can’t believe I just said that. Go at it, children.

back in my day, being a centreforward was the awkward combination of sticking my arse out to protect the ball and knowing that the opposition centrehalf was going to pound straight through me to get the ball. getting tackle from behind is no longer part of the game.

I find it funny that the best teams in the women’s game generally have a:

1. goalkeeper that covers the goalmouth without having to run / can claim crosses and corners / doesn’t watch the ball loop over them and into the net; and
2. striker that can score with headers from 0-8 yards out…

so much for women being ‘pound for pound more skillful than men’s’.

English-

Anybody that says that about any sport (woman more fundamental then men) is either
A) an uppity woman looking for respect,
B) a man embarassed for his gender superiority at all things athletic or
C) trying really hard to be politically correct.

I know you are just fooling around, but I hate seeing that (though truly we see it most often in roundball)
I coached high school women’s soccer, I coached 7 year old girls and I have a daughter- so I’m sort of interested, plus I don’t mind seeing good looking ladies on tv- especially during a dead time for traditional sports over here. I like the women’s game ok but to try to compare it to the mens is folly on so many levels. You don’t get to be to the bleeding edge of competition (and mens sports are way more competitive) without being technically proficient. The men also bring a flair as well, while most women (someone like Marta excepted) bring the workmanlike approach without the artistry.

That said, that left footed cross to Wombach’s head to equalize with Brazil was as good a cross as I’ve ever seen- man or woman. Truly sublime.

My problem is not with women’s football itself. It is with the portrayal of the game as some form of technical wizardry (as the BBC has shoved down my throat).

The sides are well drilled and get it into the box early.

The successful teams have got big strikers: Wambach 5-11, Cheney 5-10, Landstrom 5-11, Chelin 5-11. Kelly Smith and Brigid Prinz were considered 2 of the better strikers in the world and both tower over their counterparts.

The keeping has been a little better than the last world cup, but not a lot. I read an article in the guardian newspaper which said that the average height of the starting goalkeepers at the last world cup was 5-8. No wonder they kept getting lobbed, had to run from post to post and can’t claim crosses that pass them by in the 6 yard box.

I am not advocating making the goals smaller or anything like that, but the game is let down when good play is nullified by a goal keeper failing to keep a looping ball out of the net. This has happened a number of times in the last couple of weeks.

Tell me about it (re- small goaltenders). We played on an artificial turf field one day and the ball was kicked high in the air and then bounced right over my keeper’s head, nothing she could really do about it (due to her size and jumping limitations).

I’m with you completely on the irritation of pundits claiming technical superiority for females- it happens over here, much more commonly, with hoops. Just because the game is less artistic and less athletic doesn’t mean it’s more technically sound- that’s not the case with hoops nor what I’ve seen with women’s futbol. I think it does a disservice to the gender to try to claim some superiority to the mens game. It’s laughably unture, and detracts from the fact that it’s females competing at the highest level- they should not have to compete against the mens game since they will always lose. Just appreciate it for what it is, the opportunity for 50% of the world to compete at something that’s fun, and viewed in the correct light can be seen as entertaining. If you compare it to men it suffers from the comparisson. If you watch it for what it is it’s a lot better.

The WNBA had the same issues targeting their population to men’s hoops fans with that whole we got next bit. It antagonized the fans and was really in your face. Always should have been marketed as a niche sport for guys to take their daughters to, and the GLBT community. With soccer the chicks are good looking so, like tennis, you also can cater to the american male sports fan, as long as you don’t pretend that the game is something it’s not (somehow equal with the mens game- even if you are just discussing technical skill).

The artistry of the mens game doesn’t exist without solid technical skill. to pretend it does is laughably naive.

Good piece though from dog and enjoy the discussion