All-Encompassing Womens Soccer Thread

[robertmac43]

Was a moment seeing Kerr take the field.. Would love to see the Aussies do it.

When she went down I was worried we were going to see a terrible injury moment. Beyond happy she was able to keep on going.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Bah gawd that's Sam kerrs music

Crowd went nuts when she was subbed on

 

[Ted Hoffman]

USWNT World Cup post-mortem: Examining the reasons the defending champs fell short

The end of the U.S. team's World Cup dominance came as a shock, but in other ways this early exit has been a long time coming. Here are the many factors that contributed to their demise in 2023.

www.espn.com

Many of the same things that have been mentioned here. I still think even with a healthy squad, Andonovski's tactics were shit and the team would have struggled, but injuries cut down the margin for error and Andonovski's coaching more than wiped it out. Like has been done with the USMNT for a while now (with halting success), investments need to be made at the women's youth level to get it up to snuff instead of having a couple stars at forward and the team otherwise looking like it was thrown together the night before.

Re: overseas leagues improving - I do recall discussions in the past about where our players should be, and that there had been tension about our gals playing overseas instead of in the NWSL and how that potentially impacted USWNT selections. [Which, after reporting on NWSL coaches abusing players came out, underscored that the players who wanted to play overseas might have known something.] Do I think overseas leagues are that much better? Ish - I think they're better but it's marginal because talent is spread out across Europe so it's kind of a wash. I do think there's a benefit to playing against good players from a variety of locations (what you'd get in Europe) as opposed to basically playing intrasquad scrimmages (what you largely get here), so that's the advantage. And if European leagues are willing to invest more money into improving their teams than the NWSL is, ... well, any gap in quality is going to explode quickly.

 

[Jussi]

I don't think this is a hot take. North America has shit infrastructure and organization for soccer, Europe has world class infrastructure and organization. As soon as more than 5 European clubs started putting money into the women's side (Chelsea, Arsenal, Lyon, Barcelona, and Wolfsburg that I can think of have for a long time now), the game was over.

I think top US talent need to head to Europe ASAP, even skipping college.

 

[Savant]

I think top US talent need to head to Europe ASAP, even skipping college.

This is going to start to happen. The Europeans clubs care about their women teams now so NWSL is about to get left in the dust.

 

[Jussi]

This is going to start to happen. The Europeans clubs care about their women teams now so NWSL is about to get left in the dust.

I think the US college programs need to take things to a new level as well.

 

[Savant]

I think the US college programs need to take things to a new level as well.

Probably but all colleges care about now is their football program

 

[Scandale du Jour]

I think the US college programs need to take things to a new level as well.

At that point, it is over.

Development needs to be happening at the youth level if they want to keep up with the European academy system.

 

[Jussi]

At that point, it is over.

Development needs to be happening at the youth level if they want to keep up with the European academy system.

Minor hot take: Ted Lasso might inspire more Americans to get involved in grass roots level coaching and/or learn more about the game.

 

[robertmac43]

A youth academy system would do wonders. Canada needs to get the Womens league in place first, after that, more youth options on both the women's and mens side of the game.

 

[Blender]

A youth academy system would do wonders. Canada needs to get the Womens league in place first, after that, more youth options on both the women's and mens side of the game.

Canada has more kids playing soccer than any other sport and it has been that way for years, but the youth structures are a joke. We need a top to bottom overhaul of the system to produce better results.

 

[Jussi]

Canada has more kids playing soccer than any other sport and it has been that way for years, but the youth structures are a joke. We need a top to bottom overhaul of the system to produce better results.

I think the school sports systems are beginning to hamper the development in some team sports. Transitioning from a school system into a town//city/city district teams that have no affiliation to schools, with multiple youth tiers and proper coaches for each team, as is the way it's in Europe, could save things in NA. There's a bunch of youth coaches that may not be good /good enough in Europe but could still raise the level in NA.

 

[hatterson]

I think the school sports systems are beginning to hamper the development in some team sports. Transitioning from a school system into a town//city/city district teams that have no affiliation to schools, with multiple youth tiers and proper coaches for each team, as is the way it's in Europe, could save things in NA. There's a bunch of youth coaches that may not be good /good enough in Europe but could still raise the level in NA.

The issue with that is many towns/counties don’t have budgets for sports and it’s not politically realistic to take a bunch of money away from schools even if it’s framed as simply transferring from one group to another.

 

[Jussi]

The issue with that is many towns/counties don’t have budgets for sports and it’s not politically realistic to take a bunch of money away from schools even if it’s framed as simply transferring from one group to another.

Towns in Finland don't exactly pay for them either. Parents and fund raisers pay everything for the youth teams. Well the coach is paid for, but not much. They're more of ten than not parents of some kid who als have played for the youth teams themselves back in the day.

 

[East Coast Bias]

I think there’s a lot of problems with US Soccer. I also think they were in a weird spot with very young, inexperienced players, and experienced players - most of whom were past it. There wasn’t a lot of generational talent to bridge the gap. It was like 35 or 21.

But the lesson should be to adjust. They’re not heavy favorites anymore.

 

[al secord]

Canada has more kids playing soccer than any other sport and it has been that way for years, but the youth structures are a joke. We need a top to bottom overhaul of the system to produce better results.

I'm an old ass man and nothing has changed in that regard since i was a kid. We never seem to learn.

 

[robertmac43]

I'm an old ass man and nothing has changed in that regard since i was a kid. We never seem to learn.

Got to keep more of our elite athletes in footy.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

But the lesson should be to adjust. They’re not heavy favorites anymore.

Indeed, although the reports of their death are greatly exaggerated imo. They should have a strong showing at the next WC as many of their top players will be in their primes, as opposed to this tourney where many were already past theirs.

Even with that, they played #3 ranked Sweden off the pitch. Just couldn't buy a goal. Soccer is like that sometimes.

 

[Ben Grimm]

Marta was great but I'd still take @Evilo over her.

 

[John Price]

Catching up to today's action and Colombia look good.

 

[John Price]

Big save by Colombia late. Appears they will hold on.

Impressed by the job the Reggae Girlz coach is doing. Rumor is he might be a candidate should the US move on from Vlatko.

 

[East Coast Bias]

That’s a hell of a goal by Colombia. Wow.

 

[John Price]

 

[Eye of Ra]

Kind of suprising that Columbia is better than Argentine and Brazil.

As for the political garbage, there's a certain portion of US media that likes calling other people un-American; and that's why they call someone not signing during an anthem "protesting" when it isn't.

It's quite ironic that they're calling the USWNT players un-American or not patriotic, when they're rooting for the team to lose... because they're full of lesbians and people who want social justice.

I saw an article that "Rapinoe poisoned the USWNT to be unpatriotic" which is just batshit.

When the USWNT actually WAS protesting during the anthem, it wasn't Rapinoe that started it. It was the white, straight and married player, who got a phone call to bring her husband's wallet to a traffic stop; and by the time she got there, the cops had her husband cuffed face down on the asphalt for the crime of driving a nice car while being black.

But the married, Christian woman doesn't fit their narrative, so they say it's the neon-haired lesbian because their whole schtick is "Be afraid of people who are different from you and that you don't understand; so you don't notice we're redistributing your money to CEO's pockets."

just because you are white and married it does not mean you automatically are a christian.

 

[John Price]

France lead.