Saying The Quiet Part Out Loud

[Guest]

Can we all just admit that the level of Spain and Japan is above that is the USWNT? Put national pride aside and just compare the quality of the football. It’s not a close call in my book.

Hard to argue otherwise.

[Guest]

Check back in tomorrow

[Guest]

Ok, first fire the coach this week. He must be fired before the World Cup is over.

second, no one cares about the women professional league. Women soccer is only seen as successful if we win or at least compete in the World Cup. Thus, do risk getting hurt and missing the World Cup in a league that no one cares about. You get the big money endorsement for winning and competing in the World Cup. No many of them look bad in those commercials. The commercial should be pulled.
let’s be honest, this has set women soccer back in the USA or at least stop the momentum.

again, it is the World Cup that we care about and we failed.

[Guest]

Ok, first fire the coach this week. He must be fired before the World Cup is over.

second, no one cares about the women professional league. Women soccer is only seen as successful if we win or at least compete in the World Cup. Thus, do risk getting hurt and missing the World Cup in a league that no one cares about. You get the big money endorsement for winning and competing in the World Cup. No many of them look bad in those commercials. The commercial should be pulled.
let’s be honest, this has set women soccer back in the USA or at least stop the momentum.

again, it is the World Cup that we care about and we failed.

It’s not the coach. The coach works with what they have. The players on the field were not nearly good enough. This works Cup exposes once again the problems in the US youth development system. It’s easy to go after the coach. It much harder to rip the bandaid off and admit youth clubs, ECNL, college soccer and NWSL are collectively not developing talent that can keep up with Spain, Japan etc. The elite league system is not developing or preparing players for the top levels. This is the ENTIRE point of the “quiet part”.

[Guest]

We have plenty of talent in the USA. There was zero speed on that the team. Also I so a lot of soccer players and very few athletes (i.e.,speed). Watch the runners for japan. Speed can make up for mistakes. Did you see how many long passes the other teams were able to put on us. Speed would have intercepted them and transition into fast breaks the other way.

remember, speed kills.

[Guest]

Eddie and you can go circle jerk in a corner and argue amongst ypurselves the best development model. The best league draws the best college scouts, which draws the best clubs, which draws the best players.

Yes, great marketing. But there is a purpose. ECNL is the best pathway to college soccer in the US on the girls side. PERIOD.

On boys, perhaps MLS Next first and ECNL second.

ECNL players look like rec noobs comapred to European academies quit playing yourself.

[Guest]

So has Japan. That team is about as consistent as you could imagine from a purely technical standpoint. You almost never see a poor first touch.

Asians have wied bodies they are not cut out for sports

[Guest]

spot on. Parents with money won’t prioritize soccer future for their children.

Alex ferguson:

"almost all football players have working-class roots. Understandably, middle-class parents want to make sure their boys go to college or acquire skills which means football never gets as much attention in those households. Around the world, football attracts boys for whom further education is unlikely and who have no choice but to work very hard on acquiring and improving their football skills as the path towards a better life.

For almost all the british players who played for me, football was their ticket out of miserable circumstances.

David beckham came from a small house in east london and his father worked as a heating engineer.

Paul scholes grew up in a council house in langley and nicky butt hailed from gorton - both places where you won't see a bentley parked in the drive.

Wayne rooney comes from a hard neighbourhood in liverpool and gave serious thought to becoming a professional boxer.

Danny welbeck and wes brown both grew up in longsight, a manchester neighbourhood known for gang violence.

Bryan robson's dad was a lorry driver.

Rio ferdinand grew up in peckham, one of the poorest areas of london.

The list is endless."

sir alex ferguson, 'leading'

did thye have to drop 10000000 for surf cup? American soccer is a money grab for half arsed rec players

[Guest]

We have plenty of talent in the USA. There was zero speed on that the team. Also I so a lot of soccer players and very few athletes (i.e.,speed). Watch the runners for japan. Speed can make up for mistakes. Did you see how many long passes the other teams were able to put on us. Speed would have intercepted them and transition into fast breaks the other way.

remember, speed kills.

Yes - speed kills but you also have to be able to do something with the ball once you beat everyone to it. At this level no one is slow. I don’t think lack of speed is the problem with the USWNT. It’s lack of tactics and creative movement off the ball. In the first half, Horan would get the ball in midfield, turn and all 3 of Morgan, Rodman and Smith were sprinting away from her. And not in diagonal runs, just straight down the field. Easy to defend.

[Guest]

The midfield is to put the ball in a dangerous place and let the speed go it it. Watch japan.

Our midfield was invisible. As for forwards, god we missed Pugh. A while different story if she was not hurt. But as big and as many players that we have, that key injury at forward should not have killed us.

[Guest]

if your current ECNL club did not have ECNL, would you still be at that club and why? Serious question.

Yes. Cause it’s the best club in my opinion

[Guest]

Japan, Spain and Colombia are fun to watch with fast ball movement. The US women were neither fun to watch nor did they move the ball quickly.

[Guest]

did thye have to drop 10000000 for surf cup? American soccer is a money grab for half arsed rec players

Well didn’t you hear - all the scholarships through class of 2028 were handed out at Surf Cup last month so you all are now out of luck. Doesn’t matter what division or what team - everyone got an offer just for showing up.

[Guest]

Yes - speed kills but you also have to be able to do something with the ball once you beat everyone to it. At this level no one is slow. I don’t think lack of speed is the problem with the USWNT. It’s lack of tactics and creative movement off the ball. In the first half, Horan would get the ball in midfield, turn and all 3 of Morgan, Rodman and Smith were sprinting away from her. And not in diagonal runs, just straight down the field. Easy to defend.

Very good points. The kind of speed that really kills in soccer is technical speed (how quickly you can control the ball and move it on to a teammate) and tactical speed (how fast you process the picture on the field and make decisions). Pace is great in counterattacks, but teams that sit in a low block (like Portugal did against ths US) aren’t broken down by straight-ahead running speed, they are broken down by quick, sharp and precise passing through combination play. The US was better against Sweden in the Round of 16, but wingers in particular tend to run out of ideas when they near the byline. Another issue for the US women is the utilization of the No. 6 when they play out from the goalkeeper. The US was essentially playing with double ‘sixes’ against Sweden, and at times neither Sonnett nor Sullivan were running to lose their marks. That meant that they weren’t creating space for each other so they could get on the ball and change the point of attack. They were getting in between the lines of the Swedish forwards and midfielders, but merely being there isn’t good enough as they allowed defenders to sit between them and the ball.

[Guest]

Yes - speed kills but you also have to be able to do something with the ball once you beat everyone to it. At this level no one is slow. I don’t think lack of speed is the problem with the USWNT. It’s lack of tactics and creative movement off the ball. In the first half, Horan would get the ball in midfield, turn and all 3 of Morgan, Rodman and Smith were sprinting away from her. And not in diagonal runs, just straight down the field. Easy to defend.

This tactic (or should say - lack of a tactic) of running in a straight line down the field and hoping for a perfect ball is also what it appears 90% of youth teams do as well so not very encouraging for the future of the sport here in the U.S. Time will tell. But is is pretty boring to watch that style of play for 90-120 minutes.