I'd admit at first I was watching the US matches only to see Hope Solo. But the game vs Brazil got me fired up. I heart US team. And Solo of course!
Wish one of the ESPN channels would replay the game before the Wed semi-final match. Congrats to the whole team, with special kudos to Hope Solo who I backed all the way a few years ago. Talk about Destiny with a Capital D.
Amazing!! First I'd like to congratulate the U.S. team for their amazing win. I, for one, am always extremely happy when one of our teams wins an international match of any kind especially when it's against a team loaded with players that think they are cool going by just one name. Now for the downer. This team was VERY lucky to win that match. To say it was will, skill, American spirit or otherwise is pretty silly. The Brazil own goal kept us in the game with no offense and the long kick resulting in the header was strictly luck. No person on Earth could place that ball almost 50 yards away in a place with less than a foot error. Otherwise they would have scored 10 goals in the match. I suppose I would agree that staying in the match one player down most of the game after a bogus red card was serious will, but it came down to two very lucky goals. With that said, I think they had better focus (or for Bill in Sinton have serious focusness) to win the next game. France will not just lay down and give us the game. I'll predict the same as I did before with the U.S. winning 2-1 against France. USA.....USA.....USA.......
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” "luck"? schmuck! We're good. The Brazil nuts were lucky the officials gave them so many breaks--missed off sides, bogus call on the blocked PK, although "technically" correct, unless the call was on Solo, then it was totally bogus. We only got one break in the officiating. The sophisticated German soccer crowd demonstrated their disapproval of the officiating with their ongoing whistling. BTW: I'm going to a soccer bar in San Antonio Wednesday. I found it in about a minute on Google. Support your local soccer bar if you can get away from work, and this weekend.
Luck?! Are you just being a dumb-dumb, or are you have you just never watched soccer before? Abby Wambach has made a career of those "lucky" goals on crosses just like that one. Would you call it luck if Colt McCoy hit Jordon Shipley for a 35-40 yard pass? Because that is why they call it a "pass" in soccer, it is just with feet instead of hand. No you wouldn't...you would say it was due to a successful play. Soccer has plays, did you know that? Tell me you don't think that these corners and set plays have not been practiced thousands of time by these players. Tell me you understand that when you look at a good shot, if it is spinning that is intentional, so it curves up, down, left or right, just like in baseball. If you see no spin, that is called a "driven ball"--which would be like a pitchers fast ball. And you know what--they do it on purpose!! Think for a minute how hard it is to get your foot into the right angle to put that spin on the ball. All I could ever do was spin it to the right side, and I think that was mostly because I was bowlegged! It isn't luck that allowed the US to have the fitness to run Brasil into the ground. Do you know they have such a sophisticated conditioning program that they are all wearing heart rate monitors as they play, and subs are made accordingly? They play "friendlies"-games against other world class teams to get into world class playing shape the last 3 years. Brasil does not. People such as yourself are why soccer will never catch on in the US....you simply can't or won't understand it isn't just kicking a ball into a net. These two teams have styles that are miles apart, and as individuals I would say but for 2-3 of our players (Solo, Wambach) Brasil players are all more skilled with a ball. But it is a team sport, and the best TEAM won today based on many things, but luck was not one of them. If anything, luck was on the side of Brasil with poor officiating. Go out with a ball sometimes and give it a go...I think you will understand just how hard this game is. Oh, and run full speed for 2 and a half hours in the heat of the day while you are at it. An NFL player is grabbing an oxygen mask after sprinting for one long pass, and I love US football, but there aren't many-if any that could have done what those women did against Brasil. Yes, the US team played with
I agree with Bedhead. Brazil is skilled, I love watching them play for their footwork but they rely more on that than being a team. Marta even talked about that before the tournament started. One thing that I love about that game is the amount of people who are suddenly tuning in to women's soccer. Hopefully this will turn into higher ratings and they will show more women's games on television. I was disappointed that none of the world cup qualifying games were on television and I had to follow on twitter instead. I got my US Soccer shirt ready for tomorrow. USA! USA!
Wow, such hostility and attacks for saying this was a lucky victory. No I am not an all knowing soccer fan. I've never played the sport. I never said this team doesn't have talent, skill, determination, fitness, etc. I never said they didn't play with tremendous skill and effort in this game. I simply said this was a lucky victory. And it was. Where the ball was kicked from about 50 yds away for the goalie to miss on one side by six inches and another defender by a foot on the other side was some skill but mostly sheer luck from a desperate last minute play. The fact that Brazil scored one for us was sheer luck. It doesn't take a soccer Einstein to see that.
Not meant to be hostile...sorry that it came across that way. It is just frustrating that you (and most of America) more than likely would not bat an eye at calling an long completed pass "skill" if it were one of our Horns, but with football soccer it is luck. I promise you, Abby Wamback is I think 3rd onthe all time scoring list and the majority of her goals come from her headers. She is famous for them. It was a great pass and a great finish, but no more luck than if it was our beloved Colt and Jordan. End of unintended rant! Horns Forever and Go USA!!
Now for the downer. This team was VERY lucky to win that match. To say it was will, skill, American spirit or otherwise is pretty silly. The Brazil own goal kept us in the game with no offense and the long kick resulting in the header was strictly luck. No person on Earth could place that ball almost 50 yards away in a place with less than a foot error. Otherwise they would have scored 10 goals in the match. __________________________________________________ The US was actually very unlucky in this game. One goal scored by Brazil was on a play that was offsides, the other was the result of a bad call in the penalty area. IMO, that wasnt even a penalty, then the good save made by solo was called back on another bad call and one that is never made in that spot. then, the us played a player down for 1/2 the game. so, it was really quite the effort that the us stayed in the game and if it had not been for the multiple bad calls, they would have won in regulation.
No worries. I do understand the difference and completely see the difference between skill passes and something like this one. I think you are assuming too much about those that primarily follow other sports. I equate that last pass to a half court shot in basketball or the hail mary pass in football as time runs out. Just throw it up there and pray something good happens. Both of which are long shots that require a lot of luck. I don't think any football or basketball fan would argue that point. Otherwise it would happen all the time. The fact that Abby was able to focus on the ball all the way through the defenders to head it in is unbelievable focus and skill. That I will not deny. That would be just like a receiver that is able to focus on the hail mary pass through several defenders. In my opinion the luck part was simply getting it to her in the first place.
Not trying to be an *** here but goals are scored in that fashion (headed balls off long crosses from the wings, and own goals from hard crosses from the goal line) quite often in soccer matches at all levels. Much more often that the Hail Mary pass or half court heave. I would compare Wambach's goal more to a walk-off home run or a last minute winning drive in football, in regards to how often it happens in the game of soccer.
I didn't take it as you being an ***. Ok, I went to you tube and searched header shots. I just watched about 20 videos, some compilations and some just short videos of a great shot. I only saw one long shot and everything else was either inbounding from the corner or just inside/outside the penalty box(I think that's what it's called). Is it just that the long shots didn't make the videos? Seriously, if that happens from 50 yds out all the time why arent there more vids posted?
First off, I dont think that was a fifty yard pass. She is well within the halfway mark when she lets it go, even with the angle. Id say maybe 40 yards tops. Secondly, she is intentionally trying to get it into Wambach's area, so there is specific intent. It wasnt a hail mary, but it wasnt a high percentage pass either. Still better than 50% that it gets to Wambach, who can adjust to the ball (and she does). Id say its more luck that the goalie wasnt quite tall enough to get to the ball before Wambach smashed it home.
GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL O'Reilly with a service in from just outside the penalty area and Cheney redirects the ball into the goal!! 1-0 USA
Wow, it looks like Wambach got "lucky" again with a header from a distance. Standiing at the far post on a corner is fairly comparable with the distance of the wonder goal. See, it is skill, and desire and going up to get that ball (like a great wide receiver) that makes that a fairly typical Wambach-like goal. Most of the drama against Brasil was 1) it was Brasil, 2) there was literally a minute left in the game. Now it is time to rest, calm down and finish this off! Go USA!!
As '03Grad says the cross was not from 50 yards out. Rapino struck the ball ~30 meters from the goal line and the ball traveled ~40-45 meters. In soccer terms the cross was delivered well within the attacking third of the field. On a counter attack, with your striker in a 1v1 situation in the box, this is a solid, logical decision by the winger. Both US players had the technical skill and the tactical awareness to successfully complete the play. As far as Youtube videos of similar goals... Beckham assists
Now it is most important to get focused on beating Japan who is playing very well lately. We need to be at our best to beat them because they have proven they are a great team. Plus Japan is still mad about WW2. That increases the risk. Scary times indeed!
I read on the news that President Obama has been invited to attend the game Sunday! The players want him to come. Wouldn't it be great if he could make it and cheer for the Ladies. Please go to the game Mr. President!
Sweden beats France 2 - 1 for third place. Bad calls and non calls by the refs. The Swedes were able to overcome a bad red card to get the winning goal. In my opinion both the French player and Swedish player should have got red cars but the French player was the best actress I guess. The refs let the Swedes get away with a hand ball in the last few minutes which would have given the French a good chance to tie it and send the game to OT. But of course the ref missed it. Hopefully we won't see these officials tomorrow. The one compliment for the refs is that they were consistently bad both ways.
Japan beat Sweden 3-1 and this Swedish team beat us 2 -1 so Japan has to be favored tomorrow by 3 goals. Scary times indeed!
Of course if our President comes to the game it would help by inspiring our players. Please Mr. President!
