~Soccer Thread~

[ELA]

USWNT is going bonkers against Thailand, they were up 3-0 at the half, and it really shouldn't have been that close.  They scored 4 goals in 6 minutes early in the second, up 7-0 just like that.

[ELA]

10-0

Yeesh.

EDIT: 11-0.  Tied a WC record for goals scored in a game

EDIT 2.0: 12-0.  38-2 edge in shots

[ELA]

13-0, finally over

[SFBadger96]

Sheesh. At what point do you dial it back (Lloyd scored the 13th in stoppage time)? They scored five in the last 13 minutes of the game. Morgan had five herself.

[TyphonInc]

Sheesh. At what point do you dial it back (Lloyd scored the 13th in stoppage time)? They scored five in the last 13 minutes of the game. Morgan had five herself.

Radio heads where barking about this as well. I say you poor it on in the World Cup. 1st Tie breaker is goal differential. There is also an award for player with most goals scored. Gotta take what you cam get. 

[MarqHusker]

Lopsided beatings is what got softball bounced from the Summer Olympics.  I assume there are more than 3 or 4 competitive teams in soccer, just not Thailand.   

[utee94]

It's pool play.  As long as goal differential is part of the formula there remains incentive to continue scoring.  What happens if the USA beats Chile by the same 2-0 that Sweden did,  then the USA draws against Sweden, and then Sweden doesn't miss the second extra point and beats Thailand 14-0?  Then the USA becomes the #2 team out of the group.

Also, 24 is just too many teams in the women's WC.  16 would probably be more than enough.  

[ELA]

USA did get a favorable draw.  Based on the SPI, the 2nd and 3rd worst teams in the field are both in their group.  Sadly, Thailand was only the 3rd worst, Chile is rated lower, and that's who we get next.

Parity in the women's game has been improving.  IIRC for the first few events it just boiled down to US or China, everything before it was meaningless.  I don't think it goes 32 teams deep, but then again the lowest rated team in the field, Argentina, forced a surprising tie in their opener against Australia.  I wouldn't undersell how impressive the US was today.  This isn't UConn in the first round of the basketball tourney.

[SFBadger96]

The top of the women's game is quite competitive, much more so than softball was in the Olympics. IIRC, that was the US, Canada, and no one else. Here, there are probably five teams with a legit shot at the title, and five more with an outside shot (basically, down to Brazil at #10).

I was amused listening to and reading the talking heads discussion of how the celebrations (not the goals) would turn the USA into the villains in this tournament...as if the USA aren't already the villains. I don't follow the game enough to know what teams are considered dirty, but you can bet that USA is Goliath and everyone is gunning for "us." Back in 2011, you can bet everyone outside of here was cheering for Japan as the underdog that made good.

[Brutus Buckeye]

What's with the women's game trying to squelch anything that even vaguely resembles a competitive spirit? Hope Solo was a legend, and got cut for behaving in a post game press conference in a manner which you'd expect just about any jock to behave after a tough loss. Now they are bellyaching about too many goals when that is the tie breaker?

Meanwhile Megan Rapinoe is of course free to protest the National Anthem as a member and representative of the US National team without consequence, but I digress.

[utee94]

The top of the women's game is quite competitive, much more so than softball was in the Olympics. IIRC, that was the US, Canada, and no one else. Here, there are probably five teams with a legit shot at the title, and five more with an outside shot (basically, down to Brazil at #10).

I was amused listening to and reading the talking heads discussion of how the celebrations (not the goals) would turn the USA into the villains in this tournament...as if the USA aren't already the villains. I don't follow the game enough to know what teams are considered dirty, but you can bet that USA is Goliath and everyone is gunning for "us." Back in 2011, you can bet everyone outside of here was cheering for Japan as the underdog that made good.

Absolutely.  The thought that the rest of the world needs some kind of additional motivation to consider us the "villain" is laughable.

That said, I come from the Darrell K Royal school of celebration, where he said, "Act live you've been there before."  I found the celebrations to be a tad over the top, but also, it's the World Cup and scoring a goal isn't a small deal, so it's not my place to take that away from them.

[SFBadger96]

What's with the women's game trying to squelch anything that even vaguely resembles a competitive spirit? Hope Solo was a legend, and got cut for behaving in a post game press conference in a manner which you'd expect just about any jock to behave after a tough loss. Now they are bellyaching about too many goals when that is the tie breaker?

Meanwhile Megan Rapinoe is of course free to protest the National Anthem as a member and representative of the US National team without consequence, but I digress.

Hope Solo got cut at the end of a long line of transgressions, for which she had already been on thin ice.

[Brutus Buckeye]

She said Sweden played soft or scared or whatever once they gained a one goal lead, and that was deemed to be some heinous, unforgivable transgression after which they could no longer keep her on the roster.

If a FB coach or player displayed poor sportsmanship in a post game presser then the talking heads might take him over the coals for a segment or two, and then that would be the end of it.

It is not as though they were making an example out of some scrub. Kind of an all timer of a great goalie here.

[SFBadger96]

Solo is the quintessential crazy goalie (they are common in hockey and soccer--I played keeper in both...).

She was a difficult and not particularly well-liked teammate. It didn't start with her criticism of Scully in 2007, but that sure didn't help. She would lash out at teammates frequently, she had been disciplined for a domestic violence arrest (she beat up her nephew, though why is an open question--the criminal charges were eventually dropped), and for accompanying her husband while he drove a USWNT van while intoxicated (he got a DUI for that one). And she most definitely did not get along with Coach Ellis. Calling the Swedes "cowards" was bad, but my understanding is that it was her reaction to the suspension following that, not the "cowards" comment itself, that led to her dismissal.

Fair to say that her suing US Soccer over wages (which, of course, the whole team has done now) in 2015 didn't help. And I believe she is on record saying that if they invited her back, she would say no unless the wages were fixed to her liking.

She was/is a great talent as a keeper, but also a headcase. In a lot of ways she was a great ambassador for the game because, let's not kid ourselves, she is among the most attractive women to play for the USWNT, but when you're an ambassador, your conduct gets higher scrutiny.

A pack player who made a comment like she made after the Sweden game may not have been suspended. A star/ambassador for the men's team might have been suspended, particularly if he already had a dicey record with the team. And whether that player would end up dismissed entirely would likely fall into the same category as what happened with Solo: the details matter. 

And at the end of that, if the USWNT really felt she gave them the winning edge that they otherwise wouldn't have, they would probably have tried to get her back. While she may still be the best, #2 may have been close enough that USWNT could afford to drop the baggage. And even for a position like keeper, if #2 at stopping the ball gets along with her teammates better, that might make the whole team better than with the better ball-stopper.