The Women's World Cup kicks off this Thursday (Wednesday night depending on your point of view). The tournament is being co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia. You can see the schedule for all the matches here.
I do not know too much about women's soccer so I won't provide much commentary other than I do believe the United States is still considered one of the favorites to lift the trophy for what would be their third consecutive World Cup and fifth overall. They will be in Group E with The Netherlands (2019 Runners-up), Portugal, and Vietnam. I believe this is Portugal's first ever WWC and Vietnam is not very good. So, it should be a fairly straightforward path to the knockouts for the USWNT. They kick off their campaign on Friday at 9 PM ET (FOX).
Feel free to discuss any and all the games in this thread!
Comments
I really hope Rose Lavelle is ready to go and stays healthy. My all-time favorite USWNT player.
World Cup Winner odds:
From a betting perspective, Germany seems like a good value pick.
Germany should be very, very good. I think they're my biggest concern to knock us off.
Couple injury issues for them, but like us, they have a deep pool. Their current women's team plays like their 2006-2014 men's team.
Anybody know what the odds were for Japan at start of tourney? 👀 they're killing it right now
I'm pretty sure we could make the final 4 with the people left at home
Really hyped for this tournament! The injury bug has been rampant, but seems to have effected most teams evenly. England doesn't give me the same concern as 2019, but I think Germany and Sweden could be really good.
Vlatko has some big decisions to make, and I'm curious to see how he approaches Vietnam, which should be "a nice kick the boys" (girls!). AMo 😍 vs Trinity up top? Who plays LW? Are Ertz and Lavelle really fit? More on field questions that 2019 for sure
I'd probably start with a 4-4-2 of:
Naeher
Girma, Sonnett, Dunn, and O'Hara
Ertz, Horan, Lavelle, Mewis
Morgan, Smith
I'd use all 5 subs with:
Huerta (O'Hara), Sanchez (Ertz), Sullivan (Lavelle), Rodman (Smith), Rapinoe (Mewis)
If it went OT: I'd bring in Cook
Interesting choices! I think there's a 0% chance they go 4-4-2, but who knows. I don't rate Sonnett or Mewis (Kristie) that highly. O'Hara has a ton of experience, and hits a great cross, but Fox is such a positive attacking fullback.
My starting XI would be:
Naher
Fox Cook Girma Dunn
Lavelle Sullivan Horan
Smith Morgan Rodman
I could see Alyssa Thompson getting the starting nod over Rodman though as she's the easiest analog to Mal Swanson
As crazy as it sounds, I think our depth at MF is better than our depth at FW and we have the best FW depth in the world
It's continually impressive to see the talent level the ladies program produces. Midfield is stacked, but so much depends on the quality of the 6 in the system we play. I think Ertz has been and still is the most important player in our pool. Not sure if Sullivan is ready for the lights if Ertz can't go in the midfield, and I wish Vlatko would have experimented more with a double pivot look 🤷🏼♂️
Leading into this one, there are so many great players missing from a variety of nations. England was hit hard with the injury bug leading up and was unable to call up some pretty important players. I don't necessarily truss Vlatko to make all the right decisions. I would like to see Trinity over Alyssa Thompson, which showed to be true in the friendly last week. CB's are a concern. Overall, our counter-attacking is top of the top which should be the difference.
Girma is a star, and could be the captain for next WWC. The other CB spot is a concern. I think Cook will start, but we'll see. If Andi Sullivan can hack it as the lone 6, Id be very interested to see if Ertz makes an appearance at CB. Kick it like it's 2015!
Yeah, I definitely meant Cook more than anything. Every time the ball get close to her I get the same stomachache as I did when Ryan Willis had too much time. Also interested on the Ertz appearance.
A little fodder to hold us over for the next 24+ hours.
In the spirit of pure offseason clickbait shitposting, I put together a list of the best USWNT players by letter. Either their first or last name must start with the letter to be considered, and there was a cheeky add-in to make it work as well.
So without further ado:
A. Alex Morgan
B. Becky Sauerbrunn
C. Carli Lloyd
D. Crystal Dunn
E. Julie Ertz
F. Julie Foudy
G. Mia Garciaparra
H. Hope Solo
I. Patty Irizarry
J. Joy Fawcett
K. Ali Krieger
L. Lindsey Horan
M. Michelle Akers
N. Alyssa Naeher
O. Heather O'Reilly
P. Christen Press
Q. none
R. Megan Rapinoe
S. Sydney Leroux
T. Tobin Heath
U. none
V. Tisha Venturini
W. Abby Wambach
X. none
Y. Yael Averbuch West
Z. McCall Zerboni
I think Mia Hamm should be on this list
She's on there as Mia Garciaparra, even though her name is Mia Hamm-Garciaparra. Yes she married Nomar, the former Boston shortstop
Hence the cheeky add-in.
Couldn't leave Akers or Solo out
Rose?
If you ask me again at the end of the tournament, she probably moves on to the list but right now. I think Horan has done more for the US over a longer time than Lavelle.
Back in nam
That was a great PK save by Nigeria
CAN/NGA was a knock-down drag-out fight
I'm never not going to think that Sinclair is overrated. Abby Wambach fo life
Sinclair can't score when needed. Wambach did the thing to save the US against Brazil.
Not worried about the ladies early, but it could be rough in the later rounds. Losing Swanson is a big loss. She was burning up the backs of nets before her knee injury. Then with all the other turnover its gonna be a tough ask to bring home another star. It's super hard as is but you add all that on top of it? Oof. Still pulling hard for the USA but the smart money would be elsewhere this time around.
Last time they played pretty much the toughest knockout round series of opponents ever, and were suing their employers, all while their government's chief executive openly rooted against them. This should be a walk in the park 🤣.
But seriously, you're totally right. Going to be a tough sled, and much more even competition from quarters on. All depends on how the draw breaks for them.
Cook isn't in the starting lineup and Ertz is. Love to see that. Trinity starting as well. Also, DeMelo is starting over Ashley Sanchez, and based off the tuneups, I love that change. Great lineup.
Totally agree. Get your healthiest, best XI on the field
does anyone know where I can find a free stream for this?
Is Fox not doing it for free on their website? Figured they would for the USA opener to generate traffic.
maybe they are right at 9 but it was just a blank screen for me 20 min ago. I'll try again in a few min
UPDATE: it does NOT appear to be free on fox's website
Vietnam seems pretty content to just kick the crap out of us 🤬. Blow the whistle!
Drool. What a ball and what a touch to set it up. That's how you open a freaking tournament
wtf are these refs on
Bruh. She turrble
Excluding the goal, the offensive third work is no bueno. It's just so ugly. I thought it was nerves at the beginning but man, first touch is killing us.
Much less technical roster than 2019, but much more athletic. I feel like Vietnam is the worst type of team for us to play. Interested to see what happens if anyone (the Dutch, perhaps?) tries to play us straight up.
Am I crazy or was that call nonsense?
Happy to get the goal, but not really sure how that went our way unless the offsides call was not part of the replay they were showing
The auto offsides tech called her onside... the pause frame they kept showing was after the ball was off the foot
Ok. Commentary did not do a good job of showing that
Suuuper confusing, I'll take it!
That is one of the biggest problems with tv coverage for soccer. In American football, the ref announces what the call is. In soccer, if there's a review, the ref just has his finger to his ear, maybe mimes a box, runs to the sideline for a minute, then points. The commentators are always trying to figure out what is being reviewed (typically they are spot on, but not always) and go on for 3 minutes with their own reviews. There's a final decision from the match officials, but it never trickles to the commentary team until several minutes later, if ever. (We've all seen the cartoony offsides with the grey wall running through the players.) By the time they get back to show that, the game has moved on another 5 to 10 minutes. I mean, it came out in the World Cup I believe that they've had a chip in the ball for nearly a decade, but don't disclose the results of reviews involving that. It's just not a viewer friendly situation.
this is the sport that has "stoppage time" added to the clock displayed to spectators because the watch tracking elapsed game time in the ref's pocket can't possibly be linked directly to the scoreboard
Smith needs to pass
Smith is driving me insane with hero ball. If she is a team player we are up 5
It's infuriating. The early cross is there.
She was the best player on the field.
Being good doesnt mean she didnt hold the ball too long and routinely miss open teammates. Rodman was WAO multiple times for an easy goal and smith just hero ball dribbled into 3 defenders
Both can be true, and I think we're going to be equally amazed and furious with SS all tourney long. Last night showed that she CAN get her head up and make the right play, but can she do it more consistently? I feel a big key for her is where on the pitch she gets her first touch at. If she picks up the ball too deep, it's a turnover. If she can get on it around the 18, watch out.
A "high" boot 18" from the ground
Classic Horan. She always gets called for some silly yellow card.
Is this an ACC ref?
Getting basketball officiating vibes here
I.e. I have no idea what the rules are
That was a pretty sequence there
3-0. Not good, not bad, but 3 points and +3 in the scoring column
Tournament starts on Weds for us. I'm not worried about this
We looked sloppy as hell but were able to overpower a very weak opponent
3 points for the US. Not our best performance, but I'll take this start over Canada or Norway.
Probably should have had at least a couple more goals. But I'll chalk it up to them working out the kinks with so many fresh faces and not wanting to totally humiliate Vietnam. Also, that ref crew sucked. Literally from the first minute of the game when Rodman got rocked and then throughout, they let A LOT go.
Girma is amazing. Cant believe she played like that in her 2nd CAP.
Smith needs to hit the early cross.
Too many Lavelle non-believers (any at all is too many) in here. Whole team plays better when she is on the pitch. We need her as close to 100% as possible to win this World Cup. Best player on the team.
She's such a catalyst on offense. Eager to see her in the starting XI with our two stud wingers.
Looks like same XI as Vietnam. Real bummer, seemed like signs were pointing to Lavelle maybe being a full go.
Also, the Dutch coach's last name is Jonkers...so there's that
Is it pronounced Kevin?
Let's home the lineup means we're hoping to ice the Dutch late.
Dutch goalie got away with one there
shit.
Not great bob.gif
Readily admitting I don't know but...is Alex Morgan still good? I know she's getting older but she looks real sluggish out there. Is she still the best option to be leading the line here? I understand Sophia Smith is naturally a striker and we have several other capable wingers on the bench...
Hard to say.
I would say yes, she is still good. She has had 2 goals this year in 8 games, which is lower than average for her, but she is coming off of having a kid, so she may not be in full form just yet.
Right and that's totally reasonable. But to me that seems like a very good reason to not start her. Whole team is misplacing and miscontrolling all over the park but she just doesn't look like she can move at all.
Her game has evolved a lot. Not the speed demon she used to be, but is still an all around superb forward.
Would you say her current form +shifting Smith out of position to the wing is better than Smith at striker and say, Alyssa Thompson at wing?
I think (and Vlatko agrees, for now) that this is best option. AT is obviously a talent, but unproven on almost any professional stage let alone a world cup. Put a different way, Morgan wasn't the problem in the first half.
She was much better in the second half, tbf
Demelo is getting the crap beat out of her
Finally started to give it back a little bit there at the end of half.
Sloppy passing and the other team doing a much better job of controlling the ball. Am I watching the men's team?
In my eyes, Vlatko has never been the guy for this team. He is now playing a team that focuses on fundamentals and is getting circles coached around him.
Dutch playing some slick football for sure, but haven't done a ton with it really. Goal was very lucky. Not that we've lit the world on fire and deserve to be winning. Sullivan as a single pivot is untenable, she's not good enough.
Getting mugged out there
Officiating has been embarrassingly inconsistent from game to game. This ref seems to be calling it fair but physical. Dutch got the memo, we haven't. They should have 2-3 yellows by now
That's a nice answer
Announcers called it.
HORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN
YOU WONT LIKE HER WHEN SHES ANGRYYY LETS F*%#ING GOOOO
"...and I took that personally"
Horan wanted that one!!
🇺🇸⚽️
Girma is classy af
Well, we didn't lose.
Once again the team looks significantly more dangerous with Rose Lavelle on the pitch
Yea that line up decision is a head scratcher. She can go 45, but not 60 or 70?
Feel like we need her 90' fit for the knockouts. Competition is strong this year.
Saving her for the knockout round isn't the worst idea, BUT, we have to get there first. Also, I don't know why we didn't use more subs. This is a marathon, not a sprint. I don't know who I would've subbed on, but still. We need to save our legs
I mean it's not really a question if we'll make the knockouts. It's who will win the group.
But I also was baffled by the lack of subs. Pushing for a goal, surely you can put on some fresh attacking legs?
Yeah we looked painfully slow at nearly every position. I was scratching my head how every netherlands player was faster than all but 1 or 2 USA players.
The Dutch are a fundamentally sound team, one of the best in the world. I truly believe the out on their best performance and could only get a point. That's encouraging. What's not encouraging is the lack of subs in the latter parts of the half. We have some really good pace of the bench with and I think they could've challenged a really weak Dutch defense in the second half. Just take care of business in the Portugal.
I think the lack of bench movement is a concern for sure.
The three forwards have almost zero chemistry it seems, and Smith and Rodman aren't providing any service to Morgan. They must have gotten dispossessed 50 times each. Maybe you don't try and beat 2-3 players every time you get the ball?
Smith disappeared for a majority of the game last night. Rodman was creating opportunities and generating pressure, he first touch was just killing her last night. Morgan had a phenomenal game in terms of opportunities created even with a lack of touches. She played well but she now has about 150 minutes on her legs. Lynn Williams would've been great off the bench in terms of physicality and speed.
Williams is what is the most confounding.
Vlatko put her on the roster, calling her the best 15 minutes he can get off the bench, yet in a tie game where we were beginning to exhaust the Dutch defenders, he never brought her off the bench.
Vlatko is trash.
Possibly tournament altering result this morning with Colombia dropping Germany 2-1 with a late stoppage time winner. Wowza!
Morocco over South Korea was a surprise as well.
Congrats to Morocco for their first ever WC win
I've got to be up crazy early tomorrow AM for a work thing, anybody else going to watch live?
Gonna try
Hopefully we look a lot better this game, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I still think we'll get thru but I'm really souring on this manager. The lack of adjustments, the lack of subs, the lack of apparent strategy where it looks like its just 11 individual players out there instead of a team. I don't know what we're waiting on, but its time to wake the fuck up. This isn't friendlies 2 years out. You're in the World Cup. Even with all the new players, we should be looking more crisp than we are.
The Netherlands is hammering Vietnam right now, so our odds of winning the group (and avoiding Sweden in the first round of the knockout stage) are getting slimmer.
Yea, I think the "winning our group" ship has sailed. At this point, we just need to qualify for the knockout round 😬
Yeah, hopefully we can keep Portugal off the scoreboard and regroup in the coming days.
So, this Vlatko guy is actually who everyone thinks Berhalter is
Their both garbage and shows the ussf doesn't give a fuck about the results it's all about the money to them
It has been an embarrassing showing for the two time defending world cup winners.
It seems like a few leaders on the team haven't been focused on soccer as much recently.
I mean I get that there are legit criticisms of Berhalter and he's by no means a perfect coach. I think he's at worst competent and it's fair to want more to take the men's team to the next level.
But Vlatko has all the advantages people sometimes think the USMNT has (actual world class players, veteran leadership, nearly unlimited depth in almost every position) and he legit doesn't look like he knows what he's doing at all. I'm actually not sure if I've ever seen a worse soccer coach in my life.
Vlatko shyed away from O'Hara giving tips to Rapinoe in the first game
Never regretted waking up at 3am more than that. Just slept-walked the whole game. No one wanted it. Second game in a row in which there has been a massive coaching discrepancy. Rapinoe being the first sub off the bench is more than alarming because the turnovers she committed last night were so bad. But don't worry, USSF will let Vlatko go, hire a committee to search for a new coach and that new coach will be...Vlatko. The injuries to Swanson, Becky, and Catarina are proving to be difficult to overcome. Sophia Smith disappears when the light are the brightest.
We are going to have a tough time making it past Sweden. We can't just ram it down teams throats anymore.
easiest 5:1 odds ever was betting on the draw for this game. Absolutely no motivation for us to push for the win and I'm not entirely sure we had the ability to lock it up even if we did.
Didn't get up to watch the game, glad I didn't. Reading about it, it sounds like we had about the 2nd worst possible outcome you could get (first being losing and not making it out of the group). A completely lifeless effort, resulting in a draw, and arguably our best player gets carded and will miss the next match. Oof. I knew we'd miss the scoring punch that Swanson brings but I did not expect us to be this bad.
well, at least England looks formidable
Reggae Girlz just eliminated Brazil - WOW
Getting this out there ahead of schedule:
I, for one, welcome our new Swedish overlords.
Somebody help me out. When is the actual kickoff tomorrow morning? I see it most everywhere listed as 5, but have also heard 5:30. And I know sometimes ESPN/CBS/etc list soccer gametimes earlier than actual kickoff.
I'm not looking to wake up any earlier than necessary!
It'll be an actual 5am ET start. Pre-game will probably start at like 3am ET, or something. World Cup games get started on time. None of that 7pm "start", but 7:30pm kick.
Much better play in the first half! Looking more like the US than we have all tournament. Now we need a goal or two in the second half.
I Believe! 🇺🇸⚽️
Change of midfield shape paying dividends, but have to put one in the back of the net
This ref is calling absolutely nothing.
Subbing off Morgan for Rapinoe when penalties are still an option is certainly a decision.
Onto PKs.
I called rapinoes miss before... her striking has been awful today on passes and set pieces
What an awful way to lose. SMH, but it shouldn't have come down to that. Rapinoe and Smith both air mailed their kicks, and either one would've won it for us.
Crazy what happens when you shoot on goal for pks
Sucks to be the better team and lose, especially by such fine margins. The changes Vlatko made were brave, but ultimately he tied his fate to Sophia Smith. She was really poor for the last three games, should've been dropped or subbed (easy to say in hindsight, I suppose). Huge shout to Sonnett who played the best I've ever seen her play.
I hate going out to IKEA, but this team didn't deserve to advance. Gonna miss Alex Morgan. Not gonna miss Rapinoe.
I think that's a harsh take. We were pretty obviously the better team in this match. Our D has been elite all tournament long and would've stood up well to Japan. Obviously had goal scoring issues, but to say we didn't deserve to advance after 120' isn't fair to the changes made and effort that the players put forth. Sometimes soccer is just a bitch
If we were obviously the better team we'd have won. We played well, but too little too late. You can't be obviously the better team if you can't string together three passes and get meaningful shots on goal. Yes, the back line was world class, but that only gets you to penalties, and what a choke job that was. This squad has long been more interested in marketing and politics than winning games, and it caught up to them.
We're going to agree to disagree about the performance, but the team today was able to move the ball more cohesively, by almost any meaningful metric.
We have to be better as (male) fans with the "more interested in blah blah blah" stuff. Are we there? Are we inside their team bubble? Are we really able to judge their goals and ambitions? Lets appreciate them for the athletes they are and hold them accountable for on field performance - or lack thereof. If they want to get a bag, that's none of our business and all of theirs.
Touchy subject, and I don't love the virtue signaling, but I'll keep this on the right side of the CGs.
If this team was solely focused on the sporting angle, does Megan Rapinoe get a call up? I think the fuck not.
I don't know what virtue signaling is because I don't internet that much.
Rapinoe did not play well. As I said already, I wish her minutes had gone elsewhere. If I'm the GM or coach (who's job it is to make decisions that win games, not progress political ideologies), I'm probably picking a Golden Ball winner and 3x World Cup contributor for her veteran experience at the very least. Is that enough of a sporting angle? Good grief dude
Touchy subject given the situation around this team...
My quick answer is yes. Rapinoe laughed as she missed the penalty that could have clinched the win. I have never seen an athlete at that level laugh at something with that magnitude.
Marketing and politics? Hmmm...
11-1 shots on target. 22-9 shots. Put one in for the love of all things good and holy. Rapinoe should have had that deflection but she overcommitted. Only way the ball gets to her is if the goalie whiffs and then it's going in side netting anyway smhdh...
This team struggled offensively, understatement obviously. I cannot figure out why Vlatko tied his fate so heavily to Sophia Smith. She was just not good enough, and wasn't for several games. At times it felt like we were playing 10v11 out there when we had the ball the way she was playing. I get Rapinoe off the bench, but I would've liked to have seen Alyssa Thompson get those minutes.
I mean Carli Lloyd was right. This team showed up arrogant and cocky and thought they just needed to appear and they'd win. It never seemed like they took this tournament seriously and I'm not surprised they are out. Probably should have been out in the group stage, is we want to be honest with ourselves.
They get plenty of chances but that fighting desire to get the ball in the net seemed to be lacking this time around.
The amount of hate I see for this team is insane and not at all promotional to their play on the field. Almost like some on here are rooting for them to lose because they dare to speak their mind. I expect more out of this community.
They were the better team today and deserved to win. Subbing off Morgan was a big mistake. She was still giving the team a lot more than Rapinoe did. Tough loss.
The entire mentality of "deserved to win" is what's wrong with this team and a lot of its fans. Just showing up in red white and blue doesn't cut it anymore.
Our women's team has a lot in common with Germany's men's team. A previous generation earned a reputation for just absolutely demolishing opposing squads, and then they get comfortable and soft while everyone talks about how great they are, and it's somehow a surprise when they get outfoxed by "lesser" competition.
Agree on outsized fan expectations, and the Germany comps are an interesting one. "Deserved to win" to me was more of a statement of how the two teams played today and not about pre or mid tournament expectations. I think we've forgotten that there was a lot of pre tournament concern for all the new faces being worked into the line up, and the injuries to key contributors. This wasn't 2019 where we had an entire 2 deep ready to go.
I obviously meant they deserved to win because of their play on the field, not because of some preordained bullshit. For 120 minutes, they were the better team by a good margin.
Did you actually watch?
To add to my comment above:
Our two time defending champion USWNT only beat Vietnam and did not score a goal in 210'. That's a failure. No two ways about it. They waltzed in on laurels and didn't take the tournament seriously. Not a good look...
Agree! Bitter failure. Majorly sucks. Some the arguments for the "why" behind the failure though are pretty flimsy and uneducated. Questioning motivations is always complicated, and ultimately not productive. Let's talk about what happened (or didn't happen) on the field.
Vlatko should be fired, and quickly. We need to start developing a better midfield pool. We need to answer the question about how our front three is going to score goals.
That's exactly what I'm doing. They didn't score a goal from the run of play in 210'. Poor sub choices made, poor performances by vets. If the men's team went into a WC this heavily favored and did that they'd be roasted endlessly, and rightfully so.
They failed to finish at least 3rd for the first time in history. A hard look in the mirror is needed, and it's not a "flimsy argument" to suggest so.
Ya, no one wants to acknowledge we only scored 3 goals vs Vietnam when we should have won that game easily with 7 goals. Then only scored on a lucky header vs Netherlands.
That team can't score. Morgan seemed unfit and washed having no situational awareness to stay onsides. Rapinoe was horrific and it annoys me she was littered all over the marketing materials when we should have been trying to promote younger, newer talent that actually got to see the field and contribute.
Politics aside, it's a shame they fought so hard for equal pay falling back on the fact their team performs better, then they come out and shit the bed and will have to put up with all the critique that goes along with it.
Yeah everything about it sucks. You can't lay this kind of shit bomb and not expect that all the politicking they did over the last 4 years not fall under heavy scrutiny, especially when they were more than willing to throw the men's team under the bus to get what they wanted. Those pics of Rapinoe laughing after she missed that crucial PK after she was one of the loudest shit stirrers over the quality difference between the men's and women's teams is not going to play well for them going forward.
Yep. They were simply unlikable. The Brady Patriots beating the AFC East 400 straight times with a smirk on their face, taping the other teams practices, deflated footballs, pulling games out of their asses. Unless you are a hard corps pats fan- its unbearable. This team was unlikable to most people. Cocky, harsh, political. Shocker they weren't beloved.
But...their team DOES perform better, and they inherently deserved equal pay regardless.....
And no, this isn't a political thing. No politics to put aside
To the "shut up and dribble" crowd, it is always about politics, as if those athletes are probably incapable of walking and chewing gum at the same time. It's the politics that they don't agree with that seems to bother them so much.
The proof is in the pudding just a couple of comments below. You hit the nail on the head.
They made more than the men. Then they got paid with benefits all through covid while not playing any games. They turned down the exact same contract the men had.
They cultivated public opinion based on lies and then played the victim and projected fake culture war for years.
Can you please provide your source of info? I'd like to read more, as that is contrary to what I've read.
This is a pretty good summary Nate the Lawyer Video
A number of the women get paid their salary by the Federation if they play in the NWSL instead of their teams, which is why they would have been paid during the pandemic.
They ALSO were paid by the National Team as they chose a no risk contract.
Watch the you tube video of the lawyer reviewing the situation and the contracts and then read the court document where they sued and lost because because the facts were not on their side.
There is quite a good distillation of the contracts and situation in the court decision.
A little easier to digest than a video:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37625325/comparing-their-us-socce...
Ah, I prefer lawyers, the court and legal documents over ESPN sportswriter for legal matters.
I trust vetted journalists over people on Youtube, but I did watch the video. The point of contention seems to be that the women had guaranteed higher-floor, lower ceiling payments, while the men had non-guaranteed no-floor, higher ceiling payments? Again, that's because the USWNT members were essentially employees of the federation instead of their club teams, at least when they were employed by NWSL teams, which were run by the USSF when that CBA went into effect.
The reasons for the differences in pay structure can be chalked up to the different stages of development men's and women's professional soccer in the US were/are in, which we don't have to get in to.
End result, the USMNT felt strongly enough that the pay should be equal, so now the pay is equal.
I also am not a fan of lawyers but this lawyer has passed the bar and is just as vetted as some sportswriter.
I do not rely on 1 source and in this case I did not rely on 2 sources. Or 3...
Court documents, judge, several lawyers. There was a civil trial and decision published. It's all available to the public for free, no reason to rely on any untrustworthy person's opinion, no matter whom you find untrustworthy. (Hint, none of them are trustworthy when the factual evidence is available to peruse at leisure).
I read the docs themselves, the court docs are public and can be searched for online.
It's amazing that people do not realize this and avail themselves of it.
Any athlete or team who chooses to demonstrate disrespect for our country by protesting the flag or the national anthem will certainly not be respected by me. Especially when they are playing as representatives of our nation. Some of us have made vast sacrifices and put our lives on the line in dangerous professions to guarantee those athletes the right to express their opinions without suffering imprisonment, torture or death. Having lived and traveled in countries where such things are commonplace, my observation is that Americans are generally clueless about how incredibly blessed they are to have the freedom to express themselves safely. I support the freedom of Americans to share their opinions, while I also cherish my right to hold their opinions in total contempt for being thoughtless and reprehensible. Yes, I probably should have kept this to myself. No, I don't care about DV's. Yes, I have nearly died on several occasions while serving our country and have strong opinions about it. Go Hokies!
I agree with you 100%- the main issue in modern america is that half of the country (roughly) doesn't view kneeling during the anthem, not singing it, not standing still etc is "disrespecting" america. That is the fundamental issue. People simply don't view it as disrespectful. Until you change that, the argument is moot.
I'm conflicted on this. Because like any athlete, they're not paid strictly based on performance. They're paid based on revenue generated. I can be onboard with the women getting paid better than they were, but it is objective fact that the men's World Cup generates more money because people are more interested in the men's game.
Is it the fault of the USMNT that more people tune in to watch them perform below expectations than tune in to the usually champion-caliber women's team?
It's often been portrayed as a reflection of the broader societal wage gap, but that is completely disingenuous. In the same way it would be disingenuous to equate pay in the EPL vs the Indian league as a reflection of race-based pay disparity.
So to me, as long as a WNT players percentage SHARE of revenue generated by the WNT matches the percentage SHARE of a MNT players revenue generated by the MNT, I'd call that equal pay.
Tough loss as we dominated the game... Sweden had basically no looks on goal and they got to PKs because their keeper went lights out white hot. It happens... sometimes in soccer goals are hard to get. That being said, pulling Rodman was a bit of a head scratcher and then the coaching shock of the year was pulling Morgan for Rapinoe which ultimately had a direct negative impact on the result. The coach needs to go and the team needs to reset.
I'm not gonna lie, this stung worse than any loss I've ever been witness to.
I will also say this, the rest of the world is not as far behind as they used to be. Player and coaching development has gotten better around the world.
While the US is deservedly one of the heavy favorites every cycle, good managing and improving development for other teams means the US can't afford questionable managing anymore.
Oof the accuracy of this prediction hurts
Hudson on reaction to his Tweet, er, X whateveryacallit.
https://twitter.com/hmeyer_21/status/1688237814029365248?s=20
legit was unaware the womens world cup was taking place
Well at least we weren't the only big name team to go out on penalties. After all England...what's that you say? They actually made their PKs and went on to the next round? Huh, imagine that.
bruh
Dude. England got outplayed for 120 minutes and scraped their way to PKs with 10 men on the field...and they did what winners do and put the game away. We dicked around and blew countless chances to win in regular time and extra time then choked away our kicks.... Yeah I'm a little bitter. In the words of coach:
Losing is fine. It is the manner in which they lost that is bad. Now of course there is always an element of if something is ending...its not going to end well. This run was going to end at some point, and it would always end like this.
US Soccer is not a well run organization.
Markgraf and Vlatko should be fired. Players shouldn't get picked because of marketing and commercials. What made me fall in love with the USWNT was that they were everything the USMNT wasn't. No drama, play hard, play for each other, win. They became successful and complacent.
I don't know what a successful coach for a national team should look like from an experience standpoint. Obviously its not a coveted job relative to running an EPL team or whatever.
Is it too much to ask for a national team manager to build a roster that makes sense? Play a style that suits the available players? Make the right substitutes at the right time? Why was Rapinoe even in the game after her lack of performance in the group stage?
Vlatko wants to play in the wide areas of the field but had wingers that couldn't cross? Alex Morgan's strength isn't getting on the end of crosses, and she has lost a step. What was the plan here?
Everything you said is true, but despite all of that, they looked quite good against Sweden.
Rest of the tournament? Not so much.
He Gone