Quest for the Gold: Volume 3
Well the group stage for the U.S. Women’s and Men’s Olympic soccer teams. I’ve just watched the end of the U.S. vs. Nigeria through the wonders of Tivo and I am reminded again that it would be easier to do this if I didn’t care about the team.
The red card was of course the difference in the match, but saying that, Nigeria wasn’t exactly rock solid in terms of organization. The U.S. had its share of chances but were pretty anemic in front of goal. In hindsight you have to wonder if we could have seen Charlie Davies sooner as he brought something extra to the attack. If only his injury-time header could have been inches lower…….
One other thing: The mute button got a good workout today.
Ultimately this reminds us we are still trying to get from A to B as a soccer nation. The steps being taken to change things will take more years to kick in. In the meantime we hope for glimpses of what it can be in the future. This year we got a glimpse for about 40 minutes during the 2nd half vs. Holland.
I’m of two minds regarding the Women. Of course compared to the Men the main thing is that they are still in the tournament. After such a poor start I was pleased not only in their result against Japan, but that they showed some tendency to attack. New Zealand is a team they are able to out-athletic and that’s pretty much what they did. No criticism for getting a result when you had to have one, but it didn’t answer any questions for me on whether they are making progress with their style of play. At the higher levels you have to be able to play a more complex style.
There seems to be an undercurrent that we’re “lucky” to be playing Canada instead of Brazil. I understand the respect for Brazil, but I’m telling you this Canadian team is good, and they’ve already shown they can beat the U.S. This is a very tough game for us.
What do you think? Why the USA Men lose to Nigeria? What is the status report on American Men’s soccer given the performance of this team at the Olympics?
How do you feel about the play of the USA Women? Are they progressing in style as well as in the tournament? What do you expect from the Canada match?
You can’t change systems (i.e., from kick & run to possession soccer) like Pia has attempted to do, without also changing players. This WNT needs to be torn down to the ground, and rebuilt with players that can play possession soccer. This means no more Shannon Boxx, no more Carli Lloyd, Rampone, Markgraf, etc. The US needs technical players to run this system, and I fear those players are being overlooked at all levels of national team development (ODP, etc.) in favor of size and the ability to kick a ball a long way.
The MNT is physically and technically there but lack the mental toughness to endure and prevail in a tough match against Holland. The Olympics games were lost in that match even though they tied. They already thought they had won before the final whistle blew. I agree that the 40 minutes gave us a glimpse of what could be, but we needed 8 more minutes.