Liverpool is a hell of a team. The final was a bit humdrum though.
Liverpool is a hell of a team. The final was a bit humdrum though.
C.H.U.D.
where is the T and A ?
LIFE IS ABOUT CHAMPIONSHIPS; I JUST REALIZED THIS. The MILWAUKEE BUCKS have won the same number of championships over the past 50 years as the Green Bay Packers. Ten years from now, who will have more championships, and who will be the fart in the wind ?
USWNT defeats England 2-1 in World Cup Semis. The Goddess with the winning goal.
Joe, many of us are not soccer fans, but apparently you are. Did you come to America from Europe or S. America where it is more popular? It is a fine sport with great athletes (men/women). It certainly requires skill and stamina. Also sometimes it is even possible to see where planned and practiced plays are employed. For me I see a large game of keepaway with the occasional drama the rare goal is scored.
I can maybe understand the popularity of soccer if you come from most of the planet and the availability of sports facilities are low. A simple ball can be played with by just one or more and for most just requires a piece of open ground. To me it is a poor mans sport. Yes I'm aware that Europe and Asia's wealthy support it as well, but for me it holds no more fascination than Basketball or Hockey do.
Why do you support soccer and what do you like about it?
What an incredible game US/England was. Just a ton of drama and that brilliant, brilliant save by Naeher.
All hail the Ruler of the Meadow!
We played soccer as kids as well as other sports. I started watching it on TV because I loved the drama of the Men's World Cup. I prefer the international games more than the club games, although I do watch the Premier League some. I like the non-stop aspect of soccer. Other than for injuries, the game doesn't stop except for halftime. I'm a life-long hockey fan, and although the 2 sports are very different in terms of speed and size of the playing surface, conceptually they have a lot in common.
World Cup is the only time I watch soccer/fĂștbol. So much of sports appeal is what you did and watched in childhood. To this day my interest in American football is rooted in the thrill of getting to stay up late to watch MNF and the landmark games from the late 70s and early 80s: Earl Campbell's breakout game against Miami, Packers beating world champ Redskins in '83 shootout game, Howard Cosell announcing that John Lennon has been assassinated or sticking his foot in his mouth describing Washington receivers. And WC soccer has the advantage of no commercials and no stoppage.
All the goal scoring deserves praise, but I'm going to give a massive shout out to Dunn. Her tenacity on defense (especially vs France) has been an absolute joy to watch.
All hail the Ruler of the Meadow!
That goal by rose was pure class
And there was a shot earlier by Morgan that was also impressive but was blocked by a great save
Agree, loved her reaction right after she knew it was going in as she's falling down. Bonus is that she's a Badger.
All hail the Ruler of the Meadow!
Meanwhile, USMNT had no answer for Mexico in 2nd half of Gold Cup Final losing 1-0. Very disappointing after solid 1st half when they seemed to have the upper hand overall.
Jurgen Klinsmann thinks U.S. and Mexico need better competition than CONCACAF Nations League if they want to improve.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-wor...rgen-klinsmann
Former United States men's national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann called the CONCACAF Nations League "a waste of time" and said that if the U.S., Mexico and Costa Rica are ever going to get to the level of the top international sides, they need to find competition outside the region.Berhalter disagrees:"I think the biggest challenge for the United States, or even Mexico or Costa Rica, for the key countries in this region, is you don't really have the highest competition outside," Klinsmann said. "That means when you play just within your own system, you don't have the big matches against European countries or South American countries in order to grow your program, in order to grow your players.
"So literally when you are kind of locked into CONCACAF and you don't play Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Chile every year, or you don't play Holland, Germany, England, Spain, Italy every year, you have no chance to grow.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-s...oncacaf-claims
"Now, the points that Jurgen was making, of us playing in better competition, playing in a Copa America-type competition, playing in Europe against top teams, is valid. I also believe that the way for this team to grow is by playing top level competition. But when I look at the group, when I look at some of the inexperience we have in the group, these games are going to be valuable for us."
Berhalter also pointed out that the advent of the UEFA Nations League reduced the number of available dates for the U.S. to line up international friendlies against European opponents. He added that the U.S. is attempting to schedule games against such teams for the March, 2020 window.
"It's not straightforward," said Berhalter about scheduling friendlies. "We challenged ourselves with playing a heavy South American group in this last year, and that was for a reason. Those teams were available, but we think those teams are very competitive and very challenging and provide us good games. We want to play difficult games. We think it will help the group develop, and it's just finding the right windows to do so."
I don't see how US men are ever going to be competitive on a global scale given national interest in baseball, basketball and football. Those sports draw away too many top athletes. US women have a two decade head start on the rest of the world, which was unbelievably slow to recognize that girls can run and kick too.
I don't know about that. Not many below 6' players in the NBA and that is what thrives in soccer. 6'4" is a giant on the pitch and that's usually a rarity that's in goal or possibly a defenseman.
For football, throw out all the DL, OL, LB and TEs. They are simply too big. Defensive backs and some safties have the right body type as do some running backs. WRs are turning into sprinters which won't help and are also getting near that too tall body type.
When I think of baseball players, I don't think of great runners or I should say, guys who can run a lot. It's just a different skill set than soccer.
All hail the Ruler of the Meadow!