I have waited for a while to write this story as I wanted to wait and see a mixture of both public opinion and to see what the media wrote and allow all parties to weigh in on comments. I have now read and heard to my hearts content and have decided to post some of the most pertinent stories and videos for you to recap. Pull up a chair though - because this will take you a spell to get through.
Foc Soccer = http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/7271586
ESPN = http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3038644&name=chang_jen
The Hope Video = http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3039111&categoryId=2378529
US Soccer Postgame = http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_2555913.html
Left out to Dry = http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=468135&cc=5901
The Abby Decision
I have already spoken of this earlier in my blog so I will simply recap here. The decision to:
Wait for Wambach to get out of the locker room for 10 minutes to put her back in was poor. I cannot remember the last time a coach waited that duration of time before making a decision to sub for an injury.
Put her back in after she came off with a gash on her head that needed stitches with a possible concussion was irresponsible of her health being complicated further by the fact she was a target player in the air.
Substitutions
There is something to be said for having the best crop of players your country can offer. And while maybe not plentiful, you still know you have a solid crew of athletes that can get the job done. You have to have trust and faith in those players and when the time calls for it - go to your bench and give them the opportunity to prove you right and prove themselves capable. And beyond that - sometimes fresh legs are the best thing to help a squad late in a game. In the instance of Wambach, there were two clear cut opportunities that she could have and should have been subbed - effectively making her get an additional hour’s worth of rest so that by the time the semifinal came around - she would have been able to perform well. As is - she never was even a factor in the semifinal - and each game the tournament went on her legs looked heavier and heavier. Another reason she wasn’t a factor was due to Scurry’s goal kicks - I address that later. I would have loved to see Natasha Kai play more than 5 minutes in the World Cup. I hope her confidence is not shaken in all this as well.
The actual substitutions are also a bit of a wonder. I think Diccio said it best in the semi when he said making those defensive substitutions instead of attacking ones when you are down by two goals is telling your team that you don’t have any faith in them. He could have done better the whole tournament with his choices of subs and the timing of them.
The Giggles
Apparently at one point during the game the camera crew panned over to the bench and Coach Ryan was caught giggling as if we were up 3-0 in the game. I don’t think there has ever been a game where I have played or coached where I was losing that I had a case of the giggles and the fact he did during a World Cup semifinal match when we were down 3-0 makes me ill.
The Game Plan
The biggest thing I want to know was what was the game plan? From comments I heard in various articles it was said that each of the groups of players would basically split up in practice and go practice on their own - thereby never really getting the opportunity to gel and transition together. That is poor coaching. It is one thing if you do a balance of that - but for that to be your standard practice is just wrong. And tactically I thought there was a whole lot of nothing going on out there. I have seen NCAA women’s games that were more exciting. How is it that the best of our best came out for 10 halves of soccer and were only able to put on a good showing for two of them? I find that so subpar that I am actually going to write US Soccer about it - urged on by Jamie Trecker.
The Own Goal
One of the things that has really pissed me off about Ryan’s Comments was it is extremely clear to me that he blames Leslie Osbourne for losing the Brazil game. All he wanted to focus on was the own goal that was scored first and then the red card. He thought Scurry played great - I am wondering what he was smoking. He kept bashing on that own goal without saying Osbourne’s name like it was she alone who lost the game for the US. And the reality was he couldn’t even come to grips with the fact that when you defend - it is safety first - especially if you aren’t 100% confident in the keeper behind you. Sure she made a mistake and sure Brianna called her off but it was clear Osbourne did not have faith in Scurry and Ryan was the catalyst to that situation.
The Red Card
I guess for me one of the things that I don;t understand is how when the red card was issued which was so blatantly poor officiating - that Boxx just took it. And that the US squad just look at the referee like - you just stole my ball - ho sad. I would have been up in that referee’s face. Sure John Terry and others are being punished by the FA for actually grabbing the referee in the send off of Mikel against United - but they were right in their justification to confront the referee - and that was just a league match. This is the World Cup. I felt like the US players basically just bent over and said - ok I guess I’ll take it in the ass.
Ryan’s Bad Comments
“We weren’t prepared for wet and rainy training sessions in China, cause of sunny California you know (their training ground).”
I find this to be sickening that he actually admitted this. The fact that England went to China a whole month ahead of time to acclimate to the Chinese climate and the field conditions and we went two weeks ahead is appalling. The fact that he admitted he did not properly prepare his players for the weather elements of the match is beyond confusing to me.
“I am very proud of the effort that they put in tonight. To say that, this game is one game, and its over now, and were moving on to prepare for our game against Norway, another very important match for our team. “
The effort - I thought totally sucked - and if it was their best effort then they sucked as soccer players and athletes. Are you for real???? This is one game?? This is the MOST IMPORTANT GAME OF YOUR CAREER DUDE!!!!! This is the World Cup! This is the most important game of some of these girls careers. How can you throw it away like it is just some league game.
From Tony Diccio, “Ryan said going in to this tournament that the goal was to get to the semifinal. I think the goal should always be to win the prize in a situation like this. “(Especially when you are ranked #1 by FIFA and are the favorites to win the tournament)
I’m not always a Diciccio fan but he nailed it on the head. And the fact that Ryan had set the bar so low is beyond me. Every tournament I go into with my youth teams always has the same goal (at least said to the players anyway) and that is to win the tournament.
As to the coach - well my take is he will be canned by next Friday - hopefully before. Enough time to play the third place game, fly home, unpack his bags and he will get the call. And if he doesn't - Mr Gulati is a moron. Ryan can't even own up to any of his decisions on being wrong which shows a totall lack of character that highlights his ignorance and arrogance. I mean he flat out said after Abby's head injury that if he had a second chance he would do the same thing again. Unbelievable. I really wish they would stop promoting the Women's assistant coaches to head coaches.
Hope Solo’s Comments
On a side note apparently that game where Scurry played against Brazil back in June - the reason Hope wasn't playing was because she was at her father's funeral - who she had dedicated her tournament and her play this World Cup to him.
Sure she said some things that pissed people off - but you know what, I want everyone to step back for a minute and reflect on something. As a kid - what is something you wanted to badly if you were an athlete? To be the best in your sport. To get paid to be the best and to be able to represent your country by being the best. it is something that every day you think about. Every time you get a knock in practice or a game and you have to play through it. Every time you start to wonder why you put yourself through what you are doing - it’s because you love it and you want it so badly. And the idea that she had worked her but off for 20 years to get to this point. To play well, top be determined and focused and winning, and to have someone not only tell you that - well not today -_ it don’t think you can do it and I don’t have trust in faith in you to take us to the final and then to see your team play awful and the keeper who replaced you not do well when you felt you could have done better - that your World Cup hopes are over and who knows if you will ever have an opportunity to have this moment again and be so close to achieve the ultimate pinnacle of your career - is so heartbreaking that most people truly can’t fathom it while sitting in their houses thinking about their 8-5 jobs cause they were never talented enough to get here.
And for someone to tell a US citizen that they don’t have anything to say or they can’t speak their mind - who are you kidding???? Someone who has been wronged? I find the most irony in this since it was only one year ago that the US men stood up and campaigned on the idea of Don’t Tread on Me. Well you know what Greg Rya and US Soccer - Hope Solo basically told you to not Tread on Her. Good for her. I’m glad someone had some balls to speak up. And I am sure in that moment her father would have said - stand up for yourself Hope.
Professionalism
Some people said it was unprofessional - well to be fair, I haven’t exactly seen professional athletes go through the business school and know what a learning curve on professionalism is. They usually also get to defer most things to a press agent or someone else to do the talking for them. Some people said she called out a teammate. Well here is my take on that. I don’t think in this situation you can separate the two. You can’t critisize the coaching decision and not critisize the play of the keeper - because it is one and the same. And really - all she said is that she thought she could do better. We train these athletes to have confidence in themselves - not to be humble - so why do we expect her to say or feel anything different than confidence?
Her World Cup hops are gone. They are done. By the time she has the opportunity to go to another World Cup - she will be 30 years old. It could still happen - but most likely she will be a back up by that time and the rest of the world is clearly catching up to the speed of play and technical and tactical way of playing the game. next time won’t be so easy.
Her benching of the third game
She has now been benched for the third game because of this - I am not surprised. And really - I don’t think she cares. I mean do you really care at this point about playing in the third place match when you could have been playing in the final? Sometimes you realize when you are ok sacrificing some things for the greater good of your sanity. And honestly - i have never felt better as a person when I have taken the higher ground and not said my peace on something that really chaps my ass. It only eats me up inside that I didn’t say what I wanted to say. There is an article above that talks about Solo being left out in the cold by her teammates - i think the writer is correct. I think her teammates should have stood beside her long before this and in the end - where were they? None of them had the guts to stand up for what they felt was right - and that lacks character in my opinion.
This is the best quote from that article “So this is what happens when a woman speaks out? When she tells it like it is? When she speaks from the heart, uncensored instead of all those generic, fill-in-the-blank responses every other American athlete regurgitates and we roll our eyes at when controversy strikes?”
Brianna Scurry’s No Comments - the US press agent
It is probably best she didn’t comment - but the fact the US press agent made sure she didn’t and tried to stop Solo from doing so was poor management. I think the USSF should have seen there was a greater issue here and made sure there was a sports psychologist on hand to help diffuse the situation and help the players deal with this emotional roller coaster. There was not.
Scurry’s World Cup greatness
Ys she was a great keeper but her time has passed. That is what happens in athletics. And one thing that really bugs me about all this is that this was Hope Solo’s chance to show she was in the same category as Brianna Scurry was - well she doesn’t have that same opportunity now to earn her star. And one thing that I didn't realize about Scurry until Heather Mitts said it pregame was that Scurry's kicks were a concern because Hope can kick to half field whereas Scurry's land in the attacking section of the neutral third for Brazil. So explain to me how her cat like reflexes help us when she can't get the ball 15 more yards up the field against a team like Brazil who can run and dribble like the wind????? I still don’t understand. And because of this - Abby Wambach never got ahold of the ball.
Show Some Passion - The overall play on the field
I guess when I look at all of this there is one thing that still pops out in my head as being a former player I have dealt with this situation. Even if you don’t like the coach or think they are inept - as a player, you have a responsibility to go and and perform to your highest level possible. I felt like the onus is still on the players of the US squad to do that - and they failed in my opinion. I don’t feel that Ryan in his most poor moments should have been able to castrate the play of the women - so I feel like a good chunk of this is on them. They have been playing the better part of 20 years in this sport - they should know how to get it done.
My US World Cup Player of the Tournament
The US player of the tournament for me was Lori Chalupny. She was the central midfielder and she was all over the place getting involved and disrupting as much as she could. She was steady, consistent, worked hard and was a solid presence for us. Her touch and passing was good and she scored when the US needed her to do so. I look forward to seeing her more on the field. Unfortunately - not much has been said or highlighted about her by anyone this tournament which I think is a shame. She was one of the few bright stars on this team that played well.
Sunil Galti - I hope you get your head out of your ass and fix this - because if you want to help a women’s league thrive here in another year - you sure have your work cut out for you by what the world has seen of the highest level of play our US women have to offer - and that does not bode well for a league that will try to tell everyone there is a great product.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Up on my Soapbox
I was going to leave it alone. I really was. I felt it best to try and move on....and well I just can't. And really - the idea of me not sharing my opinion - would probably be shocking to most of you anyway.
In the beginning, the Women's National Team Coach (Greg Ryan) appeared to be quiet and media shy. Well now I am wondering if he was media dumb. I have a fondness for when a coach talks to the media. It says a lot about a coach. It doesn't need to be all the time but a little bit is necessary IMO. In fact, I also feel that if you are not a media savvy individual because most coaches aren't - that is fine, but then have someone else who is stand up and say the things you want them to say and communicate to the masses.
Because ultimately, for a fan and spectator - one of the most frustrating things is when we don't understand what you do and why you do it. More people are forgiving and understanding when they feel they have an idea of what is going on vs being shut out - regardless of whether we agree with your vision. Now that the WC is on, 2 years later Ryan has started to talk to the press. Due to his actions, his aura and his words, I am far from being impressed. In fact, I am now wondering about his ability to think clearly. Anf for once, I am in the same position as the sportswriters and analysts.
I have copied a link to an article for you to read. Couple those with the previous comments I have made on my blog about Wambach and her head injury and the substitute situation and here are my thoughts:
http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/7266516
I am not a fan of Julie Foudy as an announcer- but I do agree with many of her sentiments both in this story and as the world cup has gone on.
Ryan - ARE YOU STUPID?!?!?!?!?
As a coach, I think it is irresponsible to not consider your player's feelings and how those may impact the team as a whole. Because ultimately you may need them to step in at some point and do great things. You have to find a balance to delicately manuever tricky situations.
So my bit is - Solo has been his chosen keeper for quite some time now. She has proven herself to be solid and in the WC, she has had one mistake - early on. So what is the problem? And if it is an injury then he should just say so - and we all would think - oh this makes sense. If he had an issue with the player because she said soemthing he didn't like - well I understand that and understand not announcing that sort of thing to the media. So it makes me think he either is eccentric or something happened between the last game and now. He then further exacerbates the situation by saying he isn't sure who would be the keeper for the final if they win. So now you have a confidence issue with not just your keepers but your whole team unit as it is important they trust the person behind them.
I'm not saying that Scurry is not a great keeper - she is, but why do you go with a keeper for 4 games only to toss her aside for a semi? And even if the US does win - that doesn't necessarily mean that Scurry got it done. Maybe Solo could have gotten it done as well - I guess we won't know. Either way my opinion of him as a coach is quickly going down the drain. I find his whatever attitude to be surprising as well - probably more so because of his sideline demeanor than anything else. And if he loses and loses his job - maybe he will take a different stance. We shall see. We shall see.
In the beginning, the Women's National Team Coach (Greg Ryan) appeared to be quiet and media shy. Well now I am wondering if he was media dumb. I have a fondness for when a coach talks to the media. It says a lot about a coach. It doesn't need to be all the time but a little bit is necessary IMO. In fact, I also feel that if you are not a media savvy individual because most coaches aren't - that is fine, but then have someone else who is stand up and say the things you want them to say and communicate to the masses.
Because ultimately, for a fan and spectator - one of the most frustrating things is when we don't understand what you do and why you do it. More people are forgiving and understanding when they feel they have an idea of what is going on vs being shut out - regardless of whether we agree with your vision. Now that the WC is on, 2 years later Ryan has started to talk to the press. Due to his actions, his aura and his words, I am far from being impressed. In fact, I am now wondering about his ability to think clearly. Anf for once, I am in the same position as the sportswriters and analysts.
I have copied a link to an article for you to read. Couple those with the previous comments I have made on my blog about Wambach and her head injury and the substitute situation and here are my thoughts:
http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/7266516
I am not a fan of Julie Foudy as an announcer- but I do agree with many of her sentiments both in this story and as the world cup has gone on.
Ryan - ARE YOU STUPID?!?!?!?!?
As a coach, I think it is irresponsible to not consider your player's feelings and how those may impact the team as a whole. Because ultimately you may need them to step in at some point and do great things. You have to find a balance to delicately manuever tricky situations.
So my bit is - Solo has been his chosen keeper for quite some time now. She has proven herself to be solid and in the WC, she has had one mistake - early on. So what is the problem? And if it is an injury then he should just say so - and we all would think - oh this makes sense. If he had an issue with the player because she said soemthing he didn't like - well I understand that and understand not announcing that sort of thing to the media. So it makes me think he either is eccentric or something happened between the last game and now. He then further exacerbates the situation by saying he isn't sure who would be the keeper for the final if they win. So now you have a confidence issue with not just your keepers but your whole team unit as it is important they trust the person behind them.
I'm not saying that Scurry is not a great keeper - she is, but why do you go with a keeper for 4 games only to toss her aside for a semi? And even if the US does win - that doesn't necessarily mean that Scurry got it done. Maybe Solo could have gotten it done as well - I guess we won't know. Either way my opinion of him as a coach is quickly going down the drain. I find his whatever attitude to be surprising as well - probably more so because of his sideline demeanor than anything else. And if he loses and loses his job - maybe he will take a different stance. We shall see. We shall see.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
A Little Sugar & Spice
We'll start with the spice.
My beloved Michael Bradley while continuing to be on his game in Holland scored another goal for his team in the latest Eredivisie League.....but it wasn't enough to secure the win as Herenveen lost 2-3. A sad day but they are still sitting in the middle of the table with a lot of games to go. Don't worry MB - I didn't score in my game tonight (but I had two last week!) and we tied a team everyone in the league hates. All that effort for....no goals darnit!
The Sugar
The WNT won again on Sunday morning defeating #12 England in 12 minutes of the second half by a score of 3-0. And while England played better possession the US was able to pull their game together enough to get the win done. Still not a great showing by the US - I know you are saying...but they won 3-0 - what's the problem? Well it could have been anybody's game is the problem. Lucky for the US England couldn't capitalize on anything in the box and their star player was sitting deeper in the midfield than normal for most of the match. Greg Ryan still didn't manage his substitutes well enough IMO and should have made two changes immediately once they went up by 3 in the 70th minute.
The US will be up Thursday morning in a semifinal matchup against Brazil and the FIFA Player of the Year Marta. It will be an interesting matchup as Brazil is an agressive team with a lot of flair. While the US has been able to hold them at bay in previous matches - sometimes looking by the hair of their chinny chin chin. We shall see what happens Thursday as Brazil may just take this one. Otherwise if the Americans advance - they will be facing the former WC champions Germany or Norway - depending on if there is an upset. Good luck to the women regardless - cause if you can't be good - be lucky !
My beloved Michael Bradley while continuing to be on his game in Holland scored another goal for his team in the latest Eredivisie League.....but it wasn't enough to secure the win as Herenveen lost 2-3. A sad day but they are still sitting in the middle of the table with a lot of games to go. Don't worry MB - I didn't score in my game tonight (but I had two last week!) and we tied a team everyone in the league hates. All that effort for....no goals darnit!
The Sugar
The WNT won again on Sunday morning defeating #12 England in 12 minutes of the second half by a score of 3-0. And while England played better possession the US was able to pull their game together enough to get the win done. Still not a great showing by the US - I know you are saying...but they won 3-0 - what's the problem? Well it could have been anybody's game is the problem. Lucky for the US England couldn't capitalize on anything in the box and their star player was sitting deeper in the midfield than normal for most of the match. Greg Ryan still didn't manage his substitutes well enough IMO and should have made two changes immediately once they went up by 3 in the 70th minute.
The US will be up Thursday morning in a semifinal matchup against Brazil and the FIFA Player of the Year Marta. It will be an interesting matchup as Brazil is an agressive team with a lot of flair. While the US has been able to hold them at bay in previous matches - sometimes looking by the hair of their chinny chin chin. We shall see what happens Thursday as Brazil may just take this one. Otherwise if the Americans advance - they will be facing the former WC champions Germany or Norway - depending on if there is an upset. Good luck to the women regardless - cause if you can't be good - be lucky !
Friday, September 21, 2007
My Love Affair Continues...
Bradley elevates his game during a busy summer
To see the highlight video click here
By Nicolino Di Benedetto, STATS Writer
Most 20-year-olds use the summer to relax on a beach and hang out with friends, one last chance for a relatively carefree existence before heading back to school and being forced to deal with the daunting pressures of life after college.
Michael Bradley is not one of those 20-year-olds.
While others his age will soon go into interviews armed with a fresh degree and hoping to land a job, Bradley's intentions are a little different: His goal is gold. Instead of an office, he wants to do his work in the middle of a Beijing field. Instead of a piece of paper, he wants a medal.
And if he keeps playing soccer the way he's been doing it the past few months, he just may get that shot.In a sport where goal scorers and dazzling playmakers get all the publicity, Bradley is gaining recognition for doing the dirty work. And the United States national team couldn't be happier.
"I am going to try to impose myself on the game," said Bradley. "Really be in the backbone of the team from the center of the field."
At 6-foot-1, he is a tough, imposing central midfielder looking to steal the ball from opponents and transition his team into the offensive. He's also the son of coach Bob Bradley, creating the first father-son combination in the U.S. team's history. But if you think nepotism has opened up this opportunity for Michael, forget it. His place on the team is all about his level of play and nothing to do with favored treatment.
ESPN soccer analyst Eric Wynalda, who praised the younger Bradley throughout the U.S.' 4-2 loss to Brazil in a friendly at Soldier Field on Sept. 9, feels any criticism the Bradleys get about nepotism is plain and simple ignorance. "Then they haven't been watching the games," Wynalda said. "On a couple of occasions he has been the best player on the field and he was the best American on the field against Brazil.
"When you look at the players who have developed over the past few years, Michael is one of the best. Over the last couple of games, I am impressed. His fight, his grit and his tactical awareness are fun to watch." Bradley has played nine games for the team in 2007, five while helping the U.S. to the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup title in June. He followed that up by providing leadership and a strong midfield presence in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in July, scoring the overtime goal against Uruguay that advanced the team to the quarterfinals before a disappointing loss to Austria.
Against Brazil, Bradley was the youngest player on the field and found himself mixing it up with two of the best playmakers in the game - Ronaldinho and Kaka. Unfortunately for the young New Jersey native, he committed a foul to set up a stoppage-time penalty kick for the five-time World Cup champions.
"One of the things I learned at a young age is how to compete," said Bradley, who comes from a sports rich family that includes uncle Scott, a former catcher for the New York Yankees and the current baseball coach at Princeton. "How fun it is to just go out and compete. I think that carries over to a game like this.
"What more can you ask for? It's 45,000 people, playing against Brazil and you're playing for the national team." Bradley's competitive edge has been seen on the field all summer, starting with his breakthrough Gold Cup. The basis for that performance was some advice his father gave him before the tournament. "I needed a good attitude, to work hard in training and to earn everyone's respect," Bradley said. "The rest would go from there."
And so it has.
This is not the first time the Bradley duo has been together in a professional environment. Bob, the all-time winningest coach in MLS history, made his son a fourth-round selection for New York in the 2004 MLS draft. The younger Bradley would spend two years with the club before being transferred to SC Heerenveen of the Dutch Eredivisie.
Prior to that, Michael found himself on the practice field with some strong Chicago Fire squads when Bob coached the MLS side from 1998-2002, winning an MLS Cup as an expansion club and two U.S. Open Cup titles. "When you would see him training with us in Chicago, you could see he had a mind for the game," said U.S. forward Josh Wolff, who played under the elder Bradley in each of his five seasons with the Fire. "It's great to see him grow and mature, but, at the end of the day, he's a heck of a soccer player. He's got a lot of upside."
Michael grew up admiring the strong Milan teams of the 1990s and identified himself with Demitrio Albertini, a deep-lying midfielder whose job it was to win balls, intercept passes and start the offense. "He wasn't always the best player, the most well known or got the best recognition, but he did as well as anyone," Bradley said. "He was the engine and the heart of the team. He would win tackles and get the ball in a real simple way to the next guy." "When you look at really good and successful teams, they have guys that work for the team and that can go unnoticed."
Bob noted another Italian example, eying the relationship between Milan's superstar defender and captain Paolo Maldini and his father, Cesare, who coached his son on the Italy Under-21 team and the 1998 World Cup squad after he captained the Rossoneri in the 1960s.
"When you look at the Maldinis, you see how Cesare told and taught Paolo how to be a man and a professional on and off the field," he said. "At the end of the day, that is what it comes down to if you want to succeed in anything. That crosses all sports and life in general."
Just to drive that point home, Michael scored his first career goal for Heerenveen in a 5-2 rout of Excelsior on Saturday. He has moved into the starting lineup this season following a summer which saw him jump into the spotlight. The only question that remains is, how long will he be able to ride this momentum of improvement?
If it's another few months, his graduation may take the form of inclusion on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.
And that beats going to an office anyday.
And this Daisy couldn't agree more!!!!
To see the highlight video click here
By Nicolino Di Benedetto, STATS Writer
Most 20-year-olds use the summer to relax on a beach and hang out with friends, one last chance for a relatively carefree existence before heading back to school and being forced to deal with the daunting pressures of life after college.
Michael Bradley is not one of those 20-year-olds.
While others his age will soon go into interviews armed with a fresh degree and hoping to land a job, Bradley's intentions are a little different: His goal is gold. Instead of an office, he wants to do his work in the middle of a Beijing field. Instead of a piece of paper, he wants a medal.
And if he keeps playing soccer the way he's been doing it the past few months, he just may get that shot.In a sport where goal scorers and dazzling playmakers get all the publicity, Bradley is gaining recognition for doing the dirty work. And the United States national team couldn't be happier.
"I am going to try to impose myself on the game," said Bradley. "Really be in the backbone of the team from the center of the field."
At 6-foot-1, he is a tough, imposing central midfielder looking to steal the ball from opponents and transition his team into the offensive. He's also the son of coach Bob Bradley, creating the first father-son combination in the U.S. team's history. But if you think nepotism has opened up this opportunity for Michael, forget it. His place on the team is all about his level of play and nothing to do with favored treatment.
ESPN soccer analyst Eric Wynalda, who praised the younger Bradley throughout the U.S.' 4-2 loss to Brazil in a friendly at Soldier Field on Sept. 9, feels any criticism the Bradleys get about nepotism is plain and simple ignorance. "Then they haven't been watching the games," Wynalda said. "On a couple of occasions he has been the best player on the field and he was the best American on the field against Brazil.
"When you look at the players who have developed over the past few years, Michael is one of the best. Over the last couple of games, I am impressed. His fight, his grit and his tactical awareness are fun to watch." Bradley has played nine games for the team in 2007, five while helping the U.S. to the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup title in June. He followed that up by providing leadership and a strong midfield presence in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in July, scoring the overtime goal against Uruguay that advanced the team to the quarterfinals before a disappointing loss to Austria.
Against Brazil, Bradley was the youngest player on the field and found himself mixing it up with two of the best playmakers in the game - Ronaldinho and Kaka. Unfortunately for the young New Jersey native, he committed a foul to set up a stoppage-time penalty kick for the five-time World Cup champions.
"One of the things I learned at a young age is how to compete," said Bradley, who comes from a sports rich family that includes uncle Scott, a former catcher for the New York Yankees and the current baseball coach at Princeton. "How fun it is to just go out and compete. I think that carries over to a game like this.
"What more can you ask for? It's 45,000 people, playing against Brazil and you're playing for the national team." Bradley's competitive edge has been seen on the field all summer, starting with his breakthrough Gold Cup. The basis for that performance was some advice his father gave him before the tournament. "I needed a good attitude, to work hard in training and to earn everyone's respect," Bradley said. "The rest would go from there."
And so it has.
This is not the first time the Bradley duo has been together in a professional environment. Bob, the all-time winningest coach in MLS history, made his son a fourth-round selection for New York in the 2004 MLS draft. The younger Bradley would spend two years with the club before being transferred to SC Heerenveen of the Dutch Eredivisie.
Prior to that, Michael found himself on the practice field with some strong Chicago Fire squads when Bob coached the MLS side from 1998-2002, winning an MLS Cup as an expansion club and two U.S. Open Cup titles. "When you would see him training with us in Chicago, you could see he had a mind for the game," said U.S. forward Josh Wolff, who played under the elder Bradley in each of his five seasons with the Fire. "It's great to see him grow and mature, but, at the end of the day, he's a heck of a soccer player. He's got a lot of upside."
Michael grew up admiring the strong Milan teams of the 1990s and identified himself with Demitrio Albertini, a deep-lying midfielder whose job it was to win balls, intercept passes and start the offense. "He wasn't always the best player, the most well known or got the best recognition, but he did as well as anyone," Bradley said. "He was the engine and the heart of the team. He would win tackles and get the ball in a real simple way to the next guy." "When you look at really good and successful teams, they have guys that work for the team and that can go unnoticed."
Bob noted another Italian example, eying the relationship between Milan's superstar defender and captain Paolo Maldini and his father, Cesare, who coached his son on the Italy Under-21 team and the 1998 World Cup squad after he captained the Rossoneri in the 1960s.
"When you look at the Maldinis, you see how Cesare told and taught Paolo how to be a man and a professional on and off the field," he said. "At the end of the day, that is what it comes down to if you want to succeed in anything. That crosses all sports and life in general."
Just to drive that point home, Michael scored his first career goal for Heerenveen in a 5-2 rout of Excelsior on Saturday. He has moved into the starting lineup this season following a summer which saw him jump into the spotlight. The only question that remains is, how long will he be able to ride this momentum of improvement?
If it's another few months, his graduation may take the form of inclusion on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.
And that beats going to an office anyday.
And this Daisy couldn't agree more!!!!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
And the Women Move On
Good news for the US WNT as they previously beat Sweden 2-0 and won last night against Nigeria 1-0. Congrats to them as they move on to a quarterfinal!
However..........I am not feeling confident that the #1 favorites to win the tournament look exactly like they can win. I almost don't think they will make it out of a quarterfinal. Why am I bashing on them you say? They won two games and tied one - that's good right? Well sort of. But if you saw their play.....not so good. Out of 6 halves of soccer in 7 days - they only had 2 good halves. The rest were not so good. And you could say things like - oh they played in a typhoon or the pitch wasn't all that great. Sure....sure.....but these are professionals. And when I mean professionals - our women have been in residency camp for two years. What does that mean you say? It means that our women have been living either together or centralized in SoCal and training about 4-5 days a week together every week for the past two years. They have traveled to other countries and played as well. The men when they go into residency camp.....do so for like a week or two weeks before a world cup - because they play for club teams - our women primarily do not. So that should give you some perspective.
Coach Ryan also has not done a stellar job IMO either and has looked scared, hesitant, uncertain, indecisive and frustrated at times. I would like to see him chew some body's a$$. Or better yet - SUB someone then.
Last night he makes a questionable first sub at about 75 minutes for an outside midfielder. Then he finally takes off the central back in like the 80th minute or something who is sitting on a yellow card (they can accumulate through the tournament and after X amount (it's usually 3 for the men but I kept hearing 2) they serve a suspension. He keeps his star player (Wambach) in (whose legs looked heavy and tired and looked like she was dragging) and instead subs the Captain out with a few minutes to go. But then what proceeded to occur is what really pisses me off on all levels.
So we are up 1-0 and in the last 5 minutes of the game we do what some other teams do but what I think is the (one of) worst form of sportsmanship and a bad coaching decision. Wambach at this point had hit the ground about 5 times in the first half and about 3 times already in the second half. Now when you hit the turf - it take a small toll on your body and you could hurt something in the process but it sure doesn't feel good. So they "posses" the ball by way of dribbling to the corner and just sitting on it basically waiting to either get hacked or have the ball kicked out. Which at that point - we get the kick or the throw and it becomes ground hog day for the rest of the match - in the corner and hang out because we are so bored with this game kind of mentality. This kind of crap doesn't happen in American sports. So as a result - the other thing they did - was have Wambach be one of the two players that played this Mickey Mouse game in the corner. Well guess what happened - she hit the ground about 4 more times in 7 minutes doing this. Meanwhile the crowd of course was booing and deservedly so.
Now think about it from this perspective. Nigeria is sitting on the third game they are about to lose. They have nothing to be excited about and now on a national stage they are being jerked around by the best team on the planet. So you say, what would I do? Cause I know that is what you are thinking.
Well........I've been in this situation before - both sides of the ball.
I would try to break her leg.
Yes I really said that. And I mean it. It is one of the few times my competitive nature turns on its head and says - we are no longer playing a sporting match. And if I have nothing to lose or feel it is worth it.....well it's like Star Wars........anger turns to hate....hate leads to the dark side........this scenario happens very quickly on the pitch. And if you think I am mean - well Julie Foudy was saying the same thing during the game so it isn't just me.
And why is the star player in the middle of that???? Bad coaching. Even if I was another player on the field - I would have said - Wambach, get your butt out of there and I'll take it for the team. Because Abby only has so much playing ability in her for a span of 2 weeks when she is constantly hitting the turf like she is, has a broken toe, 11 stitches in her head - and that is all we know of. She is a targeted player and well you need to protect those players when you can - not throw them in the firing line.
Tony says - well some teams see that as possessing the ball. Sure you can look at it that way - but I think it is a chump way to end a game - especially in the World Cup and personally - I thought it showed a lack of class.
My two cents for the day...
However..........I am not feeling confident that the #1 favorites to win the tournament look exactly like they can win. I almost don't think they will make it out of a quarterfinal. Why am I bashing on them you say? They won two games and tied one - that's good right? Well sort of. But if you saw their play.....not so good. Out of 6 halves of soccer in 7 days - they only had 2 good halves. The rest were not so good. And you could say things like - oh they played in a typhoon or the pitch wasn't all that great. Sure....sure.....but these are professionals. And when I mean professionals - our women have been in residency camp for two years. What does that mean you say? It means that our women have been living either together or centralized in SoCal and training about 4-5 days a week together every week for the past two years. They have traveled to other countries and played as well. The men when they go into residency camp.....do so for like a week or two weeks before a world cup - because they play for club teams - our women primarily do not. So that should give you some perspective.
Coach Ryan also has not done a stellar job IMO either and has looked scared, hesitant, uncertain, indecisive and frustrated at times. I would like to see him chew some body's a$$. Or better yet - SUB someone then.
Last night he makes a questionable first sub at about 75 minutes for an outside midfielder. Then he finally takes off the central back in like the 80th minute or something who is sitting on a yellow card (they can accumulate through the tournament and after X amount (it's usually 3 for the men but I kept hearing 2) they serve a suspension. He keeps his star player (Wambach) in (whose legs looked heavy and tired and looked like she was dragging) and instead subs the Captain out with a few minutes to go. But then what proceeded to occur is what really pisses me off on all levels.
So we are up 1-0 and in the last 5 minutes of the game we do what some other teams do but what I think is the (one of) worst form of sportsmanship and a bad coaching decision. Wambach at this point had hit the ground about 5 times in the first half and about 3 times already in the second half. Now when you hit the turf - it take a small toll on your body and you could hurt something in the process but it sure doesn't feel good. So they "posses" the ball by way of dribbling to the corner and just sitting on it basically waiting to either get hacked or have the ball kicked out. Which at that point - we get the kick or the throw and it becomes ground hog day for the rest of the match - in the corner and hang out because we are so bored with this game kind of mentality. This kind of crap doesn't happen in American sports. So as a result - the other thing they did - was have Wambach be one of the two players that played this Mickey Mouse game in the corner. Well guess what happened - she hit the ground about 4 more times in 7 minutes doing this. Meanwhile the crowd of course was booing and deservedly so.
Now think about it from this perspective. Nigeria is sitting on the third game they are about to lose. They have nothing to be excited about and now on a national stage they are being jerked around by the best team on the planet. So you say, what would I do? Cause I know that is what you are thinking.
Well........I've been in this situation before - both sides of the ball.
I would try to break her leg.
Yes I really said that. And I mean it. It is one of the few times my competitive nature turns on its head and says - we are no longer playing a sporting match. And if I have nothing to lose or feel it is worth it.....well it's like Star Wars........anger turns to hate....hate leads to the dark side........this scenario happens very quickly on the pitch. And if you think I am mean - well Julie Foudy was saying the same thing during the game so it isn't just me.
And why is the star player in the middle of that???? Bad coaching. Even if I was another player on the field - I would have said - Wambach, get your butt out of there and I'll take it for the team. Because Abby only has so much playing ability in her for a span of 2 weeks when she is constantly hitting the turf like she is, has a broken toe, 11 stitches in her head - and that is all we know of. She is a targeted player and well you need to protect those players when you can - not throw them in the firing line.
Tony says - well some teams see that as possessing the ball. Sure you can look at it that way - but I think it is a chump way to end a game - especially in the World Cup and personally - I thought it showed a lack of class.
My two cents for the day...
Thursday, September 13, 2007
The Bloodied & Broken in the Quest for the Title
My previous post talked about Abby Wambach and the blood and the stitches. I felt it necessary to include a visual and a few words of relevant note:
This is what it means to be a competitor...
CHENGDU, China (AP) - Abby Wambach's bloody head has been stitched, and her toe needs to be numbed before games.
Don't worry about her, she insists. What really matters is if she and her American teammates fail against Sweden in the Women's World Cup.
"The toe is not an issue," she said. "Toe, head, whatever. I don't really care. I'll play with a broken bone."
For Full Story
This is what it means to be a competitor...
CHENGDU, China (AP) - Abby Wambach's bloody head has been stitched, and her toe needs to be numbed before games.
Don't worry about her, she insists. What really matters is if she and her American teammates fail against Sweden in the Women's World Cup.
"The toe is not an issue," she said. "Toe, head, whatever. I don't really care. I'll play with a broken bone."
For Full Story
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
What I wanted to be when I grew up
I don't talk much about what I wanted as a kid - my goals or dreams. Never really had the inclination to say I wanted to be a teacher or doctor. Never felt I had a clue or a calling. The only thing I really ever wanted was something I never attained and knew in my teens I would never attain it (thanks for moving away from the soccer capital of the country mom).
I wanted be on the Women's National Team.
I wanted to score a goal in the World Cup and do the airplane and scream at the crowd. I wanted to put my finger to my lips and do the shhhh to the booers. I of course never got there however. Instead, I am relegated to having the high and low feelings as shown below by Wambach.....in my local area women's league. And of course when someone tells me to take it easy - I give them a screw you look. Because really - this game has never been about let's jsut go out and have fun. For me it is my deepest sense of competition. My deepest sense of feeling the burning desire to win and be the best I can be. To amaze myself and be the perfect player. Not that that happens or all the time as I am very hard on myself as a player - I expect to be perfect. I of course am not.
So I wanted to give a little love to the WNT since I gave so much love to the MNT (ok so I really gave all my love to Michael Bradley but moving on).
The US women kicked off their opening day World Cup match yesterday in China going against a tough North Korean team. In the end the result was a 2-2 DRAW (which means tie for us Americans). Here is a quick recap from my coaching perspective - cause you know I am so quality there too. LOL Anyway......
The US women were physical and that is probably the what I was happiest about the most. They were scrappy and came to play. See pic below.
Unfortunately so did the North Koreans. The NK's were quick, had a great first touch, were creative in the attack and their passing was almost impeccable. They were able to penetrate our defensive third and create several series in teh box likening that to a ping pong game. They scored both their goals during a time when Wambach (our leading goal scorer) was out for a period of ten minutes due to a head injury. Now since it is my blog I am going to digress for a moment and get on a soap box.
Wambach comes out because her head is darn near pouring blood. In these situations - even if it calls for stitches, usually what happens is the trainer cleans it up a bit, slaps some magic goo on the spot to stop the bleeding or at least clot it so it has no where to go and cleans off the jersey, and sends them back out on the pitch. In this instance, blood was trickling down her head so bad they had to walk off the pitch and then she was out for 10 minutes with no word on what was going on. This effectively put the team down to 10 men against a pretty good NK side. Now as a coach what would your inclination be:
A. Do a quick substitute after 5 minutes when you have heard nothing from the trainers cause they aren't even on the field. (They were still ahead at this point BTW)
B. Stay down to 10 men and hope for the best until you get word she can go back on (or not and then make a sub) since this is the World Cup.
C. Do an immediate substitution because: the player had a head injury with bleeding and the possibility of a concussion is highly likely coupled with the fact the player who is your leading scorer and biggest player on the field and is the target player on all set pieces to win balls out of the air with her HEAD could further complicate a concussion or her health and jeopardize her ability to play in all proceeding matches.
Take your time...........I don't think you really need to be a coach to figure out what I think as a coach. As a player - I would have done the same thing as Abby - Coach, I'm good to go - put me back out there!
Times up. Freaking C for crying out loud. There is no way she did not get stitches after that game and who knows what the state of her head was as well.
One of the things Tony and I talked about was what does Coach Ryan think of his bench? I mean if he is hesitant to go to his bench and only did so in the waning minutes of the game - which he subbed a different attacker out - does he not think he has options that can attack and cover?? That's a scary prospect. Or was it that he got caught up in a WC match and froze. When I say froze - I have seen Tony do this - sorry honey. A change needs to be made or should be made and the coach gets caught up thinking - do I sub out my best who is not playing their best for a second choice whose best may be the same(ish) as my best not at their best?? Coach Athena says - hell yeah sub em out! You gotta make adjustments on the fly and have faith in the gourp of chickas you picked!!!
Speaking of the coach. Today I will go down to the local Best Buy and pick up a wireless game controller...cause he clearly thought he could control everything that was going on out on the pitch. At least the U20 Men's coach was more composed at their WC. Come on Ryan - you gotta let the ladies figure it out on the pitch themselves - they have trained for this day in and day out under your leadership - they should know what to do and when to do it. I felt like I was watching a rec coach out there.
As to the play of our women - to be honest - I thought they looked a little sluggish. They looked like either the heat and humidity were getting to them pretty early on in the game - or they just weren't match fit enough. If they weren't match fit - then they should have been training in the Midwest this summer to acclimate to the weather conditions they were going to face in China. Their first touch was pretty heavy, they lost their team shape too many times to count and had problems getting organized. Their counter attacks were slow and did not have numbers pushing forward. The defense was not marking well and there were a lot of bad passes and misread runs.
But look at the hops on this girl!
Ladies...I wish you the best of luck against Sweden - you're going to need it.
I wanted be on the Women's National Team.
I wanted to score a goal in the World Cup and do the airplane and scream at the crowd. I wanted to put my finger to my lips and do the shhhh to the booers. I of course never got there however. Instead, I am relegated to having the high and low feelings as shown below by Wambach.....in my local area women's league. And of course when someone tells me to take it easy - I give them a screw you look. Because really - this game has never been about let's jsut go out and have fun. For me it is my deepest sense of competition. My deepest sense of feeling the burning desire to win and be the best I can be. To amaze myself and be the perfect player. Not that that happens or all the time as I am very hard on myself as a player - I expect to be perfect. I of course am not.
So I wanted to give a little love to the WNT since I gave so much love to the MNT (ok so I really gave all my love to Michael Bradley but moving on).
The US women kicked off their opening day World Cup match yesterday in China going against a tough North Korean team. In the end the result was a 2-2 DRAW (which means tie for us Americans). Here is a quick recap from my coaching perspective - cause you know I am so quality there too. LOL Anyway......
The US women were physical and that is probably the what I was happiest about the most. They were scrappy and came to play. See pic below.
Unfortunately so did the North Koreans. The NK's were quick, had a great first touch, were creative in the attack and their passing was almost impeccable. They were able to penetrate our defensive third and create several series in teh box likening that to a ping pong game. They scored both their goals during a time when Wambach (our leading goal scorer) was out for a period of ten minutes due to a head injury. Now since it is my blog I am going to digress for a moment and get on a soap box.
Wambach comes out because her head is darn near pouring blood. In these situations - even if it calls for stitches, usually what happens is the trainer cleans it up a bit, slaps some magic goo on the spot to stop the bleeding or at least clot it so it has no where to go and cleans off the jersey, and sends them back out on the pitch. In this instance, blood was trickling down her head so bad they had to walk off the pitch and then she was out for 10 minutes with no word on what was going on. This effectively put the team down to 10 men against a pretty good NK side. Now as a coach what would your inclination be:
A. Do a quick substitute after 5 minutes when you have heard nothing from the trainers cause they aren't even on the field. (They were still ahead at this point BTW)
B. Stay down to 10 men and hope for the best until you get word she can go back on (or not and then make a sub) since this is the World Cup.
C. Do an immediate substitution because: the player had a head injury with bleeding and the possibility of a concussion is highly likely coupled with the fact the player who is your leading scorer and biggest player on the field and is the target player on all set pieces to win balls out of the air with her HEAD could further complicate a concussion or her health and jeopardize her ability to play in all proceeding matches.
Take your time...........I don't think you really need to be a coach to figure out what I think as a coach. As a player - I would have done the same thing as Abby - Coach, I'm good to go - put me back out there!
Times up. Freaking C for crying out loud. There is no way she did not get stitches after that game and who knows what the state of her head was as well.
One of the things Tony and I talked about was what does Coach Ryan think of his bench? I mean if he is hesitant to go to his bench and only did so in the waning minutes of the game - which he subbed a different attacker out - does he not think he has options that can attack and cover?? That's a scary prospect. Or was it that he got caught up in a WC match and froze. When I say froze - I have seen Tony do this - sorry honey. A change needs to be made or should be made and the coach gets caught up thinking - do I sub out my best who is not playing their best for a second choice whose best may be the same(ish) as my best not at their best?? Coach Athena says - hell yeah sub em out! You gotta make adjustments on the fly and have faith in the gourp of chickas you picked!!!
Speaking of the coach. Today I will go down to the local Best Buy and pick up a wireless game controller...cause he clearly thought he could control everything that was going on out on the pitch. At least the U20 Men's coach was more composed at their WC. Come on Ryan - you gotta let the ladies figure it out on the pitch themselves - they have trained for this day in and day out under your leadership - they should know what to do and when to do it. I felt like I was watching a rec coach out there.
As to the play of our women - to be honest - I thought they looked a little sluggish. They looked like either the heat and humidity were getting to them pretty early on in the game - or they just weren't match fit enough. If they weren't match fit - then they should have been training in the Midwest this summer to acclimate to the weather conditions they were going to face in China. Their first touch was pretty heavy, they lost their team shape too many times to count and had problems getting organized. Their counter attacks were slow and did not have numbers pushing forward. The defense was not marking well and there were a lot of bad passes and misread runs.
But look at the hops on this girl!
Ladies...I wish you the best of luck against Sweden - you're going to need it.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
We got Brazilled
Ah yes, some of you were wondering if I would post about the Brazil vs US game from Sunday. Who am I kidding - almost nobody reads this site. But since my Michael Bradley was playing - did you really expect me not to post? Just be thankful I can only get the Erevidisie Highlights instead of the full matches or else I would give you weekly commentary there as well.
So I decided to do a couple of things. First I wanted to give praise to my favorite FOOTBALLER (that was for some of you) by some pics - do you feel the need for me to share yet? ;)
Photo Gallery 1 - Tackling Kaka...I mean tackling the ball. :)
Why you picking on the little guy? Oh that's right - cuz he's got mad skillz!!!
Oh - did Bradley just dump the best player in the world to the pitch?!?!? Atta boy!
Ok so there was my short love affair with Michael Bradley. In reality - HE WAS FREAKING AWESOME!!!! I had an earlier post where I said he will take a year or two to mature and develop - but crap. If he starts playing like he did on Sunday - that year estimate just went down to like 6 months. It is clear the Dutch system is doing well by him as he is becoming one of the best central midfielders the US has ever had. Ok yes I know I am jumping the gun as some of you may think because he had ONE great game. But the talent and the knowledge base is there. i think he learned from the Sweden game and when Pablo comes back - i think the duo will pair well together.
All in all while the sports writers praised him gloriously, they still gave him like a semi low score - which i think they were scoring based on the play of the individual Brazilians talent not on how the US paired against each other. In my book - he had a 9.5. He had one bad pass and he made an error in judgement in the 85 minute. But you know what? He worked his a$$ off for that whole game and he was at least one of a couple that was trying to stop the darn play when he pulled down the Brazilian. So I don't really fault him for that. he knew when he messed up to - so it all comes back to learning lessons. I still can't believe this kid is 20. I can't wait to see how he plays in the next World Cup. Because we are going to need a player like him by that time.
But in the end it was 4-2 Brazil. Now the rest of us sometimes like to play the what if game and well IF the referee hadn't done his bit it could have been 2-2 or 3-2 US. So realistically this is the score of the game IMO...
Brazil - 2
US - 2
Referee - 3
So I decided to do a couple of things. First I wanted to give praise to my favorite FOOTBALLER (that was for some of you) by some pics - do you feel the need for me to share yet? ;)
Photo Gallery 1 - Tackling Kaka...I mean tackling the ball. :)
Why you picking on the little guy? Oh that's right - cuz he's got mad skillz!!!
Oh - did Bradley just dump the best player in the world to the pitch?!?!? Atta boy!
Ok so there was my short love affair with Michael Bradley. In reality - HE WAS FREAKING AWESOME!!!! I had an earlier post where I said he will take a year or two to mature and develop - but crap. If he starts playing like he did on Sunday - that year estimate just went down to like 6 months. It is clear the Dutch system is doing well by him as he is becoming one of the best central midfielders the US has ever had. Ok yes I know I am jumping the gun as some of you may think because he had ONE great game. But the talent and the knowledge base is there. i think he learned from the Sweden game and when Pablo comes back - i think the duo will pair well together.
All in all while the sports writers praised him gloriously, they still gave him like a semi low score - which i think they were scoring based on the play of the individual Brazilians talent not on how the US paired against each other. In my book - he had a 9.5. He had one bad pass and he made an error in judgement in the 85 minute. But you know what? He worked his a$$ off for that whole game and he was at least one of a couple that was trying to stop the darn play when he pulled down the Brazilian. So I don't really fault him for that. he knew when he messed up to - so it all comes back to learning lessons. I still can't believe this kid is 20. I can't wait to see how he plays in the next World Cup. Because we are going to need a player like him by that time.
But in the end it was 4-2 Brazil. Now the rest of us sometimes like to play the what if game and well IF the referee hadn't done his bit it could have been 2-2 or 3-2 US. So realistically this is the score of the game IMO...
Brazil - 2
US - 2
Referee - 3
Moment of Realization
Yesterday I found out that some of my former coworkers lost their jobs last week due to market attrition in the mortgage industry. One of them was my former boss. As I sat there thinking about the current market I am in and my past situation at that company, I realized soemthing. Last week would have been the day I lost my job too if I was still there. Reason I say that is because some of the top dogs there had a problem with me, and if they let my former boss go - there was no way they would have kept me. I found myself thankful that I am still employed although in the mortgage market as 36,000 people have lost their jobs in my industry since Jan1. And that number will be over 45,000 before the end of the year. I hope that all of you are able to land on your feet and yoru families do not experience hardship as a result of all this.
Au revoir mes amis!
Au revoir mes amis!
Rams drop season opener
maybe I should rephrase that to say Jackson drops two in season opener... Anywho Rams lost to the Panthers on opening day of the season. For the first time in like 6 years I am NOT in a football pool - weird feeling actually.
They take on the 49ers next - this should be a W!
They take on the 49ers next - this should be a W!
Saturday, September 08, 2007
GAME 1
Crossfire 2-0 Doosvedonya
Our little chickas pulled out the W today after having only 12 girls and one of our strikers going down with inury after about 20 minutes - taking us down to 11 at that point. But they got it done and worked real hard. They actually looked great in the first half and then the second half showed signs of fatigue. But we are proud regardless!
Next week we are already down to a starting 11 so we'll see how good that goes! But a good start to our season.
Our little chickas pulled out the W today after having only 12 girls and one of our strikers going down with inury after about 20 minutes - taking us down to 11 at that point. But they got it done and worked real hard. They actually looked great in the first half and then the second half showed signs of fatigue. But we are proud regardless!
Next week we are already down to a starting 11 so we'll see how good that goes! But a good start to our season.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
On the mend
Last night I played in my first indoor game since before the wedding. On the last indoor game, one of the biznatches on the other team got pissed off I kept skinning her with my fabulous skills so she clipped me as I was turning on the boards and then shoved me with her forearm. I of course go body slamming into the boards and ended up bouncing off only to hold my left arm out and land on it. My elbow got severely jacked and I did a # on it as it took 6 weeks to heal and I couldn't bend it much for a week.
Ironically my first game back was against those purple biznatches (every team in the arena hates them btw). This time however since I am on the mend and working my way back to good fitness I tried to chill out a bit (I can be a rowdy player - never would have guessed that would you)and play mostly defense so I didn't have to run as much.
One of the weird things that has happened post surgery is my first touch. A first touch for the non soccer people who read this is how good you control the ball when you first receive it and setting yourself up for your second touch (if you take a second touch). You thought we all just went out and kicked a ball around and hoped for good things to happen didn't you? :) Anywho my first touch skills have come back. When I mean come back, I don't mean they have come back pre surgery - I mean they have come back from where I was at about 10 years ago. It's like I have had a break through or something. I feel like I have reconnected with my inner self in this manner. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like I had a bad touch before, but it really felt more like........I had aged. I can't cut the ball really just yet because that might do a number on my ankle at the moment - but my first touch and my turns have been really good. I've been surprising myself. And while I have a pain in my heel, I feel in some ways like I have an extra bounce in my step.
And ironically last night I developed defensive skills I don't know if I ever had. I was never a defender in my former life but out of no where I must have saved like 8 goals and help set up a few for our team. I quickly became a marked woman and the other team wasn't passing the ball much to the players I was marking. I love those moments. I have found that my passing needs a smidge of work of course since I have been out for 3 months but I'm actually doing pretty good there too. It doesn't hurt to strike a ball with either my right or left foot and really the only pain I have is two parts: the compacting of the running and the push off with your foot. But really it feels like growing pains that i just have to work through and after a day or two my foot feels better than before I played. In the end, the purple chick who had pushed me in the earlier game, made a point to come over and waited to shake my hand for the good game when she could have just skipped me. I was a little surprised. I wasn't planning on shaking her hand. LOL
I got to play in an outdoor game last week with my co-ed team and did pretty good there too. I still can't sprint but that is ok. I was able to set some things up and distribute the ball pretty well so those are good starts. I am hoping to find myself another competitive outdoor women's team to play on since my old one conflicts with my co-ed team. Hopefully that will give me the balance I need to keep heading in the right direction.
Ironically my first game back was against those purple biznatches (every team in the arena hates them btw). This time however since I am on the mend and working my way back to good fitness I tried to chill out a bit (I can be a rowdy player - never would have guessed that would you)and play mostly defense so I didn't have to run as much.
One of the weird things that has happened post surgery is my first touch. A first touch for the non soccer people who read this is how good you control the ball when you first receive it and setting yourself up for your second touch (if you take a second touch). You thought we all just went out and kicked a ball around and hoped for good things to happen didn't you? :) Anywho my first touch skills have come back. When I mean come back, I don't mean they have come back pre surgery - I mean they have come back from where I was at about 10 years ago. It's like I have had a break through or something. I feel like I have reconnected with my inner self in this manner. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like I had a bad touch before, but it really felt more like........I had aged. I can't cut the ball really just yet because that might do a number on my ankle at the moment - but my first touch and my turns have been really good. I've been surprising myself. And while I have a pain in my heel, I feel in some ways like I have an extra bounce in my step.
And ironically last night I developed defensive skills I don't know if I ever had. I was never a defender in my former life but out of no where I must have saved like 8 goals and help set up a few for our team. I quickly became a marked woman and the other team wasn't passing the ball much to the players I was marking. I love those moments. I have found that my passing needs a smidge of work of course since I have been out for 3 months but I'm actually doing pretty good there too. It doesn't hurt to strike a ball with either my right or left foot and really the only pain I have is two parts: the compacting of the running and the push off with your foot. But really it feels like growing pains that i just have to work through and after a day or two my foot feels better than before I played. In the end, the purple chick who had pushed me in the earlier game, made a point to come over and waited to shake my hand for the good game when she could have just skipped me. I was a little surprised. I wasn't planning on shaking her hand. LOL
I got to play in an outdoor game last week with my co-ed team and did pretty good there too. I still can't sprint but that is ok. I was able to set some things up and distribute the ball pretty well so those are good starts. I am hoping to find myself another competitive outdoor women's team to play on since my old one conflicts with my co-ed team. Hopefully that will give me the balance I need to keep heading in the right direction.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)