The Soccer Thread (Version 13) — Winter World Cup Edition

I also think her social causes have overtaken soccer in her list of priorities.

 

I thought the team in question was the USWNT.

I think qualifying for the playoffs after a 162-game grind is a little more of an accomplishment to be celebrated than the tournament favorite being one of two teams in what was essentially a three-game pool (Vietnam might as well have been the Long John Silver Imitators) to advance.

Others mileage may vary, of course.

 

Vlatko Andonovski, who suddenly realized how warm his seat is, is probably not going to invite Carli Lloyd to his pool parties.

Lloyd, this morning: “You never want to take anything for granted. You put on that jersey and you want to give it everything you have, for the people that came before you and the people that are gonna come after you, and I'm just not seeing that passion. I'm just seeing a very lackluster, uninspiring, taking-it-for-granted, where winning and training and doing all that you can to be the best possible individual player is not happening.”

Andonovski: “The one thing I want to say is that this team wanted to win this game more than anything else. They've put everything they could in preparation for this tournament and every game that they go into, so to question the mentality of this team, to question the willingness to win, to compete, I think it's insane. I've never seen this team step on the field and not try hard or not compete. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, they can say whatever they want, but I just know how this team feels. It's not like we played well by any means. We owned it. We know it's not good enough. We're not happy with our performance, but we qualified for the next round. We're moving on.”

Personally, I’m with her.

 

Meanwhile, Bruce Arena is in trouble.

Revs coach Arena on leave pending MLS probe

 

Dancing around the field is not "owning it," Vlatko.

Kind of takes "sticks and stones" and craps on the concept, doesn't it.

 

That's a great point.

Selfies with fans is fine. A little dancing is fine as well.
Again, people looking for something to criticize.

 

If some fans asked for autographs and selfies and the players ignored them, they'd be called ugly americans as well.

 

It sucks for the fans and certainly Fox. Then again, fuck Fox and their sweetheart deal to broadcast the World Cup.

 

In 2019, despite being on the decline, she still was pretty good. Our best passer and set piece taker and she did an amazing job killing off games with her strength and possession.

 

Sorry, mistyped.

But it’s not just the pool play. It’s the qualifying rounds too. I’m just saying, if people are going to clutch pearls about the women briefly enjoying moving to the knockout round then they should when the Braves clinch a postseason spot as well.

 

If the Braves go 1-0-161 and celebrate clinching a postseason spot, I'll be on board with the pearl clutching.

 

These are wild card celebrations.