AL |
3:18 PM |
1. Women's sports can be every bit as exciting as men's!
The France verses England quarter final game was a thriller. England scored first and France tied it up at the death. England went down to 10 women and battled their way though to extra time only to lose dramatically in a penalty shootout. I thought it wouldn't get any better than that until I saw USA's never say die attitude help them perform a miracle verses Brazil with Abby Wambach's 122nd minute which set up a penalty shoot out that the USA eventually won. Meanwhile, unnoticed, Japan were knocking out tournament favorites as if it were 10 pin bowling. All the action in the tournament was epitomized by a thrilling final. A final in which the USA looked to be bossing the game but ended up being administered a taste of their own medicine. Japan fought back to win a thrilling penalty shoot out where Carli Lloyd sent a penalty kick so high into the air that the ball is still in orbit.
If you were one of those people that believe the women's game to slow, boring and void of true skill then amid your musings you ended up missed the most exciting soccer tournament we have seen in while.
2. ESPN screws up again!
ESPN put together a commentary team of pro-USA announcers whose agenda was to focus on team USA even in games where they were not present. ESPN is big network not a local television channel. They should be more professional when hosting events on a world stage. The commentators were biased, misleading and failed to be the valuable source of non-biased analysis that people need. The ex-USA players were merely studio cheerleaders that backed any calls that were in favor of the USA and opposed any against them, creating unnecessary controversy instead of focusing on the more sublime elements of the game and advancing the sport as a whole. I am just happy there was no Alexi Lalas so I can't say it was all bad!
3. Everybody has a crush on Hope Solo!
 |
| Hope Solo...everybody's crush. |
Everyone has a crush on Hope Solo, even women. Her allure is probably tied into to how much of a jerk she was after the last World Cup. After being left out of a semi final game verses Brazil in which the USA were thrashed 4-0, Solo famously went on TV and let the world know that her replacement Diana Scurry, the coach and the coach's momma all suck. Solo is the key to USA getting anywhere because as you can see a good keeper makes all the difference. France and Sweden are an example of that as they both had ticking time bombs in goal that exploded in Semi Finals sending both teams packing. Even the media is obsessed with shot stopper, who like the drama queen that she is, always claimed to have some little pre-game injury which ironically never seemed to manifest itself on field play, in fact quite the opposite.Either way, there is just something about Hope Solo that gets everyone going.
4. The traditional women's soccer powers will have to make changes to continue to dominate.
 |
| The skill and creativity of Brazil's Christiane and Marta, something the old guard lacks. |
Traditional women's soccer powers did not win the World Cup. More importantly, they looked dated and unsophisticated. None of them had the guile, sophistication or technical ability of France, Brazil or Japan. The likes of USA and Germany have long survived on having fitter, faster, bigger women playing the sport. Now that traditional soccer playing countries are playing the game and bringing with them more flair and skill. The USA needs to produce a smarter more technically adept players that will be able to open up defenses with a bit of guile. Players like Louisa Necib of France or Mata of Brazil. Fitness, speed and power are easy things for nations to catch up with and you will see opponents toughening up physically in years to come, the same can not be said of skill or technical ability.
5. The best team won!
 |
| Japan, Champions of the 2011 Women's World Cup. |
If you have been watching the tournament you'd have noticed the superb, Tiki-Takka-like, possession style Japan have been playing and how theey hav managed to control most of their games with patience and excellent teamwork. Led by MVP Homare Sawa (5 goals from 6 games)
, Japan played the best football and made the least errors in key times. Japan were a pleasure to watch and deserved a little bit of fortune to beat the USA in final because that was one of the couple of games that they weren't able to dictate the pace of play. USA did not deserve to win. They haven't played well all tournament, the sheer will power of the team got them this far. USA fought valiantly and fought and I admire that about them
Category:
Lists,
News
