Congratulations to the USWNT!

What an unbelievable win!

I’m not gonna lie, I almost missed the first shot by Carli Lloyd! I also almost missed the second one too because I had to go to the bathroom … that never happens in soccer – so many goals!

I couldn’t be prouder of the team.

Also, I know I bag on Carli Lloyd and that’s not going to change. However, I feel like Coach made an excellent decision on giving her less responsibility in the midfield. She just owned the fact that Carli Lloyd will not run her butt up and down the field. It put more responsibility on the other midfielders, but in some ways, maybe not? I know when I played, I played with a few Carli Lloyd’s. You couldn’t rely on them to maintain their position on the field, but yet had to defer to them that they would possibly be there. In some regards, it’s just easier to reconfigure the field and know that you have a larger area to defend.

Also, you can’t take away from her those goals despite not liking her. They were fantastic.

She was also classy when she handed the Captain’s band to Abby Wambach when she came onto the field. Abby is a huge fan favorite, one of my favorites, that was nice to see happen.

Class abounded everywhere in regards to this USWNT. Abby then handed the badge to Rampone, as it will be her last cup (duh, she’s 40!) and then they were the last two to come onto the podium to raise the cup. It was emotional, and wonderful, and you just don’t see that in men’s sports.

Obama called the USWNT, too. Classy. Everything surrounding the USWNT was classy.

Outclassed were the men. It’s been everywhere in the news, but it bears repeating. The final had more viewers than the Men’s World Cup final and game 6 of the Cavs vs Warriors (that one really boggles my mind). Game 6 was the highest rated NBA Finals game since the Jordan era! Awesomeness!

The markets that watched the most were Kansas City, St. Louis, San Diego (yay! my new adopted town), Denver, and Austin.

22.86 million viewers. Sweet!

Another great thing on a social standpoint was getting to watch Abby go into the stands and kiss her wife. It just seemed so sweetly appropriate to be able to show their love for each other on a grand scale just after the ruling by SCOTUS.

Bittersweet though is that we will not see some very important returning faces. Lauren Holiday and Christie Rampone have already announced their retirements, and while it’s not official, Abby Wambach has eluded to her retirement as well.

Here is a great article by The Players’ Tribune with special contributor Christie Rampone. I love you girl! At 38 myself, I don’t feel like I’ve aged out of life either!

I think a final thought is congratulations to the Japanese women. You played your hearts out and should be proud of yourselves. You had a great tournament and even when you were down, you pushed on and were able to do your country proud by scoring two goals. You didn’t give up when other teams would have. Well done, ladies. Well, done.

 

Congratulations to the USWNT for making it to the finals against Japan!

Congratulations to the USWNT for making it to the finals against Japan!

Just some quick thoughts …

Abby did a great job setting up the goal that Lloyd fed into O’Hara for the goal. Abby may not be the fastest on the team anymore, but she does still have expert ball control and field awareness.

I’m glad they finally decided not to assign Lloyd anywhere. Not so she can “make things happen” as they say, but more so because she can’t be trusted to be where she is supposed to be. However, I will give her credit for having the unselfish moment of feeding that ball to O’Hara. Brilliant.

We won’t even speak about the poor England girl. She will be the one who will not be named. The one of which we do not speak. She doesn’t deserve to be named in every single article out there. It was horrifying. The world collectively got gut punched for her. I’m happy no one is blaming her or that she is getting hate texts/mail/tweets or anything.

Japan! I’m super excited we are playing them in the final. My favorite team USA against my second favorite team Japan.

I can’t wait!

My thoughts on the USWNT against Nigeria

Our favorite duo started the game! Wambach and Morgan!

The first few minutes of the game was super exciting. A set piece with a cross in by Carli Lloyd was almost a goal on the first possession. Nigeria did a good job of keeping their defensive line up, creating 2 off-sides situations.

That was the last time Carli Lloyd did anything of merit. Even the announcers were stating that she gave the ball away too much and her shots were poorly timed. She doesn’t play a full game, meaning she plays when she wants to play. She is a mid-fielder, and she either has to be a defensive midfielder, or someone who runs the full pitch. She does neither. She doesn’t run hard up and down the pitch, nor does she maintain a defensive position in the back. She had this same problem before, in the Olympics and previous World Cup. Why play a person in a position that requires motivation, the ability to run, and get back and forth who absolutely does not want that?

I’m not so super impressed with Holiday either. She equally does not seem to be in any type of mid-fielder position. Where is she half the time?

When does our mid-field even mark their player? It’s ridiculous.

Our mid-fielders also never seem to be forward when they need to be either. It’s like they don’t understand basic soccer. When you pass the ball, you are not done playing. I watched a few passes that should have been a great give-and-go that turned into nothing because there wasn’t anyone forward to pass the ball to.

Megan Rapinoe did a good job again. I have been noticing that she holds the ball too long. I’m not sure if she just doesn’t trust the people around her to pass to or what? I would love someone to answer that for me.

Julie Johnston played a great game. I was impressed by the beating she took by Nigeria. There were a couple of times that they just barreled right into her. That’s one tough girl. She plays hard. Lloyd and Holiday could learn a thing or two from her.

I have a crush on the defender Meghan Klingenberg. She plays so tough as well. I always look forward to watching how she defends.

Alex Morgan did fairly well with her first start. I think she will improve as she plays more games.

Sydney Leroux played terrible, again. She lost the ball, couldn’t keep possession, and just overall made bad passes. I find her incredibly beautiful and I love looking at her, but her game is crap.

As for Abby! Her scoring the goal could not have happened to a nicer person. All the haters out there saying she is washed up. Everyone complaining about her missed headers. Well, screw you. She made an amazing goal. Also, her passes were usually on target, unlike the rest of the team. Yes, she looks slow as shit out there, but, hey. She’s not done yet.

I feel like there is no respect shown to Abby. How quick everyone is to write her off.

Today’s matches will tell us who the USWNT plays going forward. I’m excited for the games to come.

Good luck USWNT!