I’m not sure where the current commentary is going, so I thought I’d start this.
A great match being played by some great athletes. The level of play is fantastic.
USA leads 1-0, but is the beneficiary of a huge missed call on an obvious handball in the box. There was no question about this one. Sometimes Japan is too polite and non-confrontational. If I were the coach or Captain, I would have pitched a fit about that non-call.
Japan is living and dying with the woodwork in the first half.
One of those woodworks came because of a great save by Hope Solo.
Great, top quality game.
Is “dispossessed” the term of the month? I’ve heard it before, but nowhere near as much as in these Olympics.
I keep expecting to see a player’s head spinning around on her shoulders while a Roman Catholic priest stands praying above her.
Dispossessed is used all the time.
Alex Morgan has been far too selfish this half.
Carli Lloyd’s strike for her second goal (and the U.S. second goal) was sensational.
Hold on, USA!
GOOOOOOOLLLLLLLD Medal for the U.S.!
I’m very proud of our women! Well won!
That late save by Hope Solo was nothing short of spectacular. Probably the best save I’ve seen in years due to the significance, the time in the game, and the nature of the shot. The Japanese player had her dead to rights and she just decided it wasn’t going in that time. Awesome.
Definitely a close and well-played game, and good to see such obvious respect and politeness between all three teams on the medal stand. The US won this time, but it could easily have gone the other way, but then, so could the World Cup final last year. Hope Solo was amazing, and both US goals were lovely.
I do agree about that handball non-call, although it’s in no way unusual to miss those when the ref only gets to see it from one angle in real time, not on replay.
Congrats on the US win, but I surmise you are no fan of the men’s game, correct? Different sport after all.
Not just the men’s game. It was a solid but unspectacular save - she’d be being crucified if she missed it. The Japanese striker had the corner, but either was too conservative, or just missed the shot. Put it in the side netting and Solo had no shot at saving it.
I’ll not speak for Airman Doors, but I will say that as much as I love soccer played by men, women’s soccer does offer an overall cleaner game with fewer fouls, almost no diving, and a lot less whinging on the field in general, and all this nowadays without sacrificing anything in the way of athletic excitement.
I had time to say no! no! no! before that save was made.
The USA was lucky and Japan very unlucky in this game. The Japanese had more good chances and just didn’t convert them.
Didn’t watch the match, as I admit I am not interested in woman’s footie – but to hear you tell it, it was more of a striker’s miss than an “spectacular save.”
Just confirms what I’ve always suspected – the US woman’s team is successful; therefore they are “awesome football players.” No actual football knowledge needed.
Need any confirmation?
There you go.
Meanwhile, in the real world:
Yup: “all this nowadays without sacrificing anything in the way of athletic excitement” :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Your sneering condescension at players you don’t even watch is useless in this discussion. The USA, Canada, Japan, and to a lesser extent France and Brazil all showed great skill in the Olympic tournament, and as others have mentioned they play a more manly game than the dancers, divers, and preeners of the men’s game. If today’s game were played exactly the same way but the teams were Barca and Real instead, they’d have run out of stretchers in the first half.
Apropos of nothing, but how cool of a name is Hope Solo?
I mean, just think about the usefulness of force push for a goal-keeper!
Do you have any point here other than to threadshit?
[MODERATING]
RedFury, this and your entire post constitute thread derailment and being a jerk. This is a formal warning. Do not do it again.
RickJay
Moderator
I never said the women were as athletic as the men. I just said there was nothing lost in terms of athletic excitement. If you’d watch some women’s matches, you’d see that I was right.
None of this will stop me from cheering for Arsenal. Still I sing, “Arsenal till I die!”
RedFury almost makes me regret having cheered so much for Spain in the World Cup and European Championships, but hell, what’s one fan’s chauvinism? I still cheer “Viva Barça!” (Unless they’re playing Arsenal.)
Anyway. The top teams in the Olympics and World Cup for women’s soccer are very fun to watch because they are good footballers. End of story. Anything else is really just male chauvinism.
RedFury is a Madrid fan, so clearly he hates football more than anyone in this thread. Still, I think it’s safe to say that the top male players are way, way more skilled than the top female players are. It’s pretty obvious when you watch women play that the level of play is not exceedingly high, and when you think about it, there’s a pretty straightforward reason for that.
Think about all the 10 year old kids alive in the world today. Of the boys, a massive percentage are playing football, the world over - and they are encouraged to continue doing so both by the cultures they find themselves in, and by the investments that are being made. The top European teams scout boys that age and bring them and their families to Europe.
At the same time, no one is interested in investing in girls or looking for talented girl football players. In most cases, if they did have talent, either there’s an active prejudice against girls playing sports, or football is seen as so much of a men’s game that girls don’t get into it. Only in North America is football predominantly seen as a women’s sport, elsewhere it’s pretty unusual for women to play football even if they’re into sports.
All in all, for men’s football, the pool from which talent is drawn, and the dedication with which it is sought out by those interested in finding it, is just enormous - arguably the largest in the world for any sport and any gender. The pool from which women’s talent is drawn is quite small and not a lot of people are interested in finding it.
All the women that are in the Olympic football event are talented, skilled players - compared to me. But in reality, and this is not about male chauvinism, there’s no way in which you can seriously call female soccer players good as compared to their male counterparts. That does not mean the games can’t be exciting, since excitement is not strictly about the skill that is displayed but also about what’s at stake, about last minute saves and goals and other things like that. But it does mean that if you don’t really care about either team very much and you want to see a bunch of highly talented people play football, men’s football is going to be your best bet.
That may be true in general but it’s not for me. I don’t care about soccer at all. (I’m American, so sue me.). Every stereotype about Americans who don’t “get” soccer and make fun of it? That’s me.
However, I DO really get into the Olympics. I love watching countries compete, even in sports that don’t interest me. I like the thrill of competition, rooting for the countries I like, good underdog stories and individual displays of skill and all that.
I have found myself watching the women’s soccer much more. The men spend so much time whining and flopping around like carp, it’s totally off-putting. I don’t care if a guy can dribble rings around the opponents if every time someone grazes him he grabs his knee like he’s got a busted patella. The faked facial contortions and magical healings are extreme and ridiculous.
The U.S. / Japan game yesterday was fun to watch. I saw good ball-handling skills and heart-stopping moments in front of the goal. Lots of drama and excitement. No flopping at all that I could see and very little whining. The worst thing about the game was the blatant missed hands call.