Yup, I was surprised there wasn't a thread for this already...half the team are hotties. Love me some Meghan Klinegenberg (though not digging the short hair). Looked a little shaky in the opening moments like the men's usually do, but in the end our pace, depth, and determination was too much for the Aussies.
SwoLy-D's girls and his favorite team. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="es" dir="ltr">Hoy inicia la <a href="https://twitter.com/FIFAWWC">@FIFAWWC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canada2015?src=hash">#Canada2015</a>: <a href="http://t.co/JiItdT5Bww">http://t.co/JiItdT5Bww</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LiveYourGoals?src=hash">#LiveYourGoals</a> <a href="http://t.co/YhJftTUlxh">pic.twitter.com/YhJftTUlxh</a></p>— Selección Nacional (@miseleccionmx) <a href="https://twitter.com/miseleccionmx/status/607279181160775681">June 6, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Y'all are playing top ranked teams save for Nigeria. (33, Sweden 5, Australia 10). Should be fun. Replay of the Australia game at 9 am! Thank you, sir. :grin: THOSE DANG UNIFORMS!!!! Who are we, Santos Laguna?!?!? Where's Mexican Waldo?!?! We play vs. COL tonight at 4 p.m.!* ¡MÉ-XI-CO! [clap clap clap] ¡MÉ-XI-CO! [clap clap clap] ¡A ganarle a Colombia! *We've never won a game. THIS IS OUR YEAR! LOLs
I realize we're mostly men here and Christen Press is beautiful but it would be cool to stay somewhat on the topic of the actual Cup. It will be difficult. The first round of the WWC is usually not filled with excitement. Get a few too many of the "Germany 10 - Ivory Coast 0" games. But the US game yesterday was a good reason why we should be the favorites to win it all. Australia is a good team and, after the slow start, we wore them down. I'm looking forward to watching more of the games. The skill level of the women has gotten so much better over the last 2 decades. These women are damn good and it's fun to watch.
Wambach was really off her game last night. If she's getting too old out there they might consider starting Leroux and Morgan up top once Morgan is fully fit. Rapinoe was classic last night. Great finish on her 2nd goal. Sydney Leroux blowing past her defender on the wing and slotting into the box for Press to fire home was excellent. Australia passed the ball around masterfully several times in the opening half. I've never seen a women's team pass the ball like that. Their quick and precise passing really seemed to catch the US defense off guard. For some reason they stopped attacking after scoring their goal and really didn't pose much of a threat for the remainder of the game.
I've seen it said that they would have started with Morgan instead of Wambach. Once she is 100% fit, I think they will do that. They stopped attacking because the US just wore them down. They forced the Aussies into chasing the ball. The Aussies are a good team and could get out of that group...but the US is just too strong.
I still feel there is a bit of a bias against the US by the refs. Several times they seemed reluctant to call fouls against Australia and were quick to brandish yellows. Holliday deserved a yellow but I don't think Rapinoe did.
I only watched the first half which was very entertaining but it seemed that the players were reluctant to slide (and who can blame them). This could be a dynamic of the women's game as I don't watch much. That said, the US game as well as the Nigeria/Sweden games were fun to watch.
They're possibly afraid of the turf burns. While the new generation of turf is much much much safer than the old "astroturf" days, you can still get a good strawberry sliding on it...though it's not really any worse than sliding on grass.
The JAP vs. SWI game was entertaining! moes and anyone else who watched the game last night: did they keep the 'criminal' talk about Solo to a minimum? I hope it wasn't saturated every few minutes. I know, man. Can't believe he's asking that. Sir Grieving: YES. Even though there are less countries involved, many countries watch this. It's not just U.S. Now, contribute to the conversation, man. Let's discuss some football, man.
the broadcast I watched praised Solo's play (and rightfully so) and only made one or two references to her selection being well justified 'despite some off field baggage.' I think the US/Nigeria game is sold out. 55K tickets!
last night's game was sold out, too. It seemed loud in there. That will make it tough for any US opponent. Many of these women haven't played in front of crowds like that.
Hope Solo made 2 critical saves in the first 15 minutes. Not easy saves either. Hopefully she won't choke in the clutch like she did against Japan in last WC final.