BrickHorn

Ha. Our keeper nails it right after our Star forward skies it.

There’s something deliciously ironic about a guy who cites The Turner Diaries as a source proposing that idiots should be forcefully sterilized.

You mean websites where people publish articles advocating that minorities are not inferior and that we should not forcefully sterilize dumb people? Yeah, no. We would not be upset about that. But nice #bothsides attempt.

Another proud moment for our alma mater!

You’re mixing up tactical intelligence and chemistry with effort and mental toughness. Consistently failing to connect with teammates because of errant passes isn’t an effort thing and isn’t about failing to “play for the shirt.” It certainly doesn’t indicate a lack of “mental fortitude.” It’s a symptom of low mental aptitude. But maybe you’re saying the same thing, just with the wrong words?

New Surly motto?

This is the kind of Hollywood trope BS that had Longhorn fans convinced Charlie Strong’s locker room purge would win us a national championship. The USWNT isn’t lacking mental fortitude or grit or heart or team spirit. It has all that shit in spades. What it lacks is tactical intelligence, chemistry, and skill. The identity article Hagbard posted above completely nails it. Tl;dr: the USWNT used to dominate with massive advantages in fitness and athleticism, which allowed us to routinely win one-on-one battles and score with direct play. But the rest of the world has caught up and those advantages have shrunk. We’re playing against smarter more skilled competition, and they’re exposing how primitive is our approach to the game.

Lack of effort and heart aren’t our problems. The ladies run their asses off and contest every ball. The issue is lack of skill, tactical smarts, and chemistry.

My tentative plan is to move elsewhere and change careers, hopefully to something in the unfucking-this-country-from-the-effects-of-rightwing-bullshit business.

I moved a lot as a kid. My dad was always willing to pick up and transplant us to wherever his next promotion took him. I used to love the fact that my wife and I did things differently. We settled in one spot, started a family, and grew roots into the community. I loved that our kids spent their entire childhood in one city, not having to start over every few years. I loved that we have deep, long term friendships here with work colleagues, parents whose kids went to elementary school or played sports with our kids, neighbors, etc. I loved that my career was locally focused and that I have deep, established ties to my professional community. Now it all feels like a trap. All those deep ties bind us to a state that grows more hostile, stupider, and hotter with every passing year.

I just rewatched the first 15:00 of the Portugal game. It was like watching a U14 ECNL team (Portugal) play against a U17 rec team (US). Portugal was clearly smarter and more skilled, but our size, speed, and aggression kept us in the game. (It surely wasn’t our dribbling, passing, or team chemistry.)

Oh right, because you’re sitting down.

In 2019, we attended a WC game. It was clear then that Dunn had very little feel for the position. But she had just been moved from forward, so her lack of awareness and instinct was somewhat understandable. Four years later, she still plays with the same cluelessness.

Watching the highlights now. How have we not found a competent left back in the last four years? Dunn is such a liability. No idea what the fuck she was thinking in the 16th minute, jogging 3-5 yards behind her mark and well in front of her defensive line. We’re so lucky Portugal can’t finish.

The USWNT is a victim of its own success. The program has been dominant since the 1990s, largely because the US had by far the largest player pool to draw from. That meant our 11 was bigger, faster, and more skilled than any other 11. We didn’t have to be smart. We didn’t have to strategize. Tactics were secondary, because we could and did win on pure athletic talent alone. And in soccer, a direct team will typically win when they have a significant athletic and skill advantage. It’s dumb soccer, but it can work when you’re just so much bigger, faster, and more skilled. But the world has caught up. Our athletic advantage has slimmed and this WC is making it painfully clear that our skill advantage is loooong gone. So teams with lesser athletes but smarter tactics and more emphasis on possession-oriented skills are outplaying the once-untouchable USWNT. It is time to adjust. We need to teach and develop players for a smarter brand of soccer. Just throwing our best athletes out there and telling them to boot the ball downfield or win one-v-one battles isn’t going to work anymore.

Well that turned out to be a huge understatement. Holy shit.

I meant in past years.

The USWNT is not elite in terms of possession skills (ball control, passing accuracy, speed of play). We have dominated based on athletic superiority and a direct style of play that emphasized size and speed. Not sure that will be enough from now on, with other nations developing good enough athletes in more sophisticated systems that can neutralize athletic advantages.

I can’t keep up with what’s newsworthy anymore. This week, it’s a big deal that authorities found non-human remains. But in the past, people would get all worked up whenever authorities found human remains. Wtf? Make up your minds.

Nah that’s a great song. But the word “sanitarium” doesn’t mean what Metallica thinks it means (and it’s actually a misspelling).

Y’all are fucking sell outs. Metallica peaked with Kill ‘Em All.

Weak ass foul call.