USWNT 2023: Journey to a 5th Star

[BrickHorn 18,215]

19 hours ago, Napoleon said:

The development academies attached to MLS & Women’s Soccer League (?) teams will produce the top teams eventually, because they will not cost what the other clubs cost and will focus on developing the players over just winning at all costs..

The clubs will produce college players and a smattering of national team players and the development academies of the pro teams will dominate the national teams starting in the very near future. 

 

7 hours ago, alincoln said:

Already the case for MLS (the entire U-15 roster from the recent U-15 CONCACAF championships was comprised of MLS academy players).  The NWSL doesn't have enough teams or resources to support an MLS-style academy system.  They play in ECNL or GA and are focused on just competing at that level.  MLS academy rosters consist of players from across the region (on the younger teams) and country (at u-17 and u-19 levels) who live with guest families in the city where the club is located.  NWSL academies are nothing like that.  

From what I understand, on the boys’ side, our current academy system is better than it used to be. But it’s still not as good as the European model; it’s just probably the best we can do given the limited resources and soccer culture here.

US academies are few and far between. In European countries, there are academies everywhere. And they all operate with the same incentive to develop players and sell their contracts up the chain. A city like Berlin has numerous soccer academies. It’s not like Bayern is identifying and developing all the players that end up in their system; they’re scouring the lower tier clubs’ academies for talent.

Here, academies only exist in MLS cities and even then, there is usually only one and it may be very limited in scope (I believe Austin FC only operates one team per age group, and relies on local pay-to-play clubs as talent feeders).

Players for the higher level academy teams in Europe don’t pay. Other players pay a couple hundred bucks a year. Compare that to the US, where higher level competition is typically more expensive and annual club fees are in the $2-5k range. 

That pay-to-play system limits the player pool through pure economics. It also has another downside: it elevates near-term success as a goal because parents (not other clubs) are the consumers. Even parents who truly value development want to see their kids play for a winning team (or mistake winning at the youth level for development). I’ve been there and I have to remind myself to separate the two issues. 

Changing to the European model would require a massive cultural shift that is incompatible with the structure of American pro and collegiate sports league. We do not have the kind of open club system necessary to foster pervasive local academies. And even if we did, soccer just isn’t popular enough at the spectator level to support local minor clubs and academies of the European mold. That is especially true on the women’s side, unfortunately. 

So I agree with alincoln. Our academies aren’t the solution. We need to find a way to incentivize local youth clubs to identify and develop talent above all else. But that’s easier said than done.

Edited August 16, 2023 by BrickHorn

[Bottlecap 1,523]

1 hour ago, BrickHorn said:

 

That pay-to-play system limits the player pool through pure economics. It also has another downside: it elevates near-term success as a goal because parents (not other clubs) are the consumers. Even parents who truly value development want to see their kids play for a winning team (or mistake winning at the youth level for development). I’ve been there and I have to remind myself to separate the two issues. 

Changing to the European model would require a massive cultural shift that is incompatible with the structure of American pro and collegiate sports league. We do not have the kind of open club system necessary to foster pervasive local academies. And even if we did, soccer just isn’t popular enough at the spectator level to support local minor clubs and academies of the European mold. That is especially true on the women’s side, unfortunately. 

So I agree with alincoln. Our academies aren’t the solution. We need to find a way to incentivize local youth clubs to identify and develop talent above all else. But that’s easier said than done.

I definitely care more about development then winning, but the clubs care primarily about winning bc thats how they keep their ECNL status. Lose too much and you get your credentials pulled. The club at my sons age has earned two ECNL teams, but they were worried about splitting the talent too much between north and south teams, so they shifted to one great and one really good team and practice in three locations per week. So, the American "winning culture" model is definitely encouraged by US Soccer and ECNL. MLS next might be a different story. I suspect it is because they are directly affiliated with a parent club. But talk about burn-out city with MLS next.

Edited August 16, 2023 by Bottlecap

[Ted Lange 16,082]

 

 

[Captain Ron 12,862]

13 minutes ago, Ted Lange said:

 

 

 

 

[BrickHorn 18,215]

1 hour ago, Bottlecap said:

I definitely care more about development than winning, but the clubs care primarily about winning bc thats how they keep their ECNL status. Lose too much and you get your credentials pulled. The club at my sons age has earned two ECNL teams, but they were worried about splitting the talent too much between north and south teams, so they shifted to one great and one really good team and practice in three locations per week. So, the American "winning culture" model is definitely encouraged by US Soccer and ECNL. MLS next might be a different story. I suspect it is because they are directly affiliated with a parent club. But talk about burn-out city with MLS next.

We (the parents) are the problem. And as long as we are the target demographic in the club soccer business model, it will deliver what we want and not what the national teams need.

And as I understand it, at least at the older ages, the MLS Next experience depends on whether you play for an MLS academy team or an independent club. I think the latter is more like ECNL.

[TheBryMan81 2,508]

2 hours ago, Ted Lange said:

 

 

His contract was going to expire on Dec 31, 2023 I believe. This means we're going to rehire him in February instead of waiting until June!

[alincoln 2,371]

MLS Next is evolving into a true academy system and a handful of USL academies are comparable.  The younger age group teams (U-15) generally consist of local/regional talent while the older age groups consist of regional/national teams.  Many local player get weeded out as they get older and move back to a local ECNL team to focus on a college scholarship.  

BrickHorn is absolutely correct regarding the wildly different financing models in the US and the rest of the world.  The academies of small clubs in Europe are funded by the local communities who attend the matches of the senior team.  The club invests resources into the academy to produce players for the senior team and hopefully sell some players to bigger clubs.  This system (which would involve a self-funded lower level professional team in every suburb of every major city and every small town) will never exist in the U.S. particularly for women.  As a result, pay to play will remain the dominant model outside of the academies of the top division clubs (NWSL for women and MLS and potentially USL for men).  Parents will remain the primary source of funding for club soccer and clubs will seek to achieve their goals (winning, developing (this is important to parents and clubs) and obtaining college scholarships).  Observers who don't understand/won't acknowledge the unique realities of the American system love to preach "invert the pyramid" without offering any path to actually get there.  The best path forward is to continue to improve coaching and development at the elite clubs (which is exactly what they are doing) and implement a more comprehensive scholarship program at these clubs.     

[Fudbelty 2,787]

MLS Next is evolving into a true academy system and a handful of USL academies are comparable.  The younger age group teams (U-15) generally consist of local/regional talent while the older age groups consist of regional/national teams.  Many local player get weeded out as they get older and move back to a local ECNL team to focus on a college scholarship.  
BrickHorn is absolutely correct regarding the wildly different financing models in the US and the rest of the world.  The academies of small clubs in Europe are funded by the local communities who attend the matches of the senior team.  The club invests resources into the academy to produce players for the senior team and hopefully sell some players to bigger clubs.  This system (which would involve a self-funded lower level professional team in every suburb of every major city and every small town) will never exist in the U.S. particularly for women.  As a result, pay to play will remain the dominant model outside of the academies of the top division clubs (NWSL for women and MLS and potentially USL for men).  Parents will remain the primary source of funding for club soccer and clubs will seek to achieve their goals (winning, developing (this is important to parents and clubs) and obtaining college scholarships).  Observers who don't understand/won't acknowledge the unique realities of the American system love to preach "invert the pyramid" without offering any path to actually get there.  The best path forward is to continue to improve coaching and development at the elite clubs (which is exactly what they are doing) and implement a more comprehensive scholarship program at these clubs.     

Check your pm.

[TrashMaster G 17,537]

14 hours ago, TheBryMan81 said:

His contract was going to expire on Dec 31, 2023 I believe. This means we're going to rehire him in February instead of waiting until June!

Screw that.

Hire Ted Lasso.

[BrickHorn 18,215]

3 hours ago, alincoln said:

Observers who don't understand/won't acknowledge the unique realities of the American system love to preach "invert the pyramid" without offering any path to actually get there.  The best path forward is to continue to improve coaching and development at the elite clubs (which is exactly what they are doing) and implement a more comprehensive scholarship program at these clubs. 

I agree, but we also need to widen the net at the younger age groups by shifting from rec league / parent coaching to professionally-coached youth academies at the youngest levels. Too many players waste their formative years learning bad habits from well-meaning moms and dads who know nothing about the sport. 

The whole parent coach thing is a weird American tradition and it’s particularly counterproductive in soccer because relatively few of us grew up playing the sport at any remotely competitive level. 

 

[alincoln 2,371]

25 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

I agree, but we also need to widen the net at the younger age groups by shifting from rec league / parent coaching to professionally-coached youth academies at the youngest levels. Too many players waste their formative years learning bad habits from well-meaning moms and dads who know nothing about the sport. 

The whole parent coach thing is a weird American tradition and it’s particularly counterproductive in soccer because relatively few of us grew up playing the sport at any remotely competitive level. 

True.  We learned this lesson after our oldest and started our others at the ECNL club at young ages.  It's much cheaper than the older ages but not free by any means.  

[tokamak 6,391]

34 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

I agree, but we also need to widen the net at the younger age groups by shifting from rec league / parent coaching to professionally-coached youth academies at the youngest levels. Too many players waste their formative years learning bad habits from well-meaning moms and dads who know nothing about the sport. 

The whole parent coach thing is a weird American tradition and it’s particularly counterproductive in soccer because relatively few of us grew up playing the sport at any remotely competitive level. 

 

I’ve only dabbled in this world because by and large my kids haven’t been super interested, but in central Houston where we live (i.e., not suburbs), it moves very quickly from dads coaching to professional coaches. Like, 8 years old or so. I don’t know of anyone in my neighborhood fucking around with volunteer coaches after that age. Now, pay-to-play is a separate issue. This is on the girls side. 

[tokamak 6,391]

Question - how are the European women’s clubs paying for development academies, if they’re so far ahead? I doubt they’re swimming in cash. Is it kind of like the NBA/WNBA where the men’s side is so rich that it’s ok subsidizing the women’s side?

[BrickHorn 18,215]

30 minutes ago, alincoln said:

True.  We learned this lesson after our oldest and started our others at the ECNL club at young ages.  

Sort of the same. Even our youngest started select a little late, but at least the rec coach was very knowledgeable. I now highly recommend to friends and family with younger players that their kids should move to a legit academy program if they show any interest in soccer. At the right club, it still be just as fun and light-hearted and positive as a rec team. But they’ll actually learn skills from someone who knows what they’re doing. 

[alincoln 2,371]

43 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Question - how are the European women’s clubs paying for development academies, if they’re so far ahead? I doubt they’re swimming in cash. Is it kind of like the NBA/WNBA where the men’s side is so rich that it’s ok subsidizing the women’s side?

The women's clubs are part of the men's clubs.  The women are also beginning to have big attendance numbers.  

[Anastasis 23,454]

My kids started academy at 8u and select at 11u, I think. One of mine could have benefited from academy earlier (the one that's first word was literally ball). I don't really think that the other two would have really benefited, but who knows since there really wasn't an academy option we were aware of at that age. My youngest is academy age, but they are playing the team up in one of the lower level WDDOA divisions this year. Which we like because at least in our experience LSC has a monopoly on the academy schedules and they use that to their advantage and are not timely with releasing the schedules.

 

Are there academy options in central texas before 8u? 

[Captain Ron 12,862]

22 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Question - how are the European women’s clubs paying for development academies, if they’re so far ahead? I doubt they’re swimming in cash. Is it kind of like the NBA/WNBA where the men’s side is so rich that it’s ok subsidizing the women’s side?

The clubs are paying for them. The developmental academies were just their internal branch that cranked out their talent so that the teams had their own pipeline of talent (a soccer school if you will). This isn't the US where we expect them to come up through high school and college. If the pro teams want to have a constant stream players, they are developing most themselves.

The only difference now is that they have taken these machines that only identified top male players and started admitting women. And the results are about what you expect, they are developing women players are levels well faster than the US does.

Frankly their costs are pretty minimal to add women to the mix. And if top flight women's soccer starts draws crowds (and looking at the numbers, it is), then these clubs aren't going to be subsidizing the senior women's teams for long.

[Captain Ron 12,862]

Frankly it isn't hard to see how the European model is going to blow the US development out of the water very quickly.

Edited August 17, 2023 by Captain Ron

[alincoln 2,371]

Agree with the exception that HS soccer no longer plays any role in development in the US.  College and pro recruiting/scouting of youth players is almost entirely conducted at ECNL/GA events.  D1 coaches have told me that they haven't been to a high school soccer game in over a decade.  You aren't allowed to play HS if you play MLS Next and many ECNL clubs discourage it.  HS soccer is generally awful.         

[Knoxtnhorn 5,971]

8 hours ago, alincoln said:

Agree with the exception that HS soccer no longer plays any role in development in the US.  College and pro recruiting/scouting of youth players is almost entirely conducted at ECNL/GA events.  D1 coaches have told me that they haven't been to a high school soccer game in over a decade.  You aren't allowed to play HS if you play MLS Next and many ECNL clubs discourage it.  HS soccer is generally awful.         

This.

I coached HS girls soccer and club soccer in TN.  There was not a lot of mixing between the two.  Girls on club teams considered the fall (girls play in the fall in TN) as a time to take a break.  Clubs wouldn't want their players to play HS; at least if they were elite players.  I was surprised at how little I was asked to facilitate between potential colleges/scholarships and my HS team.  I think I only wrote two letters of recommendation the three years I coached in HS.

My daughter played club soccer, but wouldn't even consider HS.  She got a bunch of offers, but picked her major over soccer.  Funny side note.  She got a couple of looks, but no offer, from Angela Kelly who was coaching TN at the time.

[Napoleon 8,658]

10 hours ago, tokamak said:

Question - how are the European women’s clubs paying for development academies, if they’re so far ahead? I doubt they’re swimming in cash. Is it kind of like the NBA/WNBA where the men’s side is so rich that it’s ok subsidizing the women’s side?

 

9 hours ago, alincoln said:

The women's clubs are part of the men's clubs.  The women are also beginning to have big attendance numbers.  

 

9 hours ago, Captain Ron said:

The clubs are paying for them. The developmental academies were just their internal branch that cranked out their talent so that the teams had their own pipeline of talent (a soccer school if you will). This isn't the US where we expect them to come up through high school and college. If the pro teams want to have a constant stream players, they are developing most themselves.

The only difference now is that they have taken these machines that only identified top male players and started admitting women. And the results are about what you expect, they are developing women players are levels well faster than the US does.

Frankly their costs are pretty minimal to add women to the mix. And if top flight women's soccer starts draws crowds (and looking at the numbers, it is), then these clubs aren't going to be subsidizing the senior women's teams for long.

This.

Every MLS Academy will soon have a female academy. If it loses money, they can just balance against their profits. 

They already have the fields, the coaches, and the infrastructure. They can sell it to their business partners, and if the European model really blows up, they can sell their girls to European teams. 

There is zero reason that the MLS & rope USL & Women’s clubs won’t start producing vastly superior talent to the current pay-for-play. The top paying players will get cherry picked by the players he Academies. 

It is too easy and obvious not to happen. 

[Harrison Stafford 3,335]

The U.S. women's national team's leadership shakeup continues with general manager Kate Markgraf set to leave her role at the end of this month.

[Napoleon 8,658]

1 hour ago, Harrison Stafford said:

The U.S. women's national team's leadership shakeup continues with general manager Kate Markgraf set to leave her role at the end of this month.

They still aren’t likely to get the Dutch chica (and former UNC player) who is managing England, but they cannot do worse than what they already had. 

Again, we don’t know whether Vlatko was just the worst coach at the Women’s World Cup or if he was basically brought on board to let the ship continue to steer itself. 

Did he not dump the old players & not choose tactics that would have focused on younger players even with old players on the field because:

[1] The older players had more power than he did?

[2] The sponsors wanted their clients to be in the spotlight and everyone thought that winning was a given?

[3] US Soccer didn’t want the optics of dumping the faces of “Equal Pay” so soon after they lost their fight with the USWNT players?

[4] Vlatko was just such a shitty coach that he couldn’t see what would work better/ he didn’t employ data analysis in his prep/decision making?

We really don’t know why the women’s team looked like so much ass, but they did. But… they also faces only TWO shots on goal against some fairly skilled teams (Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden), which is insanely dominant in that regard. 

Without the three big injuries, Vlatko very well could have been a World Cup winning manager and he looked like he was so far out of his depth that it was comically sad at times. 

[HornOnTheBayou 8,904]

Since this thread has sidetracked into a youth soccer discussion, I'll ask this here: my kid played in a tournament in Houston this weekend. I saw some teams from a club that has TexAgs as their kit sponsor. Who are they and why are they brainwashing these poor children?

[Napoleon 8,658]

2 hours ago, HornOnTheBayou said:

Since this thread has sidetracked into a youth soccer discussion, I'll ask this here: my kid played in a tournament in Houston this weekend. I saw some teams from a club that has TexAgs as their kit sponsor. Who are they and why are they brainwashing these poor children?

Well, you said that they were “kids”, right?

[Napoleon 8,658]

https://x.com/maxbretossports/status/1693335855388356795?s=46

[The Dog 44,017]

Whoa:

Appearing on The RE-CAP Show with ex-USWNT teammates Tobin Heath and Christen Press, USWNT captain Horan hinted that the changes for the Sweden game came from the players themselves — not the coaching staff.

“The game against Sweden, I don’t think we were necessarily set up to play the way that we played,” Horan said. “That was just us finally coming together and being like, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’ And then it worked and then it’s like, ‘OK, keep doing it.’ Could that have happened earlier? Maybe. It’s a really tough one.”

Horan said in her role as captain, she tried to help out some of the younger players the USWNT needed to rely on in the tournament, including Sophia Smith.

After a double to open the tournament against Vietnam, Smith didn’t score in the team’s final three games. According to Horan, the reason Smith and some of the USWNT’s other young stars didn’t perform up to expectations was the way they were set up by the coaching staff.

“I made it a point to help Soph Smith as much as possible in this tournament because I think she has a lot of pressure on her back,” Horan said. “I want to make sure she’s in a good place and some of the younger players are in a really good place, because they’re going to have massive roles. And so it was like, could I have done more to help those players? Because I don’t think we got the absolute best out of some of them because of the way that we were set up, and some of the things that we did in the game.”

Horan added: “I [have been] killing myself for the last two weeks. Like what the heck could I have done to help or to push our playing style or to push this bravery? And at the end of the day, it’s like you’re set up in a structure to do this. And here’s your opportunity individually, like just go play within the structure.”

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by The Dog

[Incredulity 11,643]

All of that was VERY apparent watching.

[Napoleon 8,658]

55 minutes ago, The Dog said:

Whoa:

Appearing on The RE-CAP Show with ex-USWNT teammates Tobin Heath and Christen Press, USWNT captain Horan hinted that the changes for the Sweden game came from the players themselves — not the coaching staff.

“The game against Sweden, I don’t think we were necessarily set up to play the way that we played,” Horan said. “That was just us finally coming together and being like, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’ And then it worked and then it’s like, ‘OK, keep doing it.’ Could that have happened earlier? Maybe. It’s a really tough one.”

Horan said in her role as captain, she tried to help out some of the younger players the USWNT needed to rely on in the tournament, including Sophia Smith.

After a double to open the tournament against Vietnam, Smith didn’t score in the team’s final three games. According to Horan, the reason Smith and some of the USWNT’s other young stars didn’t perform up to expectations was the way they were set up by the coaching staff.

“I made it a point to help Soph Smith as much as possible in this tournament because I think she has a lot of pressure on her back,” Horan said. “I want to make sure she’s in a good place and some of the younger players are in a really good place, because they’re going to have massive roles. And so it was like, could I have done more to help those players? Because I don’t think we got the absolute best out of some of them because of the way that we were set up, and some of the things that we did in the game.”

Horan added: “I [have been] killing myself for the last two weeks. Like what the heck could I have done to help or to push our playing style or to push this bravery? And at the end of the day, it’s like you’re set up in a structure to do this. And here’s your opportunity individually, like just go play within the structure.”

 

The only positive criticism that Vlatko got for the entire tournament was for the adjustment that he made to playing a double pivot for the Sweden match. 

AND HE DIDN’T EVEN MAKE THAT ADJUSTMENT!

Also, this explains why the team didn’t direct all of their traffic down the right flank (through Trinity Rodman) against 🇸🇪 Sweden, even though Sweden’s left back was their worst defender according to analytics (as I learned later from The Scuffed Podcast).

My guess is it’s because the players didn’t have the analytics from Sweden’s previous matches, because that’s not something that the players usually research themselves. They get that shit from the coaching staff and their support staff.

HOLY SHIT!

Vlatko sucked even more ass than we thought! 🤯

 

[Trey3216 15,343]

On 8/9/2023 at 6:47 PM, Hagbard Celine said:

the map is not the territory

the scenery is not the job

The ceiling is not the roof?

[Captain Ron 12,862]

Women are hiring Chelsea’s women’s coach. She’s the only good thing Chelsea has going for them. 
 

https://wapo.st/3QjCtJA

[Captain Ron 12,862]

Turner not starting today for Forest. 

[Trey3216 15,343]

4 hours ago, Captain Ron said:

Turner not starting today for Forest. 

Tina? 

[VirginiaLonghorn 4,767]

On 11/5/2023 at 8:47 AM, Captain Ron said:

Turner not starting today for Forest. 

 

On 11/5/2023 at 12:56 PM, Trey3216 said:

Tina? 

Could be Ike.  Never know these daze …

[Napoleon 8,658]

U.S. Bitches goes down 2-0 to Mexico and come in 2nd in their group. 
😂

Love going through and seeing how many Mexican girls are American born-and-raised. (About 30%-40% of the team.)

 

And thoroughly outplayed.

And how long has it been since Mexico last won?

Edited February 27 by Napoleon

[The Dog 44,017]

Turned it on with ~10 minutes left to see if we could get the equalizer. 

We never had a chance - Mexico dominated and pressed for the dos a cero until they got it. 

[Deej 76,750]

Now would be a good time to ask for more money. 

[Captain Ron 12,862]

11 hours ago, Napoleon said:

U.S. Bitches goes down 2-0 to Mexico and come in 2nd in their group. 
😂

Love going through and seeing how many Mexican girls are American born-and-raised. (About 30%-40% of the team.)

 

And thoroughly outplayed.

And how long has it been since Mexico last won?

 

2 hours ago, The Dog said:

Turned it on with ~10 minutes left to see if we could get the equalizer. 

We never had a chance - Mexico dominated and pressed for the dos a cero until they got it. 

 

One thing is that we are still being coached by the interim head coach. Emma Hayes is going to finish out the year with Chelsea and then step in in May.

 

I'm not saying this justifies them losing to Mexico, but I am not shocked that this team isn't set up the way they should be for success.

[alincoln 2,371]

The USWNT has become soft and extremely entitled.  Basically the opposite of what they once were.  Emma Hayes needs to come in and wreck shit.  The olds need to be permanently dropped.  The remaining players need to be told to go to Europe or forget about playing for the NT.  They also need to be told that your place on the roster is under constant review and threat.  The last WC cycle where Vlatko let the inmates run the asylum did major damage to the program that will probably take at least another cycle to remedy.  Fortunately, there is more than enough talent to get things back on track but only if Hayes is allowed to implement her system/structure without interference from the ussf administrators.

 

[dogbreath 434]

The women are playing direct and up 3-0 on Colombia. Is this only on ESPN+ in Spanish?

[Napoleon 8,658]

10 hours ago, dogbreath said:

The women are playing direct and up 3-0 on Colombia. Is this only on ESPN+ in Spanish?

Paramount+ & ESPNDP

Nice assist by the Colombian to head the ball to the American girl for the shot. 

The penalty was about one to two inches from being a shoulder-to-shoulder perfect play by the Colombiana, but it was enough from behind that they didn’t complain too much and the ref will probably live to see the summer. 

[Incredulity 11,643]

I thought the USWNT looked miles better against Mexico than they did in the WC.  Of course losing to some one for the first time EVER is a bad look.

I agree with the sentiment that the inmates were running the asylum at the WC. 

Hopefully there is competition going on for spots.  In that regard, Alex Morgan is too old and should be shown the door.

Edited March 4 by Incredulity

[alincoln 2,371]

Unfortunately, she was arguably our best player against Colombia, which was missing 3 of its 5 best players.  Morgan was also only added to the roster after a youngster tore her ACL in training.

[Incredulity 11,643]

22 minutes ago, alincoln said:

Morgan was also only added to the roster after a youngster tore her ACL in training.

I was not aware of that.  I follow the team, but not all the ins and outs and what-have-yous.

[Incredulity 11,643]

7 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

I was not aware of that.  I follow the team, but not all the ins and outs and what-have-yous.

and to be clear, "follow the team" means watch a lot of the matches with my daughter who is a megafan.

[Incredulity 11,643]

USWNT up 1-0

game being played on a lake

[The_Great_Hornsby 3,236]

This game is hilarious. Normally I find women's soccer unwatchable, but this has been great entertainment tonight. The goal for USA was the one of the goofiest plays you will ever see. 

[Incredulity 11,643]

5 minutes ago, The_Great_Hornsby said:

This game is hilarious. Normally I find women's soccer unwatchable, but this has been great entertainment tonight. The goal for USA was the one of the goofiest plays you will ever see. 

Yes, it’s very weird.  
 

disagree on women’s soccer.  I find women’s basketball unwatchable, but tend to enjoy soccer 

[VirginiaLonghorn 4,767]

End of regulation … 1-1

WTF am I doing up this late watching women’s soccer?

[shadow_operative2.0 15,941]

All those years as an Orioles’ fan worked you.