Posted on 07/21/2021 9:34:45 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
Earlier this month several women from the US soccer team turned away from the US flag as 98-year-old WWII veteran Pete DuPré played the national anthem on a harmonica.
The US women’s soccer team was playing an exhibition game against Mexico in East Hartford, Connecticut in a pre-Olympic sendoff game before heading to Japan.
The video is included for all to see.
--- SNIP ---
On Wednesday Sweden stunned the US Womens Soccer Team with a 3-0 victory in the women’s soccer tournament. They’re out.
The US women’s team was just bounced from the Olympics. Via The AP:
The Americans, ranked No. 1 in the world and the favorites to win gold in Tokyo, were riding a 44-match unbeaten streak heading into the match. But Sweden, ranked No. 5, has been the U.S. team’s nemesis of sorts in recent years. The Swedes bounced the Americans from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games in the quarterfinals, the earliest U.S. Olympic exit ever, by making a defensive stand.
This April, Sweden played the United States to a 1-1 draw in Stockholm, which snapped a winning streak dating back to January 2019 when the Americans lost to France in the run-up to the World Cup. It was the U.S. team’s only draw this year.
(Excerpt) Read more at thegatewaypundit.com ...
Go Sweden!
I am not sure about THIS situation, but in other sports they start the “Olympic” competition early and a single loss might put them out of the medal bracket.
I am giddy with the thought.
And I thanked him for filling in the gaps left out of the excerpt rather than tossing out a snide insult.
Winners will be offered contracts to endorse womyn's razors like I now see hairy women advertise on television.
There is a -— SNIP -— between the two different matches in my OP. Plus its stated clearly which two different countries they were playing and when.
All they can hope for now is the Japanese (who are seriously thinking about it) will still cancel the games. That way their moronic supporters will forget about this game, but we won’t.
Hmm, not sure how that happened. Been having trouble with FR all morning.
I wish the Japanese would cancel the entire games. I doubt if they will.
They aren’t Patriots if they are wearing blm jerseys
That was a reference to the 2016 games in Rio........
True. Supporting Communist Black Lives MatterTM is an affront to all Americans but especially to black Americans who are being used by these Communists and grifters in order to keep them on the plantation.
Thanks a rot for helping us root for the other team...gorgeous.
________________________
During the past World Cup, Miss Rapinoe was too old to play a full game. she always “hurt” her leg and left the game. I wouldn’t doubt that her and Lance Armstrong have the same remedy to their dobbers dragging.
Use to support em.
Get woke, go f yourself
It looks as if Megan and her America-hating teammates will be denied the opportunity to urinate on our flag during the medals ceremony. Ha. Ha.
I’m afraid this is what will happen in war also. Technology will save us for a while but when it comes down to man vs. man — or whatever woke gender we put out there — say goodbye. Referring mainly to China or Russia as opponents here.
Couldn’t happen to a finer bunch of malcontents, American haters, and women pretending to be men.
Sigh. I know the article is from GP, but still ... publications really should find someone with at least a cursory knowledge of the sport to write soccer stories.
The difference between the World Cup and Olympic tournament formats is important. The World Cup is played over a longer time period. This allows a much larger field in group play. The compressed Olympic time period means that most of the culling gets done in pre-Olympic qualifications conducted by the regional federations.
This disadvantages the U.S., by the way. We play through CONCACAF, which is North Ametica, Central America and the Caribbean. This is a formidable task for the U.S. men, who struggle to beat Haiti, T&T, and Jamaica. On the women’s side, however, this format basically means that the U.S. and Canada have a bye into the Olympics. The qualifying rounds actually bring us down, as it is hard to stay sharp on a steady diet of Caribbean microstates without any serious year-round training environment. It’s U.S. and Canadian professionals vs. Latin amateurs. It’s generally pretty one-sided. It’s easy to get sloppy and then have to readjust quickly when you get to the Olympics or World Cup and start to hit highly professional, peer group teams again.
Anyhow, in this Olympics there are three groups of four. Eight teams — the top two from each group and the two best third place teams— will advance to the knockout rounds. If that sounds ridiculous, it is. It is forced by the compressed schedule. It reminds me of a famous Bill Russell quote about the NBA’s bloated playoffs: “First we play 82 games to eliminate the Knicks, and then the season begins.” But the NBA doesn’t have a short Olympic window to blame.
The U.S. women’s team is the best in the world and if soccer tournaments were run MLBNHLNBA style, best of seven, the U.S. would be a heavy favorite. But single elimination is a different animal. It’s like the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The regular season #1 team may have a walkover in the first game and be a very heavy favorite in the second. But then it will have to win four straight against teams that on any given night can beat you. Two and maybe three of these games — the regional finals on— will be against peer group teams that can match up and play almost dead even. The #1 team comes in with a bullseye on its back and with all the added pressure of high expectations. It takes everyone’s best shot. The #1 ranked team usually doesn’t win the tournament.
Sweden is a peer group team for the USWNT. In a seven game series, the U.S. would probably win 4-2. On any given day ....
Sweden knocked the U.S. out of the last Olympics, was the runner-up in the last World Cup and played to a draw the last time the two teams met. Sweden winning is not really a surprise. Winning 3-0 is worrisome because it puts the U.S. in a hole on goal differential if tiebreakers become a factor in moving past group stage. That won’t matter if the U.S. wins its next two games, but Australia with Sam Kerr is dangerous and New Zealand is competent enough to bunker in and hang close for an upset.
In the knockout rounds there are several peer group teams that on any given day ... well, if I were making odds, I’d put the probability of a U.S. win against each of these peer group teams at 60-40 or even 55-45. Assuming it gets to the knockout stage, the USWNT has to win four of those in a row. You do the math.
No team in women’s soccer has ever won a World Cup AND the succeeding Olympics. The U.S. and Germany are the only teams ever to have won back to back Women’s World Cups. If the U.S. wins the gold in Tokyo, it will be the first team in history to have swept three of the premier tournaments in a row. The odds are against them. Getting a bad game out of the way early is probably a good thing.
Personally I think the U.S. team is too old. It’s hard to break up success, and this group of players has won back to back World Cups. But they have aged together, and it’s starting to show. A U.S. defense that was nearly impervious in 2015 and only slightly less impressive in 2019 is starting to show some holes. That won’t matter against lesser teams, and CONCACAF competition doesn’t really help in asking the tough questions. But age creeps up, and elite teams will start finding space. Sweden made it look easy.
Purple haired America hating carpet munching skank.
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