The Brazilian superstar Marta is a very good player. Very good players know when they control the game instead of the officials. She was clearly offside in this clip (about 30 seconds in). Still, she had to make the shot by two defenders, so not bad.
The referee here is missing some calls. It happens. Still, this is multiple misses. Frustrating. Calling something can be better than not calling anything, even if you get the direction of the call wrong, at least you come across as not willing to put up with dangerous play. This is potentially dangerous if it were to lead to an escalation of retaliation.
If the league fails as did the previous US top teir women's league, the papers will turn the WPS name into WhooPS.
Starting a league right now is extremely dicey, but the cogs were moving two years ago and I guess they decided that there was no turning back. The owners have money and are of the public sort that must show it off. MLS could have probably expanded more quickly and captured some of the WPS's investors, but the MLS didn't want to go the way of the NASL. There are a couple things that the WPS has going in its favor:
∞ extreme cost controls. Travel is a necessary evil cost, but player salaries are as bad as the MLS, except without the 2-3 huge salaries per MLS team.
∞ small stadiums in which to play will create more energy than the MLS caverns.
∞ women's soccer is a quality product. The action is slower than the men's game, but in the USA where soccer is a hobby for even professionals, the slower speed may allow fans to make more sense of what they are seeing.
∞ minor league sports prove that quality is fine, but a distractionary experience is what people pay to go see. Create distraction if you want to survive, WPS.
∞ superstars from everywhere have decided to come play in the WPS. Quality may not be the only thing, but it is a thing.
And then the negatives. I am sure that the investors and league administration are seeing through rose-colored glasses, but I am also sure that they have enough people around them seeing clearly that they fully know the peril of their endeavor. Still, this is a lot to overcome:
∞ a worse time to go after discretionary dollars has not existed since 19.... I don't recall back far enough. It's just horrible timing, with no let up in the economy for maybe 10 years to come. Housing stinks, the government is broke at multiple levels, and the EPL is taking a growing number of soccer fans more interested in quality soccer than in "American" soccer.
∞ even with all the cost controls, tickets won't be free and attracting a large fee-paying audience won't be easy. The bling and concessions dollars will be way less than even the meager amount the MLS can pull in selling (now relic) Davey Beckham jerseys.
∞ too much soccer. Soccer is everywhere and with modern media, everyone watches everyone so they begin to play all the same styles, making all soccer more of just the same old same old.
Will the WPS make it, I can't say. I hope it flourishes. More soccer is, in the end, better soccer.
Men - NCAA Division 1
and for the small schools, NAIA, here in Fresno. Soccer in the USA has four Collegiate Divisions : NCAA 1,2, and 3 and the very small colleges of the NAIA. Size of school isn't the only criteria for division placement, since, a very small but consistently competitive school can elect to play in a division higher than their school size would dictate.
For the successful teams, soccer is a dang long season with a ton of up and down the field. Yes, College football is a long season for the Bowl game participants, but most don't have a game for a solid month between the end of the regular season and their bowl game. In soccer, you keep playing and playing and playing.
Women - NCAA
and the NAIA, in Kansas City.
Athletes play with injuries. I played with torn ligaments in my foot (undiagnosed until after the season).
We can safely assume that the US National coach and trainer knew about Abby's broken toe, but maybe not even the rest of the team: "loose lips sink ships" and all that. If a player is known to be playing in such a way as to protect from further injury, that can be exploited by other teams, so it definitely should be kept quiet. Even the NFL is very vague about the extent of injuries so as not to tip off the other team to weaknesses.
Women's Soccer USA: Wambach played with a broken toe
The US Women's team recently tied Korea 2-2 in a match that included a 10 minute period when a key US player was out for medical care, not replaced so that she could return, and during which time Korea scored BOTH of its goals.
The coach has been summarily criticized for leaving the team a player short, but the bigger issue is the play of the other ten that were still on the field.
In the words of the Sportsprof:
It was an exciting game, but make no mistake about it, the North Koreans were the aggressors.
Pre-season polls, actually almost any polls, are only as good as the knowledge of those voting in the polls. As I have said before, polls are weak in sports that don't have a LOT of people studying every team, every day. Soccer, men's or women's, don't.
So now, 2007. Univ. of North Carolina is AGAIN the number 1 team in all pre-season polls. Across the border in the University of South Carolina, and their Gamecocks Women's Soccer team. The first game for both this season. You know what happened, or this wouldn't be the point of a post - The unranked Gamecocks beat UNC 1-0, AT UNC's home field. You can read a summary from the losers here, and the winners here.
So, does one loss prove polls are useless? No. I don't think that any team in the country would look forward to playing a UNC women's soccer team after their first home opener loss ever. UNC is very good. But U. of South Carolina wasn't even on the top 25 list. Why? Too few "experts" to make the poll meaningful. NCAA div. 1 football has (literally) tens of thousands of people, (o.k., almost all are guys) that study every small detail of any team that is anything. They can actually be trusted, more or less, to make reasonably accurate general predictions about teams' probable success.
In contrast very few people study all 300+ NCAA div. 1 womens soccer teams. Too little knowledge, and the poll is going to be prone to much greater amount of "surprise" endings.
Better soccer players know this in their heads, and can now use this USC win to remind themselves that any team can win, regardless of the rumors to the contrary that they may hear or read.
Don't fear the loss, just play the game.
(Note: photo is Fetzer field : UNC's home soccer complex main field.)
The referee has the whistle, and therefore is right. That doesn't mean that he or she will see everything. In the video (20 seconds), the offender steals the ball, is fouled, but no whistle is heard. The offender then retaliates, which is called. This is a very unfortunate loss of patience, since the location of the foul is very dangerous for the defense --►the defense was LOL happy to be fouled there and get a free kick.
Better soccer is to keep the pressure on the defender and win the ball back correctly, though everyone understands the frustration of the offender. Resisting retaliation gets you what you actually want anyway: the ball, in great position, ready to score.
If you are wondering about the "I want to send a message that I'm tough" argument to explain the retaliation, no. Being scored on is really the only message defenders bow down to. So, get the ball back, and score.
In the video (30 Seconds), notice that the players approach the ball and return the ball with a pass. In every case, the ball comes about a foot off the ground. They are hitting below the mid-point of the ball and slightly launching it each time. This can be done better.
Strike the ball anywhere on the top half of the ball and it will hug the ground. That is a good pass for this kind of close passing. It is also ok to just strike the middle of the ball.
Sharks Soccer - Jim Soccer 003
To score a goal on a corner kick, do the easy and obvious: kick the ball to your teammate.
Yes, this is easier than blasting the ball into a crowd, and much more effective.
step one: pick a teammate you want to get the ball to.
step two: kick it 3-4 step in front of them.
step three: let them run on to it and get their shot.
If there is difficulty it is in placement of the corner, but that is easier when you mentally have a spot you are kicking it to instead of just into a crowd.
Nice goal in this 20 second video.
This video (14 seconds) is a simple and clear example of the importance of covering people on defense. This goal is allowed (granted, it was a good shot over the goalkeeper) when the defense failed to stay in front of all of the offensive players. That is a must on defense, unless you like getting scored on.
In the video (15 seconds), the defense concentrates on the ball, and loses track of the player they should be defending. This is a mistake that you don't have to make.
On offense, you should be thinking about the ball first and the goal second.
On defense, you should be thinking about marking players first, and the ball second. The ball can't score without an offensive foot behind it, so worry most about marking on defense.
Nice stop by the goalkeeper as her defense does nothing except watch and dance around a little.
Several players (midfield and offense) should spend every practice on free kicks outside of the box. Aim for accuracy in the corners. If your team has $$$, there are fake mannequin walls you can place ten yards away and practice hitting over and around the wall.
Use every side of the foot for different spins.
Never allow the ball to go over. Never. Did I say NEVER? Yes, never. When watching professionals, you may see a few balls go wide, that is fine. But if you see one go over the crossbar, assume that his/her upset face is mainly because of the pain his/her coach is going to inflict on him/her at the next practice.
As we see here, if you want to score more often in soccer, have a strong, accurate shot.
This 17 seconds of defensive hell is a reminder to all defenders to stay between the goal and the person with the ball, unless you are ABSOLUTELY certain that you can at least touch the ball. This defender is fine and then runs in a circle to chase the ball , opening up the goal for an easy score.
This defender needs to be removed from the game, shown the tape of how silly she looks and encouraged to stand her ground, and then put right back in the game. (Would that be legal?)
Aggressive defense protects the goal, with the ball or without.
In this video, notice the positioning of the players very far up the field. Too far for this particular goalkeeper. I am all for being hopeful that the goalkeeper can all of a sudden blast one all the way to the other goal, but the defense needs to be realistic.
Give the person taking the goal kick (it should be the keeper unless there is some strange weakness in this skill) several options, both in distance and in spread all across the field.
This team gives only one option, which the offense capitalizes on quickly.
Offense: when you see this defensive mistake, take advantage of it.
In the video, the offensive player gets free (well, the defender falls down) but is immediately doubled up and pushed outside. Sure, she still gets a sort of a shot at goal, but has no angle and the goalkeeper is not challenged.
Good defenders follow the rules:
►Offense wants to be inside, so force them outside
►When double teaming on defense, decide quickly what the offender most wants to do at that moment and make them do something else, anything else really.
The official plan calls for 8 teams:
From the US Women's National Team victory over Brazil on June 23, 2007.
Kristine Lilly scores here on a free kick.
Defense options are limited.
It is the goalkeepers job to not let this happen, but a nicely placed shot isn't easy to defend. My suspicion is that the keeper lost sight of the shot itself which makes it difficult to track mentally and then stop, but I don't know.
Offensively, this kind of shot can and should be practiced hour after hour from all around the penalty area. A free kick is just that: free.
Posts
All Comments
