Sheesh ... the Courage will have wandered into Rapinoe's jersey retirement game and Alex Morgan's last pro game in the matter of 3 weeks.
2021-22-23-24 News Thread
- Thread starter jeffbear
- Start date
On Alex Morgan, the player ... I found her career arc kind of fascinating. She was a one woman youth movement on the 2011 World Cup team and then was still the youngest important player in 2015 when the US won and it always seemed like there was a little friction with the older group. By 2019 when they went back to back, she was more a part of the veteran leadership group herself and she had really grown into it. In between she was one of the most productive scorers in NWSL and showed very well in loan spells overseas. Her role in the equal/equitable pay movement and the fact that she probably hung around one cycle too long with the national team seems to have divided support for her, despite most of the heat landing on others (largely Megan Rapinoe on both counts) but Morgan was a real force for positive growth on and off the field as the NWSL matured into an established professional league. VERY important and impactful player in US soccer for her entire career, and as a leader she left her league far better off than when she started.
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The USMNT opened their fall friendly window with a listless 2-1 loss to Canada. It wasn't a great roster due to injuries and specific situations calling for a number of guys to stay in Europe, but holy crap ... Poch can't get started fast enough. This whole selection pool needs to have a fire lit under their collective backsides.
Ed H in Pasadena
Well-known member
Alex Morgan off in the fifteenth minute. Missed a penalty kick. Thank you for everything, Alex!
I would say I'm sorry she missed that PK, but they were playing my team and this is the second west coast testimonial they've faced in three games. I'm happy the Courage played the heavy this time after we gifted Seattle a win a couple of weeks ago when they were retiring Rapinoe's number.Alex Morgan off in the fifteenth minute. Missed a penalty kick. Thank you for everything, Alex!
BTW ... that was my second exposure to the Wave since Landon Donovan took over as interim and let's just say that he's not having a positive impact. In fact, he might suck. Even with Naomi Girma in the back, they're a disorganized mess. Without her, they be giving up 5 a game ... easy.
VinatieriDefinesClutch
Active member
But he's so charismatic!!!
Pochettino to the USMNT is officially official.
If you subscribe to The Athletic, this article has some background on the hire. Poch was always at the top of the list but US Soccer officials held multiple meetings with Klopp. And Emma Hayes was influential in the discussions, with both her and Poch being at Chelsea. One of the things that had to be ironed out was how his USMNT compensation would be funded and whether Chelsea would agree to continue to pay him, albeit at a reduced rate.
The Klopp info was interesting. The Euro press made it out like he handwaived off interest from the US very quickly, but that was completely untrue. And yeah, there's a short list of guys good enough that you call them just in case ... Klopp and Pep are on that list. You're a moron if you don't at least make the call. Because all things US soccer generate instant derision from the European press, this has been spun as some sort of negative. So many very stupid narratives in world soccer come from very small minded writers.
Man City midfielder Rodri says palyers are “close” to striking over the expanded calendar. Man City’s schedule could stretch into July and, between club and national team matches, could encompass 77 with the Club World Cup being played at the end of the season. He played 50 matches for Man City last season. With the Club World Cup added as a post season tournament, there are matches into July every year with Nations League, Continental cups and the World Cup.
Honestly ... the players aren't wrong here. The women have been getting ground up like chuck for years with never-ending competitions and tournaments without adequate breaks, but the men have more power simply because of the amounts of cash involved. But you don't have negotiating power if you never use it.
NWSL ownership news ... The Athletic is reporting that former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry is close to finalizing a deal to take over majority/controlling ownership of the NC Courage. The deal would value the Courage at a remarkable $108 million, which is a massive markup from their most recent market valuation of around $70 million ... based on their addition of minority investment partners only last year. While the Courage remain competitive on the field, fan support has been slow to bounce back following both the pandemic and their involvement in the Paul Riley mess. It's about as well managed a sports operation as you could want, but shy on promotion savvy. We'll have to see if this ends up resulting in a move away from central NC, but it will almost certainly eventually involve either new or upgraded facilities. Personally, I feel like the connection to UNC's women's sports heritage and the strong regional youth and development programs that already exist (unlike those in many bigger markets) make this a really good grass roots market for women's soccer, but I'm a local ... so, hardly objective on the subject.
Courage attendance is awful, DFL in the league at 5,538. If he wants new facilities, he’s going to have to leave Raleigh, unless he wants to build it himself. He’s not getting any tourist tax dollars, they’re pretty much spoken for. And it’s hard to justify a bigger stadium when you’re playing to 55% capacity
True, but one could argue (accurately) that Malik has spent basically zero dollars on promotion since pandemic. Basically all of their promotions are publicized solely on social media and whatever cross-promotion they can cobble together from other teams in the area. He needed some kind of push to rebuild the fan base after the Riley fallout, and pretty much just put his head in the sand and acted like it would take care of itself. It did not.
Not just the Riley fallout but re-signing Daniels. That was an unforced error and it’s why I haven’t been to a Courage game since.
Yup. Big mistake, especially for such a low reward kind of player. There was a time when Daniels was one of the best left backs in NWSL, but at the time they signed her they already had Emily Fox in that slot. It made little sense, trying her out as a winger didn't really work on the pitch and the whole mess cost them BIG on the PR front ... which they barely even managed to bother to address at all. VERY dumb move from a front office that has otherwise been very smart.
I'm looking forward to being able to watch Villa play on something better than a pirated feed.