My USA vs. Brazil Prediction

Brazil will crush us.

I desperately hope I am wrong. I want vindication for Hope, and for this team.

That was too close.

The Americans won 4-2, but Japan got the last goal with their Crazy Afro Lady, Eriko Arakawa. Despite the win, I bet that that must be a bitter taste in the USA’s mouth. I mean, it is in mine. The Nadeshiko truly leave it all on the field, for Japan, home, and beauty.

But I am sorry I ever doubted Angela Hucles. (Damn you ESPN! Damn you “experts”!) HAO and Chups (!) scored too, but it was all Hucles, all the time.

And I hate Brazil. I don’t care if they have Marta, they f*cking broke the Germans’ hearts and that is not awesome in my book. I want to cuddle Birgit Prinz. Though she would probably wallop me.

Kai Puts it By the Canucks

Hucles (!) scored the first goal, the badass Canadian Christine Sinclair equalized, and then Kai headed the ball home in overtime to get the USA into the semifinals.

Tobin replaced Tarp again. Don’t think she did anything particular.

Lauren Cheney got a yellow card almost right after she came on the field. I LOLed when I heard it. Wambach would be proud of her replacement. Really.

HAO crushes New Zealand

Not single-handedly of course; Tarp, Hucles (!) and A-Rod (finally!) scored in the shut-out against New Zealand, in addition to HAO’s mind-numbingly swift goal. It wasn’t even one minute into the game when O’Reilly scored!

Poor poor New Zealand. If the Brazilians are Meanies, the Kiwis (well, they’re called the Football Ferns) are the Softies. When the New Zealand goalie accidentally planted her knees into A-Rod’s guts, she looked very contrite, patting A-Rod’s shoulder and offering her water, which A-Rod was in too much pain to acknowledge. Not to say that they are complete suck though; their #7, Ali (Alexandra) Riley, is pretty badass.

Oh, and Homare Sawa (JPN) is badass as well. Why she isn’t Captain instead of Ikeda, I don’t know; she doesn’t strike me as an Abby Wambach type; the kind who exudes leadership but is too brash to be a real captain. Sawa would make a great full-time captain I think. (Unless she is full-time captain and Ikeda was just doing a short stint. I don’t know these things, okay?!)

Back of the bus doesn’t count…

… “Yes it does!”

I can’t stop watching this video.

Yay Carli!

Carli Lloyd is way too good to be true. If US Soccer ever sold replicas of Women’s National Team jerseys, I’d buy Lloyd’s #11.

So Lloyd scored against Japan on Saturday, but I wish A-Rod would step up her game. For all her speed, she’s not finishing well enough to convince people that this team doesn’t need Wambach to win big. Same with Kai.

Keep Ya Heads Up

With the depressing over with (see previous entry), I shall focus more on the positives of this morning’s match. Even though I may not be able to bring myself to actually watch the game in its entirety for a while yet. Damn you Norway.

This article proclaims that Capt. Rampone was the best player this morning (their evening). Poor (Lopez-) Cox got the short end of the stick from the author, as did Heath and (SHOCK HORROR) Lloyd.

HAO looked deflated after the game, but it was a loss after all and it’s human nature. Chin up O’Reilly! At least you did your job and brought the ball up.

The article also suggests that A-Rod should’ve been started as forward instead of Hucles; and also exhorts Tarp and Kai to make more of an IMPACT.

• I hope Chups is all right. By all reports she got a nasty knock when she and Solo collided.
• I wonder if Coach Pia will start Barnhart against Japan and/or New Zealand.
• I think maybe Solo tends to start badly and do much better as tournaments go on (North Korea almost thrashed USA at last year’s World Cup with Solo in goal but then she went on to produce shut-outs later in the tourney).
• What I am trying to say is that I need my Solo fix and will be less likely to watch a match if she’s not in goal. Bwah.

For other positives, here’s the post-game quote sheet in which Markgraf reminds us that Norway lost their first game in Sydney 2000 and then went on to win Olympic gold.

I suspect the WNT Blog will be silent for a while, not only because the girls are sleeping right now but also because, well, it’s only really fun to blog when you’re winning. When you have to blog about a team that’s just been kicked in the gut, it ain’t such fun anymore.

An Open Letter to the USWNT

To the USA Women’s Soccer Futbol Team.

My Dear Ladies:

So you lost to Norway this morning (your evening).

I wouldn’t care so much about the loss if you ladies didn’t have a history of comporting yourself badly after losses (COUGH COUGH World Cup Fuckup COUGH). I do not want history to repeat itself. I do not want to have another reason not to support you.

So, my dear ladies, remember the thousands hundreds of little girls who idolize you and look up to you. Remember the gutter press that would love to see you implode. (By gutter press I mean the New York Times…wait, what do you mean the Times isn’t gutter press?)

Remember them; and this time, friends, take the high road and unite. ALL of you.

I will be watching. Take care.

Love,
northernriver

Mitts and HAO Podcast

The premise of the podcast was kind of dumb (even with the impromptu arm-wresting contest), but I still wish I were friends with Heather O’Reilly, because she’s funny and she apparently gets herself into all sorts of silliness. Exactly my sort of company. 

Oh, and HAO couldn’t pronounce Chinese if her life depended on it. But it’s okay.

Note: her nickname is HAO (pronounced ‘hay-oh’) and the A stands for her middle name, Ann.

HAO vs. Mitts Arm-Wrestling Contest Quotes from the podcast:

Mitts: HAO, were you trying?
HAO: *various insulted noises*
Mitts: She just let me have that because she beat me in the Wii and she felt bad for me.

Heather Mitts was once voted Sexiest Female Athlete by somebody. I forgot who. She’s very pretty and very poised (sometimes it’s hard to believe she’s a soccer football player because she’s got this ladylike demeanor about her that one does not usually associate with soccer football players), but I have to admit that I think Lindsay Tarpley is the prettiest of all.

Much Ado About Abby

Another “USA Will Have a Hard Time Without Abby” article. I wonder if the author has even read Much Ado About Nothing, but that’s besides the point.

Abby Wambach might be living a Shakespearean tragedy, or comedy if she had it her way.

But the player and staff expressions following the Wambach aftershock told the real story. From the looks of the coaching staff’s bowed heads, and Carli Lloyd quietly telling a teary-eyed Lindsay Tarpley “I can’t stop shaking,” the U.S. women’s national team was living a nightmare.

I like this piece: it’s a nice departure from all the doom-and-gloom-Abby-is-a-git articles. It even manages to mention Cheney’s congenital heart defect.

And I have a picture of the aftermath (but there’s no Carli or Tarp; it shows the equally stunned Rampone, A-Rod, and HAO grouped around the fallen):

 (click to enlarge, obviously)

I do hope Abby makes a full recovery.

…I also think Lindsay Tarpley’s husband is a very happy man (and I mean happy in the Shakespearean sense).