Sweden's Women's Soccer Team vs. U.S. Women's Soccer Team

Just at the bolded--no.

Alex Morgan generates interest, gets ppl to tune in.

Ppl tune in, in spite of Rapinoe.

Rapinoe played with Hope Solo, Carly LLoyd, Florida Gator great Abby Wombach, and Alex Morgan...among others.

Rapinoe was never 'the face' of the team. Perhaps a blemish on 'the face' of the team, but never really its face.

 

...and at your prompting, happy to have an excuse to do so again, I happily repeat myself:



Soccer Pro Alex Morgan Is a Ray of Sunshine in These String Looks From the British Virgin Islands

 

Yeah, that's a good observation. Nothing wrong with noticing attractiveness IMO, but anybody basing support or lack of support due to subjective perceptions about players' looks doesn't really care about the sport or the team. Women have to deal with this stuff in other facets of life, so it unfortunately isn't surprising when it comes to sports.

 

You cant really have a team of anime girls though, they arent real people

 

So is small government dude proposing that laws should be passed regarding not only the athletic ability, but the appearance of said athletes? Watch something else.

 

What people are you talking about? Lots of people, especially women's soccer fans like Rapinoe. I know lots of people that hate Alex Morgan for some reason. Now if we are talking about people who barely pay attention to soccer ...

 

Morgan’s marketability has kept her on the team about three years longer than she deserved. She’s been bad for a while, that’s where the anger towards her comes from.

 

Agreed. She is at best serviceable as a top level player.

 

No, that has little to do with it. She's a well known player obviously, but Morgan has avoided serious injury her whole career, and the most time she's ever missed was for a pregnancy. The strikers that would take her place keep getting hurt. At various times, Swanson, Fishel, and Macario have all done their ACLs, and Morgan has been called in because she's the most experienced option for major tournaments. Swanson started the first friendly under the new manager, Morgan is basically a bench option at this point, but again, players keep getting hurt so you never know.

 

I suppose you may be right. I thought AM made a lot more in endorsements than MR, but it's at least pretty close, perhaps even edge to MR since she's retired.

(...and yes, that was coming from one who doesn't follow women's soccer, except for the world cups).

 

What? Someone had sex with her? That's so gay!

 

They could have given other younger players her spot to get experience countless times and chose not to. So don’t play anyone else for years when you could have, and then say “well she is the one with experience”?
They kept her (and some of the others) way too long because she’s the face of the program and everyone was scared to cast her aside.
Thankfully Emma is finally doing what’s needed, she sat her the other night and we did fine. Will be interesting to see if she plays tonight.

 

They could have, but the talent pool is light at center forward. We have a lot of quality wide attacking players, but not many that can lead the line. Lynn Williams had chances but never convinced multiple managers. It wasnt just Morgan, we've relied on the old guard for much longer than maybe we should have, whether it was Sauerbrunn, Ertz, Morgan, Rapinoe, etc. The problem is there wasn't a ton of talent in the prime age range of 25-30 for certain positions. Sometimes that happens in international soccer. Happened on the men's side about a decade ago. Experience always wins in tournament selections, because managers are judged on results, not developing players.

There were other financial considerations for a long time given the pay structure in the US women's league too, which again favored experienced international players, and didnt incentivize player development internationally. Hopefully the new CBA helps a little there.

 

Well, many of their windows closed while Morgan was busy prancing around offsides four or five times a game, so I guess we will never know what we truly had.
And yeah, the money mattered too, on and off the field for sure.
But Emma won’t play, she’s here to win. I have faith she will finally do what’s needed.

 

Male, female, gay or straight. There is one thing that catches up to all athletes. Time. It's always a difficult transition when you have a great player past their prime, but still serviceable. How much are they used? Do they start? Super sub? We're going through a similar transition with Morgan as Portugal went through with Ronaldo. It's not an uncommon story.

As far as looks go, give me players that can win. Rapinoe in her prime was a winner, and a great player. A ballon d'or winner, in fact, meaning FIFA thought she was the best women's player in the world. But she had lost a step by the last World Cup and we had nobody who stepped up to replace her. Hence the disappointing early exit.

 

Or the brother is total opposite (i.e. man whore).

 

While I agree there are some cute USA soccer gals, I also do agree with the general point from our new mom poster.

 

Half way funny and half ass truthful.

 

We don’t, but maybe we should.
Maybe if they were more attractive they’d get a bump in salary?
I’d go watch if they were a bit more cute.