Japan's victory in the women's World Cup final was welcoming to everyone in the world other than U.S. fans. Given the bad year Japan has had, this should boost the country's spirit. This game was almost the reverse of the U.S.-Brazil game with the team that fell behind in overtime coming back with a dramatic late goal to tie and then win in pk. The U.S. team gave a good account of themselves and with a little better luck yesterday, would be 3 times champions.
Japan's victory I think support my theory about the rigid system in China will not produce teams that can compete as well as they are capable of. Sure, China almost won the Cup in 1999. But for the first 10 years of world competition for women, only the U.S., Norway, Sweden, Germany and China were good teams. With the sport institute system, China was able to jump ahead most countries that did not have much of women soccer history. This includes Japan. But while rest of the world have improved a great deal, (I think this U.S. team would have beaten the great U.S. teams of the 90's.), China is still stuck with the training and skills of the 90's. Think back to when the USSR and East Germany were dominating Olympic individual sports, they could not beat the top western European and South American teams. China has more talent than Japan. But with freedom to train and explore different styles, it is the Japanese who are the world champions today.
Monday, July 18, 2011
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As disappointed as I was to see the U.S. womens team lose, I was happy for Japan. You are right about it being like the U.S. - Brazil game, but maybe even more like the U.S. - France game where it looked like the U.S. was outclassed most of the game.
ReplyDeleteBut soccer is a strange sport where small leads are not safe and it takes just seconds for a lapse in judgement for a team to climb back into a game.
I give credit to Japan for not giving up when it seemed that the last U.S. goal was the clincher. They had every opportunity to hang their heads and give up, so it shows a lot of character for them to come back twice.
I thought about the 1999 team and wondered how they would stack up to this year's team. There were some really good players on that 1999 team and maybe the leadership was better. Plus, that team had played together for many years.
This year's team is bigger and stronger. They didn't seem to gel as well though and I think it would have been close.
Amazing how the rest of the world has caught up to the U.S. in soccer. The men's team has made leaps and bounds since 1994 for sure. It would be interesting to see if they could make a run like Japan's women at some point.
-LBOAYM
Let me clarify something. I think the U.S. players like Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers will be more famous one hundred years from now than the current U.S. players because they won more and were the pioneers. It is like saying that the 1927 Yankees was the greatest team ever. It is hard to argue that based on the records. But players back then do not have to play against black or Latino players. So it is hard to compare different eras. It is just in such a short time the women's game have improved so much around the world that the current players have to be bigger, stronger and better skilled just to stay at the top tier of the world competition. I think over a series or a whole season today's team would win over the 90's team. But you are right with the leaders and cohesiveness of the 90's team, on any one game I would not bet against it.
ReplyDeleteOh, I knew what you meant regarding the 1999 team. Though I still think that Hamm and Akers would still be world class players today and that because that team was so good together that it would have been a close match with this year's team.
ReplyDeleteI think overall that this year's team is bigger and more athletic though. But in soccer I don't know if it matters as much in one game. Sure, in a series it might make a difference, but they don't play a best of series. That's like saying the U.S. would beat Japan 4 games to 1 but they obviously don't get that opportunity. The 1999 is, in my opinion, better than the 2011 Japanese team. In fact, just based on the game I watched, I think the 1999 Chinese team was better than this Japanese team.
I do think that the world has or is very soon will be caught up to the soccer powers in womens soccer, but I don't know if the level of play has increased as much in the U.S.
Speaking of the 1927 Yankees, don't you think that if they didn't have to wear wool and instead wore cotton, which is a more breathable fabric, that they would have played even better? In fact, maybe the Yankees should change their polyester uniforms that they wear now, to all cotton! What do you think?
-LBOAYM
p.s. where's your blog about the debt ceiling? I've been waiting for you to overheat and write about it. In my opinion, it'll get done because everyone in Washington is too scared to let things hit the fan. I also wish that there was a ban on interviews with anyone in Washington during this period because all we get are non-answers and attacks on the other side. Shut the heck up and get it done already!