Women's World Cup Final

Demiurge

Tied 1-1 vs Japan. In extra minutes right now. Anyone watching?

Never thought I'd be watching soccer.

inspiredsports

Same here. I'm having my 8th heart attack in the past 2 hours . . . and Morgan actually looks like a girl!

Demiurge

U.S scores in the last minutes!

Demiurge

Whoops...15 mins left in overtime.

Toolfan66

WOW just got lucky there!!!

Demiurge

Wow...japan ties and blocks penalty kick.

Demiurge

U.S. Is choking...

Demiurge

Congras to Japan.

wayne3burk

Watched it from the 70th minute on - amazing world cup final - congrats to Japan.

tonyb

We made some crucial mistakes, but congrats to Japan,they never gave up.

inspiredsports

Dang! With that many shots on goal we should have won 10-2 in regulation.

Did anyone catch the commentator's coment that Morgan's dad rewarded her with a Lexus (Japan based) auto for her goal count in high school? I don't know if Lexus can spin that into a commercial endorsement or not.

janmike

I was cheering for USA, but maybe another year. Congrats to Japan.

Sherardp

"WE" won................whoooo hoooo!!! Naw just kidding, congrats to both teams. I was playing Xbox while this was going on.

deronb1

Why in the world did the U.S. defender stop her teammates clearout on Japans first goal? Maybe it was just reactionary.

polkatese

two words: missed opportunities (notice there are many).

The team did its best, lady luck is not on our side this time. It was an excellent game either way, and to have the match lost to Japan, it was a great consolation second.

markmarc

Demiurge wrote: »

U.S. Is choking...

Sure, Team USA missed its chances, but "choking" that's a pile of BS. Personally, I think a bit of divinity was given to the people of Japan today, they deserve a chunk of good news.

Demiurge

They choked in the shootout, plain and simple.

Demiurge

polkatese wrote: »

two words: missed opportunities (notice there are many).

The team did its best, lady luck is not on our side this time. It was an excellent game either way, and to have the match lost to Japan, it was a great consolation second.

Absolutely correct. I was thinking the whole time that if the U.S. was going to lose this, I wouldn't have it to any other team.

Definitely great competitors with how they were able to block good shots during the match and score two equalizers.

Just a crappy way to lose a game. Many opportunities throughout and they just choked at the end by tipping their hands to the Japanese goalie as to where they'd be kicking the ball.

The one who didn't do that for the U.S. team made her goal.

Toolfan66

They handled them selfs well with the loss.. Congrats to Japan they needed it like the Saints did IMO!!!

markmarc

Demiurge wrote: »

They choked in the shootout, plain and simple.

One kick sailed high (I've seen Pele and Maradonna miss penalty kicks as well), another was a great foot block by the Japanese goalie.

Demiurge

markmarc wrote: »

One kick sailed high (I've seen Pele and Maradonna miss penalty kicks as well), another was a great foot block by the Japanese goalie.

What is it that offends you so much that you call players choking BS? All athletes are capable of choking. I'd credit the Japanese goaltender if I thought it was waranted, but it was clear to me that they were all bad shots by the U.S team that let nerves get the best of them in a clutch situation.

The U.S. didn't do what they needed to put the Japanese team away and put themselves in the position to choke away the match. It happens.

markmarc

Demiurge wrote: »

What is it that offends you so much that you call players choking BS? All athletes are capable of choking. I'd credit the Japanese goaltender if I thought it was waranted, but it was clear to me that they were all bad shots by the U.S team that let nerves get the best of them in a clutch situation.

The U.S. didn't do what they needed to put the Japanese team away and put themselves in the position to choke away the match. It happens.

In my experience, the people who like to label others as "chokers" have usually never been in that kind of a competitive situation themselves and have no appreciation how such an extremely small difference in a physical movement (say a quarter-inch difference) of a leg swing can make such a big determination. Especially at the end of a match when one is in a near oxygen deficit situation.

I've been on both sides of such experience, making a perfect pass with the outside of my weak leg that was then kicked for the winning goal in a championship game on a college club team. And missing a six-foot downhill breaking putt for birdie on the last hole that kept our team from winning a coveted city high school title (even though I shot a 74 that day). In both cases the difference between success and failure was incredibly narrow. Most likely that the pass was a 1 in 5 chance of kicking right. The putt was 4 of five chance, but I didn't take into account the late day condition of the green. Funny thing, after it was over most of the players tried the same putt, only a few out of 25 made it.

dorokusai

The US team simply lost.

Demiurge

markmarc wrote: »

In my experience, the people who like to label others as "chokers" have usually never been in that kind of a competitive situation themselves and have no appreciation how such an extremely small difference in a physical movement (say a quarter-inch difference) of a leg swing can make such a big determination. Especially at the end of a match when one is in a near oxygen deficit situation.

I've been on both sides of such experience, making a perfect pass with the outside of my weak leg that was then kicked for the winning goal in a championship game on a college club team. And missing a six-foot downhill breaking putt for birdie on the last hole that kept our team from winning a coveted city high school title (even though I shot a 74 that day). In both cases the difference between success and failure was incredibly narrow. Most likely that the pass was a 1 in 5 chance of kicking right. The putt was 4 of five chance, but I didn't take into account the late day condition of the green. Funny thing, after it was over most of the players tried the same putt, only a few out of 25 made it.

I've played competitive sports into my mid 20s and I've been in these situations before, but never at that level. I'm not much for emotional pussyfooting and I call things as I see them. I think they choked.

Not rising to the occasion in sports to your normal ability in a clutch situation is the very definition of choking.

If you DVR'd the match go back and listen to the commentary during the shootout. They were all shocked the U.S. was missing goals so terribly and showing the Japanese goaltender precisely where they were going to be kicking the ball. Wambach was the only one who looked in one direction and kicked in another. The kick sailed right in.

As Ann Killion said in Sports Illustrated:

The U.S. women were ripped for choking away the game.

Harsh? Maybe.

But that's sports.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/ann_killion/07/17/womens.world.cup/index.html#ixzz1SSPWJSBS

Indeed. That's sports.

tonyb

Funny, if this was American football, aka the Superbowl, all of us would be saying so and so "choked".

The american team,as I saw it, had plenty of opportunity to score but the accuracy of some kicks were terrible. Also they made some crucial mistakes infront of the net that let Japan back in the game, twice. Now you add the dismal penalty kicking ability, so yeah, they just simply lost the game, but the game was theirs to lose.

markmarc

Demiurge wrote: »

I've played competitive sports into my mid 20s and I've been in these situations before, but never at that level. I'm not much for emotional pussyfooting and I call things as I see them. I think they choked.

Not rising to the occasion in sports to your normal ability in a clutch situation is the very definition of choking.

If you DVR'd the match go back and listen to the commentary during the shootout. They were all shocked the U.S. was missing goals so terribly and showing the Japanese goaltender precisely where they were going to be kicking the ball. Wambach was the only one who looked in one direction and kicked in another. The kick sailed right in.

As Ann Killion said in Sports Illustrated:



http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/ann_killion/07/17/womens.world.cup/index.html#ixzz1SSPWJSBS

Indeed. That's sports.

Sorry Demi, just because one sports writer called it a "choke" doesn't mean it's true. BTW, the commentator also mentioned that the Japanese had an advantage in seeing how the USA did penalty shots from a previous game. The USA had no such reference with Japan.

Looks like we will have to agree to disagree.

Demiurge

markmarc wrote: »

Sorry Demi, just because one sports writer called it a "choke" doesn't mean it's true. BTW, the commentator also mentioned that the Japanese had an advantage in seeing how the USA did penalty shots from a previous game. The USA had no such reference with Japan.

Looks like we will have to agree to disagree.

Good grief, I didn't say it was, and oddly -- that sports writer didn't say they choked either. Did you read it?

I'm still completely missing any relevant point you've been trying to make since calling my opinion bull ****. Were you just looking for fight over an unprovable opinion? At this juncture you haven't even come close to diminishing the value of my opinion.

As a group, the U.S. kickers in the shootout choked. Save for Wambach, they overshot the goal and telegraphed their shots to the Japanese goaltender.

Funny, the dictionary even defines it:

to become too tense or nervous to perform well: Our team began to choke up in the last inning.

It was your choice to take choke as some kind of pejorative. It never was.

ysss

I almost choked on my coffee reading this thread...

Demiurge

tonyb wrote: »

Funny, if this was American football, aka the Superbowl, all of us would be saying so and so "choked".

The american team,as I saw it, had plenty of opportunity to score but the accuracy of some kicks were terrible. Also they made some crucial mistakes infront of the net that let Japan back in the game, twice. Now you add the dismal penalty kicking ability, so yeah, they just simply lost the game, but the game was theirs to lose.

I agree. There are times you get beaten by a better team and there are times where you shoot yourself in the foot and/or let the nerves get the best of you.

The U.S. team controlled that game that should have left the score lopsided to the point that a shootout wouldn't have been necessary. Alas, the the Japanese made good on the few opportunities they had and equalized the game in regulation. They held their nerves in check in the shootout and the U.S. team clearly put on a dismal performance that was not on par with their ability. They weren't outmatched by the Japanese goaltender.

DMara

Maybe our girls choked, maybe not. That was just soccer. For example, a couple years ago, in a UEFFA Champion League semifinal match, Chelsea dominated Barcelona in both possession and shots at goal. Well, they didn't score, and Barca scored one at the end to grab a seat at the Final, then won it all. It happened all the time in soccer, if you don't score, your opponent will.
We were unbeaten against the Japanese team for 25 straight matches, this one time we lost.
Maybe our girls choked, maybe not. The only thing that mattered was the Japanese won the tournament deservedly. They fought tooth and nail each and every match. Congratulations to them!

DMara

This is just hilarious :biggrin:

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Quoted from http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/soccer/07/17/womens.world.cup.japan.ap/index.html?sct=sc_t11_a5:

"This shows that Japanese women are strong," said 32-year-old Rui Hayashi, who works at a men's club in Tokyo.

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