re: United States vs. Japan World Cup FINAL

I agree. After Wamch's goal, they shouldve been conservative and milked the clock.

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Lol. Let me know when it's safe to return to the board, would ya?

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Will do.

i watched the entire match .. and in all of my years of watching sports, i have NEVER seen a team give away a game to an inferior team on the level that the US gave this one to japan ... whenever i think of the term "choke" in sports, this game will be the first to come to mind ... they could have been up 2-0 or 3-0 at freaking halftime and cruised !! the penalty kicks were horrible and hope solo was outplayed in the PK phase by a goalie half her size ... i don't know if solo was just injured or what, but she was all over two of the three shots, but just couldn't finish them ... of course, in soccer, you don't know who is and isn't hurt as much as they roll around on the field grabbing their shins and ankles, only to jump up two minutes later and magically play the next 30 minutes .. hell, brazil even had a chick being carted out on a stretcher jump off of it and go back into the game against the US ... just a total disappointment .. i bought into the hype ...

Hey Rag, first of all good for you for watching, I know this is not your usual sport, soccer is not just about goals but converting chances, there is an ebb and flow to the game and a fair amount of the time goals are scored against the run of play, The Greek team that won the European championships a few years back were famous for a bunker/siege mentality only to score off a corner kick or something despite having 4% of the possession time As to buying into the hype, man a lot of people did, but the USWNT is the number two team in the world this morning and the Jappers were determined if nothing else yesterday, thing is some teams were built to absorb pressure at the back and that was Japan...so don't give up on this sport Rag, it's good you were emotionally invested in this...

Solo looks like she's been reading her own press clippings and ran her mouth this week .. she guessed right on the last 2 PKs and didn't make the play ... the in game goals weren't her fault .. but you'd expect the "best goalie in the world" to do something incredible -- and she didn't ... plenty of blame to go around .. but a ROYAL choke on the biggest stage in soccer without a doubt ... the look on the US girls' faces as soon as the winning PK went in said it all .. they thought they were anointed before the match and already had the trophy wrapped up ...

I agree with you about Japan ..

i hear ya, festus .. and when you think about it .. soccer is about the only sport that team A can genuinely dominate team B, miss scoring by inches numerous times, then lose in the end .. you just really don't see that in football, basketball, or baseball as much as soccer ... but on that stage .. blowing one lead with about 8 minutes left in regulation and another with about 3 minutes left in extra time and then obviously choking beyond choking in the PK portion .. is borderline inexcuseable, imo ... you are the #1 ranked team in the world with "the best goalie in the world" and you can't finish off a cinderella team with 1/5 the talent that you have with the game on the line ...

you can blame this on poor coaching decisions late in the game .. a head-scratching order of players in the PK portion .. and, i am sorry, hope solo didn't get it done at PK time .. she guessed right twice and still couldn't stop the kick while her counterpart on the other side did it with the match on the line ...

hats off to a great run .. the brazil match may be one of the top five most riveting sporting events i have ever watched -- and i am neither a big fan of soccer nor women's sports ... i just think these chicks thought that was the championship game ..