Plebe
La verdad no peca pero incomoda
- Joined
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Lots of great points here.During the Bronze Medal game (USA vs. Australia), there was a detailed discussion between the announcers on why the team didn't get younger after winning the 2019 World Cup. I thought it was persuasive, and a lot less conspiratorial than what you are suggesting.
They acknowledged that age was a problem for the team, particularly on the front line. But they noted several factors accounting for the decision to go with older players in this Olympics:
The implication is that if the coach had known in 2019 that the Olympics were two years away, he would have realized that he needed some younger forwards on his roster and would probably have selected and trained the roster differently.
- The same team, with forwards who were already old by soccer standards, had won the 2019 World Cup in convincing fashion, so there was no indication then that they were over the hill.
- When the new coach took over immediately after that tournament, he and everyone expected that the Olympics would be in 2020 rather than 2021, leaving him with a very short time to prepare -- probably too little time to select and practice with a drastically overhauled roster.
- When the Olympics were postponed, it was done only a few months before the event was scheduled to take place. This again created a situation where there would be too little time to overhaul the roster for the 2021 games.
Having said that, the fact that Rapinoe and Lloyd were responsible for all the scoring in the Bronze Medal game suggests that those two players in particular were far from "old timers". Both of Rapinoe's goals demonstrated a very high offensive skill level. I wonder if any younger player would have been able to score those goals.
Of greater concern is the defensive side (giving up 3 goals to both Sweden and Australia, and 2 goals to The Netherlands), where age is not a particular problem. The back end of the formation needs improvement also, though not necessarily by getting younger.
A certain layer of fans seem to engage in a reflexive form of ageism, whereby they start calling for players to be set out to pasture as soon as they reach a certain age. Some have even gone so far as to advocate for "term limits". We've seen it in basketball as well, with some fans claiming Taurasi and Bird are just too old for the national team.
I also agree that the defensive lapses were more concerning than the offensive struggles. Dahlkemper is regarded as one of the better defenders in the world, but she had a horrible tournament. O'Hara I thought was dreadful as well, I can't even count all the times I saw her lose the ball or give it away (one such play led directly to the late goal by Australia in the bronze medal game).
Losing Alyssa Naeher to injury early in the Canada game was a major blow. Adrianna Franch has supposedly been great in the NWSL but every time I've seen her play on the national team she has looked terribly unsteady and unreliable to me.
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