Olympic Update

The US women lost 2-0 in their first match of the 2008 Olympics. They gave up both goals early - 2 minutes and 4 minutes into the game. Stephanie substituted in quite early for an injured Lori Chalupny. She came out in the 2nd half for Tobin Heath who was put in at midfield to try to punch up the offense.

Canada won 2-1. The wrap up on the TV said Christine got a goal, but the replay showed it was clearly Kara Lang who scored.

I got up early to watch this mess. Unbelievable how disorganized the defense was early--two goals that never should have happened with defensive lapses and keeper mistakes combining on each. Then the next twenty minutes was total chaos on offense with absolutely no flow or apparent organization. Once they started getting some control of their game, they resorted to the long ball, almost aways to open space that no one could possibly run down. Having to listen to Brandi Chastain do the play-by-play was almost as painful as watching the mess on the field.

Stephanie played with more control than most of the others once she got her chance but they didn't seem to recognize her runs down the side and tried to put the ball in the middle for easy defensive plays for Norway. Taking a note from the Angie thread, they could have used her calm on the ball and distribution skills to great advantage. All in all, they looked like a good third place team, in their group. Hopefully they can pull in together, not panic and win the next two games against Japan and New Zealand.

Yes, it was painful to watch. No one seems to be stepping up and taking AW's leadership role. You are right, someone needs to tell BC to stop talking so much.

I was worried that the team had over-prepared! It showed! They looked lathargic!

Weren't they in Europe for (??) how many games... then they did the Brasil friendlies (2 or 3 games?)...then the Peace Cup in Korea. They put a lot of miles in such a short time. Hopefully, they have enough recovery time to refresh before the next game on Saturday.

GO PILOTS!!!