For those saying the aging roster was the biggest issue: "The USWNT had the oldest squads at both the 2015 World Cup and the 2019 World Cup, and they won both."

Also important to remember that we were knocked out in the QF in Rio. This squad is receiving a ton of criticism despite making it a round further.

Hand Of God said:

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For those saying the aging roster was the biggest issue: "The USWNT had the oldest squads at both the 2015 World Cup and the 2019 World Cup, and they won both."

Also important to remember that we were knocked out in the QF in Rio. This squad is receiving a ton of criticism despite making it a round further.

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Oldest, but how old. They were likely the oldest at avg 24 or something or less then, now the oldest by avg 28 or more. Many of the other countries were probably "young" to too young by comparison back then.

I think this and previous squads faced about the same amount of criticism for their earlier-than-expected ousting. Recency bias and the fact that amount of criticism is fairly unmeasurable makes it seem a bit more harsh than it really is.

Peak athleticism is probably in the 22-29 range for most athletes...

They would usually have the maturity of discipline, the young body fully trained, the ability to recover quickly, and the mental mastery the sport without being too old to have cognitive degeneration.

If we were the oldest team at 24 four years ago; we were probably the team with the most peak athletes. 4 years later; I'd bet the younger teams from years past now probably have more peak athletes than we do.

HowdyTexasAggies said:

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Oldest, but how old. They were likely the oldest at avg 24 or something or less then, now the oldest by avg 28 or more. Many of the other countries were probably "young" to too young by comparison back then.

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The average age of the USWNT during the both the 2015 & 2019 World Cups was 28.
source: https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2019/05/meet-the-usas-2019-fifa-womens-world-cup-team

Well, age wasn't a factor today. Rapinoe and Lloyd both nab a brace. US wins 4-3 over Australia for bronze.

littlebitofhifi said:

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Fairly solid take and good food for thought IMO:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/womens-olympic-tournament/story/4445444/uswnt-reasons-for-olympic-struggles-rating-impact-of-roster-agerotationtacticsno-crowds-and-more

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Lloyds quote at the beginning is this difference between good and elite. 'Cant win em all' is straight outta RC/Fran quotebook. This set of players has probably lost that edge and that intensity you need for everyday success. Being only 5% slower + 5% less hungry + 5% tactically uncertain quickly adds up. There was never much room for error with this roster given their draw. And with covid the team's opportunities for finding the next gen players has been dampened but it's clear the need is there. Just wish it would have shown itself to the public differently

#USWNT all-time at major tournaments:

'91 WC: 1st 🥇
'95 WC: 3rd 🥉
'96 Oly: 1st 🥇
'99 WC: 1st 🥇
'00 Oly: 2nd 🥈
'03 WC: 3rd 🥉
'04 Oly: 1st 🥇
'07 WC: 3rd 🥉
'08 Oly; 1st 🥇
'11 WC: 2nd 🥈
'12 Oly: 1st 🥇
'15 WC: 1st 🥇
'16 Oly: Quarterfinal
'19 WC: 1st 🥇
'21 Oly: 3rd 🥉

— Jeff Kassouf (@JeffKassouf) August 5, 2021

Ya..,,ZzzzZzzzz.

It's an accomplishment for an older, slower, self-distracted team. It really hurts them on the political side because they need 1st place finishes to highlight their distinction from the men's team. But it's good news that there is more parity in women's soccer. And the IOC is a mess as is FIFA. Reform is needed. The NCAA combining men's and women's Final Four basketball tournaments and treating both sports more equally is NOT unfair. And I expect it avoids further slipping to irrelevance of a struggling, outdated, and slow-footed organization. And that is not about gender politics per se.

tysker said:

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littlebitofhifi said:

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Fairly solid take and good food for thought IMO:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/womens-olympic-tournament/story/4445444/uswnt-reasons-for-olympic-struggles-rating-impact-of-roster-agerotationtacticsno-crowds-and-more

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Lloyds quote at the beginning is this difference between good and elite. 'Cant win em all' is straight outta RC/Fran quotebook. This set of players has probably lost that edge and that intensity you need for everyday success. Being only 5% slower + 5% less hungry + 5% tactically uncertain quickly adds up. There was never much room for error with this roster given their draw. And with covid the team's opportunities for finding the next gen players has been dampened but it's clear the need is there. Just wish it would have shown itself to the public differently

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People read way too much into interviews directly after tough losses.

TXAggie2011 said:

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tysker said:

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littlebitofhifi said:

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Fairly solid take and good food for thought IMO:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/womens-olympic-tournament/story/4445444/uswnt-reasons-for-olympic-struggles-rating-impact-of-roster-agerotationtacticsno-crowds-and-more

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Lloyds quote at the beginning is this difference between good and elite. 'Cant win em all' is straight outta RC/Fran quotebook. This set of players has probably lost that edge and that intensity you need for everyday success. Being only 5% slower + 5% less hungry + 5% tactically uncertain quickly adds up. There was never much room for error with this roster given their draw. And with covid the team's opportunities for finding the next gen players has been dampened but it's clear the need is there. Just wish it would have shown itself to the public differently

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People read way too much into interviews directly after tough losses.

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Exactly. Did no one see Lloyd running sprints on the field after the loss to Canada? Cause that just screams "lost that edge and intensity".

TXAggie2011 said:

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tysker said:

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littlebitofhifi said:

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Fairly solid take and good food for thought IMO:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/womens-olympic-tournament/story/4445444/uswnt-reasons-for-olympic-struggles-rating-impact-of-roster-agerotationtacticsno-crowds-and-more

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Lloyds quote at the beginning is this difference between good and elite. 'Cant win em all' is straight outta RC/Fran quotebook. This set of players has probably lost that edge and that intensity you need for everyday success. Being only 5% slower + 5% less hungry + 5% tactically uncertain quickly adds up. There was never much room for error with this roster given their draw. And with covid the team's opportunities for finding the next gen players has been dampened but it's clear the need is there. Just wish it would have shown itself to the public differently

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People read way too much into interviews directly after tough losses.

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And people read way to much into internet posts I'm not pointing fingers at Lloyd, of all players, just adding color to what the article had already argued [eta: that being said, if Jozy or MB90 had been quoted similarly after the loss to TnT, would it be ok to 'read to much into it']

Quote:

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merely copying-and-pasting the World Cup roster and finding some players hungry to make their mark. At a minimum, it would've pushed the veterans harder as they fought to keep their spots going into the tournament,
....
We just didn't have that juice that we normally do.
....
defeats force a hard self-examination of weaknesses and shake away any feelings of complacency

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Its hard to be the best when you're getting older and not pushed all the time. Granted I'm sure many of you saw this team play much more than I did but, individual efforts aside, the issues of complacency and aging stars was a concern before even stepping on the plane to Japan.

Losing you're edge is actually a good thing....
I'm losing my edge. The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from France and from London. But I was there.
....
I'm losing my edge to the Internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge. To all the kids in Tokyo and Berlin.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties.

Hand Of God said:

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If you're celebrating Canada's win because the USWNT are "woke" and you hate that, well then, bud, I have some news for you ... 👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/FE99u7eWsA

— Elizabeth Cotignola (@LaDiavolina) August 2, 2021

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What other countries athletes do is their business, I care about our USA athletes.

Has to be one of the worst penalty shoot outs I've ever seen

wangus12 said:

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Has to be one of the worst penalty shoot outs I've ever seen

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Guess Sweden didn't want the gold that bad.

Grapesoda2525 said:

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wangus12 said:

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Grapesoda2525 said:

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oragator said:

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Foudy said it best. Believe that stuff, but don't say it publicly. Next time I will bet to stay quiet.
This team still isn't very good by US standards, Rapinhoe, Morgan, Lloyd are shells of their former selves, Lovell,hasn't broken out like everyone expected etc but they found a way.
And nine offsides goals called back now. That almost isn't even possible. It's gotta be like 4 standard deviations from the mean. Just indicative of the problems with the team though.

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That may be true, but I'd say we can all reasonably expect this team to make the gold medal game. After tying Australia without really trying to beat them and edging out Netherlands, I'm not worried about Canada. Australia and Netherlands are both stronger teams.

We should see a US vs Sweden rematch for the gold. Very interesting to see how we respond after getting punched in the mouth.

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Sounds exactly like what van der Donk said.

And I'd easily argue the Dutch were the better team today. You can't go around tempting fate like that

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Dude it's Canada. The only sport they care about is hockey. I wouldn't be saying **** if we had a euro or South American team as the opponent.

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Canada owes you a Gold medal

7 misses out of 12 takes

Oof

Happy for Sinclair to finally win a major tournament in her last go at it.

Annoyed because Canada wasn't even close to the best squad. Never scored in open play over the final three matches. Required two VAR penalty rulings and two shootouts.

That game was a BLAST but the penalties were HORRIBLE. I've never seen such soft penalties, so many off frame, etc.

But regardless, I'm unbelievably happy for our northern neighbors and Sinclair in particular. Good for them.

Canada scored zero goals in the run of play in in three knockout matches, and even the two penalties they got were fortunate calls. And they walk away with gold.

Portugal and Ronaldo won a Euro basically the same way.

Yeah I don't think Canada beats us even 3 matches out of 10.

Sinclair was a dominant freshman for Portland when the Pilots beat the Aggies in the 2001 NCAA Quarterfinals. (Anyone remember ESPN's Sidelines?) She has had a loooooong career.

Canada got a little payback from London 2012. Remember that 4-3 classic in the semifinal? They were on the tough end of a few influential calls that day. We took gold, they ended up with bronze. This time around we got punished by VAR in the semi and they ended up with gold to our bronze.

Canada is the only team to medal in the last three Olympics (bronze, bronze, gold). US (gold, bronze) and Sweden (silver, silver) just behind. Despite their recent Olympic success, they have struggled to put it together in the World Cup. Last four results: GS, GS, QF, R16.

Kudos for the Olympic medals, but World Cups are the real prize.

Damn canucks!!!

That Canadian keeper was annoying as hell during the shootout. I wanted Sweden to plant one off her face. Ugh!

Jim01 said:

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Damn canucks!!!

That Canadian keeper was annoying as hell during the shootout. I wanted Sweden to plant one off her face. Ugh!

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She Hope Solo'd them!

Carli Lloyd announces retirement. Will play in Fall friendlies for USWNT and complete the NWSL season.

Carli Lloyd bagged 5 goals tonight in one of her final matches with the USWNT.

Hope everyone clamoring for the youngsters is tuning in tonight. Horrible opponent but Pugh, Lavelle, Macario, Davidson, Smith all starting. Macario and Pugh already connected for the first goal.

And right on cue, Smith grabs her first international goal! Easy finish but clinical run from Smith and eyes up pass from Lavelle. Going to be another long night for Paraguay.

It's a bloodbath and these kids may not let up. Paraguay actually looked better last match (even though they still looked horrible). They just can't mark at all.

Time for the youth to put the old gals out to pasture or simply make them unemployed

Don't understand why we play these games.

I think this was supposed to be the send off games for Carli right?