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Fútbol, The Global Kind

SBrown

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I was at the mall the other day and saw a little girl wearing a Pugh USA jersey. It's crazy.
 

James

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Solo was big in the France game. Somewhat low energy game from both sides. Maybe the heat.
The crowd is now yelling "Zika!" on most goalie kicks from other teams it seems. Brazil-Iraq men was 0-0 in a packed stadium. Iraq looks pretty good.
 
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crgildart

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Solo was big in the France game. Somewhat low energy game from both sides. Maybe the heat.
The crowd is now yelling "Zika!" on most goalie kicks from other teams it seems. Brazil-Iraq men was 0-0 in a packed stadium. Iraq looks pretty good.
Didn't they take over Saddam's palace and convert that to their national team training facilities? I seem to recall them building a pitch there awhile ago..
 
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crgildart

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Mrs crgildart scored again. Midfield seats to the Railhawks NASL game against the 1st place Indy Eleven.

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Chance of Snow (Need to get him signed up here) got picked out of the stands to be a ball boy for the game.

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Railhawks won 3-2 with a PK in stoppage time. Good times!!
 

Monique

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Rapinoe had ACL surgery back in December, so she is not really fit. Her selection to the team was somewhat controversial because it's a small roster. But she's known as a game changer even in a limited role, and someone whose personality is a big part of the team, so I think it's probably a pretty good choice to take her along.

I am guilty of paying zero attention to soccer until major events, and even then, I'm not sure why I'm sometimes drawn in, sometimes not. I do have an emotional attachment to the German national soccer teams, and I've noticed I actually like the women's games better than the men's. Today we watched the pre-recorded women's gold medal match, then the men's, back to back.

Anyhoo, my ears perked up in the quarter finals, I think, when I heard them give Rapinoe's days since surgery in *days*. Just over 8 months. My doc says that the ACL graft is at 80% at 6 months, 90% at 9 months, and isn't truly at 100% for over a year. While professional athletes can/must recover fitness faster than recreational athletes, the graft proceeds at its own pace, the same for pro and couch potato alike. So by my SWAG math, her ACL graft was somewhere around 87% of full strength. Amazing to see her playing, as near as I could tell, fully aggressively, legs right in the fray, contesting balls. Of course, if she couldn't do that, she wouldn't be on the field, but it still made me wince every time.

I'm sure she also pushed like hell to be able to play in the Olympics, and it seems like she pulled it off without blowing out her graft. I wonder how lucky she was. Was she only taking a minor risk, or was she putting a lot on the line? Would a second ACL blowout effectively end her career?
 
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crgildart

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As for the USWNT and the rest of the Olympic tournament, Sweden did not disappoint all the way to the finals, where they gave Germany all they could handle. I'd be curious to know what Solo would say if given an opportunity to re evaluate her opinion of their capabilities.
 

SBrown

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... I'm sure she also pushed like hell to be able to play in the Olympics, and it seems like she pulled it off without blowing out her graft. I wonder how lucky she was. Was she only taking a minor risk, or was she putting a lot on the line? Would a second ACL blowout effectively end her career?

Not necessarily. I know there are several NFL players who have come back after a couple. The women's Olympic and World Cup rotation puts them in successive seasons, so that there is a 3-yr gap between Olympics and the next World Cup (2019). Not only is that plenty of rehab time, but who's to say you'll still even be on the team by then? Yes, there is pro soccer, and other tournaments, but those are the biggies for USWNT mainstays. So I think the risk is more excusable, if you will. And WC comes before Olympics, both in importance and in the calendar, so I think if this were a year ago, she still would have played, even while risking the Olympics. I'm just speculating here, of course, but I think the risk-reward was high enough.

Skier Kaya Turski had a second tear too soon before the Olympics to do regular surgery, so she had a synthetic ligament put in. (described here: http://xgames.espn.com/xgames/skiin...rski-bouncing-back-revolutionary-knee-surgery) It is described as a short-term solution, but with the Olympics coming up, that was her decision. She ended up winning the XGames, but then was sick during the Olympics and didn't even qualify for the final. Which is really sad, because the surgery did what she wanted it to do, and a different problem derailed her.
 

Monique

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Not necessarily. I know there are several NFL players who have come back after a couple. The women's Olympic and World Cup rotation puts them in successive seasons, so that there is a 3-yr gap between Olympics and the next World Cup (2019). Not only is that plenty of rehab time, but who's to say you'll still even be on the team by then? Yes, there is pro soccer, and other tournaments, but those are the biggies for USWNT mainstays. So I think the risk is more excusable, if you will. And WC comes before Olympics, both in importance and in the calendar, so I think if this were a year ago, she still would have played, even while risking the Olympics. I'm just speculating here, of course, but I think the risk-reward was high enough.

Skier Kaya Turski had a second tear too soon before the Olympics to do regular surgery, so she had a synthetic ligament put in. (described here: http://xgames.espn.com/xgames/skiin...rski-bouncing-back-revolutionary-knee-surgery) It is described as a short-term solution, but with the Olympics coming up, that was her decision. She ended up winning the XGames, but then was sick during the Olympics and didn't even qualify for the final. Which is really sad, because the surgery did what she wanted it to do, and a different problem derailed her.

Yeah, there are definitely different calculations for pro athletes, and the four year (three year) gap makes a big difference - and adds even more incentive to try early. I'd never heard of a temporary ACL reconstruction, but then, why would I? That's crazy stuff.

I guess with a successive ACL tear, I was thinking more of the mental cost of going through it again, and how that would impact performance. But then, these people are not me.
 

SBrown

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Yeah, there are definitely different calculations for pro athletes, and the four year (three year) gap makes a big difference - and adds even more incentive to try early. I'd never heard of a temporary ACL reconstruction, but then, why would I? That's crazy stuff.

I guess with a successive ACL tear, I was thinking more of the mental cost of going through it again, and how that would impact performance. But then, these people are not me.

Yeah, it's just par for the course. I am trying to remember how many surgeries the hockey player Peter Forsberg had. It was ridiculous. (Google tells me the answer is 20.) Most on his ankles, which eventually caused him to retire, but he had a spleen removed and at least one shoulder operation, too. It's just ... life.

I spent most of middle and high school in rehab (heh that came out wrong but I'm leaving it). Eight knee dislocations and subluxations, and one operation. I didn't realize that wasn't normal until I was older. (I just thought I was lucky not having ACL surgery. Which I was. But at least 5 teammates had it, and it really was more serious stuff in the 80s. A couple broken legs, too. Actually three. So I felt barely scathed.)
 

Monique

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*shudder*
 
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crgildart

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I just got a memo sent to all the HSA Triangle United Youth Soccer coaches. Heading the ball is now deemed illegal. Intentionally heading the ball will be penalized with an indirect kick for the opposing team at the spot of the foul. I get that elementary school kids are more vulnerable to trauma from a blasted ball to the head. I had already been under the impression that headers weren't taught at U12 and below. For the U12 and below teams I coached I only taught them for juggling and close ball control, not crosses or defensive long volleys..

However, I'm coaching U15, most of these kids are in high school so I've asked the league president to confirm this also applies to U15 and not just U12 and below. U15 is the level where we use a full size field, full size goals, and #5 full size ball.

Gonna be tough to be the ref blowing the whistle every time one of these teens makes a good play with their head.. oh well. I suspect this will cause some kids to drop out of the league at U15 if they can't actually play the game the way the game is meant to be played..
 
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crgildart

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OK we traveled to Chapel Hill today to play their Triangle United team. I only had three show for practice Thursday so I asked our other U15 coach to see if any of his kids wanted to play in our game there later today. We got 2 from there and one U12 little brother from our regular roster to show up there with 9. The other team also had 9 so we agreed to play 8 vs 8. We CRUSHED them 5-0 in the first half and I told our guys to fall back at 4-0. It wasn't really fair though because the team we played had just finished an earlier game and played us back to back. I pulled another kid off the field and played 7 versus their 8 in the 2nd half and told them to take it to the corners instead of running up the score to finish 6-1. I also told the refs to give the other team all the close calls in the 2nd because the other team was clearly out of gas and disadvantaged against our fresher kids... full disclosure though that half our kids were also playing the 2nd game of the day but had a couple hours to rest before game 2..

Here's the team and their idiot coach..
Gildart Thursday Seven A.jpg
 
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crgildart

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Kind of weird watching the USA vs Mexico qualifier given the recent political events. So far pretty good game. Bummer about Tim Howard.
 
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crgildart

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No one covers the back post on Mexico's only corner kick?? LOL, and SOL. Congrats to Mexico. USA deserved to lose for that unbelievable blown coverage.
 

scott43

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I believe TFC is in the semi's with Montreal for an all-Canadian MLS eastern semi-final. Imagine if a Canadian team won the MLS championship!? The horror!! :roflmao:
 
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crgildart

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Off to a good start against Mexico in spite of the cheap shots.
 

SBrown

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Off to a good start against Mexico in spite of the cheap shots.

How many first-half subs will there be??? whoa

(ok, not that many, but looked like three in just a few minutes)
 
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James

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Well that came out ok. Bradley almost won it off the post.
I'd imagine there will be much ridicule in the Mexican press over that last botched corner. You're basically out of time and the questionable ref gives you time for a corner. So instead of hitting it into the box you pass it?
 
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crgildart

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Well that came out ok. Bradley almost won it off the post.
I'd imagine there will be much ridicule in the Mexican press over that last botched corner. You're basically out of time and the questionable ref gives you time for a corner. So instead of hitting it into the box you pass it?

Yep. If ever there was the "EVERYBODY FLOOD THE BOX EVEN THE KEEPER" moment, that was it.
 

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