USWNT Defeat China PR 4-1

The USWNT defeated China PR 4-1 in an international friendly on May 27 in front of a sellout crowd of 18,573 at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. The starters where Solo, LePeilbet, Rampone, Beuhler, O'Hara; O'Reilly, Boxx, Lloyd, Rapinoe; Morgan, Wambach in a 4-4-2 formation.

The U.S. started the game off slow and the team looked disconnected. Carli Lloyd had two chances early, one of which she skied over the bar and the second of which deflected off a Chinese player's leg. China PR was able to capitalize on a poorly weighted ball in the back and attacker Zhang Rui put the Chinese up 1-0 in the 22nd minute. Alex Morgan struck back in the 34th minute with a beautiful low bending shot that came off a great feed from Heather O'Reilly. The Chinese scored an own goal two minutes later. Megan Rapinoe served a free kick outside the box on the left side. A Chinese defender headed the ball first, but it was not cleared. Shannon Boxx got a second header on the ball and directed it toward the goal. It looked as if Abby Wambach just nearly got a head on the ball, but as the Chinese defender tried to clear it with her head, she sent in into the goal.  

The second half saw the USWNT settle into possession and take control of the match. Lauren Cheney came on for Lloyd in the center midfield position and she did well distributing the ball. Amy Rodriguez came on for Heather O'Reilly at the half. Christie Rampone sent a long ball over the top to Alex Morgan who used her body to fight off the defender and hit a low ball into the back of the net from 18 yards out in the 50th minute of the match. The fourth and final goal came from Wambach off a throw-in from Morgan. Wambach, in the 83rd minute, was close to the right end line and slotted a ball in the upper left corner at a nearly impossible angle. Other substitutions included Becky Sauerbrunn coming on for Rampone in the 62nd minute and Sydney Leroux replacing Amy LePeilbett in the 81st minute. The Leroux substitution changed the formation to a 3-4-3 and she provided plenty of energy in the final minutes, just nearly missing on a shot from the 18-yard box.

It was a slow start, but a strong finish. The USWNT showed their composure and ability to comeback from behind.      

Olympic Roster Announced

The U.S. national team roster of 18 is set for the 2012 Olympics. Many familiar faces made the cut, with only one new addition, Sydney Leroux, from the 2011 Women's World Cup squad. The Women's World Cup allowed for a 21 player roster, so head coach Pia Sundhage had to make some tough decisions to trim it down to 18. Goalkeeper Jill Loyden, defender Stephanie Cox, and midfielder Lori Lindsey were left off the roster, along with defender Ali Krieger who suffered a torn ACL during Olympic Qualifying.

U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Nicole Barnhart, Hope Solo 
DEFENDERS (6): Rachel Buehler, Amy LePeilbet, Heather Mitts, Kelley O’Hara, Christie Rampone, Becky Sauerbrunn 
MIDFIELDERS (6): Shannon Boxx, Lauren Cheney, Tobin Heath, Carli Lloyd, Heather O’Reilly, Megan Rapinoe 
FORWARDS (4): Sydney Leroux, Alex Morgan, Amy Rodriguez, Abby Wambach


There are no real surprises with this roster. It was known that the U.S. would only take two keepers with the reduced roster from 21 to 18. Also, Stephanie Cox did not make the Olympic Qualifying roster, but was added to the Algarve Cup roster due to Krieger's injury. This irregularity for Cox makes it unsurprising that she was left off, especially with Kelley O'Hara's transition to left-back. Lindsey's absence is less predictable. It was thought that a midfielder would be cut and Lindsey is the least versatile of the bunch. Leroux has come on strong as the new super-sub as Alex Morgan has taken on a starting role and she was heavily regarded as a strong candidate for a roster spot.  


The Olympic roster features slight changes of note; Lauren Cheney is listed as a midfielder when she had been previously listed as a forward despite playing in the midfield and Amy Rodriguez is listed as a forward when she had been previously listed as a midfielder. Cheney will most likely be used as a center or outside midfielder and Rodriquez will most likely be used as an outside midfielder. The listing of positions is a technicality but it is interesting to note the differences. 


Sundhage named four alternative players for the Olympics, midfielder Lori Lindsey, goalkeeper Jill Loyden, midfielder Megan Klingenberg, and forward Christen Press. Klingenberg and Press were surprising choices due to their inexperience. Klingenberg has only been capped twice, but is a regular pool player. Press is uncapped and has only attended one national team training camp. 


All-in-all the roster is solid and features few changes. Now we can look ahead to speculate at what the starting line-up will be.  


    

It's a Live Stream After-All

U.S Soccer announced today that they will in fact provide a live stream on their website for the USWNT match against China PR tomorrow, May 27, at 7 p.m. ET.

This is great news for the fans who are unable to attend the game, but still want to see their team play. A lot of fans took to Twitter to ask for a live stream and U.S. Soccer replied "no." Some fans were so upset that they expressed their belief that U.S. Soccer does not care about USWNT fans.

The pressure from fans must have been overwhelming because all of a sudden U.S Soccer announced that they were going to provide a way for fans to see the game. This was the right thing for U.S Soccer to do. They do not want angry USWNT fans on their hands because that bunch is extremely passionate. They want to appeal to this group and help it grow, not deter it or create suspicion of their care. The fandom will be happy to be able to watch the USWNT play, which will subdue the anger that come from the initial denial. 

Sell Out Crowd, But No TV

The USWNT match on Sunday, May 27 at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. will be played infront of a sell out crowd. The U.S. will face China PR in front of a crowd of 18,500. These will be the only fans that will be able to watch the match since the game will not be televised or live-streamed.

It is impressive that the USWNT is attracting a crowd of 18,500 since a little more than a year ago on May 18, 2011 only 5,323 attended a match against Japan in North Carolina. This is also a drastic increase from the last time the USWNT faced China PR in Pennsylvania, which was played in front of a crowd of 2,505 on Oct. 6, 2011. However, these matches were televised by ESPN2.

I find this attendance and television comparison of pre-Women's World Cup and post-Women's World Cup fascinating. It is obvious that the Women's World Cup boosted interest in the USWNT and this can be seen by an increase in attendance at matches, but it has had a reversal effect on television coverage. The year before the 2011 Women's World Cup the USWNT played seven international friendlies and only one was not televised. It seems as though recently fans have been up in arms and campaigning to view their team whether it be on TV or online. The Algarve Cup comes to mind when thinking about fans disappointed in the media's coverage of their team.

For the USWNT's popularity to continue to grow, it is very important for people to be able to see them play. After the Olympics this summer, women's international soccer is in its "off" period for three years until the next Women's World Cup is played. That is a long  "off" period. U.S. Soccer needs to sell the team hard right now coming off the 2011 Women's World Cup and heading into the 2012 London Games because this is the time to capitalize. Even if they cannot get television companies to broadcast the games, they should provide a live-stream to keep the core fans happy and engaged. Opportunity for growth is being missed by not allowing the public to view entire games live.


Photo credit: Howard C. Smith/isiphotos.com taken from ussoccer.com 

Unified Jersey

I like the idea of the men's and women's kit being the same because I think it is a positive for the U.S. Soccer brand and more specifically the USWNT brand. Nike does an amazing job supporting the USWNT through outfitting the team and sponsorship. Nike's sponsorship has been extremely beneficial for the USWNT and this was noted in Jere Longman's book about the 1999 Women's World Cup titled "The Girls of Summer." Longman points out that Nike endorsing the USWNT and using their resources to promote it made U.S. Soccer invest more money in the team. Historically, there was been an imbalance of resources provided to each team with the women being short-handed. I am unsure whether is was Nike's or U.S. Soccer's idea to unify the jersey, but if it was Nike than this may have the same effect as the original endorsement had on U.S. Soccer's mentality toward the USWNT. This is at least a visual representation of parity between the men's and women's side and hopefully the next step in real unification.          

I hope this new kit will establish a tradition of unity between the teams and also establish a unified image of the team. A sports team's jersey is a great way to create and maintain a specific brand and U.S. Soccer and Nike have failed to utilize this. The USWNT jersey has changed drastically throughout its history and there has not been a continued design theme. The shield has stayed and the stars have stayed, but mostly everything else has changed. Of course there needs to be updates because the style of the early 90s is much different from that of now, but the changes have been too frequently and too drastically different. I would be happy to see a legacy of stripes or even the sash be established in this design. This will help create a more solid brand. 

New Jerseys Coming Out to Play

U.S. Soccer posted a behind-the-scenes video of the USWNT trying on their new home kit for the first time today. The USWNT will debut their new kit in an international friendly on May 27, 2012 against China PR at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. The new Nike jersey design was unveiled on April 16, 2012 by U.S. Soccer in a press release on their website. Notably, the men's and women's national team will share the same jersey for the first time in the programs history. This unifying act is underlined by the slogan "Two Teams. One Jersey." which Nike has been using to promote the new kit. The only difference between the men's and women's jersey is the two stars above the U.S. Soccer shield on the women's jersey, which symbolizes their Women's World Cup wins in 1991 and 1999.

The design of the new home kit has faced heavy criticism on social media platforms. Fans have compared the jersey to Where's Waldo and have even photo shopped Waldo's stripped hat and glasses on promotional images of the kit. The fans certainly have a point on this one. I was disappointed by the design when I first saw it, but I was also not too keen on the old women's kit. Honestly, I thought they were ugly and the large white and red stripes were overkill.

The jersey has grown on me in the past month and I predict by the time the Olympics kick off, I will be able to say that I actually like it. The release of the behind-the-scenes video was a good move on U.S. Soccer's part to reach out to fans and gain momentum for the debut of the kit. Nothing will sway fan opinion of the jersey more than seeing their beloved players in them and having the players talk about how much they like them. This video did just that.

The video is also important because the upcoming friendly is not televised or live streamed. Seeing the players in action in the jersey will probably be the tipping point for approval by the fans. At the end of the day, the fans care a whole lot more about the soccer than the jersey, so if they view something in which they enjoy (the USWNT playing) then those positive feelings could transfer over to the jersey. Due to this, I am surprised U.S. Soccer would not hold off debuting the kit until the Olympic send-off match on June 30, 2012 because that game will be televised.

Morgan, Cheney talk about their fans

The USOC tweeted athletes answers throughout the Media Summit and two great quotes come from two USWNT players.

"We love our fans. We love those little girls who dream of being us. We need to give them more opportunities to see us play," said Alex Morgan.

"We will sign autographs forever," said Lauren Cheney. "Mia Hamm did that for us. We'll do if for other people."

I love these quotes because it shows the mentality of the USWNT. They take on the responsibility of growing their sport and continuing the legacy that the '99 team created. Many athletes do not have to worry about getting their games televised or whether there will be a league for younger generations to play in. These are serious concerns for women's soccer and it is nice to see that the players understand that. It would be easy for the players on the national team to forget the struggles women's soccer faces as a whole while decked out in Nike gear and drinking all the gatorade one could desire, but these athletes do not put themselves above it all. They are happy to sign autographs and connect with fans. This is very rare in the world of sports and is something that sets the USWNT apart.

Olympic Media Summit

Today, May 15, is the fourth and final day of the 2012 Olympic Media Summit and featured the Women's Soccer Press Conference. Four members of the USWNT traveled from their training camp in Princeton, N.J. to Dallas, Texas to participate in the event. Lauren Cheney, Heather O'Reilly, Carli Lloyd, and Alex Morgan represented the USWNT team and fielded questions from multiple reporters.

First off, I was disappointed that the U.S. Olympic Committee seemed to be unable to get Lauren Cheney's name correct. On the Master Schedule for the Media Summit posted online on their teamusa.org website, Cheney was listed as "Megan Chaney." Maybe Megan Rapinoe was initially scheduled for the Media Summit, but their is no excuse for spelling her last name wrong. The USOC has been tweeting athletes answers throughout and they referred to Cheney as "Chaney" on that platform as well. However, they did correct their mistake in their following tweets. It is disheartening when Cheney's name is spelt wrong in such a public forum as the Media Summit for the 2012 Olympics. It comes off as disrespectful and uncaring of women's soccer. Cheney is an Olympic gold medialist and deserves to have her name spelt correctly at an Olympic event. I mean come on, if they needed to check it, it's on the back of her jersey.

Besides the name mix-up, the Media Summit has been a great platform for the USWNT. I like that US Soccer sent Cheney, O'Reilly, Lloyd, and Morgan instead of Hope Solo and Abby Wambach. Solo and Wambach are probably the most recognizable players for the USWNT after the Women's World Cup (I would also argue that Morgan is right up there, with Rapinoe being close behind). Sending players besides Solo and Wambach allows the media and the public to become familiar with other great players on the USWNT. This is a positive for US Soccer because Solo and Wambach may not be able to compete for much longer after the Olympics and this is the beginning of creating the new faces of the USWNT. Also, the more players the media and public knows the better.