According to BigSoccer (thanks Dandal and the Swedish press) Pia will be with the USWNT through the 2012 Olympics. That is wonderful news! Here’s a thread about Pia’s performance … note how the comments “evolve” as the USWNT moves deeper and deeper into the tourney!
Also on BigSoccer, an interesting thread about Carli Lloyd. Who knew that Lloyd is now a verb (as in, “She got lloyded on that goal!”) The commentary on Pia’s coaching, in this thread, was informative – for example, this from “TSU Soccer” …
I think the real hero is Sundhage. The mark of a great coach is not someone with a great plan who steps in and imposes it on their team, but one who can look objectively at their team and how it stacks up against a team that is considered superior. Going into this game Brazil was the better group of women (note that I didn’t say team). Pia saw that the weakest part of her team was her midfield and that they wouldn’t be able to deal with the Brazilian attackers. She did however realize that her back line was more than capable of dealing with them. Crying about a team “bunkering down” to win a game is very silly. The US played forward and were always a threat but dealt with the Brazilian attack with numbers. The US let the Brazilians run their legs off and then struck. This is the only way that the US could minimize their vulnerabilities and use their strengths. Superior conditioning and a superior defense held sway.
Tags: BigSoccer, Carli, Carli Lloyd, Lloyd, lloyded, Olympic, olympics, Pia, soccer, Swedish, USWNT, wnt
