Vic Posted September 23, 2007 Share Posted September 23, 2007 I've seen them all now. Marta is overrated. Prinz has lost a step. Lisa De Vanna is a treat. Wambach is on a complete mission and has been the best forward in the tournament. But she has nowhere near the complete game of Ingvild Stenslund. Again today she was dominant. Everything in the air, flawless first touch and dribbling, brilliant decision making, takes every set piece. Up and down the field for 90 minutes. She's easily the best player in the world right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Que Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Vic I've seen them all now. Marta is overrated. Prinz has lost a step. Lisa De Vanna is a treat. Wambach is on a complete mission and has been the best forward in the tournament. But she has nowhere near the complete game of Ingvild Stenslund. Again today she was dominant. Everything in the air, flawless first touch and dribbling, brilliant decision making, takes every set piece. Up and down the field for 90 minutes. She's easily the best player in the world right now. She's easily the best player in the world right now. Hate to do this to you, but are you sticking with this? This is a 2nd chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted September 29, 2007 Author Share Posted September 29, 2007 Caught on the fence actually. Stensland wasn't as strong against Germany... they purposely went down the wings around her and nullified her. And Marta finally showed up in full force and put in a great game. I'll wait until the final to judge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRich Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Marta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted September 29, 2007 Author Share Posted September 29, 2007 If she played as good as she did against the USA every night from the get go, I'd be there too. But she played a couple where she sure didn't look like the best player in the world. And as Andre Pirlo and Owen Hargreaves know, holding midfielders may be the most important position on the field, but it ain't going to get you on the cover of the sports page with the goal scorers. Everyone knows Sun Wen, Birgit Prinz, Hanna Ljungberg and Victoria Svensson. Quick - name me a defender on the Chinese team in the 1999 WWC finals? How about on the 2003 German WWC champions? How about the Swedish team that lost to them? How about a defender on the Brazilian team this year? I'm surprised no one has mentioned Aline their central defender as the best, she's a piece of work too. I've had this argument with people 82 times before, and it's a no-win ever comparing a striker, a midfielder, a defender and a goalkeeper. They all have completely different roles. But I did read an article the other day on the marketing power of Marta, and I have little doubt we'll ever hear anything but her name down the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Que Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Hey, those that score the most goals in soccer or hockey, the most baskets in basketball or the most home runs always get the most glory. As far as the WWC03 goes for me Stegemann was an absolute stud on defence for G. Can't remember a single US player that could beat her in the semi's (which was really the gold medal game). The point is if you were picking a team to win it all, what one player would you pick? The besk keeper, the best defender, the best midfielder or the best striker? Who do you build your team around? Who will give your team the best chance to win? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPB Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 That's a good question and it suggests criteria for the MVP in a tournament. A successful team needs a strong and flexible backbone. Not one of the positions is to be taken lightly -- keeper, defender, midfielder, striker. Sometimes a keeper's reach is far beyond the penalty box. A defender can grab big games by the scruff of the neck and punch through stalemates. A midfielder's job is all about transition play and that can make the difference between scraping by and dominating. A striker must score, that's the test of that position, so plenty of goals makes for a highly valuable player, of course. The keeper can win games IF her team scores at least as often as their opponents, naturally. And the keeper can lose games -- big games -- with a single error of some kind. That's why it is so rare for keepers to win MVPs. But big saves can win big games. [Examples: Erin McLeod, Canada, and Hope Solo, USA.] The other positions hold out the opportunities to score. Set pieces account for about half of goals in big tournaments, although I'm not sure how that has played out in this one. There have been so many goals in the run of play that I suspect set pieces have not been as decisive this year. If a team wins due to an impenetrable defensive line-up, then, a sweeper-type player who also attacks, successfully, can win the MVP with flash and style. [Example: Kerstin Stegemann, Germany.] But I'd tend to expect either a midfielder or a striker to win MVP in world cup tournaments, simply due to the fluidity that comes with winning the hardest fought matches near the end of the run to the Cup. Big goals also often include big assists. So if there is a toss-up between striker and midfielder, the deciding factor can come down to powerful leadership on the pitch -- on and off the ball. [several examples amongst the quaterfinalists.] Now, with these criteria, what's my pick for this Women's World Cup? Candidates include: Silje Jørgensen of Norway; Kerstin Garefrekes of Germany; Birgit Prinz of Germany; Marta of Brazil; Daniela Alves of Brazil; Cristiane Silva of Brazil. Chances are, of course, that the official MVP winner will be playing in the Final rather than the match for 3rd place. But I don't include that as part of my own criteria for my own choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted September 29, 2007 Author Share Posted September 29, 2007 Good points JPB. Got to run out the door, but one for the road... quote: The point is if you were picking a team to win it all, what one player would you pick? The besk keeper, the best defender, the best midfielder or the best striker? Who do you build your team around? Who will give your team the best chance to win? Sure there will be some marketing input to the decision, but in general I believe the first pick in the WSII will answer that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted October 1, 2007 Author Share Posted October 1, 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup China 2007 All-star team Goalkeepers: Nadine ANGERER (GER, No1), Bente NORDBY (NOR, No1). Defenders: LI Jie (CHN, No3), Kerstin STEGEMANN (GER, No2), Ariane HINGST (GER, No17), Ane STANGELAND HORPESTAD (NOR, No2). Midfielders: DANIELA (BRA, No7), FORMIGA (BRA, No8), Kelly SMITH (ENG, No10), Renate LINGOR (GER, No10), Ingvild STENSLAND (NOR, No4), Kristine LILLY (USA, No13). Forwards: Lisa DE VANNA (AUS, No11), MARTA (BRA, No10), CRISTIANE (BRA, No11), Birgit PRINZ (GER, No9). --- Im really glad to see Stensland on that list, because I hadn't seen another human being anywhere in the world talk about her... on tv, online or anywhere else, and I was getting really confused and wondering what everyone was watching. Glad to see Stegemann too, and Li Jie. They were both a force in the back. Li Jie took so much out of the air it could have been a record in itself. The one giant-sized hole in that list is Wambach though. De Vanna, Cristiane and Prinz all had great Cup runs, but they were nothing like Wambach. Not only did Wambach outscore them all, she also scored the winning goal in 4 of the USA's 6 games, including a couple of absolutely beautiful finshes. She won the hardware, but Marta cooled down again in the final and was a little undisciplined. Scoring her penalty at 0-1 could have changed that for me, and so could have putting the ball in the net in the run of play. So, I'm leaving China 2007 believing there are a lot of great players in the world. The rainbow is over, and now we have to wait another four years to look forward to [XXXX] 2011. How strange that we don't know yet and there is no passing of the Olympic torch so to speak in China. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terpfan68 Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 So who is in the running for hosting 2011? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted October 1, 2007 Author Share Posted October 1, 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_FIFA_Women's_World_Cup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Updated player rankings from womensworldfootball.com http://www.womensworldfootball.com 1. Renate Lingor, Germany 2. Birgit Prinz, Germany 3. Marta, Brazil 4. Kristin Stegeman, Germany 5. Abby Wambach, USA 6. Hope Solo, USA 7. Kelly Smith, England 8. Kerstin Garefrekes, Germany 9. Ingvild Stensland, Norway 10. Caroline Seger, Sweden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted October 3, 2007 Author Share Posted October 3, 2007 Thanks Chet. I think the Germans would laugh at Solo #6 and no Nadine Angerer. Prinz and Lingor are great, but you would have to be loco to take either one before Wambach. And I think the Norwegians, Canadians and Brazilians would beg to differ on Lisa De Vanna. She outplayed half the list. The site looks like individual sections get updated really sporadically... Elena Danilova is 20 and down as a U19, the top world league is WUSA, and the world team ranking of Canada say's 'improving.' The best part of the site is the gateway to the forums. Great stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.