red card Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 I'm a big fan of John Doyle's writing; but he may have out did himself in this perspective of Kara Lang: To those readers who claim I was sneering at Canada's Olympic athletes, I'll say this: Kara Lang is a goddess. Our women's soccer team was not the best or most skillful in Beijing, but by heavens it has some very, very fine players. The sight of Lang tearing down the wing, ball at her feet and ponytail flying behind her, was a thing to behold. Enormously skilled and a fine reader of the game, Lang should be an inspiration to all those Olympic athletes whining about the lack of funding. Financial support for our national women's soccer team is paltry and a good deal of it comes from the guy who owns the Vancouver Whitecaps. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080827.DOYLE27/TPStory/TPEntertainment/?query= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 That piece is truly over the top. I have always thought Lang somewhat overrated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 ^ i agree Richard. Kara is quite limited IMO. She's got a booming shot and she's quite athletic. She's improved her footwork a bit too. But that's it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soju Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 What is her natural position? She doesn't seem to cross well enough to be a winger. Maybe in the hole behind the forwards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 Put her in a better environment and she'll blossom. Lang and UCLA teammate Lauren Cheney sat out their season opener Tuesday. Guess what new freshman played and bagged the winner? http://uclabruins.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/recaps/082608aaa.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soju Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 Oh god Leroux. How can she grow up in BC, captain a Canadian team then go play for the states? What kind of person is she? Screw it let's tear all the borders down and play for corporations. Cap me for Team Pepsi what's the difference no one cares anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 quote:Originally posted by VPjr ^ i agree Richard. Kara is quite limited IMO. She's got a booming shot and she's quite athletic. She's improved her footwork a bit too. But that's it. She may be athletic in that she can run reasonably fast in a straight line and has a powerful kick if not too accurate (those two attributes plus her good looks will impress the uninformed) but she tends to be very gangly over the ball and tends to cough it up to the opposition when challenged all too easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 We haven't seen anything from her yet. The best is yet to come. "Screw it let's tear all the borders down and play for corporations. Cap me for Team Pepsi what's the difference no one cares anymore." Best lol of the week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 "We haven't seen anything from her yet. The best is yet to come." We can only hope. But she is no longer an inexperienced teenager, how much longer must we wait? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 I'm not so sure we're waiting... I don't think anyone can knock her off the lineup? And besides, she's 21 and by international soccer standards, she's still a young player. The teams in the final had players in their 30's. The USA team that won had four of them. I see no reason Lang can't play another couple decades. Marta's the same age as Kara Lang, and I think it's her 5th professional season in Sweden. Had they switched occupations (soccer player and student), I think we'd see a lot of difference in their performances on the field. Marta's completely ripped like Hooper was, and can play all day long. She lives and breathes soccer 100% 24/7 and has done so as her career from the age of 17. No undergrad, no backup plan. That was her choice and that's why she's the best player in the world and maybe one day we'll see some Canadian girls think like that (I've heard people say we have no professional leagues and it's a bad career choice but obviously Marta committed to it and left the country and made it work). All that to say, let's not convict Lang until she gets out and gets a chance to put into it what the Marta's and Sinclair's of this world do. I think we'll all be pretty pleasantly surprised what we see when that happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 ^ I hope you're right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Soju Oh god Leroux. How can she grow up in BC, captain a Canadian team then go play for the states? What kind of person is she? Screw it let's tear all the borders down and play for corporations. Cap me for Team Pepsi what's the difference no one cares anymore. what's the deal with this Leroux? what triggered her to cross over to the red/white/blue? I dont pay as much attention to the women's game as many of you do so I'm curious to know what triggered it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soju Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 quote:Originally posted by VPjr what's the deal with this Leroux? what triggered her to cross over to the red/white/blue? I dont pay as much attention to the women's game as many of you do so I'm curious to know what triggered it Check out this thread: http://www.gobigred.ca/forum/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=18;t=000093;p=0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted September 1, 2008 Share Posted September 1, 2008 thanks for the link Soju Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted September 1, 2008 Share Posted September 1, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Soju What is her natural position? I won't say it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ed Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Why we will never win in the women's game. You wouldn't want a striker would you? Not with any attitude. Posted by some fan at gobigred.ca: "Yes I know Sid, very well. Old guy.....you want evidence? Talk to players who have played along side her for years. That is the only evidence needed. I like Sid...she is a nice person and like I said earlier, an amazing finisher, but this is a team game and the team must all get along and gel to be successful. Yes she is young and I hope she matures throughout her years of playing and stays with the US National Program. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Want to see what happens when you have a team full of players with attitude, take a look at the state of Toronto FC right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 A lot of strikers have consummate team skills, but next to keepers they're always voted most-likely-to-be-a-whackjob. A lot of them live right out on the edge. Natasha Kai put the bullet into our hearts. You think she isn't a wall-to-wall freakshow? Do a little digging. You have no idea what Sundhage accomplished there. Phil Jackson got a threepeat with the Lakers and a repeat threepeat from the Bulls. You think Shaq, Kobe, Rodman, Pippen and Jordan himself didn't have Jordanesque egos? Had he said you guy's all have attitude problems and approached it that way he wouldn't be wearing 9 rings on his fingers. A major part of coaching at the highest end is player/ego management. The USA has thousands and thousands of kids to choose from, and hundreds of absolutely brilliant players at every age group. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have had Leroux on their U20 team if they thought there would be any chance of a conflict, and you can bet your bottom dollar UCLA wouldn't have used up one of their 4yr triple-A scholarships on a locker room gamble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccertaxi Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Vic A lot of strikers have consummate team skills, but next to keepers they're always voted most-likely-to-be-a-whackjob. A lot of them live right out on the edge. Natasha Kai put the bullet into our hearts. You think she isn't a wall-to-wall freakshow? I agree with you that the best strikers need to be creative and some are a little crazy...yet, it's a fine line with regards to team cohesion. I read an interview with Kai and she had to work her way back onto the team , as Sundhage called her on her lack of fitness... "When I talked to her, I wasn't nice," recalled Sundhage, a former striker with Sweden's national team who finished sixth in the voting for FIFA Women's Player of the Century in 2000. "English isn't my native language, so I had to be straight up with her. I told her, 'I don't like what I see,' and she just said, 'Okay.' I think, probably, she was nervous." Three weeks after their talk, Kai showed up at the team's next camp determined to keep her spot and to be known for something more than a Nike commercial that featured her as the team's tattooed rebel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccertaxi Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Ed Why we will never win in the women's game. You wouldn't want a striker would you? Not with any attitude. Posted by some fan at gobigred.ca: "Yes I know Sid, very well. Old guy.....you want evidence? Talk to players who have played along side her for years. That is the only evidence needed. I like Sid...she is a nice person and like I said earlier, an amazing finisher, but this is a team game and the team must all get along and gel to be successful. Yes she is young and I hope she matures throughout her years of playing and stays with the US National Program. " Posted more than 2 years ago...maybe she did have some growing up to do and did it...Where is her family, Canada or US? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccertaxi Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Ed Why we will never win in the women's game. You wouldn't want a striker would you? Not with any attitude. Posted by some fan at gobigred.ca: "Yes I know Sid, very well. Old guy.....you want evidence? Talk to players who have played along side her for years. That is the only evidence needed. I like Sid...she is a nice person and like I said earlier, an amazing finisher, but this is a team game and the team must all get along and gel to be successful. Yes she is young and I hope she matures throughout her years of playing and stays with the US National Program. " Posted more than 2 years ago...maybe she did have some growing up to do and did it...Where is her family, Canada or US? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ed Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 ^ I posted that precisely because she MIGHT have some attitude. Seems that getting along with the girls is more important than winning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 I think Brazil's losing effort against the USA at the 2008 Olympic final illustrates exactly what can happen when team chemistry breaks down. Getting along with your teammates is unquestionably important to winning. At the risk of sounding sexist, probably more so with women than with men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ed Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 ^ Yes right Richard. The Hope Solo performance bears that theory out. Shunned by coach and teammates one year ago, she's the main reason the USA won the Olympics a year later and credit her European coach for bringing her back as the starting keeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Hope Solo is a class act all by herself. No doubt the Force was with her. She proved them all wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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