The 2016 Rio Olympics thread: August 3rd to 19th

[red card]

That Zadorsky to Lawrence to Rose goal has to be the best looking goal scored by any of our senior national teams.

I watched it on the global feed and the Britishy commentators were heaping praise on Lawrence before the goal (they really do their homework). And the goal just put them over the moon.

We lost the Beckie record but Rose is the youngest to score and Tancredi is the oldest to score at women's football Olympics.

[rkomar]

34 minutes ago, red card said:

We lost the Beckie record but Rose is the youngest to score and Tancredi is the oldest to score at women's football Olympics.

All within the same tournament!  It's amazing that our success was achieved with a team that has few players in their prime (late twenties).  Somehow we survived that lack of youth development from the pre-Herdman era.  I guess the increasing longevity of athletes helped us over that ditch.

[rob.notenboom]

22 minutes ago, rkomar said:

It was mentioned previously on CBC that a bronze medal or getting much higher up the world rankings was necessary to keep up the Own the Podium funding for the development programs.  Thank goodness the ladies were able to attain that level of success, because it would have been a shame to throttle the program just as it's getting into "conveyor belt" mode.  So, these wins meant a lot more than just a medal.

The Fleming to Rose to Sinclair goal was no slouch either. Nor the Beckie to Schmidt goal which was pure class. 

[jonovision]

13 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

Sometimes what you do off the ball is as important as what you do on it - but it doesn't get your name called by the commentators. Perhaps she was tired but I didn't see it. In any case, we were certainly not the same team when she came off.

Matheson didn't play a full match this entire tournament, and it's pretty clear she didn't have fitness for 90. The sub that didn't make sense was taking off Rose.

[jonovision]

On that second goal, we had Fleming close about 25 yards of space in seconds, put the Brazilian player under pressure, cleanly win the ball from that player, nutmeg same player, turn another Brazilian, and make a perfectly weighted pass to Rose. I have a hard time recalling a better sequence from a Canadian player of either gender.

[TRM]

Nice to see Sinclair go out with a goal and a medal. I am not as worried about her pending retirement as I was even a year ago. The others are stepping up. 

[MtlMario]

I wasn't too hopeful after the Germany game but I must say the girls saved their best for last. Congrats and I HOPE THE MEN WERE WATCHING.

[rkomar]

If there's one silver lining in Canada not making the gold medal match, it's that Chouinard gets to referee that game.  Congrats to her and the rest of the Canadian officials.

(LOL  Googling is for sissies.  Sorry ref)

[nstarsfan]

3 hours ago, dsqpr said:

Player of the Match for me: Lawrence.

I think its time to admit that Lawrence is our best defender.  Buchanan might even be third behind Zadorsky right now.

Great win!  Lots of respect earned and I think they actually have progressed into the first tier.

[spinrack]

Looks like Germany is going to take gold.

[BearcatSA]

Thanks to the all women for such a great run in this tournament.  And for the long time members of this team for which this was probably their last game, thank you so much for your passion, dedication and commitment to the Maple Leaf!

[The Ref]

Not impressed with Chenard refereeing.

 

[mtlfan]

The future looks bright with Lawrence and Fleming leading the charge. I watched Canada vs France friendly prior to the Olympics and i conclude that Canada can compete with the top teams. I won't criticise Herdman today for his mistakes but congratulate him for another medal. 

[tc-in-bc]

[  1  ] Congrats CANWNT !  Six amazing matches  full of breathe-taking  intensity and high drama. And so many quality goals!  Beckie’s  21-second opener from Sinclair;  a  Sinclair breakaway goal  ; Beckie’s  chip over a defender to herself with a volley to the backpost for Schmidt to volley into the net ; and today’s goals  Rose from Lawrence , then Sinclair’s goal  from Rose and Fleming.

[  2  ] Wondering if Jessie Fleming, Gabrielle Carle and Deanne Rose will play in the 2016 U20 WWC in November? ( It’s likely that Mallory Pugh will play with the U20 USWNT)  And for that matter will Deanne Rose play in the 2016 U17 WWC in September/October?

[  3  ]  Reading that the CANWNT  may be playing some matches post Rio Olympics. Perhaps a send off match for some long-serving veterans?  Wouldn’t mind seeing Colombia – Herdman expressed some relief during the Olympic draw that Canada got Zimbabwe and avoided Colombia. Wouldn’t mind a rematch with England  who  eliminated  Canada  from the WWC last year.   Side note,  the next time Canada plays the Americans  the match can be restated as the CANWNT, 2016 Rio Olympic Bronze medalists,  versus the USWNT,  2016 Rio Olympic NON-medalists.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

22 minutes ago, tc-in-bc said:

[  3  ]  Reading that the CANWNT  may be playing some matches post Rio Olympics. Perhaps a send off match for some long-serving veterans?  Wouldn’t mind seeing Colombia – Herdman expressed some relief during the Olympic draw that Canada got Zimbabwe and avoided Colombia. Wouldn’t mind a rematch with England  who  eliminated  Canada  from the WWC last year.   Side note,  the next time Canada plays the Americans  the match can be restated as the CANWNT, 2016 Rio Olympic Bronze medalists,  versus the USWNT,  2016 Rio Olympic NON-medalists.

1) Well, we will likely play a home and away against the USA in the next 18 months.

2) If the CANMNT crash out of WCQ then we know the CANWNT will have another game in Toronto next year! Got to fill the "16 000 BMO Field quota" http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-44376.pdf

3) Therefore if we play at home again this year my guess is Vancouver again. Saputo would be sweet though from my perspective.

 

21 minutes ago, tc-in-bc said:

[  2  ] Wondering if Jessie Fleming, Gabrielle Carle and Deanne Rose will play in the 2016 U20 WWC in November? ( It’s likely that Mallory Pugh will play with the U20 USWNT)  And for that matter will Deanne Rose play in the 2016 U17 WWC in September/October?

They better! We had plenty of trouble in the U17 level without Rose. Spanked by the USA. To be dominant in Jordan we need her. She now has PLENTY of valuable high level experience for her age.

In PNG, same thing. Isn't Fleming delaying uni for this exact reason?

[Blackdude]

I expect Rose and Carle to be on the U20 team. I don't know about Fleming, She's on the UCLA roster for now and the U20 World Cup is at around the same time as the College Cup. So, I'm not expecting her to be on the team because of that. 

[MtlMario]

I wonder how that girl from BC ( aka I love Canada,it's my home but my dream was to play for the US) and that other girl who refused the call up to train for her club team, are feeling right now?

[paul-collins]

12 hours ago, tc-in-bc said:

[  Side note,  the next time Canada plays the Americans  the match can be restated as the CANWNT, 2016 Rio Olympic Bronze medalists,  versus the USWNT,  2016 Rio Olympic participants.

FTFY

[rob.notenboom]

3 hours ago, MtlMario said:

I wonder how that girl from BC ( aka I love Canada,it's my home but my dream was to play for the US) and that other girl who refused the call up to train for her club team, are feeling right now?

In the 2nd part are you referring to Kyle? If so, she didn't refuse a call up. She was named as an alternate and stayed with her club to play. My understanding is that, if she was needed, she would have gone to Brazil when called. 

The other one you mention is either expecting or has a newborn (not following her closely enough to know for sure) so she wouldn't have been there anyway. 

[rkomar]

She also has a gold medal from 2012, and I doubt she's sorry she didn't play for Canada to get a couple of bronze medals.

[Sinc_Tanc_Olympic_Action]

3 hours ago, MtlMario said:

I wonder how that girl from BC ( aka I love Canada,it's my home but my dream was to play for the US) and that other girl who refused the call up to train for her club team, are feeling right now?

I am thinking that this person is talking about Leroux and Rachel Quon.

[Sinc_Tanc_Olympic_Action]

Something REALLY doesn't make sense to me.  Why didn't Canada collect their medals in the same ceremony as Germany and Sweden?  Four years ago, we stood on the podium along with USA and Japan.  This year, apparently we got the medals earlier.

More importantly, why won't CBC show the medal ceremony?  I want to watch our women collect their bronze medals!  The link to the entire game (http://olympics.cbc.ca/video/vod/soccer-women-bronze-medal-match-bra-can.html) doesn't even include them collecting medals at the end.  Anyone know where I can watch that?

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, rob.notenboom said:

In the 2nd part are you referring to Kyle? If so, she didn't refuse a call up. She was named as an alternate and stayed with her club to play. My understanding is that, if she was needed, she would have gone to Brazil when called. 

I think she and Nault were on the short notice taxi squad.

[The Ref]

I've heard our players saying we got the best defense bar none.  It served us well except when facing Germany in the semis.  Without undermining our defenders and midfielders, I would like to see us with even better defenders, strong, tall, confident, skilled and experienced so as to rely just on 3 or 4 defenders instead of having to defend with 8 to 9 players.  Thus it would allow us for better pressure in the midfield and our attacking third.  When we manage to attack with numbers and maintain possession up field we look dangerous and chances of scoring increase.  For instance against Germany when we were up with numbers we look as strong as Germany but we could not sustain the pressure and had to fall back to our defensive shell constantly even when Germany was just launching long balls and few attackers. 

If you disagree just criticize my opinion not my person.

[rkomar]

1 hour ago, Sinc_Tanc_Olympic_Action said:

Something REALLY doesn't make sense to me.  Why didn't Canada collect their medals in the same ceremony as Germany and Sweden?  Four years ago, we stood on the podium along with USA and Japan.  This year, apparently we got the medals earlier.

With major traffic problems in Rio, I'm guessing they thought they couldn't get the bronze medal winners from Sao Paolo to the Maracana in time for the ceremony.  My memory is hazy, but didn't our team have trouble getting there in time at the last olympics?