Anson Dorrance is the University of North Carolina Women’s soccer coach who has helped develop many of the US National Team’s best players over the past several decades. He’s gotten more (well-deserved) attention in this World Cup cycle than he seems to have gotten in the past. One topic that regularly comes up is the mental … Continue reading How The US Women’s Team Got So Tough
Tag: World Cup
Podcast of the Week: What it Means to be World Class with Tobin Heath
Julie Foudy has Tobin Heath on an episode of E:60 (ESPN - see below) and features the full interview on her Laughter Permitted podcast. Heath is thoughtful, inspirational, and a certifiable badass on and off the pitch. Whether you’re an athlete or just want to see what true discipline and drive looks like, check this … Continue reading Podcast of the Week: What it Means to be World Class with Tobin Heath
Megan Rapinoe: Athlete, Activist
The US Women’s National Team kicks off their World Cup run today - ready to defend the title and fresh off of their historic gender equality lawsuit against US Soccer. At the heart of the team is 33-year-old veteran, Megan Rapinoe. Rapinoe is as much an activist as one of the US team’s finest players, … Continue reading Megan Rapinoe: Athlete, Activist
Podcast of the Week: Retiring American Legend Clint Dempsey
Deuce. There is nothing like following an athlete who is close to you in age for their entire professional career. Every sports fan should experience this. The initial start as a scrappy kid, the goals, the World Cups, the time in Europe, the triumphant return home - thank you Clint Dempsey. This episode of ESPN … Continue reading Podcast of the Week: Retiring American Legend Clint Dempsey
Qualifiers vs. Disqualifiers
For those of us that watched the World Cup, we were regularly inundated with statistics from analysts about why and how teams were qualified or not qualified to move forward in the tournament. They’d focus on data like population sizes and average team ages, and I swear I even heard someone mention Gini coefficients. In … Continue reading Qualifiers vs. Disqualifiers
Trolls, Critics, and Globalization
What happened to the soccer trolls? The “1-0 is so boring, how can a game end if it’s a tie, why can’t you use your hands, you fanboys are hippies and socialists” -crowd. They’re strangely quieter than I remember them being in prior World Cups. Apparently I’m not alone in noticing. Ryan Curtis at The … Continue reading Trolls, Critics, and Globalization
Bloomberg’s World Cup Prediction Gaffe
Bloomberg recently ran this headline, “Germany Will Win the World Cup, UBS says after 10,000 Simulations.” Spoiler alert: Germany went home after failing to get out of the group stage, and Bloomberg got some public shaming for misrepresenting the math with that headline. This hits extra close to home because A. I didn’t have Germany … Continue reading Bloomberg’s World Cup Prediction Gaffe
Saturday Catch-up: World Cup, Game On
Few people audibly express as much love for the sport of soccer (ahem, football) as Roger Bennet (and he, along with his blazer wearing partner Davo, have a new book that's worth mentioning - Encyclopedia Blazertannica). So if you missed it, check out what happens when the World Cup gets the Freakonomics treatment, with the … Continue reading Saturday Catch-up: World Cup, Game On