So, my first post since COVID-19 took over the sports world and our everyday lives. Not much else has been on my mind the past few weeks. It’s been a roller coaster on the stock market, a roller coaster hearing the news of China, Italy and Spain…..and now the cases are growing in the USA. At some points this thing doesn’t feel that real, but then BAM….you hear the death count rising, you hear about people testing positive, more restrictions from our government leaders, restaurants closing, businesses asking people to work from home, airlines shutting down flights, borders closing to travel…..and the impact gets very real.
First the NBA decided to shut down games….Baseball followed, the big boom came when the NCAA decided to shut down the March Madness tournament….as a UK fan that got my attention. Soccer soon followed. Callum Hudson-Odoi from Chelsea tested positive. Mikel Arteta, head coach at Arsenal tested positive. Daniele Rugani from Juventus in Italy tested positive. Games suspended, and then pretty quickly, the Leagues were indefinitely postponed.
And now from a sporting perspective….Sports is shut down. A first in my lifetime and a sign of the times we are in right now. And I guess, for me, it is a reminder that no matter how much we all love sports, how much we follow our teams, how we schedule our lives around the start of your favorite teams games….sports is ultimately just not that important right now. Now it’s about doing our part to limit the spread of the virus. It’s not about the me….it’s about the we. Can we break the cycle of the spread. Can we get people to take the social distancing and shelter in place seriously. Can we get self quarantine to be taken seriously. I hope so, but it seems we still need more people to accept we have a serious risk. Our family has seriously limited contact this week, but I was out with friends at a restaurant 8 days ago….and this weekend had dinner with a few friends at their house….but now, I think our family is all done with that. It’s time to hunker down…time to stay home, time to wash hands hourly, time to wipe down surfaces, time to stop hugging friends, stop the high fives, shaking hands and hanging out at bars/restaurants. Go to work and shop for essentials, but other than that, its time to do what the sports world did and shut things down for awhile. As a middle (some say a bit past middle) age dude, that will be pretty easy for me. I ask all the millennial and youngsters out there to pitch in. You guys are so good at social media, face time, tik tok, Instagram and all the other apps I don’t even know about. You guys love to stay at home and play video games with friends online. DO THAT! DON’T GO OUT! Please. We need your help.
The experts are saying the USA is following the trajectory of Italy, where things are bad, huge numbers of positive tests and large numbers of deaths. We really need to “flatten the curve”. As we are getting more and more people tested, then the reality is setting in. My thoughts and prayers to all, let’s all do our part to limit the spread. Stay home and watch a movie!
So, this is a Soccer site, so maybe it is time for a little soccer. Locally, things are being impacted as the travel leagues from Eau Claire United and Chippewa Falls are canceling the early part of their seasons….thru the end of April currently. Girls High School soccer is at risk of losing their season. With schools closed for at least two weeks and maybe a few more, it might be a challenge to have a full season. Suspended seasons may extend into April or maybe even May. So lets all get comfortable with no soccer and no sports for awhile.
Okay, enough of that. I did want to share some soccer news.
US Women’s National Team
Some pretty good soccer recently with the just completed We Believe Cup featuring 4 top teams including USA, Spain, England and Japan. A round robin tournament played over a few weeks. Final standings:
- USA 3-0-0
- Spain 2-0-1
- England 1-0-2
- Japan 0-0-3
I had the chance to watch some of the games. As we have described many times on this post, it is really fun to watch our USWNT play. They play the game the right way, their talent is outstanding, they play as a team and they are pretty exciting to watch. Not to shabby to be able to cheer for the most dominant soccer team in the world, and no real challenger.
This turned out to be the best game of the three. Spain is rapidly rising the charts on the best national women’s teams in the world. They gave the USA a tough match during the World Cup and did the same again in this tournament. What a great game….just watching the highlight package again and I was nervous. US had a ton of chances, but then survived a Spain ball off the post. More US pressure led to multiple chances but no goal. Spain came aliver in the second half with a few great chances as well….and then Julie Ertz delivered. A great flick on header on a set play. Bam…1-0 USA. Great gamer, great action, very exciting.
This was another great game with a few amazing goals. The quality of the three goals from the US and the one goal from Japan were top notch….really good stuff. Megan Rapinoe’s direct kick was spectacular. 1-0 US. Then, maybe my favorite soccer goal this year, Christen Press with the trap, turn and vision to deliver a very cheeky chip from the top of the 18 into the back of the net. The courage to attempt the shot is amazing. Then the vision and technique to pull it off is truly amazing. Love it! Very cool goal! Japan did not quit, a really smart goal from some excellent passing in the box drew them to 2-1. Another attempt later in a half where they played well and took charge from the US team, bounced off the post, same post that saved them against Spain. The US team settled down and found another set play goal to earn a solid 3-1 win and 3-0 record to win the tournament. I must tell you, if you get a chance to watch the USWNT, DO IT! They are really really good and you will really enjoy watching them play. High skill, high energy, great team play and pretty likely you’ll see a victory. 31 games unbeaten, with 2-3 ties thrown in there. Their last loss was January 2019 to France. Once soccer kicks back in in the next few months…keep your eye out for another game for the USWNT. You will not be disappointed.
Keep checking in to the site. I’ll be dropping in some updates and finding some good videos and news to share. For now BE SAFE, BE SMART, HUNKER DOWN and lets do what we can to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Best to you and your families. Hope to see you on a soccer field in the near future!