More Hope Solo Stuff: HWITAT--There is no doubt that US Soccer--in particular Sunil Gulati and Jill Ellis--botched the whole Hope Solo Domestic Violence incident. All 4 readers of this Blog will remember that I called for US Soccer to do a thorough investigation and come up with a suitable reaction in the wake of the NFL domestic abuse cases. Of course, US Soccer tried to keep their collective heads firmly implanted in the sand and hope the problem--albeit a PR problem for the most part--would simply go away. Of course, it did not. And now, with each game the USWNT plays, the "noise" around the issue grows louder. I said it before, I'll say it again....Shame on US Soccer, Sunil Gulati (our elected leader), and Jill Ellis for not dealing with this issue up front and doing the right thing. "Everyone always knows the right thing to do....most times, they just choose to do the opposite". --Dave Vaughter, My Dad.
USMNT beats 2--count 'em, 2! European power-houses: HWITAT--We beat Holland and German IN Holland and Germany! We played hard, we worked the full 90+ minutes in each match, and we came away with 4-3 and 2-1 victories respectively. WOW. It looks like we are finally headed in the right direction. We shall see as we continue through the summer and head into the Gold Cup. We'll see. Good luck, Boys!
USWNT plays Sweden: Game 2 in the Women's World Cup for USNWT, and we face-off against Sweden: HWITAT--we should win fairly easily I would think. Sweden is not the top team that they have been in the past, and even though Pia is now caching them, we should win handily. I'm predicting 2-1. This is a classic "If we (US) lose, we will have beaten ourselves" match. Good Luck to our USWNT!
Coaching Clinics: HWITAT--I am headed to Columbus, OH for the Ohio High School Soccer Coaches annual general meeting. I will be presenting 2 clinic sessions on GKing. I love doing this, because it gives everyone in attendance--including me--a great chance to exchange ideas on GKing. I truly enjoy sharing some of my ideas on the position, and I truly enjoy getting feedback from Coaches on some of the concepts and challenges that they face in coaching GKs. I will report later next week on my OH clinic experience!
May the ground beneath your dive be soft. May the other team hit everything right at you. May your goalposts be 3 feet wide.
All the Best--EV