USA faces Ticas in must-win game
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Nov 8, 2010
[WOMEN'S WORLD CUP QUALIFYING] Following its shock defeat to Mexico in Friday's semifinals of the Concacaf Women's World Cup qualifying in Cancun, the U.S.
women's national team suddenly finds itself in a must-win situation. It will have to beat Costa Rica Monday in the Concacaf third-place game (TV: ESPN2, 6 p.m. ET) if it is to advance to the playoff
against Italy later in the month.
Monday's USA-Costa Rica winner will advance to a two-leg home-and-series with Italy for the last of 16 berths to the 2011 FIFA Women’s World
Cup.
The first leg would take place in Italy on Nov. 20 in Padova. The return leg would take place on Nov. 27 at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill.
The USA beat Costa Rica, 4-0,
in the final group game a week ago thanks to goals by Abby Wambach, Lauren Cheney, Yael
Averbuch and Alex Morgan.
The win was the sixth for the USA in six meetings with the Ticas.
Costa Rica, which fell to Canada,
4-0, in the other semifinal, is led by Costa Rica is led by midfielder Shirley Cruz, who plays for French club Lyon.
The Americans will be without
Megan Rapinoe, who was suspended for the third-place match after picking up yellow cards against Guatemala and Mexico.
How sad that none of the games were televised until the US made history by losing to Mexico.
There are two big problems with the women's game.
1) Of the field, it has no billionaire benefactors like MLS to professionalize the game. I wish the old WUSA had hitched its wagon to MLS. It would have helped the profile of the "game" in the United States-- men and women.
2) On the field, I knew the USA women were in trouble when I saw the Colombian teenagers in Germany this past summer. Small but skilled and all with field vision and total football instincts. Basically the rest of the world has caught up to us in the past decade and we will struggle to be a world champion ever again until major structural changes occur in the women's game, especially player development. Travel team and College soccer is not good enough. Those structutral changes cannot happen without deep pocket in WPS ( if it survives) and a committment from the Fed. Highly unlikely.