Lady Vols Soccer ⚽️ Tennessee @ Virginia Tech 11/15 Friday 7PM Blacksburg VA ⚽️ NCAA TOURNAMENT First Round ESPN+

#4,377
#4,377
We'll see how his personnnel decisions unfold over the next couple of weeks, but there is strong evidence--to me, anyway--that Kirt has fallen
into the age-old coaching trap of wanting to play his veterans and reward loyalty. This is an old tendency with some coaches--and it's a bad tendency. Anyone who's been around sports knows that coaches don't always make objective decisions. They have biases, they have favorites. Certain coaches come to like certain players who've been in the program for years, and worked hard, and s/he wants to reward them with playing time. I've witnessed this tendency first-hand over the years. The problem is, being a veteran player has nothing to do with your talent level. Being a veteran does not mean you are good and capable of helping you beat strong opponents.

That's the issue. Not all veterans are alike. We, like every team at almost every level, have veterans who are good and should be starting, and some who are demonstrably less talented and should not be playing much, if at all. In the Alabama game Kirt started one veteran who has never started and never really played much, never shown /at all/ in four years that she is talented. But she is now on the team's leadership council. The other player started last year and seems to be starting again this year. She is, to be perfectly candid, a mediocre player--someone who is OK against weak(er) teams but whose talent/skill level becomes an issue when you are playing and trying to beat strong opponents. It was evident--to me, anyway--last year. She, I just learned, has a senior leadership role on this year's team (and I'm not referring to the captain). When I heard that today, via a UTSoccer tweet, my reaction was, "Uh, oh."

I'm not eager to criticize Kirt or specific players. But there is no question that Kirt made a hash of things last year---and then tried to blame the players for the poor decisions he made and that turned a 20--win team (with all but one player back) into an 11-win team whose performance level was well below that of the previous year. If he continues to make questionable decisions, he's going to have another underachieving year. Of course, this is just my opinion. I don't see the players practicing, they coaches know the players better than I do, blah, blah. But one sees how players perform in games, and it's not terribly difficult to see who is talented and contributing and who is not. The proof is in the pudding; the pudding went bad last season, and nobody, least of all the coach, wants to see it go bad again.
 
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#4,381
#4,381
VFL Hannah Tillett playing in Sweden

IMG_3311.jpegIMG_3312.jpeg


The wording might be off but I translated it from Swedish.

American midfielder ready for SDFF
August 9, 2023 2:31 p.m
American inside midfielder Hannah Tillett is ready for SDFF.
The versatile 23-year-old has signed a contract that runs until the end of the season.
- I played center back this summer. In Iceland and in college I played as a ten. I play where needed, she says.
 
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#4,386
#4,386
Yes, my Dutch and the Swedes are considered underdogs, but both are certainly capable of winning if they play well. These are all top 10 teams in
the FIFA world ranking. In fact, Sweden has a higher FIFA ranking than Japan--and would be favored if the two teams were playing their first game of the tourney--but because Japan has looked so good in its four games and Sweden has been less impressive and did not play well against the U.S. in winning-- Japan is now considered the favorite. Sweden's chances will increase if it can generate, say, more than 5 corners in this match and thus use its height to advantage. Japan only had the ball for about 20 percent of the game against Spain, and yet only gave up 3 corner kicks, which was remarkable.
 
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