Comments on: Marta’s Honor Deserved, But Voting Still a Bandwagon Approach

By: Marcelo T.

Marcelo T. — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:52:59 +0000

You can contact me at togmar(at)bol(dot)com(dot)br

By: jeff

jeff — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:38:07 +0000

Ah yes, Big Soccer is a great source sometimes. I haven’t been able to frequent it as much, although I have been more lately. I did just take a look at the highlights, and the crowd looked great. Some nice goals as well. Marcelo, what is your email? I would love to chat more about all of this.

By: Marcelo T.

Marcelo T. — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:10:13 +0000

No, I’m writing from Brazil. Well, the first three matches were affected by rainy weather and the crowds were between 3,000 and 5,000. The final, however, had an attendance of 25,000. We’re in the male soccer off-season, so the tournament was reasonably publicized and all the matches were on tv (network and cable).
The lack of international coverage is understandable, it’s not like WPS made the headlines in the mainstream US media. If you had checked the Women’s International forum at Big Soccer, you would find more details and would even be able to watch it (the last couple of games were officially streamed).
Regarding the level of play, I guess you can say it was alright. China confirmed its decline and presented a really poor game. Mexico was better than expected and Chile was there to gain experience. As for Brazil, the collective aspect was lacking and, as usual, the individualities made the difference.

By: jeff

jeff — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:44:23 +0000

Indeed, the comment was something that we corrected ourselves on shortly after the podcast but by error we decided not to go addressing it until the next pod. It is good to see somebody on top of that though. The spring friendlies are what we knew we slipped up on, but the recent tournament truly is news to us (and some that I spoke with inside of WPS). Perhaps it is another example of the lack of coverage that we get, as it is tough to find anything at all on this recent tournament in Brazil. It was a “whoops” moment that is not indicative of the overall show or site.

Marcelo, are you based out of Brazil? I see that WPS Talk has some coverage of this tournament you spoke of, which is great. What was the turnout and publicity like? How was the level of play?

By: Ray Curren (orangeorange05)

Ray Curren (orangeorange05) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:38:55 +0000

Anonman’s story is fascinating to me. She’s only 20, but seemed like the best player in the African Nations Cup by a wide margin, and led Equatorial Guinea (population 660,000) to the title. I had reservations about them expanding the World Cup, but if it allows me to see players like Anonman, I’m all for it. I think she’ll be heard from in a big way in the near future. I just hope people are paying attention.

As for the US, Rampone was certainly a huge story in the way everything went down, but Hope Solo was the best American player this year (and in WPS).

By: richardfarley

richardfarley — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:50:28 +0000

Marcelo:

That was my fault. Jeff told me about that slip shortly after we got done with the show. It might be less from pure ignorance and more of a broadcasting “whoops,” which might not be any more excusable.

I told Jeff we should just wait until our next podcast to correct the error, which … maybe we should have done something yesterday to correct it, like post a disclaimer.

But yes – I think the lack of media of Brazil’s internationals is a symptom of the things Jeff, Shek and I discussed.

Thank you for listening, and thanks for the correction.

By: Marcelo T.

Marcelo T. — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:39:42 +0000

It was a pretty good podcast, but I feel compelled to clarify one thing. Your statement that Brazil didn’t play a single match this year isn’t accurate at all. In addition to well-publicized friendlies against Germany and Sweden, a tournament with the presence of China, Mexico and Chile happened a few days ago. Talk about uninformed media, right?