Photo: Paul Rudderow
Perhaps you might have heard that a certain team came into PPL Park recently and laid waste to all who dared oppose it.
I’ll give you a hint: it was the home team.
But wait, I hear you say, the Union are terrible. Or, if not terrible, then at least very disappointing.
You are correct, of course, because the team of which I speak is the U.S. Women’s National Team, which just waltzed through the CONCACAF Championship without conceding a goal, beating Mexico 3–0 in the semifinal and Costa Rica 6–0 in the final, both at PPL.
And while it would be wrong to say the team owes its success to any one player—the U.S. women are far too deep for that—Delran, NJ, native Carli Lloyd was named the tournament’s MVP, with five goals and four assists.
Lloyd was the only U.S. player to play every minute of every game, and she was a consistent force throughout. Two of her goals came in the semifinal against Mexico, the win that assured the U.S.’s qualification for the 2015 World Cup.
Ever the diplomat, Lloyd said in the Inquirer, “It’s a big relief. We can kind of breathe now.” As if there was ever any doubt.
In the final, she scored again and provided Abby Wambach with two goals, accounting for five goals in the two most important games in the tournament.
On a U.S. team that has been one of the best in history over the past decade, Lloyd has amassed 181 caps and contributed 56 goals, a remarkable haul for a midfielder. She was a force during the qualifying for the 2012 Olympics, and is the only player in history to score game-winning goals in two Olympic gold-medal matches (2008, 2012). But there’s one shot she’ll always want back: her penalty miss in the World Cup final shootout against Japan in 2011.
Now, with a dominant display in front of her hometown crowd ensuring a return to the greatest of all tournaments, Lloyd will get her chance at redemption. You can’t ask for much more. That’s why she’s PSP’s Player of the Week.
Poor Zach Pfeffer. He scores the first ever goal by a homegrown player in Union history and he loses out on POW to a player who was on a team playing against three completely overmatched opponents. While Carli was the best player on the pitch (and I agreed she deserved it over Abby), the team would still have handily won all three games without her.
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I agree with the choice of Carli, but Zach deserves at least an honorable mention!
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(and I can’t completely resist the politically incorrect statement that he lost to a girl) 🙂 🙂 🙂
LLoyd is a pretty good choice for POTW though I agree it was against teams that couldn’t hold team USA’s sports bras. I like Pfeffer for the award as well – if only because of the irony in it taking FIVE years for a homegrown kid to score in a game.
Andy, are you freaking kidding me? Zach Pfeffer is a joke and everyone knows it. What are you his daddy? I can comfortably say this kid will be a bust. And you’re willing to give POTW honors to this kid’s weakass goal when CL played her tail off in 4 games in dominant fashion. Zach is a joke and so are you. Haha.
I’m curious about the ‘ha ha’ part of your comment. Is that the sardonic kind of ha ha- the kind that makes your scathing comments only seem funny or just tongue in cheek. Boo to you. Happy Halloween.
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Btw only a mo-ron would say they know how good a kid is going to be at this stage.
Did I say mo-ron? I’m sorry I meant quick to judge, uninformed, or off base. An eye for an eye never works. I have to keep relearning that.
Steve, like I said, I agreed that Carli deserved it (and every time Abby scored, I was worried that she would get it instead even though Carli clearly deserved it for her overall performance). I was just thinking that it was ironic that almost every other week Zach would have won it for scoring his first goal and that he probably deserved an honorable mention.