Tag: olympics

Stop Complaining about the Qualification Process for the Olympics. It’s Fine.

Posted on by Backline Soccer

Two of the world’s four best teams will not be competing in the Olympic Women’s Soccer tournament in 2020. France and Germany, due to their elimination in the quarterfinals of the World Cup, have also failed to qualify for the Olympics. This has provoked some consternation and confusion, as well as quite a few demands for changes to the system.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Unfortunately, as is often the case when Americans jump into situations to offer their opinions, it’s quite a bit more complicated than this.

There isn’t time to run a fair European qualification process

It certainly is strange that European teams don’t get a separate qualification process for the Olympics. It feels like double jeopardy: fail in one tournament, and you’re also blocked from the next.

But there is a pretty obvious explanation why they do it this way: the steady march of the clock. UEFA already runs full qualification campaigns for the World Cup and the European Championship, which take up the vast majority of available time. World Cup qualifying didn’t finish until November of 2018, and Euros qualifying begins in August of 2019. That’s next month!

Compare to CONCACAF’s qualifying process for the Olympics, which is theoretically spread out over a few months but for all realistic purposes takes place in a single two-week tournament. Teams from Central America and the Caribbean go through their own mini-competitions for the privilege of making that final event, but the US and Canada—far and away the two best teams, and the ones overwhelmingly likely to actually make the Olympics—jump directly into the competition at this final stage.

UEFA can’t do something like this because they have close to 50 teams, of which 15-20 could realistically challenge for a spot. It takes time, a lot of time, to whittle that down using any kind of fair process. And with the Olympics coming just twelve months after the World Cup, that time doesn’t exist.

The alternatives aren’t really any better

UEFA could try to create a modified system – maybe inviting a certain set of the top teams in the World Cup to play a mini-tournament. But this doesn’t really resolve the underlying problem of double-counting success and failure. Plus, it’s arguably equally cruel to the teams who outperformed their competitors at the previous tournament, who would now be forced to do it all again. And it would still eat up a decent chunk of time that isn’t really available. European leagues, after all, run through the fall and winter and expect member countries to follow the FIFA calendar. There really isn’t time for even a two-week break.

One change that would slightly ease this process would be to expand the field for the Olympics. Twelve teams is a weird number for a tournament, especially when geographic balance is enforced so rigidly. If it grew to sixteen, you could add two more European teams, guarantee a second spot for Africa, and allow a third Asian team to fight the playoff against South America. The men’s tournament has 16 teams, so there’s no good argument against allowing the same number on the women’s side.

But lack of good arguments has never made much difference when it comes to the Olympics’ organizers, who are not going to want to bring in 72 more athletes and schedule six more matches. And there’s no guarantee that they’d allocate the slots in a way that makes sense. And even if they did, it would just mean five European teams get selected through this process, without actually fixing the underlying time crunch.

The Olympics is a second-tier tournament, and that’s okay

So we can try to improve the system. Or we could just accept the reality that the Olympics isn’t as big a tournament as the World Cup, and never will be. That they ever seemed comparable is really just a historical accident. In the 1990s, when professional women’s soccer was barely a dream, every international tournament was an opportunity for real competition. And women’s soccer was added in 1996, in the United States, at a moment when American audiences were primed to grab hold of it. So it was a big success.

But as the pool of competitive nations grows, it’s far outstripping what the Olympics can offer. And so it can’t really be a true international tournament. In 2020, it will be without France and Germany. But if they had made it, we would have lost the Dutch, or England, or Sweden. Spain and Norway won’t be there. There will be no Argentina, no Scotland, no Denmark. We might see a playoff between Cameroon and Chile, with the loser missing out. These are all teams that could add a lot to the tournament.

Rather than lamenting all these absences, we should just get comfortable with the reality: the Olympics is a second-tier tournament, and that’s okay. It will still involve 12 very good teams, all of whom will do everything they can to win it. A gold medal will still mean a lot. But it simply isn’t the pinnacle.

Europe already has its own second-tier tournament with the European championships. And given the expanding quality of European women’s soccer, you could potentially argue that the Euros are equivalent to the Olympics at this point. Which actually creates some nice symmetry. European teams all get their own high-quality tournament to compete against each other. And the Olympics is a tournament for the rest of the world, with a few European teams invited to the mix to keep everyone honest.

Somewhat by accident, the Olympics has ended up being a very useful alternative for non-European nations that aren’t members of a federation deep enough to generate a meaningful tournament.

So if the system for picking which European teams come to play with everyone else in the Alt-Euro competition isn’t perfect, it’s just not that important. They have their own big event coming up a year later, and it’s not worth them mucking with their calendar to sort out their Olympic entrants. 

None of this was designed this way. But it’s worked out that way. And we should just accept it for what it is, instead of trying to fix the unfixable. 

Fit, Focused, and Black Lives: Crystal Dunn Preps for Rio

Posted on by RJ Allen

Much can change in the course of year. No one knows that any better than Crystal Dunn.

Last July the US women’s national team celebrated their third FIFA Women’s World Cup after 16 years, it was a momentous occasion that Dunn just narrowly missed. In a post-game celebratory interview, Abby Wambach still praised Dunn’s efforts even though she was cut from the final roster.

After missing out on the World Cup, Dunn utilized the NWSL as platform for herself. She went on a scoring spree, netting 15 goals for the Washington Spirit helping lead them into the NWSL playoffs for a semi-final match. She was awarded the NWSL golden boot winner for 2015. Her outstanding play led to more national team call-ups for the US victory tour, CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship, and the She Believes Cup.

She has shown she is ready to make the leap onto the international stage that is the Olympics.

Backline Soccer was able to discuss the Olympics, NWSL, and current social issues with Dunn before an Olympic friendly in Chicago. Rio is right around the corner, and with a roster yet to be named, Dunn remains focused on her Olympic dream despite the headlines around.

Backline Soccer: Can you talk to us about preparing for the Olympics in Rio in the middle of the NWSL season?

Crystal Dunn: “A lot of us here are 9 games deep in the league, it’s a lot of games. I think coming into this camp we all knew our legs might not even fully be where they need to be just because of the season we’ve had so far. Surprisingly, in the first few days we   were here we just clicked instantly, and sometimes that doesn’t happen at camp. You know we’re playing all over the field, and with different teams, and different players. Sometimes when you come into camp it’s so hard to get readjusted with everything, but this 9-day camp has been great so far. We’ve clicked, like I said. We’re all just so focused on the goal at hand and ready to have these sendoff games so we can be prepared for Rio.”

BS: It’s amazing what can happen in just a year. Going from the World Cup and falling short of making the roster there. Fast forward to this year with you being on the cusp of Rio. To be honest, you’re looking like you’ve got a pretty good shot to make the roster. Does the NWSL help play a part in keeping you fit and prepared for international tournaments?

CD: “For me, the league is the most intense league, I think. Just with the athleticism that’s in this league, you’re not really catching a break for 90 minutes. I think its prepared me really well. I feel fit. I feel healthy. I’ve been playing against really great players in the league, which has always prepared me for coming into national camps.”

BS: So, last season you went off on a scoring spree in the NWSL. We’re currently at the season midway point, and you have had some awesome assists. However, there may be some out there who think you’re not where you should be in terms of goals. Have you had to adjust your play a bit in preparation for Rio?

CD: “You know a lot of people ask how do you feel this year as opposed to that year, and it’s crazy to think that before last season – it’s not like I was on the radar for goal scoring. So I think that people have a way of kind of twisting what they think they know about the game and things like that. But I’ve also never had 4 assists in a season, you know? So, if they were to ask what’s this season like compared to last, I’d say I think I’m doing pretty well. Just for the fact that I’ve probably set a new goal now. I don’t have to be that person that’s going to score goals, but if I’m making other players around me look better, and play better then I think that’s exactly what I need to be doing. As a teammate I need to just wait for my moment and if a goal comes for me, then a goal comes. But at the end of the day if my team is winning then I would never sit and pout in a corner. [laughs]”

BS : Well said! Finally, I want to touch on something before we close. The other day Sydney Leroux put out a really awesome post on her blog, touching on some of the really sad things that have been going on the few days..

CD: “Oh YES.”

BS: Do you have any words of consolement? Or any words of advice for young girls of color who maybe woke up this morning feeling unsafe or uncomfortable in their own skin?

CD: “Yes. You know it’s crazy that all this is going on. I think not many things have been said about it. I think that’s the kind of disappointing stage. I think it’s crazy that when Orlando happened everyone kind of took a deep breath and was running to everyone’s call, and I feel like that’s great. I was one of those people that was like, this is a terrible thing that has happened in our country, we all need to be unified in this. But I think that the shootings that have been going on have been going on for years. I feel like people are now not even still waking up about the situation. Just as a Black woman on the national team I feel like this is something that needs to be said. You know, there’s not many of us that have been on this team. I always talk to Syd about these things. She’ll ask ‘Crys how do you feel?’ and I’ll say ‘I feel the same way as you.’ It’s just that I don’t know what can be done. I don’t know what words to truly say. I don’t want to make this about race because that happens a lot of the time. But I do think that the issues that are going on are a lot deeper than what people really think. So you know, it’s upsetting knowing that not that many people want to speak up on this issue that’s going on in our country.”

(Christen Press and Crystal Dunn | Source: Sandra Herrera @SandHerrera_)

The US women’s national team faced another Olympic bound team, South Africa on July 9. Some predicted an uneven match with the number 1 ranked FIFA team going up against the 52 ranked FIFA team. The game ended with a 1-0 score line with USA as the victors. Crystal Dunn scored the lone goal.

 

*This article was published back in July 2016 on Midfield Press. The Author has granted republishing on Backline Soccer*