Xtratime Community banner

Coach Pellerud On "Inside Soccer" 10-18-03

366 views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  Jeff 
#1 ·
I just received confirmation from Brian Halliday of "Inside Soccer" that the Head Coach of the Canadian Women's National Team, Even Pellerud, will be the first guest on "Inside Soccer" today shortly after 3 PM San Diego time (6 PM ET). Pellerud's Canadian team just finished fourth in the recently completely WC. Pellerud also coached the Norwegian Women's Team that won the 1995 WC making him the only coach in women's soccer to take two different national teams to the final weekend of a WWC.

USWNT defender Catherine "Please Don't Call me CAT" Reddick is also scheduled to be a guest on "Inside Soccer" during the last hour of today's show shortly after 5 PM PT (8PM ET).

Here's the direct link for listening to the "Inside Soccer" show along with the phone numbers if anyone has a question for Coach Pellerud or Catherine Reddick:

Inside Soccer

Toll Free Number: 888-514-2100
Intl Number: 001-858-268-3068
 
#2 ·
Interview With Coach Pellerud

Coach Pellerud gave an excellent interview this afternoon and was on the "Inside Soccer" show for a good 20-25 minutes. If anyone is interested I'll post the link to this segment of the show when it becomes available in a day or two.
 
#3 ·
Brief Summary of Pellerud Interview

One of the things I especially enjoyed duringPellerud's interview yesterday was hearing about his "fotball" background and how he started playing when he was a small boy and used to take a soccer ball to bed with him and use it as a pillow when he was just five years old. :)

Pellerud played professionally in Norway and when he took the job as the coach of the Norwegian Women's National Team in 1989, he hadn't even seen a women's match before. Pellerud coached the Norwegian WNT from '89 - '96 and Norway won silver at the '91 WC, won the '93 European Championships, won the '95 WWC, and won bronze at the '96 Atlanta Olympics. :cool:

Coach Pellerud naturally had a lot to say about the 2003 WC and Canada's program (he has been the head coach of Canada's WNT since after the '99 WC). Pellerud mentioned that Heinrichs was using the loss of Chastain as one of her excuses for not winning the WC, but Pellerud pointed out that Canada still did well even though they had lost six defenders from their pool of WC players. To me the fact that Canada did as well as they did despite losing so many defenders was one of the most amazing accomplishments by any team in this WC.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for this, Jeff.

Now that the initial euphoria has worn off, I think a more sober look at what Canada accomplished in this WC would reveal that, apart from a narrow upset of an overrated China team, Canada didn't really do any better than they were expected to do.

Granted, even winning a WC match was a first for the team. But even the most conservative estimates had Canada reaching the Quarterfinals this time, which is exactly what they did. The upset of China, though not unforeseeable, was certainly not taken for granted.

After that, however, Canada was clearly outclassed by the other three semifinalists, and lost the final two matches.

Don't expect Canada's ranking to change on October 24 when the FIFA list comes out.

Canada did lose a lot of defenders both before and during the tournament. One thing Pellerud must do is make sure we develop more defenders so that we have the necessary depth to handle a situation like this if it comes up again. It is ludicrous to have to use strikers in the back four at a World Cup tournament. It is also ludicrous to put players on the final roster who are unfit to play, simply because you need to fulfill your quota of warm bodies on the bench.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top