I'm thinking Press and Heath could make a positive impact second half. Maybe Lloyd too. They need some more bite in the offense. O'Hara is doing well on the left. How about Crystal Dunn for Krieger?
45' 1-0 O'Hara holds at box top wide left, staring down 2. Taps down left touch to Rapinoe (who is offside, but details details), cuts inside, Rapinoe one-touches between the 2, who both spin and sandwich O'Hara. She flicks-while-falling back to Rapinoe. AR flags Rapinoe's earlier offside. Rapinoe crosses, everybody stops for the whistles. HT 1-0.
If she's going to get in, then the team probably needs to score at least one more goal (but likely 2).
Time for UNC-Duke. I'll have to catch this game once US Soccer puts the replay on youtube like they did the last one. Enjoy the game, peeps.
Engen was fine. A few off passes, but that's not saying much compared to some of the other players. I like the added dimension she brings with her height.
No. This is my first game. I thought there were 3 periods, not 2 halves. My bad. Look, I know. It rarely happens before half, but I have seen it done as a kick in the pants to the team. Don't understand why everybody is so opposed to it. Why wait 15 minutes to change things up if things arn't clicking after 35? I've always thought thats such a silly unwritten rule in soccer.
I think Cheney's been fine. She does lack out-of-the-blocks speed, clearly, but a lot of her passes have been very neat, including the through ball that set up Syd. HAO hasn't really made her presence felt, other than in some good tackles. Pinoe is totally hot and cold. There was a helluva lot of giving the ball away in the first half hour. Still, new permutations need time to adjust, and that's why we have friendlies.
Yeah, Buehler got caught out 1 time but has mostly been cleaning up. Definitely can see she's the more experienced player. Cheney's been decent as a holding midfielder but not so great if she's actually the attacking midfielder since she hasn't been very aggressive passing forward, compounded by the fact that when she spreads it to the wings, the wings haven't been particularly noteworthy in their creativity and passing, goal aside. To continue with my thought, Cheney needs more bite and skill either in defense or offense. A pure holding mid is a luxury and more of someone you need in a 4-3-2-1 than a 4-4-2. In a 4-4-2, the CM needs to be able to take on either some of the DM or some of the AM duties.
It's her first goddamned start. Lay off it. And every other D that they've tried out, they've tried out with Rampone in as the steadying hand.
There were at least two time where she went to a wing and the wing expected her to break forward and she didn't. Made the wing look stupid for putting the ball into space.
again, whats with the silly unwritten rules of soccer your pitching tonight? Its a friendly the US is using to evaluate players. Thats stupid nonsense about needing to be up by 2 goals before we let a player get her first cap in a friendly. Coaches don't think like that.
For a game that matters, maybe. But for a friendly designed mostly to give young players a chance to show their stuff, you're not going to sub early except for injury.
It's weird that our more creative players have that Jekyll and Hyde quality to their play. From the first match however, it seemed that Heath was flourishing in keeping possession throughout the 90 and making good decisions.