Hehehehe. hehehe. heheee.... damn I need to breath. Actually not many people were going to the games, and the hardcore USWNT followers were on here yelling when A-Rod was in the game instead of Morgan to begin with. You should read some threads from the last 2 years.
All great players who I hope get good looks, particularly the first one. All popular mentions here to get call ups. Yet all forwards. Not exactly the biggest pressing need area for the USWNT. One of my worries is that there will be a push to get players onto the field and that they'll be in positions for which they're not necessarily suited. On defense people have mentioned Engen, bringing back Krieger, a raw Dunn who's been moved up the field at UNC... but there needs to be even more options to look at for retooling the back line. I really hope plenty of mid prospects are called up too. There's no ideal 2nd DM on this team roster currently in my opinion. No good options to replace Boxx if she gets injured, retires, or doesn't go full matches. Cheney and Lloyd are not DMs, putting them into the 10 spot hasn't been ideal in itself when they're both probably best suited to be offensive mids.
Agree. As well as the U20/U23 players that folks have mentioned, what's the deal with those who have previously been part of camps or picked up a handful of caps? In additional to Engen (who I'd love to see get a few games), there's Meghan Klingenberg, Christine Nairn, and Keelin Winters, none of whom ever rates a mention here. Heck, even Stephanie Cox is still only 26 - is she already out of the picture? Tom S's comments suggest that everyone is back in the "potentials" pot . . .
It is ironic that a country who seems to have trouble developing quality midfielders runs an formation that requires four of them.
Another odd quirk about the Olympic roster was how forward heavy it was. Does a team that plays 4-4-2 most of the time really need to carry five forwards? And the answer Im looking for isnt A-Rod plays both cause I cant remember her playing well on the wing, at least not for the NT. Was the best possible solution A-Rod vs Lindsey for the last spot?
Not really, when you consider that only three were used as forwards, Abby, Alex, and Syd. The most striking thing about the Olympic roster was carrying so few defenders and no actual experienced DM to back up Boxx.
Watched Keelin yesterday in the Arsenal vs. Potsdam game. Unfortunately, not impressed. Distributed okay to the wings and calm on the ball, but she was (or seemed) really really slow. As a holding mid, it's ridiculous that on an Arsenal counter, she's the last of the team defense to get back. Even the other mids / wings got back faster than her. Seemed to be marking space a lot and a little slow to react to balls. Hopefully, she'll get better. Anyway, speaking of mids and defenders: Mids - Kristie Mewis, Goebel, Guess we should still look at Winters, Averbuch is still around too Defs - Krieger (obv), Levin
I think part of getting a coaching license these days includes lessons on saying "I want my team to play positive, attacking, attractive soccer...we want to possess the ball."
To follow up my previous post: I am not sure if any people here follows Nadeshiko League, but, talking about players' positions (and possible changes of positions), I guess it could be useful if I update all of you about Moros and Goebel. In this season in INAC Kobe Leonessa, Beverly Goebel played as an attacking midfielder or, more often, as a plain forward, and, assisted by the likes of Sawa, Kawasumi or Kinga, she scored clusters of goals (7 in the League Cup, where she was top-scorer, and 3 or 4 in League matches [consider she played just half of the season, basically the second leg of the league]). Becky Moros, instead, was tried in different positions, even as a forward, at the start (and she managed to score some goals too), or as a wing-midfielder, but, in the end, she settled with a starting place as a Left Back (basically trying to do on the left side what Kinga does on the right, if you know what i am talking about). I didn't really follow WPS, so I don't know if what I said matches the positions these two players had in Western New York Flash, and so I am not sure if they simply confirmed their roles or if they showed versatilty. Anyway, I hope that knowing their positions in this season in Japan can add something to the discussion about the roles that USWNT is currently missing.
That's unfortunate to hear about Goebel. We have a glut of forwards so there's no headway there. With the Flash, Goebel played holding mid with Becky Edwards, and I thought she did reasonably well there. I was hopeful she had learned a bit of that from Sawa and the likes in the L-League. Moros, IIRC, has been a defender with several WPS clubs. LB is... well, it's a position of need. I always thought she was a serviceable defender - I think she played LB with Bompastor as LW with the Washington Freedom - but I'm didn't necessarily think international caliber when I watched her. Perhaps she's improved in the L-League.
I agree that Pia should have capped some of the newer players who came in for camps -- it's an important milestone and makes it seem "worth it" for the players coming in. One of the limitations for Pia over the last 2 years was that every game was focused on prepping for the big competitions or was a contractually mandated "victory tour" game. Considering how close the US came to crashing out of the WWC in CONCACAF, she had a right to be concerned. More of our prep games were with top teams than in previous years and she really had to work to find the formula to be a Japan. A lot will depend on the new player contract -- will there be incentives for the veteran players to always come in for lesser tournaments? Will there be bonuses for winning those tournaments or winning friendlies?
The problem I had with Pia's approach was that there was no way for a young player to prove their worth during training camps. I remember her mentioning that just because someone outplays a starter during training camp does not mean that they'll outperform the veterans in an actual game. So why even invite these players to train if their actual performance won't be judged. Pia always seemed to depend on other coaches' recommendations to bring in new players to the squad. Ellis with Leroux, Dicicco with Morgan, I'm sure the Swedish coach with Press, etc. The last one was an interesting pick since at first she didn't call Press back for the last training camp before the Olympics, but then picked her as an alternate when Press led the Swedish league in scoring.
Press wasn't called back because she had responsibilities with her team in Sweden. The camp was not during a break. The team had already given her some non break time to train with the USWNT.
They let her go on the first call up without having to, and lost the game they played without her. They didn't a second time (according to Press own blogg IIRC). So no she don't have it in her contract (not needed for European players to have that since the Euro WNTs plans their games on the avaibel dates for international games so not easy to get into the contracts here).
"Faith, at least in the role it plays in my life, is about trust. I’ll be real with you. When I first realized I would be unable to attend USWNT camp in May because of my responsibility to my club, I thought it was some kind of a sick joke. Perhaps the gods have conspired against me to give me the worst timing ever…" I see. totally rude. But Press should have investigated this prior to signing her contract though.
To be fair or maybe to be cynical, if my goals for the season were to win the Olympics then leave the position, she certainly would have had a better comfort level with a more veteran squad than one undergoing a transition.
Well even if she wanted to stay, that wouldn't hapen un less she won the Olympic so even so wining it had to have a higher priority than building for 2015.