US v. China, April 10, 2014 in San Diego: Pre-, during, and post-game discussion

She got the header by climbing ( vs elevating) up the back of a short Asian player. I could see that from the stands. That height advantage won't be available against the Euros. How did she look against Sweden? Even as a sub, she will be marked to death the way Portland handled her in the NWSL finals. And that wasnt a fun experience for Lines.

Wambach = Prinz 2011. The advantage is, she has more talented and physical players around her.

 

Isn't that stereotypical? Some of those Chinese players are really tall.

 

The guardian?

 

The goalkeeper was 6'-1" and they had at least 1 or 2 defenders that were taller than some of our defenders.

 

Everyone looks short from the stands.

 

Actually I'd say that is backwards in a sense; young teams tend to need a teaching coach, old ones a motivator. But the motivator has to have some imagination; by the time a team is old, they've usually passed the point where a lot of screaming and yelling and rah-rah is really going to get to them.

But this team isn't really either-- it is a youngish team with a few old players with strong personalities-- and the generality works better with club teams than all-star assemblages, and in any case the needs of a specific team are tied much more closely to the various personalities on it than any paper stat. In the end, a team needs the right coach.

(The common saw is usually that you follow a "player's coach" with a martinet and vice versa. Sermanni was kind of a player's coach following a player's coach...)

 

This team has younger players in the mix mostly because of TS. Now that he is gone, I think it will revert back to the old women team, at least the starting XI and main subs.

 

However, 9 of the potential 11 starters are still in their 20's (Holiday-26, Engen-26, Sauerbrunn-28, Krieger-29, Morgan-24, Leroux-23, O'Hara-25, O'Reilly-29, Rapinoe-28). Plus, I highly doubt that anyone is thinking of replacing Lloyd or Solo since they are both key players to our success at the next WC. Why are we so eager to replace proven players still at the peak of their careers with college grads with no experience? I'm sure some of these players like Dunn, Press, Brian, etc. will make the final cut, but at the same time I don't want to keep replacing 20 somethings with new talent after every single WC. That past WC experience does help overcome some obstacles during the tournament. I still remember O'Hara skying a shot during the last WC and later stating that she was all nerves.

The only player in question in my opinion regarding age is Wambach, and that issue is still up for debate. I also highly doubt Rampone will be a starter no matter who takes over as coach.

 

i bet if we replaced every single player on the team with a new kids, people here in about 2 months will say we need to replace them with even newer kids because they are old now. i like lloyd, solo, rampone, oreilly, so i dont really care about replacing them with some young kids that are good at club level soccer, it is so much different at the national team level

 

It seems pretty clear, this far after title 9, that female team sport athletes experience their primes from age 26-32, same as male, or possibly just slightly earlier-- 25-31.

And a national team is an all-star team, and by definition will include outliers, players whose decline phase will be a match for the primes of most good players. Like, say, Rampone.

 

Wrong. As far as the verterans, I would LOVE to see some of them replaced. Tired of looking at them. Except Solo, Holiday, Sauerbrunn. They are still at the top of their game, in my book.

In most countries, men and women, that's where teams chose their players, from the clubs. Only in this country, in the women's game is the national team deemed so far superior then anything else and is considered an "elite institution" for members only. You put Sarah Hagen on the USWNT, let her jell with the team like Lloyd was given a chance by Ryan, like Rampone was given a chance by Dicicco and April, and O'Reilly who was given a chance by Ryan and Pia.

Many of these kids just need a chance and I would bet that some will prove to be better then the "old hens" we have on the field now. But once these old-timers get their foot in the door, you can't pry them away from the USWNT with a crow-bar.

 

The problem is that the new contract situation doesn't allow it. If Hagen was brought in tomorrow and stayed with the team until next July, I'd say why not. However, if she can only be called up every 3rd camp to they avoid giving her a contract, how will she gel with the rest of the team? Why can't the US Federation expand the number of contracts given out to 30 between August 2014 and August 2016 and then drop it to 24 during non tournament seasons?

 

They seem to miss the gel part, which usually takes about 1 year of starts, not 10 minute subs.

 

mia hamm retired, kristine lilly retired, kate margraff retired, they DONT STAY until they are kicked off, they know when they are done, time will come and they will leave and then it will be a time to pick out new players. Alright lets bring on 15 different new young strikers, and i dont doubt there are some good strikers out there, but then there is only room for 2 strikers on a field at one time, we are not gonna put in 11 strikers on the field every game because they are all just too good to pass up, might as well replace solo with a striker because she is old anyways. this is how life works, some get lucky some just do not get the opportunity because of the time frame. we are not gonna sign up every good player just so that they get a chance, thats just ridiculous

 

Sorry, I disagree.

Yes, you do give a good player some caps to see how good they are.

So much talent in this country on the women's side is wasted because they never get a chance at cracking the USWNT.

In 2010, Notre Dame and Stanford were in the NCAA National Championship which was won by Notre Dame. Only one player from both of those teams is even sniffing the USWNT roster, Christen Press. You mean to tell me that there was no player on that Championship day that was good enough to play on the USWNT except for one. I can name you several on the Notre dame team.

These players on the USWNT hang around too long and generations of young talent will be lost because they just don't get chance to break the team. I'm not talking 10 minutes here and ten minutes there. Full games.

I will miss Sermanni.

 

That's up for debate, I was under the impression TS was let go because he sat down too many older folks and try too many young ones. We'll see who make the WC cut and who actually get onto the field .

PS. In order to not to have more nervous O' Hara at the big game, you play them now and often.

 

Excuse me, how is Press not a potential starter?...

 

Let's put it this way. I think that a lot of us are still confident that players like Engen, Press, Dunn, Brian and perhaps a few others will make the WC roster and play a major role. If not, then most us will join in on the chorus of boos. If the US Federation did not want to insert new blood into the system and change playing styles they would not have chosen Tom to begin with. The underlying reasons that Gulati mentioned was that for some reason TS wasn't motivating his team. It could've been due to the competitive nature, the bad results, or just that he was way too laid back in his approach.

 

I'm not saying she's not, but I'm just giving examples of players that have started many games for this team are still in their 20's.

 

I don't buy that for a minute.
Motivation? A chance to become 1 of 23 to represent your country of 300 millions is not enough and you have to have some coaches to crack the whip? Seriously ?

 

The proof is in the pudding though. The team looked very lethargic in that first half against a Denmark team that may not make the WC. Also, it was the players themselves that asked for a more hands on coach once Pia left. This is not you or I typing stuff on the Internet, but players wanting someone like that. Unless we replace the entire team from top to bottom, Gulati had to tackle this issue head on. The team was not responding to Sermanni's laid back methods and it showed in the results.