someone said it earlier - if you can hold a team even or get ahead the luxary of bringing a Rapinoe off the bench with the extreme change of pace is far more effective. Overall her play has been very inconsistent before today. Sunday, two GREAT crosses, but other than that, she couldn't hit a square pass 10 yards away. She is very much a lightning strike. If they play Japan on Sunday, this will serve as a great warm up.
Soon after Rapinoe came in (65'), France took out their left D-mid #6 Sandrine Soubeyrand (78') for the front-running #12 Elodie Thomis. Wambach promptly scored (79'), which forced France to gamble even more, maybe to a 4-3-3. The tired RDM #15 Elise Bussaglia had no more help to sandwich Rapinoe's surges. #4 Laura Georges had to come up out of the backline to press both Rapinoe and Morgan, and she couldn't keep up with them. USA outlasted France's dominant possession, and our fresh legs wore down their midfield.
Interesting first comment from Solo. Questioning the coach withdrawing Lloyd. Conflict in natural for her . If that is what motivates her, so be it.
Haha. In her post-game interview, instead of talking about team chemistry or believing in each other or other feel-good talking points, Hope Solo says that Pia's tactical decision to take out Lloyd for Rapinoe and move Cheney middle was the key to victory. She says it like it is, for sure.
In Brazil we have a saying that says: A great team finds a way to win even when it isn't playing well... I guess that describes the USWNT today... You were brutally effective! France, imho, was putting a clinic on how to move/pass the ball and be creative (I'm afraid they would have picked Brazil defense apart) but simple, tough, direct, athetic soccer by the US wins again!!! Congratulations on reaching another Final!
"Hope, where does all your confidence come from?" <Hope replies with a brief look of "what kind of dumb question is that?">
Rapinoe made a big difference but moving Cheney center was huge. It was the combo of pulling Lloyd and getting a true wide player out there. That's a job well done by Pia in being willing to sub Lloyd out. That said (and lest anyone think I can't praise her), Lloyd's pass to HAO in the build up to the first goal was excellent. And was it me or was Solo more pissed than happy in that little post game interview? It almost seemed like she realized her bff leaving the field was the key to improved play and didn't like it.
Really nice comeback by the USA. They took the punch from the French, got up, and exerted their will to win, and it paid off. For Sunday, I stick with Sauerbrunn. She was terrific and deserves the start. I also think that AROD has been given every chance to keep her spot and she hasn't done it. Time to make the change there. But despite her play today, I think I still start Lloyd and save Rapinoe to sub as needed. With that said, I actually don't think Pia will make any of the changes I mentioned. Coaches tend to lose their guts at big moments since they don't want to be second-guessed by the media. BTW, it's really nice to hear Michelle Akers get mentioned so much. The comparison of Abby to Michelle is quite apt IMO, as they both willed their teams to victory. Why isn't ESPN sending someone to Georgia to interview Michelle about this is beyond me.
As soon as Pia took out A-Rod and Carli and brought in Pino and Alex and moved Cheney into the middle the USA took over and won the game! Becky was terrific! France is a wonderful team to watch as they have great ball skills but they don't have the killer instinct yet... When they do watch out!
They have the goalkeeper, but Bini won't select her. So really they are just a manager away from the big time.
That wasn't how it was. She praised the move of Cheney to the center, I think she started to say something like "Carli Lloyd is a very good player but didn't have it today" but caught herself in the middle and didn't finish the second half.
I don't know. I thought their keeper made a couple of terrific aggressive plays that saved goals, twice against Morgan.
Very good point about the French "go for the win pull a mid for a forward" substitution. While that move was designed to put more pressure on our backline, it opened more space/time in the midfield which helped us. And we're in the freaking final!!!
what is bff? best friend? hey kool-aide... I love your dedication to the USWNT... starting all the game threads and with your wonderful insightful posts, etc. but can you do me a favor and clamp down on the USA pessimism for the Final game? The USA is destined to win the World Cup this year!
I didn't take it that way at all. I saw it as Hope prefacing her comment that taking Lloyd out was the key to regaining momentum, in order not to appear as if she was throwing Lloyd under the bus. Especially since Pia's likely to start Lloyd in her usual spot for the Finals.
To be fair to the French coach, the OL keeper whose name I can not spell properly, is batsh!t crazy and has been really reckless in the past.
I can at least understand Lloyd starting over Rapinoe. Lloyd is pretty tough defensively, and this team played pretty well defensively, especially in midfield (as did France). Rodriguez over Morgan .... that I don't get. Either Pia is a genius for holding off her best lineup until the last half hour knowning they can outlast and then explode, or she's crazy for putting a weakened lineup that can't hold the ball out there for 60 minutes.
Yes. bff is best friend forever. I have a plan with the pessimism. I thought folks had caught on. And I have the rivalry forum thread about the USA's chances to thank for it. Someone in rivalry is trying their own version of putting the juju hex on them. So I fought back with some of my own. smooches, jocasta Now that we're in the final and I've admitted what I've been doing, I guess it won't work any more.
Sauerbrunn was really good. The defense was pretty strong, really. Just a little too much D in the mix and not enough O.
I don't know about you guys, but I'm really hoping for a Japanese win in this other match. I don't think we match up well with Sweden at all and I'd consider them favorites in the final vs. us.