90' 5-0 Morgan chases a long forward serve, Coutereels pulls her left shoulder back, then grabs her sleeve and tugs it twice to haul self in front and bump her off line. Foul, yellow card on Coutereels. +1'. 90+1' (of +1') 6-0 Press fk at 27m mid-left, to the scrum at 7m 1/3 left. McDonald levers aside De Neve's box-out attempt, Evrard charges out but can't get through both their backsides, pulls up nowhere. McDonald jump-tucks facing ball and flick-heads over own shoulder, ball bounces at 0.1m center and into center back low. Press has 3 assists because she can put them on a head and the head is always ours Head start. Head finish.@J_Mac1422 with our fifth header! pic.twitter.com/dIJjr6QXyJ— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) April 8, 2019 FT 6-0.
We beat a bad team handily and that is a good thing. Also it bodes well for at least two of our group matches at the WC even though neither team is as bad as Belgium. We really need to figure out how to ease off the aggressive play without allowing dangerous chances. In a closer match it could be quite costly.
Congratulations on a dominating win. Also Ellis has tested her players in various positions and should know where the players are more comfortable and can play their best. I must say that I prefer Harris to Naeher, simply because Naeher looked so nervous and so lack of confidence that it gives encouragement to the opposing team. Lloyd certainly belongs to the first team. I think USWNT is now ready for the coming World Cup matches. I hope they will continue to do well.
From a statistical perspective, at least based on FIFA's elo-based system, France is the favorite due to the value of home field advantage.
Lloyd is better as a starter not someone that comes on at the 85th minute. Start her in at least one of the group matches or maybe Ellis annoyingly keeps her on the bench to make her hungry for the important matches?
They certainly looked bad. If you look at their record over the last year, it was decent, but they didn't play any of the top tier teams -- which means I'm not including Spain (Belgium tied them) or Italy (Belgium split home-away with them) among the top tier teams. I think today's complete domination shows that notwithstanding what people say about the rest of the world "catching up" to the USA, there's a massive divide between the top tier within which the US resides and the rest of the world. And (not referring to FanOfFutbol's post), "catching up" is a misnomer if you look at the history of the World Cup. A number of countries have been at the level of the USA pretty much since the beginning. For those, there was nothing to "catch up," it's been more a matter of whether they can "keep up." There are a few others who have been "catching up," but it's with the US and with the others who have managed to stay in the top group for a long time or at least to get back into it now and then.
I don’t think we learned anything about whether the USWNT made any progress on the defensive side. Belgium didn’t have the capacity to exploit and overloading the US did.
Actually we did learn something and that something is that we still have problems at the back unless the offense gives no opportunities to the other team. When we pretty much pulled back and stopped attacking in the late part of the second half we gave up a couple of quite dangerous chances to a virtually toothless attack. But I think there is still time to "fix" the problems because the problems are not directly in the personnel but rather in the communication and leadership. Our back line looked a lot better during the time that Ertz was playing center back BUT that was also the time that we faced almost nothing to strain the back line so the reality is that we do not know if communication was better or if there just was very little to do. The weak teams we will face should really worry because our offense seems to have jelled but as far as strong teams go we just do not know. There is still a real question at keeper as well. I am unconvinced that we have any keeper that can bail out the defense two or three times a match as keepers often need to do in a World Cup.
I'll tell you what Krieger brings to the table: communication and leadership. Y'all need to look what she's doing after the McDonald goal (in the video above). I think that's why Ellis brought her in.
not stated are the teams that have seen incredible growth in the past few years- i'm thinking france, england, australia and japan. the teams from norway, china and brazil that traditionally gave us fits in the early days have faded. my guess is that in another four years, there will be three or four new powers. but importantly, there's every indication that the uswnt will maintain toward the top...actually, the only nation that has been able to create and sustain top level talent.
The team just plays better with Press on the field. Her set pieces are the best of any of the current squad. Those balls were like lasers to the heads of her targets. The bend on her assist to Horan's goal was pretty unbelievable and completely caught belgium off guard I think. I would consider starting her over one of the front "4" not named Heath (so either Lavelle, Rapinoe or Morgan). Or if Jill insists on having Rapinoe and Morgan both on the field all the time, push Heath back to AM and slot Press in on the right. I thought it was interesting she finally allowed Press to play CF, but i don't think Morgan is a good choice as a wide forward against a better team.
I totally agree. Too weak a team to learn anything. I did learn some things though. In general, Im not a Lloyd fan but thought she did well last night. I think I saw a role for her on this team. When we get into a 1/2 field game, like Belgium... Lloyd may be useful as a target forward with her head. I dont think Morgan is that useful in those games. She needs a transition to produce much. I thought many others looked good but again, couldnt tell much do to the weakness of Belgium. I have no idea why we schedule games like that?
I honestly think this "B" team is just better than people think it is. They had a great performance against arguably the best opponent we faced in CONCACAF qualifiers outside Canada. They are certainly better at set pieces, which are pretty vital to this team since we struggle to score in run of play. Belgium is not a bad team. Look at their record against European sides recently - they have beaten/drew teams that qualified for the Cup. They also typically let in very few goals. I think Lavelle is very overrated and I would not have her as a starter. Ertz is a CB on this team for me, they need her there and she's not a good passer in the midfield. I also agree on Morgan. She struggles against teams that like to sit in their own half and deny her the space she likes to make her runs in. Lloyd was more effective than her against Chile as well.
Awwww I was there at the game and the atmosphere was so amazing. It was probably the best USWNT I ever saw in person in Los Angeles. The 99er tribute hit me in the feels and made me feel like I was 13 years old again. There were a lot of other millennial fans that got excited to see their childhood idols together again and be celebrated after all those years.
Belgium bunkered which was a useful test for the USWNT. However, they also forced play out of the back. This completely ruined any hope of seeing if the USA could break a bunkered team down as the USA just kept getting the ball on the counter press in the opponent's third with their defense stretched. This led to a ton of set pieces on which the USA scored. Sweden is not going to do that. They are going to punt the ball long and try and try and win a second ball. Maybe Ellis has been running various game scenarios and sub patterns but I don't think the first team is really clicking yet. Not sure playing against Belgium, South Africa, New Zealand, and Mexico is going to help. Probably not until the Sweden match in the WC will we really see a test. I thought Krieger was ok. Not really good or bad. Some good touches, some bad touches. Some decent passes, some terrible passes. If her performance was against Australia, then we might have learned something. But when the whole team plays great and you play ok, that is not a ringing endorsement. A case in point, Davidson looked great in this game but had struggled against better opponents lately. Lloyd might be better on the wing than Rapinoe against weaker, bunkered opponents. I'm sure Mewis is better than Lavelle. Lloyd, Ertz, Horan, Mewis in the box for set pieces is probably not something most teams can handle. Press is fast, hits a nice set piece, but her finishing is not great to say the least. On the roster, sure.
I'm glad we won but we learned nothing from this game. No team is as bad in the air as Belgium and their GK is atrocious. We can't take anyone's performance and use it as justification for a starting role. Glad you had a great time, McSkillz.
I think the 23 for Ellis coming out of these friendlies, the last games before the WC roster is announced are: GK: Naeher, Harris, Franch RB: O'Hara, Krieger CB: Davidson, Sauerbrunn, Dahlkemper, Sonnet LB: Dunn, Short CM: Ertz, Horan, Lavelle, Mewis, Zerboni, Brian F: Lloyd, Morgan, Rapinoe, Heath, Pugh, Press