I think the US will play a little more conservatively against opponents that can pose a threat if they get the ball. In this match the US was basically not concerned in the least about conceding, so even the risky passes are actually no-risk. Still, they did recognize that quickly and reacted.
I've only watched 3 matches other than ours. But, ya, it seems like Australia, Sweden, and SoKo were obsessed with "building from the back." It's great to play pretty. But, when the opponent starts high pressing, it's time to get the ball forward. Btw, you could see that Polkinghorne (Aus) give away coming, a mile away. When she was pressured, she would blindly back pass to the keeper. I kept waiting for Italy to position a forward to pounce on that. Instead, she blindly knocked a pass into space in front of her and presented the Italian forward with the ball. I would be surprised if she doesn't create another goal for an opponent in this tourney. Back to the U.S. match, Dalhkamper's long balls are amazing. Imo the long diagonal is a funny thing. If you have time to launch one, the opponent is probably laying back and your going to hit it to someone who will be 1v2 when they receive it. If your high players are open, then Dahlkamper is probably not going to have the time/space to make that pass. But, it is beautiful. And, maybe there will be a time when it will spring a great attack.
Actually I believe the US should have celebrated every goal as if it were the most important they ever scored or will score. If there had of been an own goal in that mix it should have been an even greater celebration. Thailand was absolutely horrible and deserved the humiliation, they earned it by folding up and not putting 100% or even 50% effort into working hard to keep the score down. I wish the US had scored 20-25 and really made Thailand pay for even showing up. Thailand should just forfeit the remainder of their games and sneak on a plane and creep back home to never ever show their faces in international soccer again. They have been effectively shamed and shown to be both second and third and fourth rate soccer players and people and therefore did not deserve even the respect that was shown. What we saw was exactly what Thailand deserved for even showing up on the international stage. For those that do not understand the above see Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal
Some of the stuff you haven’t heard about. .... “One of the classiest things I saw was Carli Lloyd going directly to Sukanya Chor Charoenying, Thailand’s goalkeeper, after the game. Carli put her arm around her and supported her as they walked off the field. Thirteen goals on a goalkeeper has to be incredibly tough.”
I would hope she played peacemaker after trying her damndest to score to extend some asinine streak and finally doing so IN STOPPAGE TIME of a 12-0 game. That's a little-discussed aspect of this also.
I have no problem with the scoreline, as each player on our team that was on the field has something to prove. Whether its Carli lloyd trying to make a statement she is still integral to the teams success, whether its Pugh showing she isn't awed at a young age by the big stage, or players trying to get off to a good start for the golden boot. Nothing wrong with it. The celebrations went a bit overboard. Mainly Rapinoe. She occassionally irks me as she seems the type that always needs to be a center of attention, and when the spotlight turns away for too long, she finds a comment, or an act to steer it back. She makes it all about her. (Similar to Hope Solo, but obviously way less of an offender.) Her celebration was rediculous from a 33 year old "leader/veteran." You would have though she had won the world cup with 1 minute left of extra time with that goal. Morgan gets a pass with the finger counting as she directed it towards her own bench. The dancing side by side on the touchline by the players on the bench was over the top also. Having said that, what annoys me the most is players/ex players (Abby) dragging the USMNT into this uneccessarily with the stupid sexism comments (if the men scored this much in a game no one would say anything, etc.) I do like the added drama to this though worldwide and I guarantee the ratings skyrocket because of this.
Bs. The men’s association is supporting the lawsuit against USSoccer, and several of the men’s team players have come out in support as well.
I am. I like the USWNT, and I like defending them against people who dislike them for silly reasons. I would like it more if those silly reasons didn't keep getting harped on, of course. But I can't control that.
Who said I dislike the WNT? In all honesty, I'm mostly ambivalent toward them in a sporting sense, though watching what I watched yesterday was difficult - a consequence not entirely their fault; their handling of such, on the other hand... There's a TON of baggage that has nothing to do with the 90 minutes between the lines. Also, if you want to change the subject, you can always actually try to talk about something rather than complain about the people who ARE talking about something.
2nd attempt! A big deal has been made lately of the USA's difficulty in beating a bunkering team and rightfully so (Thank you Sweden...). One of the best ways to beat a bunkering team is distance shots. Lavelle and Mewis both did a great job this game of shooting from distance. I believe these are important traits of these players that don't get enough recognition. Another way to beat bunkering teams is to have confidence in small spaces. There were a number of times where our attacking players (Heath, Pugh, Morgan, etc.) showed poise in the attacking box while surrounded by defenders. I hope they can keep that moving forward. Finally, this was a bad game for Rapinoe. But that's no surprise to me. And I don't mean that as she's a bad player. She is just the most inconsistent world class player I've seen. She'll be bad one match and then the best player in the world the next day. Maybe it's good that we got bad Pinoe out of the way? On to world class player next? We'll see.
While both those ways of dealing with a bunker are good to work on, it's hard to draw any conclusions when the opponent is giving you infinite time and space and never really getting a tackle in, half-assed or not. The shooting from distance is marginally better in this sort of game (as a barometer), but I really hesitate to draw conclusions when a team is so thoroughly unchallenged.
No it wasn’t like a team celebrating a goal. It was instead a team no longer on adrenaline calmly calculating how to disrespect another country with Ethnic is stereotypes. “ Gauchos walk like this, and Germans walk like this” They had a whole long plane ride home to come up with that. Apparently the lessons of the 30’s and 40’s weren’t fully learned.
Several better posters than I have tried and you immediately derailed onto *another* breakdown on what a jerk Lloyd *really* is. The more relevant posting advice here is: If you don't want me responding to your BS, stop posting so much BS.
I just addressed one. The Lloyd thing was pretty grotesque itself, and deserves more mention for its utter pointlessness. I'm okay with whatever. You're the one whining about the subject matter while doing jack shit to change it.
Certainly it's a lot more difficult to determine and you have to take the quality of opponent into account. But I think it's important to learn and take things from all experiences. As a youth soccer coach, I try really hard to focus on smaller items even within the big picture. Did they strike with proper technique. Did they recognize their surroundings including their teammates making runs "out of sight" by checking over their shoulder. These are items that can be graded regardless of the level of competition. Now if we were to try to gauge their ability to handle pressure or 1v1 dribbling ability then that just wouldn't be reasonable considering the opposition. Lavelle megged a player, yeah, cool, but doesn't matter.
I suggested the mods break this whole topic out of the thread. That's the limit of my power in that respect. What remains is countering with my responses. It is a discussion board after all. Most of what we can do here to "change it" is: discuss.
Actually there already is a topic called "13-0" and created by @McSkillz to discuss this suject. Although it's possible that you don't agree with her premise, McSkillz expressedly opened it to discuss everything related with the "13-0 celebration issue".