After watching the semi I do not think the US should be troubled much in the final. That is if and only if they attack. However if the US tries to play defensively or if they try to be too "smart" they could put themselves in real trouble. This is the US' match to win and they can only blow it by making it easy for the Dutch.
should be an easy one get the celebrations ready 4-5-6 to nothing easy they better have a bunch ready to go.
Get the early goal as we have all tournament, then continue to pound them in attack and finish them off. If we let them hang around, we leave it to chance.
While I believe that to be the correct plan I am concerned that we will try to sit on a one goal lead or, even worse, something happens resulting in the Dutch getting the first goal. We are not experienced at facing real adversity and suddenly facing such in the final would be concerning. I believe that if we, in particular the coaching staff, have the guts to come out and attack hard and from the start we will win even if something bad happens and we fall behind early. The US is best in almost everything when they attack and attack and attack. If we were to play an all out attacking 3-4-3 I think we outscore the Dutch by three or four even if they score three. Usually defense wins titles but, in this case, I think offense wins more certainly. Of course it will not hurt to have both.
I have a feeling that they're going to give us trouble like we saw against Spain. They are a quality side, but they can score a lot of goals, unlike Spain. If we win, it will be because we wanted it more, not because we have more quality.
Spain only gave us trouble because we played exactly how they wanted and we withdrew into a shell for much of the second half like we feared scoring more goals. If we do that against the Dutch then you are correct, they will give us trouble. But if we simply, or not so simply, play the match with attack on our minds the the Dutch will not be able to match us.
The Netherlands can challenge the USWNT. Even if Martens is not 100%. I detect some hubris in here. If the USWNT do not play well...they will lose. If they play like they did against Spain for instance that will not be good enough. The USWNT has shown vulnerabilities recently on set pieces. That’s an area where the Dutch have been dangerous. Ertz will be important to limiting Miedema. But the biggest potential adversary is overconfidence. The USWNT are expected to win. The Dutch have nothing to lose. Given the tight margins in this sport and coming off three straight one goal victories the distinct whiff of “we’ve got this in the bag” assuredness is a bit baffling. People seem to be putting a lot of stock in the eyeball test, comparing the Dutch to our previous knockout round opponents, but sometimes that can be deceiving.
There really is nothing wrong with arrogance when it is correct. The only problem should be arrogance that is unjustified. I once was coaching a U13 girls team and one of the players was really a LOT better than the rest but she and I and all the other players were working hard to get the level of the rest of the team up. One practice she, as all 12 year olds will do, was showing off and being a bit mouthy. (I should add that I also tried to challenge the girts a bit with vocabulary.) So I said to her, "You are just being too supercilious." She then placed her hands solidly on her hips and said, "I am not arrogant, I am that good." (She was actually) It is not arrogance if it is true. It is simply stating the truth.
Ahhhh sweet, super cool. I participated in the Womens World Cup Now twitter show and they gave a shout out to my handle and answered my question!
Congratulations, Senator Harris. What was your question, and their answer? By the way: Are you feeling better now?
I wonder whether this is not true. If we lose, we can say. "We won last time. We've won three times. This was not our day." If the Dutch lose, they have to say: "We've blown the only chance we've ever had." This doesn't mean that we should take it easy. But I think it does mean that there is more pressure on them than there is on us.
Watched a lot of the game today. I thought Sweden looked too be the better team during regulation but I saw little to worry about. The Netherlands is no England... I think it should be an easy game for the USA
I think a synopsis of the previous few posts is more "we've got this in the bag IFF we put the pedal to the metal and leave everything on the field". Ain't nothin' easy. The U.S. wouldn't have made it this far if they didn't know better than to underestimate any opponent. But being a fan of this team means believing that they are better on their best day than any other team on that team's best day. And I agree wholeheartedly. Hit 'em fast and hard like we did in the 2015 final. Get the first goal and keep Pressing. Build the lead if we can. Keep them out of our net, but don't hold back trying to hold the lead. As much as I'm getting used to these 2-1 wins, I'd love to see a shutout.
Still wouldn’t mind seeing a few new starters... Some that are just chomping at the bit to play. I feel like that would give the US some energy. Rolling out the usual suspects won’t be bad, but I just think some fresh meat could up the intensity. I know she won’t get in a final, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Pugh run at that team.
Congrats on correctly using the mathematical "IFF" correctly meaning "if and only if." I am afraid to use that on boards such as this one for fear of people misunderstanding me. It will not surprise me if we have something, or more than one somethings, prepared for the Dutch like we did for the Japanese where we went low on an early corner knowing that they had been practicing for the high balls because of our height advantage. I do not know what that surprise will be but I expect at least one in the final.
Hate to act cocky like rapinoe n Morgan but I think the final was England vs USA....the next game will be like going thru the drive thru to pick up the Cup.