55' 4-0 Dahlkemper passes to L.Williams just past midfield right touch, L.Williams pokes ball "too far" past Riley -- then accelerates past Riley and leaves her 2m behind , bends her run through box right to ~8m. Backpass ground cross misses behind Pugh slipping down at 7m center, rolls out through box top left. Pugh stays down, holding left shin -- then gets up. Ball still live, Horan stands on it at 25m wide left -- golfs a ground pass down wide left for O'Hara overlapping past Percival. O'Hara goes to 3m wide left, floats a cross over Morgan's head, to 7m 2/5 right. L.Williams cuts centerward from the right, outjumps Riley(?) and Pugh, heads down strongly past Nayler, into back left low. Perfect placement 🎯.@lynnraenie with her second of the year and third of her #USWNT career. pic.twitter.com/nw5VIODy61— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) September 20, 2017 57' 4-0 USA subs in (4 of 6) #6 Morgan Brian for #3 Samantha Mewis. 58' 4-0 New Zealand subs in (1 of 6) #16 Olivia Chance for #11 Kirsty Yallop.
Damn golazo from Morgan. She has a brace with an assist from Pugh. All of them have beaten the keeper on the near side [EDIT] commentary called it a hat trick and confused me
63' 4-0 Horan taps left to Pugh not closely marked at 25m wide left. Pugh dance-drives on overmatched Percival, who has to turn toward own left corner flag and run looking back over her own left shoulder -- she can't backpedal with Pugh. Pugh fakes a wide left run, cuts behind Percival's back to box top mid-left, quick right foot shoot sails just over bar. Thought right instep bend to right 90, didn't get any bend. That oncoming speed is terrifying -- just a bad match-up for New Zealand's tiny population. 66' 4-0 USA play fast up the left, Pugh collects at 6m wide left. Quick soft ground pass through 3m 6-left is just too fast for Horan, skips to Nayler. Pugh is still learning about weights and measurements of passes on grasses 67' 4-0 New Zealand chip high to 18m mid-left, Hassett jump-heads square right under pressure -- across box top and USA's defense. Wilkinson turns to chase unmarked across 18m mid-right, turn-and-shoot sails high over right 90.
69' 5-0 Pugh dribbles fast down wide left past box top, outpacing Bowen and Percival to 15m wide left. Measured dink pass to 13m mid-left, Morgan stabs ball out of air into own stride , one-touch left foot half-volley rises over Nayler, off crossbar left 90, bounces down hard into 1/3 right back low. Morgan totally meant to do that, uh huh How?!@alexmorgan13 is putting on a show in Cincinnati 👏👏. pic.twitter.com/QWinl5znL3— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) September 20, 2017 72' 5-0 USA subs in (5 of 6) #17 Tobin Heath for #2 Mallory Pugh. Attendance 30,596!
76' 5-0 New Zealand subs in (2 of 6) #18 Aimee Phillips for #13 Rosie White. 80' 5-0 New Zealand subs in (3 of 6) #8 Daisy Cleverley (Cal. Berkeley) for #10 Annalie Longo. Her 1st senior cap? 86' 5-0 New Zealand subs in (4 of 6) #4 Catherine J. Bott for RB #2 Ria Percival. Percival is a skilled RB, but just got overwhelmed by speed. (Riley at LB suffered, too) 89' 5-0 Brief stoppage, as Wilkinson is down on one knee above own box top. Two trainers help her limp into near touch. 89' 5-0 New Zealand subs in (5 of 6) #15 Martine Puketapu (Colorado) for #17 Hannah Wilkinson. Her 1st cap! 90+3' (of +3') 5-0 New Zealand subs in (6 of 6) #22 Katie Rood for #12 Betsy Hassett. Rood's 1st cap! FT 5-0.
Great atmosphere. I sense the USWNT fanbase is starting to move on from the Wambach generation and embrace the new generation. Hearing loud cheers for players like Pugh, Horan, Lavelle (yes I know it's her hometown) is nice. New Zealand misses Erceg's leadership on the backline.
Am I allowed to say this likely has more to do with the recent soccer push in Cincinnati with support behind their USL side and a push for MLS? They're regularly getting these crowds for FCC and see this as a true event in part to prove themselves now.
Better passing by most tonight and I saw some attempts at building an attack which I have been hoping for. We can't beat good teams by crossing it and praying. Better mix of that and ground attack tonight. It's had to make any big evaluations since NZ was very weak and couldnt press us much. Im starting to wonder about Press though. I know she can score and is an offensive threat but she also seemed to have some control problems last night. Turned the ball over a little more then I liked. The other one Im having problems with is Casey Short. Good speed.... too many bad passes for my liking. She's not a kid at 27 so if she hopes to be a regular, she better stop turning the ball over. Shes got time to fix if she works on it Did we even miss Lloyd? I didnt see that at all. IK shes hurt BUT it's better to see younger, faster players starting to move into the picture. She's had a good run but we need to move on and this is a good time to start that. It happens to everybody. Some were smart enough to go out on top (Mia, Fouty.. others of their era) others werent like Abby, Lilly ... and that puts the team in a bad position having to drop former stars. Lloyd has been around awhile... her end on the International game is near
Press just had an awful game by her recent standards; it happens. Short's problem wasn't so much passing as receiving, I thought-- didn't seem to be on the same page as the people who were feeding her. ATM Pugh is much more comfortable feeding Morgan's speed and quickness-- she'll get better at timing slower teammates. That's one of the answers to the "where does her game go from here" question. But in general it was the JJ and Mal show. The Ferns wore down and then out; in fact I got the sense that Herdman was using these games for conditioning as much as anything... I were Lloyd I'd school a bit on Ertz in the midfield film; she seems to have a real sense of how to be a major offensive threat without making herself the whole offense. If Lloyd can master that she can be a great player through the next World Cup if the injuries don't take over. IMO Foudy was pretty toasty by the time she quit-- I don't hold it against anyone that they stay in the game as long as they can though-- its the coach's job to move them out, not theirs. And once again, as no one has countered it-- Abby scored the only goal in a knockout round game that no one else showed any signs of scoring in, for a team that wound up winning it all. I am way glad she hung on as long as she did, and I think you should be too. She deserves her place as a world cup champion even though she was a shadow of her former self-- because with it all threatening to go bad, she cast her shadow on the other side, not hers.
Given the strength of the opposition in these two matches (not terrible but far from elite) there are fewer answers to the most pressing questions since they weren't tested. I really only have two big takeaways...1. Ertz is a very promising, if yet unproven, stabilizer at the 6 moving forward.... and 2. This team functions much better when Long is not on the field.
Just got back to Chicago from my road trip to Southwest Ohio. I have been to many USWNT events and games over the years from the East Coast to West Cost, North and South, US and Canada and I have to say last night's game in Cincinnati has to rank in my mind as one of the most fan electric and intimate atmospheres I have ever been to. The stands are close to the field and acoustics in the stadium are awesome! The crowd was loud. It was amazing. The fans in Cincinnati represented big! My most electric crowd USWNT game experiences: 1.1999 Women's World Cup game USWNT vs. Nigeria at Soldier Field Chicago 2. 2015 Women's World Cup Final Vancouver USWNT vs. Japan 3. USWNT vs. New Zealand friendly at UC Stadium Cincinnati The game itself wasn't as interesting once the US started dominating and scoring at will. However, I have to say Mallory Pugh is a "baller". She can flat out play. This kid has no inhibitions, mature beyond her years. There was a disconnect between Short and Lavelle, but IMO that was due to Lavelle not being in game shape, that's why she only played 30 minutes, I believe. Having said that, and you guys know I am a Short fan, but she has to work on doing a better job finding her teammates at the end of her passes. Press did not have a good game. She got herself into messes once the ball was passed to her. Seems like she would turn into traffic with the ball and lose it a few times. Morgan is on top of her game. Ertz with a little fine tuning should solidify the position she has played in the last two games. Rapinoe looks good and very more mature now. She actually looks and acts like a leader. Reminds me of Kristine Lilly in her later years. I was hoping Sofia Huerta would be in uniform and into the game, but Jill had other plans. Who needs Lloyd? A trip well worth it for a big USWNT fan. Now let's go Red Stars and get a playoff spot next weekend!
I agree with recent references to Lloyd. I'm not discounting Press' performance as much as some others. She's a quite different kind of forward -- she moves around a lot, helps quite a bit with defense, and makes the opponent's defenders move all over the field. She may well have helped Morgan by providing her with tired defenders. I'm actually starting to think about the idea of Press as a first half forward and Morgan as a second halfer. That takes advantage of both of their strengths.
This post reminds me of the old argument that A Rod should continue starting over Morgan because she tires defenders. Personally, I think the forward in form prior to the WC should start. We don't want to be down 1-0 to France and depend on tired defenders giving up a goal.