I see birds and baby birds on the pitch! Anyway, does anyone think that first US goal was legitimate considering the Cameroon defender was down the whole time?
Wow dramatics in this game! The Cameroon goalkeeper was sent off for karate kicking US player's chest in the box and then it took like 10 minutes for their second goalkeeper to warm up and they had to enter the game on a PK. USA 2-0 Cameroon and it's only halftime!
I do not often agree with the commentators but in this case I do, "If you do not hear the whistle you keep playing." I would take it a step further and say that if the injury is not serious and you can get back up and you do not hear a whistle you get up and try to play defense in that kind of situation. You do not just lie on the ground like you are about to die. Yes it is important to protect players but players hurt their own teams by not putting out some extra effort on their own. To add for the second goal I do NOT agree with the PK award. I think the foul was just outside the box. I think the correct call should have been the Cameroon GK getting sent off (as was done) and a US free kick just outside the box. At the half 2-0 for the US.
The birds on the field are kind of influencing play. The birds seem to fear nothing as they just move enough to avoid being hit with the ball or stepped on by the players. They are even "commenting" and "complaining" about a soccer match disrupting their daily routine. I think animals like birds on or above the field are considered part of the field. A ball hitting a bird would still be live and that could change things on plays in and around the box.
The dead ball that just sat there in front of the Cameroon goalkeeper for 5 seconds at one point made me laugh.
I really like the US goalkeeper's play (Romig?). She seems well schooled and very confident. Also her feet are quite good, almost good enough to be a field player. She also has the obvious trust of her defense. They do not hesitate to pass her the ball even in difficult situations. She has also made a couple of real nice saves. Oh: The US has scored another and another Cameroon player has been sent off. Cameroon is not dirty, they are just undisciplined. 3-0 now.
This has been probably one of the ugliest games I have seen in a long while and the commentators are acting as if the team played amazingly. The win is always nice in the opening game of a tourney but if the US plays like this against NK and Germany they will not get through .
Game over 3-0. It is hard to make any judgement about the US because Cameroon has played so disruptive. They won and that is the main thing.
It is probably very rare that any US Women's team is playing another team where the competition has faster players at every position. The USA would, rarely, combine to get forwards behind the Cameroon line but they would be closed down so quickly and they would cough it up. Fontes is not fast to begin with and she was pretty ineffective. Until she decided to not even try and move forward with the ball and simply chipped the keeper from 35 yds before she could be dispossessed. The USA was offside time and time again. This might have been the forwards trying to get an extra step. The USA defense handled the pace pretty well. Not sure what the midfield was doing. It was all a bit better than we've seen from GNTs lately but mostly because the one exceptional player the USA has is Jones. The hair is wild but she can hold and turn under pressure and pass the ball forward dangerously. She was excellent. The GK Anderson (sp?) was also very good. The CBs must have been good because I didn't learn their names. All in all, the back 5 were good and the front 5 were sloppy, slow and wasteful and they still won 3-0. It is a tough group and it always seems unfair that you take the hits, and the other teams get the benefit of the suspensions. Cameroon was not bad at all. They too were wasteful, but they pressed very well and had three midfielders that could dribble and turn and possess whereas the US just had the one.
The keeper today was Anderson. And this was a much better performance from her than in qualifying. She had some real head-scratching moments then.
Pretty poor defending vs 10 in the 2nd half and the counter wasn’t much better. They will need to be better Anderson played well in goal
cameroon had more athletic players, who closed them down and muscled them off the ball. this is becoming more the norm than the exception in wwc tournaments. uswnt teams don’t have the old advantages any more. top youth teams like germany and spain seem to have girls on pro teams like bayern and atletico madrid while u.s. girls aren’t. i do like how the u.s. girls still played their game patiently, even when they were receiving hard fouls. they continually passed out of the back.
The US seemed slower, but actually not a lot less physical (maybe less reckless). The problem was a lack of ability either skill or vision or both to connect passes through midfield. Too much standing. Not sure what the plan would have been without the lucky goals and the red card to make the game more even. I'm glad they tried to play out the back, but it was not working, and there was no one with any speed to threaten a long ball to loosen the press a bit. Jones was solid. The keeper was excellent. Center backs were good. The outside backs were hot and cold but mostly positive. It's probably in part that speed and physicality travel and are not subject to nerves while ball skill and clever runs are. Hope they all have a great game next game.
looked like they were really trying, but their opponents were bigger, stronger, faster, with some skill and the ability/fitness to press the entire game. they appeared simply to be a better team. they tried – mainly thru jones. but cameroon made it a phone booth field. they closed down passers, outquicked and outmuscled receivers to the ball, and played a high d line, knowing that the u.s. had no forward speed to beat them. this. and the u.s. has long since stopped picking for speed and physicality. so the u.s. girls had to use guile and patience along with some good luck…. agreed. will be tough. they’re in the group of death.
In their second match the US U17 girls are playing much like the senior men. They cannot possess against North Korea and have given up many good chances for NK. The total lack, to this point, of possession and then failing to pick up the dangerous attackers have resulted in a goal for NK with no even remotely dangerous looks by the US. Right now it looks like the US has forgotten how to play as a team.
On the following kickoff the US simply kicks the ball into touch. If the US girls continue like this they will lose by seven or eight.
And this against a team that lost to Germany 4-1. Our prospects of advancing out of group are looking ominous
They just did a close up of Jones' face and I think she is getting mad. Mad at herself and the rest of the team as well. One coment about her: In earlier matches she has been dominate in the midfield. She has kind of reminded me of an earlier player with wild hair that was dominate in the midfield. I remember that other player (Michelle Akers) having a horrid first half and getting mad and coming out in the second half and scoring two and assisting on another and being an absolute destroyer in the midfield for the entire second half. I hope my feeling about Jones means she will recover and take over the midfield in the second. She is capable but can she recover mentally? Jones is not the only one that needs to up their game in the second half but I think she can raise the play of the team if she does so.