2016 FIFA U-20's WWC - Quarter-Final # 3 - USA vs Mexico (pre/pbp/post)

I like speed off the bench. I like speed in the starting lineup even more.

 

Replay Alert - Fox Sports Plus, Dish Network Channel 391 Friday Morning, 11:00 a.m. Central Time

 

Yeah, but underneath it all, she's thinking "Nah nah na nah nah! I won! I won!"

 

Nothing needs to be said.

 

Big picture is this buys French at least four more years

 

Yeah, but Pugh's style is very direct:
Get to the endline...cross
Get a running start, beat one player with a quick cut, then keep running.
She's more Donovan than Dempsey.

 

I too wondered about the US players being nervous. They seemed slow to react until Mexico scored its goal, plus they muffed a bunch of free kicks, plus they made some of the worst passes I've seen them make in the tournament. That's something that can happen if you're nervous. These young women have played a lot, but this is a level of pressure most of them aren't used to -- not even Pugh, since any success with the senior NT is "beyond expectations" which is a completely different psychological dynamic. You have to learn how to play under pressure, and not everyone can learn to do it. That's part of the culling out process.

Got me to thinking about another reason to keep some players around on the senior NT, when they're past their playing primes. Possibly keep a few of those who have proved themselves able to handle the pressure, so they can help the younger players with it.

 

Actually, the TV commentating on FS1 pretty much matched the gist of the comments on this thread.

 

I wonder if it was a mistake making Pugh captain. She is already saddled with being the teams star and at 18 that is probably enough of a burden. Maybe someone like Riehl who is older, also been there before and coming off a college cup win might have shared the load with Pugh.

 

agree with some of this. but we were still poor. here's what i wrote in the international thread:
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french doesn't have this team playing well, but she has them playing smart. they have a plan for each game, and are sticking to it. we some time ago, lost the old usa speed/size/athleticism advantage, and, to me, we never had great skill, so, imho, the coach is simply being pragmatic.

the defense has to protect murphy, and pugh and sanchez will have to save the offense for them to get past dprk. seems like too much.

...and, oh, they have to pass and move more quickly. also seems too much. their passes are mostly obvious and slow and they are easy to close down and intercept.

neither ogle, nor demelo, nor scarpa, nor murphy have impressed me, and on a poor team, an injured cousins is a huge miss.

i think the players who decided to stay in college make a big difference in the us youth system which is not pro or full time for the players. but other teams are missing good players too.

 

I think when it comes to commentary it's not only what you say, but how you say it.

 

This entire game was disjointed. Not much fluent passing between anybody, except for the two late goals. Both plays were well orchestrated and clever. But not enough of that has been consistently shown.

The level of play in France-Germany was several clear degrees of magnitude above the USA-Mexico game. France is improving as the tournament goes on, playing much better than the tentative 0-0 draw in group play.

The U.S. is an underdog against North Korea - I doubt we'll be able to handle their high pressure style - but if they do get the upset win, will be an underdog against either of France or Japan too.