78' 0-0 I gave up on the FS2Go stream (which is still frozen). Now I have a scoreclock graph, and the FS1 TV commentators 80' 0-0 Japan pass to box top arc right, backpass to #17 Matsubara trailing at arc top mid-right, one-touch chip sails just over bar. 83' 0-0 Japan quick-pass from right touch to #7 Sugita at arc top right, stumbles but balanced-while-off-balance, toe-poke pass to Momiki facing away at box top center -- perfect spin-and-go into wheelhouse, one-touch left instep pull across mouth, past Murphy's dive, juuust wide right low. Japan are playing like Washington State, 24(7)-3(0) shots and no goals 85' 0-0 Sugita slide-and-shoots from 23m mid-right, bounces wide left low. 86' 0-0 USA subs in (3 of 3) #13 Marley Canales (1st action ) for #16 Emily Fox.
Id like to compare the US somehow winning this to the dinosaurs looking up into the darkening sky as the asteroid approached. Sure it might miss but sometimes asteroid good.
87' 0-1 Hasegawa passes down wide left to LB #3 Kitagawa at 10m wide left, backpass to #18 Ueno at 16m box left. Ueno touches to 10m mid-left, chips left instep mini-lob over Murphy, drops perfectly into right side netting. Finally 90' 0-1 Kitagawa hooks Sánchez's left knee from behind, foul. 90' 0-1 USA fk at circle top wide right, sailed to arc top, cleared? Pugh tries a diagonal pass toward box mid-right, headed away. +5'. 90+3' (of +5') 0-1 USA right throw-in in own 1/3, promptly lost. Japan pass to box top center, Ogle digs it away to the left. Hasegawa dribbles back to 22m mid-left, pass toward Momiki cutting center-to-left at 12m mid-left -- she stumbles to knees but backheels(!) into a huge void at 14m left post. Ueno runs through the high line alone, one-touch shot -- sails way high 90+5' (of +5') 0-1 Otto longball, headed upfield to circle back mid-right. DeMelo steps up and pokes it past 1, Pugh breaks away to 22m mid-right. Through-pass toward spot for Scarpa alone, 1-v-1 on Hirao -- offside, and she scuffs it wide trying to hop over Hirao's arms. FT 0-1. 29-3 shots, 8-0 sog, 8-4 corners, 63% possession. Maybe we should change something
Cue boilerplate post-game comments from French. "I thought we played really hard for each other..." and that sort of thing.
On the U.S., and U.S. women's soccer in general- unless drastic measures are taken at the grassroots level, what we saw here will continue to get worse, as the rest of the world takes women's soccer seriously. In another decade (or less) our USWNT could fall out of the top eight. Why doesn't French level with everyone about how badly we were outplayed by Japan?
Now lets apply this to Ellis' big plan. She believes that by throwing everyone into the the press it doesnt matter how few people u leave back because u can keep the ball in the offensive end. Yet the Japanese were not only unaffected by pressure but were able to easily attack thru the pressure. So the philosophical question is will the absurd amount of speed the US can bring to bear on the press counter the Japanese ability to hold the ball and pass thru?
What pressure are you talking about? We DIDN'T pressure Japan last night--that was precisely the problem, no? The U.S. pretty much let them waltz into our defensive third all night. We pressed to start the game, and a bit at the start of the second half, but then just fell back, and fell back some more, and then more, whenever they had the ball. We almost never had a player on a Japanese player when she received a pass. Maybe the Japanese are just a brilliant possession team, maybe we've tried to press before and been burned, I didn't see the two most recent U20 games against Japan in which they thumped us, but we basically gave them the midfield last night. This U.S. team's midfield, with the possible exception of Cousins, is not good. I find it hard to believe that the gap between the two sides is as big as it appears to be. We could never go forward effectively because our whole squad was playing defense in and around our box all night.
How long as NK been this competitive/good at youth soccer? I confess I'm mystified that that backward nation is the U20 champion. Are all the players really under 20?
Yes, all of DPRK's players are under 20, or under 17. And they laugh at you for thinking otherwise. It's a measure of the depth of our insecurity that we're already looking for cheap excuses. In fact, DPRK shows the opposite problem of "age cheating": it's their senior team that gets mysteriously "retired en masse" between cycles. Then suddenly their previous W20s are their senior team (or about 1/2 of it), and get shellacked by full NTs for a cycle. I expect that to happen again in, say, the next 2-5 years (although the last group they promoted this way is still going pretty strong). It keeps their rosters young, and eliminates complaints ... As Cuba transitions, DPRK has become Cuba: they use sports success as a flagbearer, and it's almost their sole export. (I can't think of a single piece of literature, art, music, pop culture, research, fashion, etc. from North Korea in ... decades. OK, their nuclear physics is formidable, again because it's their Apollo program.) I'm sure their youth woso programs are extremely well-funded (relative to their per capita), as they reasonably can expect to win championships. They don't pour that kind of money into every sport, so they're not contenders in most other competitions. They giggle like teenagers. And they're skinny, like long-distance runners who don't lift weights much. I think they're really teens now, and maybe in ten years they could be stunted a bit because their bodies spent so much youthful energy in not-growing, whereas the rest of the world's kids grow up and catch up to them. That could be one reason why their full NT can't repeat their youthful triumphs.
I have no idea what you are saying in your last paragraph. The NK players did not look at all skinny to me; in fact, they look pretty thick in the lower body and strong.
Are you serious? Backward nation or not does not mean they can't have strong sorts teams. Nations like this emphasize sports. And you are accusing them of age cheating? If they are as backwards in sports as you seem to think then age at this level should not matter, right?
Let's not make excuses as to why we did poorly in this tournament and coming in fourth place is poor. We have a sorry development system, with a sorry, old school technical director and sorry coaches. I don't care if we won the 2015 WWC on the senior level. We won in spite of AH and JE and the whole women's youth development system needs to be dissolved and rebuilt. I don't see how French is retained after this debacle. No 3rd chance in my opinion. Man, when will we see the last of April, Jill and their circle of friends? It can't come to soon.
Something I've been wondering about for a long time -- and this is not a criticism of your post -- is why, since the beginning with French, she was identified by posters here as part of the Heinrichs and Ellis "circle of friends." Is that really true? I have no idea and am curious since, if so, it surprises me a little.
I didn't accuse them of cheating--but I did indeed ask the question. I've not known NK to be strong in ANY sport except maybe archery, a sport I know South Korea takes seriously and maybe NK too. I also didn't say they were backward in sports; I said the country was backward, which would be an understatement, and it has an extremely low sports profile. All of which makes their strength in U17 and U20 soccer a bit of a surprise to me, but I acknowledge I haven't followed U20 until this year.
I'm not saying I believe this to be the case, but all the items you listed are symptoms of drug use. Looking at the US team. I have no problem with stat lines such as 29-3 shots. The style of defense the US played encouraged high volume of low percentage outside shots. That part worked well actually. My problem was more of how the US gave up trying to play possession out of the back. If you watch just the first 10 minutes or so of the 3rd place match against Japan, USA looked really good playing out of the back. Unfortunately, despite it working, they inexplicably switched to kickball. This was the turning point. The goal in the 87' was easy to see coming. In the lead-up you could easily see the US defenders lose their intensity. A shame to play good hard-nosed defense and then drop it with just a handful of minutes left. I presume Watt was unavailable to play or still hesitant from the semifinal. She was one of the best players on the team. Finally, in the end when the game opened up, the US started to play well again. Admittedly it was a drastically different tactic forced by being a goal down. That said, it's a tactic that I wager these players are more comfortable with from non-national team play. Would've been nice to see how the game would've turned out if they switched to this around 80' instead of waiting to be a goal down.
The U20 WC has been contested every two years since 2002. The only the countries to have raised the cup r US (3), Germany (3) & Korea DPR (2)
They stopped pressuring because the Japanese went by them like they were cones. The key to a pressing defense in any sport is rattling the opponent into mistakes. Im not sure any amount of pressure rattles these players. The only thing stopping the rout was lack of finishing the numerous open looks they created.
Uh, you're right -- Michelle was an assistant at UCLA during 2002-2003. Also was an assistant to Lesle Gallimore at the University of Washington for a year.
15 minutes in and I wasn't feeling too bad about things. It didn't last and I am sorry for the girls to have such disappointment. While I don't know much about these late 90s kids, I can say if the next u17 and u20 cycle looks and performs like this one it will be very disappointing. Since we have traveled with my kid in the early 2000 age groups, I really feel like I have seen plenty of kids, most in the National system already, who play and move similar to Japan. I think technical skill is being emphasized more and more, at quite a high price of personal training with technical coaches. Japan chose not to press the backline, rather wait to press the midfield. The backline was surprisingly patient though but you see the issue just as soon as they try to play in to the midfield. The entire attacking team just basically leaves the midfielder with the ball, forming a straight line at the top and waiting for the over the top shot. We instantly become some form of a 4-1-5. Murphy had a wonderful game as a keeper. I am surprised, though maybe I shouldn't be, that such a heralded ball stopper can be so poor in possession of the ball. Japan's off the ball movement is beautiful while ours is rudimentary. Japan routinely created a triangle or diamond of support for the ball while the US would end up with nobody, or one covered player, supporting the ball, more times than I cared to count. I really don't understand how Shannon McMillan could say Japan was just a little more deserving than the US. One can't help but be concerned of the effects on our senior team with people like McMillan supporting efforts like this...
Not really. Japan possessed the ball very well. But they didn't exactly create a lot of great chances.