Yes, good point. Hmm, just to be contrary, I'm trying to think of an example in which you could say the defense made no mistakes, and the offense still scored. Can't come up with one at the moment.
I think the point here is was it a strong defense or simply taking advantage of team who cant hold the ball against pressure? There r two arguments here. First, relying on creating turnovers is only a good strategy if u can force them against quality team who handle and pass the ball well. Second, having a good pressure defense may be a way to hide ur own problems possessing but it shouldnt be an excuse for not being able to hold onto the ball urself and be able to advance it up the field.
You can always nitpick on each goal pointing out the errors of the defense but I think that is rather harsh.
Harsh? it's incredibly inaccurate. That's like saying all goals are a result of the kick off, since goals always happen after that initial kick off.
I agree. I just said it is a harsh assessment to say that goals are only made due to defensive errors. And it's unfair to all of the players involved. Watch Barcelona's first goal today and tell me it was due to a defensive error (it's not, it's a world class goal)
This USA U-20 team has struggled all year in the midfield and up top; no one is arguing that. They improved tremendously up top with the late additions of Pugh and Sanchez. However, the midfield is still the weak link. I think the reason is twofold: 1) a lot of quality players simply chose not to join the team (i.e., redshirt), and 2) Frenchy's tactics do not lend much support to our midfield. The USA did look better against New Zealand and Ghana, than against France, thanks to Cousins and Fox. I don't think Frenchy has many options at this point, she needs to rely on defense to win matches. However, I do believe that there will be a few moments of magic where we score against the run of play. We shall see tomorrow night versus Mexico, who has played fairly well both offensively and defensively. I've watched Mexico's matches versus Venezuela and Germany. Should be a fun match.
When a team that I'm cheering for is scored on, I often (not always) look at who was out of position, misplayed the ball, didn't mark or cover, etc. Saying that the defense made a mistake doesn't mean the offense doesn't get credit for both capitalizing on that mistake and having the skill to do so. I'm sure you're aware that teams analyze goals as well. Coaches of teams at all competitive levels analyze the defense when a goal is scored on them, and frequently spend some time with the team reviewing some of that analysis in a video session. Are they harsh to do so? No. Its good coaching although I think it would be harsh to review every goal with the team. That's demoralizing, but analyzing every goal with the coaching staff increases a coach's awareness of what the team and individual players need to work on. We absolutely agree that there are quality goals scored in which most of the credit goes to the offense and other factors can also be involved (wind, luck, referees, etc.), but that doesn't mean the defense couldn't have done something differently as well, with the obvious caveat that hindsight is 20/20. (On Messi's goal, I'd point out that a defender--I would have to go back and watch to remember who it was--was a step and a half out of position for a moment or two, opening up a seam. Pointing that out doesn't diminish, at all, the credit that goes to Messi for finding that open seam and capitalizing on it, finishing what was, indeed, a world-class goal.) But I'd like to also point out the context of my post. Do I always try to nitpick or "blame" a defender for a goal? No, I wasn't making any such statement. In the context of conversation, we were discussing what was meant by "defensive goals."
1. Yes, that unfortunately happens whenever they play the tournament in the Southern Hemisphere. In 2008 O'Hara left the team after CONCACAF despite being their leading scorer and Press opted out of the U20s due to the demands of school. In retrospect, that was a lot to lose and Im sure there r other quality players who chose college over the 20s that year. DiCicco went out and recruited players to replace them, moved on with the players he had and won the cup. French was actually pretty lucky. Pugh could have just shrugged and gone to UCLA...I mean the purpose of the 20s is to get u on Jill Ellis' radar not give an NT starter a curtain call. So Im not giving French a pass if this team underachieves as opposed to simply gets beat by a more talented group. Hell, in 2012 Swanson's leading scorer (Horan) hurt her knee and missed U20 WC but they adjusted. 2. Maybe an alternate approach would be play with Scarpa as the lone striker and throw Pugh and Sanchez, two of her better ball handlers into the midfield. They still might not win but as a teaching exercise learning to break defenses and run a set offense probably helps all the players down the road more than just flying Pugh and Sanchez down the pitch looking for the home run ball. I do agree that Cousins helps but much as in the tournament in LA her and Ogle tend to get really isolated in this system.
I like this 2nd thought. I would only add that I'd have the whole team play more compact. Many times our 3 lines are 60 yards apart, while our opponent's are playing between us using 40 yards of width.
Beckham v Wimbledon, halfway line shot although, you can blame the goalkeeper on that one ? or this one You are right actually, there is always a mistake somewhere for a goal to happen, unless someting exceptional has happened.
Holy S. France beat Germany 1-0 http://www.fifa.com/u20womensworldcup/videos/highlights/match=300353186/index.html
That shouldn't be a surprise. France has a lot of talent including the two best players in the tournament in my opinion.
Over course of 2016 U-20 World Cup, #USWNT was outshot 76-35. PRK 25-7 USA MEX 15-4 USA GHA 14-8 USA USA 13-5 NZL FRA 17-3 USA
For a program formerly known for its offense, this really does make me feel sick to look at. I blame the fact that we were outclassed all tournament on both French and the players. I noticed a lack of any type of system, or at least a lack of awareness of the system they were playing in, and that's on French. But we also have players with atrocious first touch and a lack of soccer IQ, and that's not something that French could fix in a few camps. I console myself with the reminder that we didn't send all of our best players, but I'm not sure how much some of our best players would've helped anyway.
After some more thought, it's all on French. She had 2 years to prepare for this WWC. What did she do? She chose the players who were on the roster. She chose to force them to red-shirt (and that's why some good ones declined). She chose the tactics, formation, etc. She chose the training methods and what skills to practice. The list can goes on and on. It's just hard to imagine we don't have players in this country with a better first touch and soccer IQ. Maybe the USSF needs to hire more quality scouts. How the heck can Mexico look better than us? Really, it was a debacle and the previous U-20 WWC (which she ran) wasn't any better. Sorry for my rant folks, I'm still under the influence of yesterday's frustration. I'll be OK by tomorrow.
So, it had nothing to do with the players who played the game? Back in the day when I played, it never crossed my mind it wasn't on the players if we lost a game. That's cool -- if we win, we get the credit, if we lose it's all on the coach.
I admire the dedication you have for the former alumni of the Portland Pilots. That is certainly admirable. She's part of the Portland family, and it's good to see you're sticking with her.
I guess I'm looking at it from a totally different angle. Let's start from the beginning - hiring a different coach. I cannot help but think that a different coach would have had a different tactical approach, would have picked different players to fit that approach, and would have trained them differently to become efficient in that system. Sorry, I was ranting in my earlier posts (the loss was still too fresh). I'm over it now. It's not like any of us can do anything anyway.