Yeah Morgan could pass it to Abby and it would be easy goal, but it's not a big deal now since we won.
Every ********ing award ceremony they've played that. Okay. I get it. Haha. Kinda funny although drawn out during the Opening Ceremony. Let's move on. I'm pretty sure I said it on the Olympics board that the music has been... interesting. I also hate when they play "Another One Bites the Dust" during match point opportunities for beach volleyball. Even a co-worker who hasn't played soccer since he was a child and doesn't care for the sport was shouting that during the game.
And created Japan's best chance to tie the game. Whomever the USWNT coach is, they're going to have problems as long as nearly every club coach plays their best athletes up top. In our soccer culture, we're not teaching our best prospects to become defenders, nor are defenders rewarded with college scholarships and call ups like flashy goal scorers, speedy wingers, or creative midfielders. The US has NEVER had a water-tight backline, and we've ALWAYS depended on converted forwards/midfielders (like Joy Fawcett, not to mention Brandi). Of course, since central defenders mature late, not having a stable pro league is probably most disadvantageous at this position. Scorers and creators can find work someplace, but not many teams will use in international/premium cost slot on a back (even if they should).
I'm not sure I agree with her on taking the blame for that. Rampone had time to take one touch and look up to see the Japanese player coming. She then chose to try to touch it back into the middle to evade the pressure and the Japanese player predicted it to pick her pocket. Had her second touch been to the outside, with her speed she could have easily beaten the Japanese player to the sideline, and passed it upfield. Rampone had time to make the right decision and she didn't. That one is not on Saurbrunn, IMHO.
The difference is that Lloyd always does it. I knew even before she scored her second goal that she was going to shoot rather than pass and was mentally yelling, "You'd %#$#%^ well better put it in the net!" Morgan had two uncharacteristically selfish shots. And if she keeps doing it - and not scoring that way - we'll darn well start complaining about it.
That was almost certainly Rampone's fault for misjudging the pass. After which, Sauerbrunn played the one-on-two defense perfectly by defending the pass. The Japanese striker hadn't been thinking of the shot, and thus couldn't get it into the upper corner.
All right, since we're all basing our opinion on past year's performances to judge Carli, let's look at the stats to see how bad Carli Lloyd is: 2010 - 3 goals, 5 assists 2011 - 6 goals, 3 assists So, in the past 2 years while we were all forming our negative opinions of Carli's passing ability, she had 9 goals and 8 assists. That hardly seems selfish. How did Miss Morgan do over the same time period? 8 goals, 3 assists. So, over that same time period, Carli had one more goal and 5 more assists. http://www.ussoccer.com/Teams/US-Women/Statistics/2010-Statistics.aspx http://www.ussoccer.com/Teams/US-Women/Statistics/2010-Statistics.aspx And did you see the stats for the Olympics that Cliveworshiper posted? Carli had only 6 shots this tounament, and scored on 4 of them. So, if you cursed at the TV like that with every shot she took, you'd be happy 67% of the time! Like I said, she's just judged too harshly here.
I haven't watched a replay, in the moment I certainly thought it was a hospital ball at best. And it sounds like Sauerbrunn felt the same way. Regardless, she did a great job off the bench - my only point is that the Sauerbrunn/Buehler decision isn't necessarily all that clear cut . . .
Not correct. Official fifa stats are here: http://www.fifa.com/womensolympic/statistics/players/topgoals.html Columns on the right can be sorted by tapping the column header. Morgan and Rapinoe tied In goals at 3 Morgan's 4 assists tops the tournament list at 4. Thomis had 3. No one else, including Rapinoe, had more than 2. Assists is a specific stat. The pass has to lead directly to a goal. If there is ball faking and such or moves to avoid a defender subsequent to a pass, there is no assist, according to FIFA guidelines. There is also only one assist per goal max allowed in international play, unlike what you might see elsewhere. There is no stat, really, for the kind of play Rapinoe made, for instance, to free up Heath on Morgans second goal against France. Heath got an assist. Morgan got a sitter goal. Rapinoe got a " nice play". And for comparison, Marta got 2 goals and 0 assists in this cup.
How about comparing 2012 stats where Morgan became a starter instead of 20 minute per game sub. This year she leads the team in both goals (20) and assists (12) compared to Lloyd who has 12 goals and only 1 assist.
Correct, that was all Rampone. I've seen the match twice already, she was mediocre for this game and was mediocre all tournament.
I totally agree with you here. Rampone could have also kicked it out of bounds if the she thought there was too much pressure. She tried to get nifty and got beat. But she also saved 2 big time balls off the line.
haha...On her second goal, I was yelling for her to lay it off. a back line of krieger - saurbrunn - engen(rampone retired) - o'hara is viable..just need pia to realize it
I think it's pretty obvious. We're talking about a central defensive back position. Sauerbrunn is taller, faster, better-positioned and has a better touch. On the header that went off the post on that same replay video, Buehler failed to get a body on the striker. This is something we've seen time and time again. Remember when we played France in the WWC last year and how much different things were once the sub was made?
Not sure what you mean. Looking at the box score of last year's USA-France match, http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/matches/round=255993/match=300144449/report.html USA scored in the 9th. Bompastor scored in the 55th. Morgan came in for Lloyd in the 56th. Presumably she went in the offence and Cheney took Lloyd's spot. Rapinoe came in in the 65th for HAO. We scored in the 79th and 82nd. There was another sub in the 89th. No defenders were subbed in or out.
Yes it was. I can't think of a time in the last cup when Beuhler and Saurbrunn were in the same game, so I'm not sure there is a comparison to be made. If you recall that match, we didnt do so well in possession. The stats (about Fra 55%, 45% USA) were just about reversed from this years match. We had trouble linking the backs and the mids, which seemed par for the course in a lot of games in the past. It was, in fact, a worse game in possession stats than even Brasil, with or without Beuhler in the game. There is also this video: It shows that it was Saurbrunn Marking, I think Thomis, in front of Hope on Bompastor's goal, a play that froze hope because there was no body on Thomis. I'm not sure you can call that any sort of dominant defensive play to win that ball. It looks to me like she was mostly a spectator.
You're right. She could have put a little bit more of a body on the French player. That said, this play also shows Lloyd drifting away from midfield, which made O'Reilly cover the middle of the field, which left their wing wide open for that shot. This was the game where Lloyd was subbed out for Rapinoe, and Cheney was moved back to midfield. It was the midfield this game that was the problem.
Morgan was subbed out for Lloyd, actually. She and Cheney switched. Rapinoe came in As a straight up sub for HAO about 9 minutes later. I'd argue about whether it was the mids. France had 5 mids to the USA 4. France played mostly a 4-5-1, which meant 3 defenders for 1 attacker and they moved Bompastor up when they could to make it 6 in the midfield( she scored from her outside advanced position). That meant there should have been a defender always stepping forward to even the numbers. They didn't do that well, hence the possession issue. It also meant more running for our mids, and I think that contributed to the substitution in our midfield. it is why France always looks great in the midfield, but of course, they suffer up front with Necib alone, and they suffer in the back to speedy forwards on counters. This year particularly, we exploited their advanced defensive scheme quite well. Not saying it is all Saurbrunns fault, But that wasn't a game you could point a great performance in the back by Saurbrunn. They did not adjust well. This year, the defense did adjust mich better after the first 15 minutes. Beuhler was there, and neither score could be attributed to her. One was on Boxx, one was on Rampone.