Is the USWNT good enough?

I think the USA is good enough to win but probably won't. But I'll be rooting hard regardless of results.

 

In a knock out tourney, you're always lucky if you win. US and Germany each probably have a 33 percent chance of winning with a 33 percent chance that the winner will be somebody else.

 

I think the US has the talent to win the WC and I wouldnt be shocked if they won or if they went out in the quarter finals. I dont see any team as a prohibitive favorite.

 

I wouldn't be shocked, but I put that they'd get out of group stage. Anything else? Not sure.

 

IMO, we get to the finals easily enough, and have a good chance at winning it all, but I wouldn't guarantee a result either way. Whoever we play will have been through the wringer, and will be prepared for us. So many variables at play. Winning is not inevitable, and I must prepare for it going either way.

 

I think they will move away from "US style" regardless of the result this year. What I see as the baggage of a US win r four more years of Jill Ellis and no revamped roster until after the Olympics. That said, Id rather win and live with Ellis than lose in the hopes of getting rid of her.

 

I read a quote from some poster, not sure if it was here, that really captured it for me...Ellis is always coaching the last game not the game she is in. I do think Gustavsson has an impact especially on the defensive side. He was the big champion of Klingenberg and may have led the push for Johnston as well.

 

I agree. The one thing I wonder about is whether some retirements before the Olympics are more or less likely if we win the WWC. If we win the WWC, players could retire in a blaze of glory. If they wait until after the Olympics and we don't win them, maybe not such a great blaze.

 

Exactly..retiring off a WC win is a soccer players dream. I would be more worried that USSoccer would try and keep the winning team together for Rio more than the older players wouldnt want to go out on that note.

 

Last chance for the old guard to banish forever the shadow cast by the 99ers. It really has been nothing more than that since Tom S. arrived. And quickly departed.

Can the vets, with a small dose of youth, win the WC? In a word, no. I don't think the midfield can handle a good passing, good possession team. I doubt our midfield will link up effectively with our forwards.

As a poster said in another thread, there is a sense of entitlement on the team. The only thing that changes that are retirements. Which will come soon enough. Just not before WWC 2015.

 

I don't know where you get this from. I think there's a sense of entitlement from many posters here on BS and a tendency to blame the players and coaches in case the posters don't get what they feel they're entitled to. But I don't sense it on the team. I sense they're desperate, doing what they think will best get themselves ready, and trying to give themselves any mental edge they can.

 

If u feel the best team was chosen to represent the US at the WC then that's fine. For those people who feel the best team wasnt picked in the service of other ends, they just have to ask themselves why winning the WC isnt the top priority for USSoccer.

 

Well, of course if the question is whether the best team was chosen, it's a different discussion. But, the comment I was responding to was that the players have a sense of entitlement, which is a completely different question. What's your thinking on that, do you think the player have a sense of entitlement (which I think is distinguishable from they really want to hold on to their positions) or do you think they're desperate (I'm actually interested)?

On your issue, to be honest, I'm quite sure that no one in the world knows who the "best team" to represent the US would be. The only way to know that would be to try a myriad of different rosters inserted into the Cup in a Groundhog Day type situation, and see how they do, which of course is impossible. (I'm of a scientific mindset. To me, theories and hypotheses are simply theories and hypotheses. They don't represent truth until they undergo a scientific test that produces results that verify them, in this case meaning they don't represent truth until the World Cup is over. And, whether alternative rosters would have been the "best team" instead of the current roster is a hypothesis that, sadly, never can be tested, so it always will remain, at best, a theory or hypothesis that never, from a scientific perspective, can be said to be "true," no matter how firmly anyone believes it.)

And just because some people feel the best team wasn't picked, that doesn't mean winning the WC isn't the top priority for US Soccer. US Soccer may feel the best team was picked, which would be consistent with winning the WC being its top priority (even if it is wrong about whether the best team was picked).

On the other hand, I'll agree that picking the best team isn't the top priority for US Soccer, even though I suspect they think they've picked the best team. As I've said on another thread, US Soccer doesn't appear to think that women players are very important. The US men's team is the top priority for US Soccer. Which strikes me as strange (to be generous) since the women's team, in the women's soccer world, is several orders of magnitude better than the men's team, in the men's soccer world. In fact, it's startling to me that everyone puts up with it. Where's the revolution?

 

As for the rest of your post, I, for the most part, agree with you. However, it doesn't strike me as strange at all that the men's team receives more resources, more energy, more attention, etc. than the women's team. It has nothing to do with which is ranked higher. The answer=$$$$. The women drew over 35,000 in St. Louis, the largest home crowd since 1999. The men in their most recent friendly drew over 60,000.

 

I thought the starting lineup the US had vs NZ was as near as perfect as can be. Here Ellis is way ahead of Neid(who keeps experimenting still) With that starting lineup, we'll can beat any team in the world. The problem for the US is not to get worn down in group play as their playing some very physical & brutal opponents. Winning the group is a must! as at least they can recuperate in then what should be an easy 1st round playoff opponent

 

I dont really like the personnel as it applies to the formation. I think instead of either picking a formation and stocking it with the players who make it work or picking the players she wants use and then picking the best formation for that group, I think she has tried to do both.

 

On entitlement, I think u could easily put Boxx in the category. Whether Ellis thinks she is in the best 23 of the 25 she had u have to ask how Boxx who hasnt played at all in a year and a half deserved to be called up at all? Is Boxx the best American DM in the NWSL? Is she even top five? This wasnt about her winning the job over other DMs. It was about her being handed the job if she could show she was fit again.

 

I put that they will be lucky to make it out of the group and I don't think they deserve that. I despise most of the senior players on this team. They are horrible self-serving twits who don't deserve to win a World Cup and 3 of them should've retired from the NT by now. I will actually be routing for the Aussies rather than my own country.

With that said this will come down to which team is healthy and in the best shape. If the U.S. stays healthy and catch the breaks they could be World Cup champs. They are more likely to be eliminated in the quarters or semis though because they are an old team and simply not good enough possession wise.

 

I agree that if they can stay in it long enough their depth and conditioning begin to cancel out other teams technical advantages.

 

Update...

 

Well they still dont hold the ball well against pressure but Ellis has diversified the offense now with a much higher percentage of thru balls mixed in with crosses. They have taken a big step backward on set pieces tho.