Istria Cup - Begins March 2 - U23

I'm assuming this won't be televised. Correct?

 

U23 roster announced:
http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2016/02/16/20/10/160216-u23wnt-will-travel-to-croatia-for-istria-cup

 

UPDATE: Colaprico replaced due to injury by Michaela Hahn
http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2016/02/16/20/10/160216-u23wnt-will-travel-to-croatia-for-istria-cup

 

Except for Poland, who's brining their U19 team, naturally.

 

This is pretty upsetting and is the second big opportunity she has lost out on due to injury since the end of NWSL season. I hope:
1. nothing too serious
2. she is working with someone really good to address whether there is anything in her training or personal care regimens that could be further optimized for sustained health (interesting comments on this issue from Alex Morgan's recent SI interview)
3. she is good to go for NWSL pre-season and season

 

Some of the opposing rosters:

http://www.footofeminin.fr/FRANCE-B-Le-programme-et-les-adversaires-de-l-ISTRIA-CUP_a12182.html

And the French roster:

Karima Benameur, Claire Jacob, Laura Agard, Fanny Hoarau, Sakina Karchaoui, Charlotte Lorgere, Océane Ollivier, Eve Perisset, Marion Torrent, Aissatou Tounkara, Aminata Diallo, Inès Jaurena, Ghoutia Karchouni, Rose Lavaud, Léa Le Garrec, Julie Peruzzetto, Léa Rubio, Viviane Asseyi, Laura Bourgouin, Pauline Crammer, Sarah Palacin, Mylaine Tarrieu.

 

Poland U19 1:5 France B
Hungary B 0:1 Croatia

 

Starting lineups for USA U-23 - Slovenia

 

[GOOOOL] - USA U23 1:0 Slovenia

13' Groom#istriawomenscup @ussoccer_wnt @ussoccer @WSUasa @nzs_si

— Istria Women's Cup (@IstriaWomensCup) March 2, 2016

 

I hope they have highlights of the matches, at the very least.

 

Oh I wasn't sure if Groom was fit yet after her injury last year, good to see she's flying already.

Taylor Smith & Andi Sullivan have added tallies. It's 3-0 USA with a few minutes to go.

 

USA – Shea Groom 11th minute
USA – Taylor Smith (Jane Campbell) 79
USA – Andi Sullivan 87


Lineups:USA: 1-Jane Campbell; 6-Abby Dahlkemper (capt.), 18-Katie Naughton (4-Erica Skroski, 46), 2-Caprice Dydasco, 15-Christen Westphal (10-Kayla Mills, 46), 16-Mandy Freeman (8-Andi Sullivan, 46), 13-Christina Gibbons (20-Samantha Witteman, 84), 9-Toni Payne (11-Taylor Smith, 66), 17-Shea Groom, 3-Rose Lavelle, 23-Makenzy Doniak (21-Tyler Lussi, 66)
Subs Not Used: 7-Michaela Hahn, 12-Katelyn Rowland, 19-Havana Solaun

Stats Summary: USA / SLV
Shots: 17/12
Shots on Goal: 11/7
Saves: 7/7
Corner Kicks: 6/1
Fouls: 11/12
Offside: 6/0

http://www.ussoccer.com/us-under23-...6-u23wnt-istria-cup/160302-u23wnt-v-svn#tab-1

 

Wait, Campbell assisted?! You don't see that everyday. I'd like to see it; if anyone finds video, please post!

 

Wait, Shea Groom was offside 6 times? She must be back to near 100% condition, injury-wise.

 

[LINE UPS]

Poland U20 vs USA U23

Game is ready to start :)@LaczyNasPilka @laczynaskobieca @ussoccer_wnt pic.twitter.com/wgPxJjsNQM

— Istria Women's Cup (@IstriaWomensCup) March 4, 2016

[FULL TIME]

Hungary B 1:0 Slovakia
Poland U20 0:0 USA U23@ussoccer @ussoccer_wnt @FIFAWWC @WSUasa

— Istria Women's Cup (@IstriaWomensCup) March 4, 2016

 

It looks like we're using a wide variety of players, which is good to see.

 

Good to see a clean sheet. Disappointed we did not score.

 

Looks like we played a lot of the bench this match, with Rose and others not playing.
stats:

Stats Summary: USA / POL
Shots: 25 / 0
Shots on Goal: 12 / 0
Saves: 0 / 9
Corner Kicks: 9 / 1
Fouls: 14 / 11
Offside: 4 / 0

 

Hmmm...12 shots on goal, 9 saves, and no goals. How does that happen?

 

Brainstorming:

1. Ball stopped rolling durn long grass -- this would never happen on turf
2. Ball hit a teammate in the way
3. Ball hit a non-GK defender (this might be credited as a "team save" tho)
   
4. Ball hit the referee or other field obstruction

I suppose it's possible for the ball to trickle toward goal on-frame, but be so slow that a teammate has time to go from passive-offside to actively offside. Suppose you're in an offside position near the left post, shot goes toward right post but gets deflected mostly downward, bounces up above head-high, and while it's still 1.0m out, you run across the goalmouth and reach it first.

Actually, this did happen once: Germany won the 2014 WWC-20 after Nigeria shot toward the empty net very late, and a Nigeria forward chased it to the goalline and kicked it in, and was called offside. Replay showed that the ball had already completely crossed the goalline Instead of Nigeria winning at the buzzer, Germany survived and won 1-0 in ET. That would, indeed, be a shot on goal with neither goal nor save.

From thread "2014 U-20 FIFA World Cup in Canada":

 

Holy Moses! Glad I wasn't reffing that match.

 

France B 0:2 USA U23 (Groom, Gibbons)