Either I dreamed it, or I attended a match today between the USWNT and Italy. I was sitting in front of the press box, and could hear Rob Stone's voice, so it must have been on TV too. But no one is talking about it.
Probably because the game was extremely dull. The great US players again under performed under Ape’s coaching for a half and then put some goals in against an exhausted defense. It would be good if the US would play at least one quality team before the Gold Cup finals but it looks like the best the US will face is Canada in the finals of the Gold Cup for quite a while. CONCACAF is so weak that there is virtually no chance of the US, or Canada, failing to qualify for the WWC but these weak teams do little to ready the team for a run at the WWC in China.
Italy vs US I was actually at the match so don't have the benefit of TV close-ups and replays. Still, some observations. In the 1st half, Italy clearly had a game plan and stuck to it. Pass endlessly amongst the back four and look for the open seam. I think it was definitely frustrating the US who were hampered by some sloppy passing by the defense and lackluster midfield. Blown chances by MacMillan didn't help either. Not sure why Slaton was subbed out so early since she didn't seem to be the main culprit; she wasn't, however, getting as forward as much as usual so perhaps that's the reason. The difference between Hucles and Wagner was sooooo clear today. Hucles had a couple good chances early on but basically completely disappeared. It just wasn't working for the US in that first half. The second half success was prompted by a number of factors. The midfield looked much better, Italy tired (once the first went in you could see the shoulders slumping), and the passing all over the field became hugely better. Hamm's presence also can't be underestimated. I thought Fair had a another solid game although not as good as vs. Australia and I was pleasantly surprised by the partnership between her and Roberts on the right towards the end of the game. Unfortunately, MacMillan goes back to the bench—she's just so off or on, you know. Sometimes brilliant but today she seemed off and once Hamm came on the difference was immense in terms of effectivity on and off the ball. As I said earlier, Hucles was a non-factor. Lilly was wonderful and I think she not only should have been woman of the match but of the tournament. The defense started off shakily but improved as the game went on and as much as I love Sobrero I did notice how much more of an attacking presence Fair had when she played in the back. I think Sobrero still isn't used to making those flanking runs. Parlow was solid. O'Reilly I thought did well but her finish was one any forward should make and I think she is still young, i.e., runs around a lot but somewhat aimlessly. Roberts I thought had a solid game as well—beautiful pass through traffic to Hamm which led to the penalty. She and Foudy switched off but we'll have to wait and see how that works against tougher opposition. mingyung
here's a link to the FCM thread where people have posted things about the game. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=347123#post347123
Thanks for the analysis which is consistent with my impressions. Abby Wambach did not seem to be as much of a factor as I had expected -- pretty quiet, although she appeared to be playing well generally. Italy had two or three good scoring opportunities despite being dominated by USWNT. I was pretty impressed by Heather O's goal and assist because she kept her cool and did what needed to be done, not to be assumed with such a young player. The crowd was not very big. Do you think the high price of the tickets affected that? The crowd was also pretty quiet. I was pretty quiet myself... could not get too worked up about it.
Re: Italy vs US Lingering knee problems. Here is the full write up from the USSF site: http://www.ussoccer.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=22790&itype= Attendance: 3144 I don't know what is going on with attendance. Heeligan2 asked if the high ticket prices may have been a factor. I don't know. I checked TicketBastard several times this past week and noticed the price range was from $18 to $55. IMNSHO that is pretty reasonable. No one is holding a gun to your head to pay $55 for the good seats. For both Wednesday and today you got the chance to see two games within the span of five hours. I find that to be a good value. Was there any promo in the Triangle this week? I just hope this doesn't carry over to the Gold Cup.
Not that I mind paying the big bucks to support US Soccer but I do think this has affect attendance- at SAS and at Mitchell. Lowest price range at Mitchell was $22- that's expensive for the average fan. Just my opinion.
Re: Re: Italy vs US Read into this what you wish, but these are about the same prices you have to pay to see the men. Of course, if you're paying $55 to see the men, you're also sitting in the box seats in an NFL type stadium. I wouldn't pay $55 to see a soccer match at SAS. My guess, someone at SAS or whoever the promoter is badly overestimated the number of people who were willing to see the matches. And on top of me paying $21 for this, those bastages wouldn't let me bring my confetti into the stadium. What's up with that? Anyway, onto the game. Keep in mind I was at the match and don't have the benefit of videotape. So these are impressions based on who and what I remember. First Half Absolutely horrid soccer by the USA. Forget the spin the USSF put on things in their press release ("patiently chipping away" ). The Azzura (Bianca?) had a game plan and stuck to it: Pass the ball around until a seam developed in a fairly porus US back line. In other words, typical Italian soccer. This is exactly how the Italian men would have approached this game, even if they were playing the American women. I counted at least three different occasions where the USA were one misstep away from a breakaway. And then the breakaway came, we were lucky it was the slow forward (#11 I believe) and not the faster one (#9). I thought that was a sure and certain goal. To be honest, given the way the USA was playing at the time, a one goal defecit would have been a massive confidence drain. The Italian keeper had a marvelous world-class save on Lilly (I believe). Usually, that ball is a goal. Oh well, I just gave the keeper my "oles" and moved on. The defense, to put it kindly was porus, and there was precious little linkage between them and the midfield. Our offense seemed to consist of booting "hopeful" balls and hoping someone would run onto them. That type of offense won't get it done at the World Cup. MacMillan's finishing was horrible. If, as someone else said in another thread, this was the "make-or-break" game for her, it broke her. I missed the first blown opportunity, but the second one was a sign of pressing too hard. Instead of going for the volleyed golazo, she should have trapped the ball with her chest and simply walked it into goal. Second half Hucles reminds me of Ted Eck. Big body, no foot skills. Eck, btw, is a defender. Passing her the ball was just like passing it to the Italians. Finally we started playing the right type of game... pass it out wide, bring it into the corners and cross it in. That's how you beat the cattanacio[/b]. O'Reilly was a revelation, IMHO. The difference between her and Abby Wambach is the difference between Landon Donovan and Brian McBride. O'Reilly's speed of though is outstanding. Along with her pretty goal and the assist, she made some very nice off the ball runs into wide open space. Unfortunately, her teammates could not get her the ball. I look forward to many years of seeing her play. Based on this performance and what I saw of the U-19 World Cup, she is ready to go pro right now. Tiffany Roberts served up some interesting balls when she was out wide. I look forward to seeing more of her. Overall, when it was our first XI against their's, it was a dead heat through the first half. As the game wore on, and the subs came in, our class and depth showed. The final result was a lot closer than 4-0, but it was a good result anyway. Sachin
From observations at other USA/Nike Women's Cup matches over the past eight years, reduced price tickets are available from any and every possible youth and amateur soccer organization. On top of that, group purchases can drop the prices even further. The pattern has always been, buy the cheapest seats and then move into the empty seats (nearer midfield) once the game begins. Sachin wrote: Confetti ends in "i". Obviously an Italian word and therefore a serious threat to the USWNT and our security, in general.
Re: Re: Nike Cup: US v. Italy A good example of this is what the Washington State Youth Soccer Association is doing (thanks Chiefs for the heads up on this)... http://www.wsysa.com/news/articles/060602-wgcgame.asp Tix range from $14 - $50. If you go through TicketBastard they are $18 - $50 and the two day pass for 11/2 and 11/6 ranges from $30 - $100. A while back Tsunami posted a thread about getting discounted tix through (and Tsunami or anyone else please correct me if I'm wrong) the Spirit ticket office. My friend in SoCal got cheaper tix through this route several months ago than by going through TicketBastard.
Hucles was the reason why a lot of attacks died. I could be wrong. but I patiently wait to read what beulah thought about her.
Re: Re: Re: Nike Cup: US v. Italy The tickets were actually from Inter/Forever Sports, you just had to mention the Spirit to get up to 50% off, depending when you placed your order, no matter what category of ticket. Even now, they are 30% off...
I think they may have been able to get better attendance if they had gone about it differently. We first found out about the games before the end of the regular WUSA season when a lot of local folks were very caught up in the excitement of the Courage's successes. During that period, which included the playoffs and finals, they should have used the Courage's ticket personnel to contact Courage season ticket holders to reserve/buy tickets for the October USWNT games. Instead, as far as I can tell, you could not get tickets anywhere until September and the Courage personnel were not brought in until the last couple of weeks or so. By that time, a lot of the momentum had died and folks who might have otherwise gone were focused on different things.
I also think that they would have gotten better attendance had they held the games, at least one of them, somewhere else, in preferably a non-WUSA city. The WUSA cities themselves have been somewhat saturated with women's soccer and don't consider it to be a great treat. Even if it is the USWNT instead of the Courage or Freedom, etc. They should have had the games in other places around the U.S. Some in the west, maybe one in Florida, etc. And also, I wasn't pleased about Cary landing two games ... They held one on Wednesday, one on Sunday. Tix are kinda pricey ... If you're a parent with children who are screaming to go, you have your pick. They divided up their fans. == I live like 30 mins away from Cary and caught neither of the games. Though I had a few other reasons for not going, the main reason was I didn't want to go pay $20 for cheap seats to see the U.S. play half-assed soccer against some infant team like Italy or Australia. I fell asleep on Sunday around the 50th minute watching it on TV and when I woke up around goal No. 4, I was glad I didn't go. Nobody's holding a gun to anyone's head to pay these ticket prices, but let's not forget women's soccer still has not arrived fully in this country and we/they still need to attract new fans. Ticket prices do turn people off, and fast. If they can't get me off the couch to see these games, then how do they expect to get Joe Blow and his kids to come? --B
The ticket prices were way too high. I went to the Italy/Austrailia match last night and that set me back $15. I don't mind paying the price myself but for here on a Wednesday night that price was way out there on the supply/demand curve. That said, I don't think Cary/CASL or anyone local had anything to do with setting the prices. I think those were handed down by USSF and they seriously over-estimated the $ folks were willing to pay. I would guess that it'll be quite a while before there's another WNT match played here. Also, there was a serious lack of advertising. I heard this comment from lots of folks at all of the matches and when I asked where/how various people heard about the match, almost no one said they saw any advertising. It was all word of mouth, an announcement at a youth practice, etc.