me three. important game right after a big emotional victory over a highly ranked opponent. one day less rest.
I would normally agree with you but the USWNT knows that the big game they just won will mean so much less if they don't win the whole thing. Plus there is WPS and livelihood incentives that the French don't have!
I would not call it a trap game,as that is one versus a vastly inferior opponent that you take lightly. But like Ghana was for the Men, I wonder if their fitness will hold up to playing short for so long and chasing the game thru OT.
i've been thinking in those exact "ghana" terms since the end of the game yesterday. as the men have proved, you can play at the "nth" level for only so long.
I don't know if it's a trap game necessarily. I've been watching a lot of sportscenter today and have seen plenty of interviews the players have done and I think they recognize that this game means nothing if they don't win the whole thing. I think Abby even said that they need to keep it in perspective that they only won a game and not the whole thing. I think the US will use this as momentum to move forward more than anything else. Only thing that was semi-annoying was listening to Pia say that they need to celebrate this and not move on too quickly & start thinking of France. They cut away kind of quickly so I am sure she said more than that and was able to justify it a bit better so it was probably bad editing more than into to read too far into.
I share some of your same concerns but keep in mind that the French played an equally grueling match just one day before that also went to PKs. England was really physical with them. The only difference is one extra day's rest for France.
The key word in your post is "men." We are talking USA women here! They are ranked #1 in the world for a reason. The men are ranked #22 or whatever 20s ranking they have now! The USA like playing under pressure! See the Nike ad!
No way this is a trap game. This is the semi's of the WWC, no way you overlook somebody at this point. With that said, I believe the French women's pace will test the USA's backline. While we don't know yet what Pia has in mind to replace Buehler, whoever it will be will have more pace than Rachel, so that will help some. But Delie is a rising star and seemingly has a lot of individual talent, so Rampone has to mark her close and be her shadow all game long. We really need to see something out of ARod or Morgan in this game. Abby will draw all the attention, so there should be space to run off of Abby. Anyway, I expect an exciting, entertaining game.
ESPN is reporting that Pia will start Becky Sauerbrunn in Beuhler's place. As far as pace I think our backline was pretty well tested against Brazil. We handled it against them okay even though it didn't look the greatest at times. I think the move of Rampone next to LP was huge and hopefully Pia sticks with this against France. Agree though that France will have their eye out for Wambach after her heroic goal so we will need other players to step it up. We have done well so far this tournament showing off our versatility in scoring so I hope this continues against France.
I'm glad that's the way Pia's going, it's a better idea that slotting in Cox and moving ALeP inside. There's no doubt that the Brazilian women are more skilled than the French women, however I believe that the French women are even faster, and I wont be surprised to see Abily or Bompastor try long diagonal passes over the top to see if they can spring Delie. But Rampone has seen that before, so I wonder how successful that will be.
Very worried about this game. Coming off a big emotional high that required a lot of physical exertion. And the players can taste the final. Similarities to the Germany-Japan game for me. I'm concerned about Boxxy's legs after the 120min. And I'd be concerned about Rampone's 36 yr old legs but apparently she's a machine. An @ss-kicking (and yet underrated) machine. But the team played 120. And most of them have played full 90s prior. France is mobile & technical in midfield. Their forwards are very fast. Their defense is solid and attacking on the outside. It will be interesting to see if Renard plays to match up w/ Abby. She did not play vs England & missed marks on 2 German goals. But she was huge (literally & figuratively) for OL this year. If you're going to watch the Francy-Germany game and can watch the France-Canada game, do. It will provide some balance. They took Canada apart. Also, since my personal approach for the Brazil game seems to have turned out at least mostly ok, I'm going w/ the same approach for the French build up.
For all the well justified praise that Abby and Hope have gotten, Rampone might have played the best game....
She should have been the mvp of the olympic final.... Oh, and those kicker fools gave her a bad grade. pft. But still. 36 years old. 3 full 90s + 120. 2 days rest. Color me a bit concerned. I don't see Pia deviating from the starting xi w/ the Sauerbrunn for Buehler exception. Though I kinda wonder if Lindsey might be a good option vs France. France is good. Darn good. And they're fighting for respect in France.
While I'm eating crow for dinner following my prediction of a Brazilia...I notice that France against a good German defense took 9 shots on goal and lost. Versus Canada, France had 23 shots on goal and versus England a gaudy 33 SOG. I don't think France will have as many opportunities against our defense (Sauerbrunn is up to the task) and if our offense can score....Hope Solo is a level or two above the French goalkeeper duo. I'm optimistic. If O'Reilly can keep Bompastor occupied i think we're in good shape.
This probably isn't the right forum to post this, but I had to laugh.. Stuart Holden of the USMNT tweeting Megan Rapinoe-- stuholden Stuart Holden @ @mPinoe Great hair! We should have a hair-off! Great win yest, good luck the rest of the way! Bring it home!!! #usa 13 hours ago
A couple off-the-cuff thoughts: 1) France is stronger on the left side of the attack rather than the right because of how well Bompastor and Necib play off each other when Bompastor comes in from her left back position. Fortunately that's the stronger side of our defense where Krieger is with O'Reilly tracking back from midfield. That doesn't mean France's speed will be entirely negated but it's still a lucky matchup for the US. 2) After that marathon, I agree with others that some fresher legs would be helpful and the most obvious change in the starting lineup (apart of course from needing someone to take the Buehldozer's place because of her red card) is Lori Lindsey for Shannon Boxx. 3) I wonder how to change up the front of the attack in this match. I worry a little bit about Abby's ability to go 120 minutes again. (Actually I'm worrying a lot about it) We didn't bring Tasha Kai, did we? This would be a perfect game to insert her into the lineup since Rodriguez hasn't been especially effective. I generally abhor the idea of planning a halftime substitution in advance as many fellow BigSoccer readers do but because of the possibility of back-to-back overtime games, and our limited options at forward, this could be an exception. What would be the plan? Start Cheney along with Rodriguez and plan on substituting Abby in at the half or somewhere thereabouts. That allows both Cheney and Rapinoe to be on the field at the same time, and in Cheney's case, in her normal position. Use Alex Morgan as we usually do - as our supersub. (I think we've seen, haven't we, that she isn't particularly more effective with more minutes?) *** We didn't bring Kai and, of course, we miss Tarpley here as well. We did bring Kelly O'Hara, who I realize didn't look especially comfy in her initial appearance. I'll leave it to both Pia and my fellow experts here at BigSoccer to decide whether an O'Hara for A-Rod switch makes any kind of sense. I'm sure we can reach a consensus... *** This is also a game where I think Pia could put in Cox for LePeilbet if she felt the need for another set of "fresh legs". We would still have some issues dealing with speed (and France has speed) but, a) what's new? b) what's different is this - you're not defending Marta (and to some extent Cristiane) this match. You can use positioning to momentarily counter Marta's initial speed... and she'll still take you on and beat you from a standstill. There's no one else, not on France, not anywhere else, that's quite like Marta in that regard.
Very odd, I wonder i USSOCCER was so p---d of with the last non UEFA ref they had that they oked this just to get a competent ref. Kirsi HEIKKINEN is a good one, even if she is a bit heavy on the cards.
Very odd, I wonder i USSOCCER was so p---d of with the last non UEFA ref they had that they oked this just to get a competent ref. Kirsi HEIKKINEN is a good one, even if she is a bit heavy on the cards. (My favorite in teh 2009 Euro )
Nervous about this. It sets a bad precedence. Being from Argentina and knowing what having Seen an English ref doing a game with Germany and a German ref doing a game with England, it gives me the willies. It's the whole reason refs don't do their own region any more on the men's side unless both teams are from it. I suppose this means a UEFA ref for the finals as well. Only ones left, I think.
I just realized... Kirsi Heikkinen has already reffed one of France's games this World Cup - their match against Germany. Both coaches felt she was card-happy. Interesting...
I remembered the card-happy aspect when I saw her name. Very odd (and counter to established procedure) to have a UEFA ref in a game w/ only one UEFA team. Advantage France. Defenders pull out the dark arts even more against faster forwards. The French forwards are track sprinter fast and they know how to make proper runs in behind. LP, get ready, they're coming after you. The Swedish coach showed how speed up front running behind will beat the USA. And then there will be the expected Boxx & Lloyd yellows. Let's just hope they are later in the game rather than earlier. And USWNT players? Keep your mouth shut when you don't like a call.