Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Isnt it better to go down looking to the future, than remembering what used to be?
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden The two biggest lessons from the past three games: 1) The left side of the D is miserable. Not sure how that happens. How many years have we had to figure this out? Outside backs need to be athletic and quick- and neither Cox or LePeilbet are. Sauerbrunn should have been given a look. Either on the outside, or inside replacing Buehler. 2) Turns out, Krieger is a stud. Glad she decided to pursue the National Team full time.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden We definitely missed Heather O's vision which does get communicated to others. Cheney has vision but needs help. I don't get the sense of an "X" factor player on this team that really gives it that "do or die" attitude. Closest might be Abby, but she is no Michele Akers. Someone who mentioned the players smiling and thumbs up when missing a clear scoring chance is spot on there. What's up with that? This isn't some club match. They should be pounding the ground that they missed! So coaching, player selection...something is wrong. When you look at development, wasn't it Jill Ellis who started some of these players a few years back? The only time I remember seeing Cheney play dull was when she played for Ellis. NCAA soccer (and coaches) doesn't do much to challenge our players. It is easy to be on a top team and score/defend against weak competition. OHara wouldn't have been on anyone's stats if she played for Iowa. In contrast, Hope DID make an otherwise mediocre UW win.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden I like it. But we all know it's never going to happen. Lloyd is going to start for Pia every game she is healthy.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Only Morgan and Sauerbrunn are kinda new, the rest have been playing for the USWNT for a long time now.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden The US looked dominant to me. And I like the attitude of the players. It's not healthy to carry baggage around for very long. These girls look confident. And they'll take care of Brazil.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden A lot of your points are spot on, but I do think Sweden lucked into this win. The PK was an awful mistake by Lepeilbet . . . and on a play that I don't think would have turned into a goal without the foul. Our goal may have been a bit lucky, but Sweden's freekick had more than a bit of luck. The US team simply failed to convert their chances (and the Rodriguez miss off the crossbar was so close, I'm not going to fault her for it). O'hara's late chance should have been converted. That one's just down to bad finishing. As for the bad offside calls . . . I can only remember 2 of them clearly, but one was well saved by Solo before the players realized the play was called back, and the other was late in the game when the US was pressing forward to tie the game. The latter was a result of going down by multiple goals, so I don't think anyone could argue that on another day with better officiating, Sweden would have put 3-4 past us. Even with the glaring lack of production from the central midfield position, I think that on another day with slightly better luck, we'd have won this game . . . especially with better substitutions. The O'hara and Heath subs from the last 2 games, especially, shouldn't be repeated against Brazil. I don't blame Pia for trying them out in these games, but they were both pretty drastic reductions in quality over the players they replaced. The sub from today that mystifies me the most was the Morgan for Rodriguez sub. Rodriguez was playing well and was a constant threat, and the forwards weren't the real problem today. I've watched all 3 of Brazil's games, and I see less reason to fear them than in the last few major tournaments. They really don't look like the same team. Their 3-goal win over Norway was pretty lucky (though if the US wants to win, they'll have to finish better than Norway did . . . Norway was abysmal in that aspect despite controlling the game). And today, they struggled for a long time to generate dangerous chances against a really weak team (no, Equatorial Guinea did not impress me at all this tournament . . . the scorelines flatter them). Plus, they are at least as shaky as the US is defensively. I'm hoping that today's result scares the coaching staff into making lineup changes to replace Lepeilbet (I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a change here) and Lloyd (looks less likely to me, but she and Boxx were both pretty bad today).
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Agreed. the players looked carefree at times. especially when missing the open net. not the same mentality of previous WNT teams. I think, perhaps, that is also Pia's perpetual holly go lightly outlook rubbing off. The swedish team stated previous to the match they knew exactly how to beat us and are very familiar with our system, because of Pia, and our players....
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden [LINEUP-4-4-2]Morgan, Wambach, Rapinoe, Cheney, Boxx, HAO, Cox, Sauerbrunn, Rampone, Krieger, Solo[/LINEUP-4-4-2] I like this a lot. I think this is our best defense. This is the defense that played against Japan, and even if you say that Japan didn't look great, that defense was solid. I doubt we'll actually see this defense, but I do that there's a good chance that we'll see Cox for LePeilbet. We can pray for Sauerbrunn. Not to look too close to the future, but I'm looking forward to when Rampone retires, maybe seeing an Engen/Sauerbrunn center back pairing. I think that could be dynamic. It's unlikely Lloyd won't start, so I'd move Cheney up top with Abby. Or, play more of a 4-5-1 with Abby alone and Cheney playing AM, with Lloyd and Box behind her. Rodriguez does not deserve to start, and Morgan should be given more minutes so she cam actually have an impact. If we end up with a lead against Brazil, I'd definitely take Cheney out to give her some rest. We'll need her later if we can beat Brazil.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Fair enough post, but let me rebut. First, regarding Brazil. They are much more clinical in front of goal. And have speed to burn. Did you see the first goal? How was that lucky? Ball comes to player in the 18, she traps, juggles over an oncoming defender, and volleys home. Marta's speed made the second, even though they got a bit of a bounce on the redirect. Third was PK. And despite Foudy saying they have a shaky D, they have yet to allow a goal. They beat a Norway team 3-0 that beat us 3-1 right before the tournament. While I agree that they don't look quite as potent as in 2007 or in the Olympics we won 1-0, the lack of speed on our left side is terrifying. Second, in terms of solutions, I have to ask vets of this forum who've been closer to the team: 1) Has Pia ever tried Boxx at CD? 2) Is Rampone fast enough to play fullback? Has Pia ever tried her there? 3) Has Cheney ever played an AM role? Or even Rapinoe? Or A-Rod/Morgan wide? Those would be some of the possible solutions to me. Those seem the biggest problems to me, issues with the left side of the D (mostly speed). Lack of passing out of the midfield (Loyd, Boxx, Rapinoe have all struggled at times, and O'Hara was just awful). And inconsistent finishing. I know making big changes now seems a bit desperate, but that seems to me where we are. Colombia may be the worst team in the tournament, and we could have been trailing a vastly inexperience N. Korea team at half. First off, I'd pull Beuhler and get someone a little faster in at CB. Boxx, LePeilbet, or Sauerbrunn would be my choices. Second, LB has to be fixed. Cox in a straight swap. Or even Rampone if she can do it, though that would be a huge switch. If either of these can't be fixed, we could go 3-5-2. Krieger, Rampone, and Boxx in the back (OK, or another defender instead of Boxx). If you only have 3 good defenders, why play with 4? Lloyd, Lindsey, and Cheney in the MF triangle. HOR & A-Rod wide, and Morgan and Abby up top. Maybe could put Rapinoe in for any of the attacking 5 spots, but I thought she was poor today for the most part. It would be a huge gamble. Third, better possession and passing in MF, and more dangerous chances. I thought the A-Rod sub was crazy at half. Like in my crazy 3-5-2 idea, I'd get A-Rod and Morgan on the field at the same time. Along with HOR, we'd have some speed. Let Cheney and Abby provide the quality. Put Cheney in at CAM, let A-Rod and HOR go wide, Abby and Morgan up top.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Don't see Sauerbrunn coming in as you need experience in against Brazil. They're not Japan. And you don't keep Cheney out of the game to rest her in a knock-out stage of the world cup against Brazil if she's fit. There is no planning ahead for the next game anymore.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden I said if we ended up with a lead I would rest Cheney a little. And I wouldn't take her out until at least the 70th minute if I did that anyway.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden And whom would you replace her with? Is there another d-mid on the team except Boxx? Does Cheney even play center-mid? I thought she was played on the outside?
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden typical of usa to resort to long balls when they get behind...really only play semi-skilled soccer when they are ahead...
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Not that it took much soccer genius, but I think I called that one. Except for the mistrap in the last two minutes Cox looked much better, I start her. Once again, got to finish!!!
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden This team can learn a lot from the 99ers. In fact, they should probably watch a few of those games. Particularly, USA v Germany and USA v Nigeria. Two things: STOP with the freaking hopeful balls over the top and long balls out of defense. They are not effective because other teams know that is our primary threat. It's no secret why ARod is there, but we cannot rely on her to carry our attack. Secondly, the center mids need to make forward runs into space when we have clear possession of the ball to provide opportunities. Too often there were times when there was no one in "the hole" to receive an easy pass. This also helps to alleviate some of the pressure on our forwards when the central defenders have to press up. I would've said that we've stagnated in the Gregg Ryan era of relying on pure athleticism to win games, but even our biggest assets--speed and stamina--are gone. Where does that leave us?' There is more to the game than long balls over the top. The best and easiest attacks are textured passes on the ground into space. Remember how we played in 99 with Milbrett and Mia? We had pace, but we didn't just rely on direct balls. We went through the other teams by being creative. We faked passes, varied the speed of play and were tactically aware of spacing. That tactical awareness is what we're sorely lacking. As professional players, these women should know when to notice the space, run into it, and call for the pass. Don't just STAND THERE! Our inability to build up the play and develop a rhythm is more worrisome than our lack of pace in defense. If we're able to dictate the game on the opponent's side, we will be in good shape. Solo is good enough to dig us out of trouble when it gets to be 1v1 at the back.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Cheney has been playing on the outside so if she was playing on the outside I'd probably put Heath in. If she was playing forward I would put in Rodriguez. If she was playing AM I would put in Lindsey. I hope I answered your question. I never said Cheney was a dmid.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Some posts here are great-- describing the team problems and systemic problems. Others quite ridiculous--demanding panic mode lineup changes and playing people out of position But have not many of us send this train wreck coming ? My problem with Pia is that she is Bob Bradley. Plays favorites; plays players past their prime ; does not trust new blood even if she blooded them ; says all the right things but the team plays consistently lackluster. At least she's gone by this summer unlike Bob Hey man, at least we are not the Canadian federation. We'll be top dog again in another decade
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden I know she's not a d-mid. Just wondering why you would put her in the center with Boxx. Usually you have a destroyer and a distributor in center mid positions. Boxx is the destroyer and who usually plays the distributing role alongside her? Is that where Lloyd plays? And is there a d-mid sub to Boxx on this roster? I'm kind of out of it when it comes to the roster so forgive me for asking this. What happened to Chalupny? I remember she did pretty well when called to play left back even though she's a left midfielder(I think).
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden What's to be happy about? The guy is just a very well-paid fanboy! If he knew anything about world football, much less womens football, he'd have something constructive and "on the level" to say. As it is, he's ESPN incarnate, much ballyhoo for nothing but silly commercials and highlight reel videos. It's all about the hype, baby!
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Interesting series of tweets from Randy Waldrum of ND, attending the match with an NSCAA group. The most recent one: "Better second half but we looked like the team I saw prior to would cup..not much imagination..let's hope we sort it out."
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Foudy would do better not to criticize a team for celebrating a win. Should a team only celebrate after they win the cup? She came off very bitter there.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden i think a very accurate tweet....all they want to do is play so fast and furious....its just crazy..i never thought with a foreign coach they would get caught up with that style..but they have....faster, bigger, stronger doesn't always win and today showed that i think...swedes played smarter.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Yes, Lloyd usually plays as the distributor. I suggested playing a 4-5-1 with Cheney playing a high AM with Lloyd and Boxx behind her. And as for Chalupny, we'd love to have her but she had concussion issues and the team doctors won't clear her to play.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden It's hype- a LOT of it for the men's team year in and year out. For the women's team it's accurate. They should beat teams like Sweden- they dominated most of the game and had the majority of the chances. Essentially, for a US Soccer fan it was the mirror image of the USMNT's win over Spain in the '09 Confederations Cup [and even then Lalas's first words after that win were: "Spain's a better team...but not on the day."