Is France plagued by a bad coach, weird player selection, and stupid tactics? Most of the big name players missing from the roster for France de-selected themselves from the squad by retiring from the national team (odd given that they're hosting the next WC). I'm not familiar enough with the inexperienced French players to know if the new faces are weird selections or not. Nor if the new coach Diacre has been implementing weird tactics. I suppose Les Bleus fans will let us know. Your comments do seem to apply to Jones though. So far she's making Neid look like Ottmar Hitzfeld.
Sure it could have happened in practice but that doesn't change anything. Lavelle had already been singled out for bad nutritional habits. The point here is this. With the deep well of talent in this country there is never any reason to fast track a young player transitioning from the college game. Ellis coaches this team like it's a third world country.
March 1 Columbus - 6:00 54°- 35° Precipitation 30%-Day 80%-Night N 6 mph Gusts: 18 mph Cloudy, chance of a little rain - Day Sunset at 6:24 March 4 Jersey - 12 Noon 52°HI Precipitation 1% NNE 12 mph Gusts: 30 mph Sunshine and patchy clouds
SheBelievesCup is where players like Marozsan, Bronze and Brian get to see what it's like playing against Lyon.
US roster has been named (culled down from the camp roster): Mace, Lavelle, Hatch cut. GOALKEEPERS (3): 18-Jane Campbell** (Houston Dash; 2/0), 24-Ashlyn Harris*** (Orlando Pride; 14/0), 1-Alyssa Naeher*** (Chicago Red Stars; 24/0) DEFENDERS (7): 7-Abby Dahlkemper* (NC Courage; 14/0), 17-Tierna Davidson* (Stanford; 1/0), 14-Sofia Huerta* (Chicago Red Stars; 3/0), 5-Kelley O’Hara*** (Utah Royals FC; 105/2), 2-Casey Short** (Chicago Red Stars; 19/0), 22-Taylor Smith* (Washington Spirit; 8/0), 16-Emily Sonnett*** (Portland Thorns FC; 13/0) MIDFIELDERS (6): 6-Morgan Brian*** (Olympique Lyon, FRA; 69/6), 8-Julie Ertz*** (Chicago Red Stars; 58/15), 9-Lindsey Horan*** (Portland Thorns FC; 44/4), 10-Carli Lloyd*** (Sky Blue FC; 247/98), 20-Allie Long** (Seattle Reign FC; 33/6), 3-Andi Sullivan* (Washington Spirit; 8/0) FORWARDS (7): 19-Crystal Dunn*** (NC Courage; 58/23), 21-Savannah McCaskill* (Sky Blue FC; 1/0), 13-Alex Morgan*** (Orlando Pride; 135/81), 23-Christen Press*** (Houston Dash; 97/44), 11-Mallory Pugh*** (Washington Spirit; 30/8), 15-Megan Rapinoe* (Seattle Reign FC; 130/34), 12-Lynn Williams** (NC Courage; 16/4) Note: Dunn has not been in camp but will join the team in Columbus.
France is coming with an even weaker team than they had vs the German friendly fiasco as Renard & Delie wouldn't be at SBC Injuries are plaguing England as Bardsley, Houghton & Nobbs are out(those are 3 main/usual starters for them) Germany is relatively injury free, but as mentioned, inflicted with the strange coaching of Jones, who seemed to play with no CB's in their loss vs Iceland, but made a complete turn around vs France, going back to the more defensive classic 4-2-3-1. Even so, playing the ball from the back will be hard on them vs the US blitz on defenders All 3 NTs will have minimum practice time as their respective countries have scheduled club/league games this weekend
Seems like they are having trouble selling these tickets. Last year the NJ game sold out quickly. I think the reasons: 1. Red Bull arena can handle it's capacity but the surrounding area transit wise cannot. Fans showed up 2 hours early last year and missed the game because there was no parking. Took hours to get out. 2. The games were sold, and not cheaply, as a tournament. But then Ellis treated them as a farce with a 3 back system and Long at CB. Team played terrible. Told everyone that these games are just exhibitions; not serious. 3. Fans wanted a much different outcome from the President race and don't feel like supporting USSF. Even the Outlaws haven't sold their section. USSF needs to do serious work to win back fans.
This is Ellis's 'A' team. If they cannot show well in this tournament then it has to fall on Ellis. I see her as a Pia knockoff that is basically rolling out the same core players over and over while not doing enough to build for the future. Prime example... Lloyd. Shes clearly lost two steps, not a starter anymore, so why are we still capping her? Meanwhile she cuts Rose Lavelle. Why? has Lloyd discovered the fountain of youth? Just one example questioning her player judgement. Others, that she likes, get multiple chances to prove they belong. Prime example there, Casey Short. I have no use for her at all. Not too fond of Horan either but shes a lock under Ellis I still am not convinced shes a good coach but this tournament may help decide that. A failure here will bring back the shouts for her replacement. Anything else will prolong her reign until we finally get too old
Isn't healthy. If you were paying attention for any reason other than to carp, you'd wouldn't need to ask.
Update on England roster: Houghton, Nobbs, Carney out with injuries. Daly, McManus, Stanway called up. On that note, all teams, but Germany, are missing a captain who plays starting CB: the US is missing Sauerbrunn, France Renard, and England Houghton.
the Germans have a nickname for one their CB's Babette Schlecht! biggest match up will probably be their newly anointed AM, the pint size, Linda Dallmann vs Julie 'my hubby won the super bowl' Ertz personally Ertz should be too quick & physical, but fair warning, Dallmann got 8 credited tackles vs the over hyped Henry in the France game
oops! i posted above that mace, long, and hatch would be cut. i think lavelle's lack of fitness got me. because it doesn't seem to my untrained fan's eye that long is a better player than her. and i thought rose would be fine by now. again, this sounds like the opposite of what you historically have criticized ellis for. seems a convenient change of tune. i know you've made a distinction in this thread, but i certainly do not remember your making it before these recent posts. we were, most of us, delighted with lavelle's play and were glad that ellis was not just going with the anointed starters, but was emphasizing skill like we've been hounding her to do.
Well I certainly can't expect u to keep track of all the various complaints I have about Ellis . This particular barb started annoying me with the rapid ascent of Pugh, she of the uber talent but extremely short resume'. The topic at that time was about this sudden plunge into extremely young talent which I thought was as much about justifying that the US Youth programs were working as anything. These players aren't earning their way on, they r getting a pass based on potential. Young players who just make the team and get a starting gig out of it fall under the same category. Make them earn their stripes and while that is happening u can get a good book on them.
There is a lot of politics involved when selecting the squad. The coach is now rebuilding after the previous generation failed to reach a final for 10 years, hence all the players leaving.
Update: All 3 non-USWNT games will be streamed on ESPN3. Also the US women's national hockey team will be honored at halftime in the NJ game.
They r also doing something in Orlando as one of the victims of the MSD shootings was a member of the girl's soccer team. Friends of Marjory Stoneman Douglas soccer player Alyssa Alhadeff reached out, and @ussoccer_wnt responded. https://t.co/VbyiAEZSQS— espnW (@espnW) February 27, 2018
Ya may want to start playing attention 36 hours out. Columbus OH Mar 1, 7p.m. Rain - 61% Temp - 44 Real Feel - 29 Wind - WNW 18mph Screw it, getting on the plane this morning.
So the Dallas guy is headed north and the Chicago guy is headed south, One of these things is not like the other.........
Beachhead established .7 miles from Mapfre Stadium. When I landed you could feel it......I could sense their presence. No matter if its - Columbus Ohio - the bottom of the Pacific - the middle of the Sahara - or the surface of the Moon the fact that they have assembled is the ONLY THING THAT MATTERS. And wherever that is, it is the only place that you should be, the only place you want to be and the only place you have to be. 22 hours and 47 minutes to Sports Nirvana. Something about the Journey should come here. 65 weeks to France 2019 P.S. I am officially declaring myself a candidate and throwing my hat in the ring for the Position of General Manager of the United States Women's National Team. I am jackdoggy and I approve of this message.