They probably won't make the squad--but I've watched a number of NWSL games and Long and Klingenberg remain very good. Who crosses the ball better than Klingenberg? I think nobody, and Long has been excellent playing in a holding mid role.
Wambach's speech could be subtitled: Managing Riverbank Erosion through Lupine Predation I knew about this effect from National Geographic several years ago. Maybe she subscribes As for being the wolf, I was reminded of a silly factoid in Rice's Lestat novels, where Lestat (who's emotionally still a 17-year-old boy) fears no undead thing in the dark ... because they're afraid of him, and scatter. (And both sides are correct)
Yes, she scored against Nigeria, but she was the main reason why the team struggled through the first four games of that tournament. We were playing against a vastly inferior team but couldn't press them because of Wambach. Replace Wambach with anyone else and we can press and easily win. Look what happened the following game... ARod gets the start and we pressed for the first time in the WC and the team finally began to play better. ARod didn't even have a good game, but the whole team played better because of it.
Well, someone could point out that Wambach didn't start in the game against Sweden, the only match in the group round that the US didn't win.
Someone could also point out that it was clearly obvious that Wambach was out of shape, out of form and the worst US player on the pitch by far in every game she played in the group stage. She was benched for a reason and the team greatly improved once she was benched. Even when she came in as a sub in the Sweden game, the team clearly played worse with her on the field.
Wambach wasn't on the roster to have her play, she was on the roster because she could provide something from the bench that mattered. The same thing may be true of Lloyd.
Not sure where you got that from, because it's not true. Excluding Alex Morgan, Wambach played more games and minutes at forward in 2015 than every other forward on the roster. In the 14 games leading up to the World Cup, which included the Tournament of Brasilia in December of 2014 and every game in 2015... • Press played 13 games, 929 minutes, but almost every game was played at outside MF, which is where she played for almost the entire World Cup when she played. • Leroux played 10 games, 468 minutes total, 2 goals (both vs Mexico). • ARod played 9 games, 327 minutes total, 1 goal (vs Switzerland). • Wambach played all 14 games, 759 minutes total, 5 goals (vs Switzerland, 2 vs Ireland, 2 vs Mexico). The offense looked terrible, but Wambach was getting the majority of the minutes at forward between her, Press, Syd and ARod. They were playing a 4-4-2 in almost every game and Wambach was clearly the 2nd forward on the roster at the time, ahead of Press, Leroux and ARod.
I figured that from what actually happened in the World Cup. What happened there is what I anticipated, notwithstanding the facts you've referred to. Your facts have to do with the lead-up to the Cup, not to what the plan was for the Cup itself.
OK, I'm confused by all of this. You just contradicted yourself from the way I'm reading it. If she wasn't on the roster to have he play but come to off the bench, why did she start (3 of the 4 games) and play the majority of the minutes over the other options at forward (Press, Leroux, ARod) for the first 4 games? That's not what happened at the World Cup though. She started 3 of the first 4 games in the WC, so was clearly the first choice to start alongside Morgan. If Wambach had been productive at all, I'm sure she would have continued to start and/or play significant minutes. However, she barely saw the field again after the the Colombia game. She never entered any of the last 3 games prior to the 80th minute.
She also played effectively against Germany as a late sub, holding the ball and ultimately starting the play that led to the second and clinching goal. More not nothing.
No she didn't. I just re-watched the final 11 minutes after she came on. She never won a header, had 5 backward passes (under no pressure whatsoever) and had a couple lazy turnovers. One of the backward passes she made was after she jogged after a deflected ball that was near the corner flag. She passed 25 yards backwards to Klingenberg along the sideline who was in a non-threatening position. Germany was gassed and put no pressure on Klingenberg who then dribbled 20 yards laterally into into open space (while Wambach lazily walked backwards along the sideline) and dished off to Lloyd who assisted KO's goal. Saying Wambach played effectively, holding the ball and ultimately started the final play is beyond a stretch... it's just false. Our backup goalies could have contributed more than Wambach did in those final 11 minutes. She was practically non-existent.