USWNT vs CanWNT (OQ Final), Feb 21st 2016 pre/pbp/post

For a second game in a row, Mallory Pugh had an eye-popping, sick 40 yard pass on the ground that rolled through the penalty box, past both zona rosas, between the penalty spot and the six; meanwhile 5 or 6 Canadian defenders were flailing and could not do a damn thing about it. Heath brought the hammer with a nice one touch. Holders for placekickers in pointy ball couldn't provide any better service. Nipples stiffened.

I am heartened to see the derogatory comments on how douchey Herdsman is. I am waiting for a referee to tell him to get his ass back in the technical area. I was so hoping that US would have put a goal in the back of the net while he was in the stands (I am looking at you Carli). He really is so easy to detest. And, I thought his lineup was extremely arrogant--deux a zero--and your three CWNT legend subs did NOTHING. WTF, was that celebration going off the field at half-time? Dude, you have 45 more minutes to go--don't get so excited about the half-time orange slices. Finally, tossing his loser medal into the stands was gauche. Turdsmen, better watch out, somebody might go all Cubs-fan on him and send it back to him at twice the pace.

 

Do you guys think Horan should fill the spot once Lloyd gets too old?

 

Perhaps. Lloyd is faster of foot, has more range and is more of a bad ass.

 

Tobin is playing at the highest level I've seen her play. And I'm not really talking about her getting on the score sheet. She's not trying to take on double and triple teams directly. She's either finding an open teammate or she's using her body to shield the ball, moving around the opponent, rather than constantly attempting to nutmeg or dribble directly through converging defenses. She's capitalizing on open space and looking for outlets when the space isn't there. Nevermind her execution it seems like she's playing with a much different mentality.

 

So did Hornsby (only once; I was wrong when I said twice above; he came up one homer short twice). Al Rosen had one. Ted Williams had one (he only hit 40 homers in a season once - the year he did it he won the Triple Crown). Manny Ramirez had one. Miguel Cabrera had one (NOT his Triple Crown year) and came up a few points short twice. Vladimir Guerrero had one and came up one homer short in 2004. Albert Pujols had one in 2004 and came up a few points short on average twice.

Al Simmons, a lifetime .334 hitter, never hit 40 homers in a season. Stan Musial came up one homer short in 1948. Hank Aaron came up one homer short in 1959. None of Juan Gonzalez, Ken Griffey, Manny Sosa or Rafael Palmeiro ever did this. Bonds did his pre-steroids and was a few points short on average the year he hit 73 homers.

One other person did it who is hard to name unless you have baseball lore at your fingertips. Hack Wilson did it the year he drove in 191 runs.

It's a rare combination.

 

Yesterday at the end of #USAvCAN we tweeted "John Herdman threw his medal into the crowd" which led to ppl calling him classless. (1/5)

— Keeper Notes (@keepernotes) February 22, 2016

That tweet had no context to it & gave wrong idea. In press con, Herdman explained he gave medal to fans in hopes of inspiring people. 2/5

— Keeper Notes (@keepernotes) February 22, 2016

Important to note, he has done the same thing with medals in the past. 3/5

— Keeper Notes (@keepernotes) February 22, 2016

 

Herdman clearly a competitive individual, does not like losing, but over 10 days we've seen nothing to support notion he's "classless". 4/5

— Keeper Notes (@keepernotes) February 22, 2016

You can see context for yourself from Herdman press conference yesterday here: https://t.co/2Zfa82Uahj #CanWNT 5/5

— Keeper Notes (@keepernotes) February 22, 2016

 

Not that I want to say anything bad about Pugh but just to throw a dose of reality before they apply for sainthood. I think the pass that Heath scored on was intended for Lloyd and was about three yards in arrears. The only reason this pass doesnt join the pantheon of other US passes that were well behind their target was Heath did a great job getting in front of goal.

Pugh's genius for me is her a ability to cleanly strike the pass on a dead run or even reaching for the ball and still angle it totally away from the direction her run is carrying her.

 

Well the "problem with Herdman" could support it's own thread. For me, I really get the impression Herdman cares more about Herdman than anything else. Take the press conference after the match. He was clearly upset by the loss and he said the US was there to be beaten today. Well I dont have problems with coaches taking winning to heart, but Im not sure that actually fit the scenario. He decided to try something a little extreme and sat his three best offensive starters for the first 60 minutes. He did this because he believed the defense could hold for the first hour and came up about 5 minutes short of doing it. I didnt think much of the plan myself but if he was willing to take that big a risk he had to realize the odds were good it wouldnt work. So if the odds were against them and they were just trying something why so upset? Because if it works then Herdman outsmarted the US and if it doesnt his team couldnt pull it off. As it turned out Herdman just outsmarted Herdman.

 

Id bet dollars to doughnuts she told Wambach to retire on top cause she wouldn't be going to the Olympics.

Maybe reading comprehension is a challenge? I clearly said "I'd Bet" that is not being offered up as a fact but an opinion

 

which spot, are you talking about a reserve forward? yes, i do. I also think Rose Lavelle is a better Midfielder than Horan, so it could work out nicely. it was only 1 tournament, but the World Player didn't look like it.

The thing is, dunn is also best at the central mid spot..so is Press. I think Dunn will improve enough in the coming years to be a very good winger.

 

And your very next sentence was?

 

I prefer Horan where she is now

 

But you haven't seen Horan as a reserved forward for the senior team, so how can you prefer one role to the other?

I like horan in her current role as well as well. But as we saw towards the end of this tournament, Lloyd's level of play diminished. Maybe because it's early in the season. maybe because she's 34. But time doesn't go anywhere, so i'm sure Jill is thinking about who will replace Lloyd after the Oly's.

 

the attacking midfielder/Secondary striker behind Morgan.

 

yeah, that's what i was thinking you meant. i can see this happening in the future. just a lot of talent to figure out where to play on the field.

 

The most indispensable player on the backline is still Becky. I still don't get why did Pia sub her in 2011, it cost us the WWC title.

 

If Lloyd retired tomorrow I still woudnt move Horan up. Id start Press there

 

Pish! Horan has like 12 caps. Call me when she has 50.

 

I don't think it's a good choice. Press is good but she's only good at scoring goals, if you move her behind she couldn't dribble and pass much. Even moving Morgan behind Press would have been better.

 

We got enough players to play at this position ,but only Horan got the potential to fill Lloyd's spot.

 

Still looking for vid of the award ceremony which NBCSN was kind enough to edit out on rebroadcast.

 

Press played Lloyds position at least three times in the tournament including against Canada.

 

It was included in the NBC Live Extra Full Event Replays this morning. http://www.nbcsports.com/live-extra
You need authentication to see it there. It showed Herdman taking off the medal, but not "giving" it away.