agree mostly with your post, although I would say that KO starting at right mid should be an option too, considering her performances at right mid have outshined those of Heath. Never liked the idea that players should only be "off the bench" players. The US roster pool is deep enough where everybody on a roster should be good enough to start, especially in a major tournament where you play 6+ games and there's need to rotate.
Sorry, but I don't see why being on this forum entitles you to the protection of that line, if you are going to treat people not on this forum (Jill Ellis) as not entitled to it. Calling Ellis dumb, even indirectly, is dumb. There is ample evidence that she is not, and very limited evidence to suggest she is. If you had been paying attention to my posts over the last few years, you would know that I am not an Ellis homer, and I would think the post you responded to would make it clear that I am anything but a Heinrichs "homer." I'll remind you that when Ellis was hired, what I had to say about it was that a coaching search committee is really not trying to hire someone based on what they had done already, but rather on what they were about to do. Didn't much like the hire, but it turned out that they got it right-- she was about to win the World Cup, and she and they are entitled to the credit for that. And Heinrichs seems to be producing in her current job, for all that I am loath to accept it. I don't like to be any dumber than I have to, and I'm starting to wonder just how dumb I have been about what I have thought of her in the past, so I thought it would be a good idea to broach the subject-- in case it gets "worse."
I'm in a similar place. I couldn't stand Heinrichs when she was HC, and I've always been deeply skeptical about her work with the youth programs. I was also livid - and I mean LIVID - when Ellis was hired. I thought the entire situation stunk. The weight of the evidence against my opinions is becoming difficult to refute. The number of excellent young players coming up is really astounding, and thus far Ellis' experimentation with those players seems extremely promising.
Not true. The players Canada rested were injured. Sinclair should not even have come on in that match; she was clearly hampered. And, the CONCACAF final was meaningless - except for crowing rights. I'm not familiar enough with England's team to be able to meaningfully comment, but there could be all kinds of reasons why certain players were not there (club releases, personal matters, nagging injuries, etc.) From your roster-release post in the International thread: hotjam, remember, this is a friendly tournament. Each country probably has a variety of different reasons for participating. Sending the best possible team to demolish the others and win the championship of the universe is not among them.
i honestly dont think she is starter caliber for this team, and i certainly dont think she's a better option than heath at wide mid. heath has her bad games as everyone does, but when she's on, the u.s. is nearly impossible to beat. o'hara is tenacious and more athletic, but heath is a substantially better decision maker and a more skilled and collaborative player. the other team does not want to see a o'hara type player come in at 70' when their legs are getting heavy. i mean you wouldnt want to see heath either, but it's not as much an "ugh". yes, u.s. national team players should be talented enough to be considered a starter for a high majority of national teams in the world. but some players are definitely more effective coming off the bench. true in all sports. you have to look at what each player brings and how they can be most threatening to the opposition. the most successful coaches master this. the skill sets of some players are better utilized in spurts as opposed to extended time. it doesnt mean they're a lower quality player. as an example (not the best one i'm sure), manu ginobli has been coming off the bench for the spurs for years while danny green has started because it's a much more effective game plan given their skill sets. since the 2011-12 season, green has played 26 mpg while ginobli gets 22, but no one would say green is a superior player.
BTW, during this "down" period Lloyd is supposedly having, she is, y'know, tied for the team lead in goals and tied for the team lead in assists. I know the goals is padded by PKs, but then again she's tied with Dunn whose total is padded with five goals against Puerto Rico-- throw 'em both out and the team leader is the ever unproductive Alex Morgan innit?
Is it time yet for Tobin Heath to find the bench? She turned her usual "I am running around aimlessly, and I pass the ball aimlessly" performance. I'm not sure why she still warrants a start on this team.
hmm...........CA rested Matherson & Beckie too(their 2nd & 3rd leading scorers) and started their 16 year old(Carle) instead and they pulled the same thing at the u20 final too. putting in a goal keeper with no previous experience instead(as well as sending their best u20's to a friendlies in Brazil) The current England squad also got 7 members from their league champs, Chelsea. Only a few got to play at the end(Aluko & Kirby), but didn't play; league mvp Davison, along with Chapman & Rafferty)
Isn't it time to for Team USA to begin to look at a Post-Hope Solo option in goal? I won't start a Hope Solo war here, but at some point, we have to move on and find another stud. This tourney seemed like a great opportunity to spread the starts around to other keepers we have, no?
What a ridiculous defense. I can't call you out for insulting someone on this forum because I insult people not on this forum? Quote me calling Ellis, or anybody, dumb, directly or indirectly. This is a place for sharing opinions, and we as members of Big Soccer are beholden to rules, written or otherwise. You can't insult other members is a written one last I checked, and it's one I follow and will gladly apologize to the offended party if I didn't at some point in the past. I certainly had my fair share of disagreements & challenged the opinions of others, but I've never gone so far as to say "you don't understand what your seeing". There is ample evidence that she has strengths and weaknesses as a coach. She is a more than competent defensive coach, but her attacking style leaves much to be desired. It's not an insult to question Ellis' attacking tactics as being ineffective. Nobody pays attention to anybody elses posts sufficiently enough to have the insight you're suggesting I should have. I don't make that assumption and neither should you. I will admit I was wrong in making the assumption you would understand the sarcasm inherent in the Ellis & Heinrichs "homer" comments. I'm sorry. I give credit where credit is due... the post you responded to quotes me as giving Ellis credit for being an excellent defensive coach, and I would add that, despite being forced into the change with yellow cards, Ellis was at least smart enough to see the changes made worked and she stuck with them to win the World Cup. I'm not really familiar with the role Heinrichs plays in the day to day activities of the USWNT. It's my understanding she's responsible for technical development across all the USWNT teams, not the managerial duties that we've all been discussing, ie making decisions to start/bench, who to call in, & adjustments to where players play, etc. That's Ellis' domain.
Let's bench Tobin and start zero flank midfielders.. Big soccer logic? You want to start another forward because O'Reilly is not in the picture and Rapinoe doesn't have ACL.
The swing from some posters here who comment "We never play good competition" to "Why aren't we winning by multiple goals and dominating all statistics" is leaving me dizzy. Lest we forget, England is a team that is #5 in a world where the margin between all of the top 10 or so teams is decreasing. They also happen to have placed third at last year's WWC, beating Germany. In other words, they're pretty darn good, and they played an excellent match with great pressing, great fitness, and some good looks in transition. The struggles we saw in the game and the narrow result were pretty much to be expected. Would I have rather that we had more possession and more shots on goal? Absolutely. I would have loved to seen more players in the offense show more spark as well. But I'm also not going to demand that we beat England (or France or Germany) with the same type of domination that we showed in Olympic qualifying. Its just two different tiers of competition.
I think Crystal needs to be renamed Well. Wow! What a goal. She's so petite, but man did she generate some awesome power on that shot. It was Shannon Macmillanesque. Even better, she put the ball past the GK with probably the best range in the world. Bardsley is tall, mobile and can jump, but she didn't stand a chance against that rocket. Oh and BTW, did Kling get credited with the assist since Dunn took one touch, turned and shot? I also like the run that Kling took after delivering the ball--it momentarily froze Well Dunn's defender. It was an impressive, goosebump pumping goal. These moments make fandom great.
We start a forward at CM (Horan). She plays another forward (Pugh) left midfielder. People wonder why are midfield struggles.
I was at the game last night. It was the first time I watched the women's team in person since '99. and....are the USWNT crowds always so boring? It had the feel of a group of people settling into their seats at the movie theater. People were literally whispering to each other during the game. There was one section that stood the whole game and had people chanting for decent chunks of it. Also, every time a foul was called against the US the portion of the crowd closest to the action would boo and heckle the ref (but never the whole stadium). That was about it as far as atmosphere goes. I understand that these games are still a family event, particularly in cities without a pro soccer culture, but I still feel like the atmosphere should be better, even if the crowd is 50% kids.
Actually, the antecedent to "you" in my post was not you but the person I "called dumb in a polite way." Perhaps I should have used "one" instead of "you"-- English does have a sort of a fuzzy space where pronouns are concerned...
Sauerbrunn is a legend. She's earned her way into the pantheon already. She's in my all-time best 11 for us. She is immaculate in defense. And, what CB have we ever had who does that flick over the pressing forward, trappable half-volley pass. When she turned the pressing German forward in the WC, it changed the match. And, I have no reason to believe that Brian won't be in the pantheon. She's gotta knock out Foudy or Boxx.
I was talking w/ a Brit during the WWC this summer. He was expressing amazement at the level of support of the team. "It's bigger than the men's game here." I just internally rolled my eyes and bit my tongue. Will just make it teeny bit better when the MNT beats them next time, them losing to a team that (allegedly) plays second fiddle to the women.
The only true winger on the roster is HAO. Unfortunately Ellis puts value in players who can switch and play multiple positions OK over those who play one position really well.
Imo, it's largely a function of our not getting them the ball. Especially not anywhere they can do anything with it.
I've long thought Tobin should play A-mid. But, we don't really play with an A-mid right now. Saw some match where she played centrally, as like a box to box, she had more bite than I expected.
Props to hasselhoff - this is one of my favorite sentences ever. I'll have to remember it the next time I'm in this situation, which happens more often then I'd care to admit.