Keep dreaming. Ellis could lose the next three matches and I think they still wouldn't switch coaches this close to the Olympics.
Brunn was nursing an injury, not her best night.. although Long and Heath were the weakest links. Heath especially, very poor defensively, and really stalled the attack. She can't stop looking at her feet and ball, missing runs, opportunities from her teammates. then, she often loses the ball or ends up passing back. heath played well the last 6 games, but it's back to her old self and how she's played for the last 8 years. Once Pugh was on the wing, the quality of play between the two was so apparent. Ohara also had a soft night..that second goal looked like a MNT goal. She got lazy.
Press is going to be playing wide midfield. I like how Fox said how good she has been as a forward in the NWSL and then per Ellis said she needed to be aggressive at the right midfield.
I know that there would be mutiny in the crowds of 10 year old girls if press ever played forward over Morgan but she isn't a midfielder. She scores goals. It's a waste.
I didn't realize Brunn was nursing. I knew Brian was & I thought she was a bit tame. However Brian was doing well coming back for the ball when the rest of the midfield was sort of absent. Long was a disappointment, & yea, Heath wasn't looking like she has been in the past few months which is disappointing. Dunn was doing really well so I was a bit surprised to see her come off. Her cuts & turns with the ball was giving Japan fits and I thought the attack lost a little bit of momentum without her. Press did some of the same but it wasn't quite the same. Also, it seemed like Christen Press went to the gym recently to work on her lower body strength & then forgot about it in the game, because man was she blistering everything in sight. Pugh was great. Every game she has that moment on the endline where she does an amazing job wrapping her foot around the ball for a tough angle cut back pass. I think it's strange people are talking about Morgan's two goals as if they were GK'ing errors. Morgans finish on the first was textbook: low/on the ground and not at hand height. Keeper will always have a hard time getting down for it to make a save, & I think the only reason the Japanese keeper got a paw on it was because she was so short. On the second goal, a driven ball into the six that changes directions after a dummy right in front of the keeper? I dunno about you guys but I praise a goal keeper that makes that save. I do think the Horan goal was a GK error... if you come out you gotta get it! Saw O'Hara's delivery being praised but really she had acres of space to make it from. The ball from Mewis was the difference maker for me. Seems like a small part of the play, but the cycle/extra pass is what was missing from the US attack before then. A CM gets the ball 25 yards out dead center & 9 times out of 10 they looked to go forward with it either to shoot or with a through ball. On the final equalizer, a couple of things happened. Sauerbrunn made a stab forward to intercept & misses, Allie Long sort of just coasting back in support, and Johnson failed to shift over to the only attacking player on the line.
Don't get me wrong I do agree with you but . . . we talk about how goalkeepers in soccer (and hockey) are responsible for the shot/the player with possession. So if it was a 2v1 JJ should always be responsible for the pass and let the goalkeeper or any kind of back checking defender deal with the player with the ball.
After watching a replay of the goal, Johnston should have defended the player with the ball and she would have made the goal scorer be in an offside position.
while the last sequence was less than perfect from everyone, including solo who didn't react or step up..but Long was the biggest culprit. When Brunn steps up and attacks, which she always does, the rest of the team...especially the dmid needs to cover. Long just walked a few steps...
I'm with you on Press but Morgan had a great game, scoring 2 goals. Morgan is the best forward in the world at spreading the defense. She makes things happen for herself and other. just ask Carli. I'd love to see more of Press and Morgan together though. I'd like to see this: ...........Morgan....Press............. ...Pugh........Lloyd........Dunn... ...................Brian...................... ..Kling..Brunn....JJ....Krieger... ..................Solo......................... Krieger is a better defender than Ohara...(ohara better on the attack) but with this line-up, we'll need the best defender at RB and Krueger is also very good at getting crosses in. Morgan, Press, Pugh, Lloyd and Dunn should at least score 2 goals a match between them..that's a lot of talented offense.
It just proves what other have been saying for ages now. Long has never been and will never be a DM. In fact as a #10, she's an average clone of Lloyd. I hope she doesn't get selected over Mewis who isn't a natural DM either but she doesn't leave gaping holes when she's asked to play there.
the US seems to have trouble with the supposedly slower Asian teams than the higher rated Euro ones(that they lost to China & tied S Korea last time they played those two teams, shows that). But that's cause Germany & France tend to push their fb's way up front and by doing that, leave their flanks exposed. Asian teams not only keep their fb's put more but do like to form a straight, 5 player line on defense and then 2nd 5 player line a little further up. Is is to crowd the passing lanes(and you could see how well it worked last night). Then when they finally do get the ball, without any fwds up front, the 2nd line goes into it's own offensive think tank by short passing their counter attacks(rather than the more obvious or used to, long balls). I've seen this sort of 'fireman' drills played in Korean training videos. Luckily the US there's only one true Asian team(China) that made the Olympics. The commentators kept insisting that the new J coach learned her lessons by studying the WC final games over & over again, but i think she took her cue more from the Ro qualifiers loss where J lost because the Matildas high pressured them while playing a rough house type game. Obviously the Nadeshiko looked a lot leaner & meaner last night as well
Hope Solo is looking less and less game fit/ready. Alyssa Naeher is having a fantastic season in the NWSL When will US soccer coaches realize that Solo is on the slope down/getting older and it's time to start giving her replacement(s) more game time?
When she retires? I'm not one of those screaming for Solo to be benched because I think by the time Rio rolls around, she'll be ready. (Btw, I've never seen such a clamour for backups to get caps on any other team bar this one). I do think she needs a break though. It'll probably give her a chance to re-focus again just like Lloyd's injury may end up being a good thing because she's getting an extended break too.
I wouldn't use 2 or 3 games to verify that the US struggles more against the Asian teams over their European counterparts. When they played South Korea the US was still struggling to find an effective lineup that included a broken down Abby Wambach. The loss against China was all about getting Abby a goal in her final match, which she wasn't able to do because her legs couldn't get her into a simple jog. No coach in their right mind would study the tactics from the China game to formulate a game plan on how to defeat the US. Recent matches vs Asian football squads: US 0 vs 0 South Korea US 3 vs 1 Australia (AFC member) US 1 vs 0 China US 5 vs 2 Japan US 2 vs 0 China US 0 vs 1 China (Watching the film on how to beat the US?.?.?. Force them to play Wambach!) US 3 vs 3 Japan Recent matches vs European football squads: US 0 vs 2 France US 1 vs 0 England US 0 vs 0 Sweden US 2 vs 0 Germany US 1 vs 0 England US 1 vs 0 France US 2 vs 1 England
First I thought it was a fair result so I have no complaints other than the usual stuff. - Thought JJ did everything she could on the last goal. If I remember correctly when Sauer goes forward JJ picked up the next player cutting thru who went to Sauers vacated spot. If Johnston just lets her go then she is alone on the left side of the box. Biggest mistake was no coaching adjustment/on field adjust when they got the lead at 89'. For the last 5 minutes their should have been four defenders and two DMs protecting the lead not just two CBs - Agree that Horan's goal was on the GK. If she doesnt get caught out that ball just floats to her. - As to Press, this was the perfect time to play her at CAM instead of Pugh. - As to the other press, the US keeps showing it has trouble handling it. France gave them fits until they backed off the pressure at SBC. - Solo - while I agree she has seemed off...again...all three goals needed to be stopped at the defender not by the keeper. The first two were good placements and her only chance on the 1v1 was to get out and force a mistake. Short of injury it's going to take a massive failure during the OG to force a keeper change. - Brian - thought she played well enough and believe if she had been in at the end she would have stayed home to stop the tying goal....but really have to wonder why she is taking corner kicks. Ellis did notice that Heath and Johnston connected twice for goals against Columbia, right? - O'Hara - personally I like her better as a situational sub than starting. While Krieger doesnt give u as much in the attack I think the WC proved that u r better off keeping other teams from scoring than trying to out score them.
Agree, and I would say a US loss would have even been a fairer result. Japan outplayed us for most of the match, until they went down to 10 players. Opponents, if they are wise, should take note from this game and the Colombia WWC game that the high press on the US works...until you get a red card. I'd also add that its the pocket where a dedicated DM would be that was completely overrun on the 2nd and 3rd goals. This 4-3-3 without a DM has worked when the team defends as a team, but when some of the midfield and wingers are coming back halfheartedly, then we're going to be exposed. On players: --Heath: She's been amazingly consistent the last year or so, but imo, bad Heath came back to play....lots of turnovers and not getting back on defense. --Long: simply not good enough, imo. I would rather see Mewis over Long because I think Mewis will sit back when tasked to do so although at times Mewis' play has been a little more spastic than Long's, which I just attribute to youth. --Pugh: impressive play but I think at this point in her career, she's better out wide. I'd rather someone else fill in at the AM spot. --O'Hara: agree with kernel_thai. I'd rather Krieger who has more defensive chops start, especially against teams that are going to test the backline, like Japan did. I'd have to rewatch the game to make comments on any other players as I was mostly too tense during this game to really make observations. Also a shout-out to Japan's Yu Nakasato for her first cap at the height of 4'9". This fellow short lady salutes you.
She also has humour and talks about her own height with good spirits; she posted this on her Twitter account: Erina Yamane and Yu Nakasato: the biggest height difference in a women's NT ever? (187 cm - 147 cm)
Solo made 1 save. Granted the Japan strikes were clinically...at one point in time Solo saves at least one of those. ps - Japan also hit the bar once. I'm all for Naeher getting some playing time.
I mean't the US usually beats the #2 & #3 Germany & France, US record vs France is 5-1 in the last five years, and we haven't lost to Germany since 2003. As previously mentioned those teams are notorious for leaving their flanks exposed. Sweden is the one team that actually has a winning record over the last 5 years vs the US, but they're more athletic and we've both had the same coach/Australia's style is quite different from Asians and we've well shared the same coach as well
They should have that really tall Japanese keeper as number one. The taller the athlete the more able they are to block shots.