WNT v Mexico (OQ), Feb. 13, 2016, pre/pbp/post

She did this against T&T and the Irish but had trouble against China and Mexico

 

Although, I would love to see John Herdman's head explode at that outcome. I like many of the Canadian national team players, so I'm rooting for them to qualify for the Olympics.

 

Im not convinced Mexico beats CR. If Mexico comes out and plays Costa Rica may run rings around them.

 

I'm not terribly sure where you have ever seen Horan be a play-maker... I thought perhaps she could be one too (better than a deep 6 distributor, at least)... but she had some moments in the second half that has me thinking otherwise. She had several opportunities to make incisive passes from 20-30 yards out and failed miserably on all but one, of which she decided to shoot and struck the post. I would have passed in that instance despite the TV commentator going on about how she made the right call to shoot.

Horan is a forward & needs to be in the box on the receiving in of passes for a team that likes to build methodically and have numbers in & around the box for the final push in the final third. There is nothing at all about her or about how the USWNT plays that makes me think she is supposed to be on this team.

 

Thanks. Was hoping to watch this game while mourning the loss of Harry Shipp.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016/02/13/chicago-fire-trade-harry-shipp-montreal-impact

 

I'm no Fire fan (in fact I hate that team), but they have one of the worst FO in MLS. You guys deserve better than that hot mess.

 

They used the worst picture the guy has ever taken in that article, he looked old and feeble. Doing an image search he actually looks like a capable athlete.

 

I don't really like a lot of the new Canadian players, something about them just makes it hard to cheer for them now.

 

Yes. They traded away one of the most fan favorite players in Fire history for allocation money, whatever that is.
I was at Toyota Park this morning chosing my Red Stars season ticket seat when the news broke out among fans that were there.

 

oh, i'd disagree with that. she's done well so far, especially considering the circumstances. Mind you, remember when Carli was in the midfield and connecting every 1 out of 5 balls?

 

He is a good player. He played at Notre Dame, grew up in Chicago as a Fire fan and was brought up in Fire youth programs. He wanted to be a role model for Chicago kids.

I know this is for another thread, but here is his emotional letter to Chicago fans today:

http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016/...-chicago-fire-supporters-after-trade-montreal

 

Im not sure Lloyd as a deep lying play making is the model Horan hopes to emulate.

 

I hate canada more than mexico, I know mexico is supposedly our rival, but I think that's more on the men's side than the women's side. Canada is annoyingly arrogant including their coach. I really think after today, Mexico deserves to be in the Olympics.

 

But Canada has given us Rachel McAdams, William Shatner, Kiefer Sutherland, Rachel McAdams, Alan Thicke, Barney Stinson, Rachel McAdams, Drake, Nelly Furtado, Leslie Nielsen, and Rachel McAdams just to name a few of their peeps.

Edit: I forgot to include Cobie Smulders.

 

And the Canadian government did have the decency to apologize for Bryan Adams on several occasions.

 

First half is up on youtube. I don't think its up on NBC yet for replay.

 

You forgot the biggest name of them all - Justin Bieber. FWIW, I never listen to him.
I didn't know about William Shatner, though.

 

Mazza24 just posted the first half above.

 

I attended their game in May in California against Mexico and agreed, it doesn't matter the situation sometimes it's the fan experience and the first accounts, and the camaraderie with others watching the match. You realize how many people appreciate the USWNT. I had a blast in May and I'll never forget my times at the Phoenix Stadium in Arizona with the USWNT.

 

I'm pretty sure the yellow card to Heath was for dissent. Some may have missed it, but the AR makes the foul call (You can see her flag up signalling for the foul in the corner of the screen.) Right before the camera cuts away, you then see Heath walking over and confronting the AR about the call. Referees may give a little more leeway on arguing with them directly before issuing the YC for dissent, but you go face-off with the AR and its an easy caution.

 

2nd half up on Youtube:

 

yeah, I kinda miss the old Canadian players

 

I missed watching this game live, so just finished watching the game on Youtube.

I'm not as worried as most here. The US didn't look great, but I wouldn't say they looked terrible either. They created some chances in spurts and had some luck (and the post) go against them. The US had the majority of possession, and the game could have had 3 or 4 goals easy. A lot of credit goes to Mexico as well. They looked better than they have in the last few years and played some excellent defense albeit in a 5-4-1 bunker.

On the pk, can I just say how terribly Markgraf tried to explain away that handling call? Former players turned commentators are some of the worst at trying to explain referee decisions, imo. I'm okay with the handling call. I could see it not being given, but at the international level, an arm in an unnatural position (away from the body) when she had time to move the arm into the body is usually handling. Plus, while it looked like she's moving the arm behind her to avoid hitting the ball, that also happens to put the ball into a more advantageous position for her (away from the opponent and the goal where she can turn and clear), and at the international level, if the handling ends up putting the ball in a more advantageous position for the player, you have to wonder if it wasn't deliberate. So yeah, I'm okay with the call although I wouldn't say the referee was that great throughout the game...a few missed foul calls and a few called the opposite direction of what was expected.

The US generally did not show enough patience, as many have said. They also didn't do nearly as good of a job at pressing as they did in the Costa Rica game. The pressing and the general energy picked up around the 60' mark, imo, perhaps partly because of Press being on the field. The movement off the ball also improved around that point, which was an element that was severely lacking in the first half, especially in the midfield.

Lloyd--She would get the lowest marks from me, despite scoring the goal. Just poor touches throughout the game. I don't think its the sign of her slowing down overall, but just her inconsistency, which we've seen in the past.
Horan--ugh. In the first half, I could see what she was trying to do and was impressed with her vision, but she wasn't executing. At other moments in the first and second half, it seems like she just hasn't adjusted to the international level's speed of play; she does fine under pressure but often would play balls without enough pace.
Brian--thought she generally played well. She was connecting at times where Horan was not.
JJ--Needs a tutorial from Sauerbrunn on when to play short and when to go long. Especially early in the game, she needs to show patience.
Kling--had to go up against Ocampo who really had a wonderful game and just outmatched her. Kling actually looked better once she switched to the other side.
Krieger--I liked the width she was offering at the beginning of the game. But then that stopped and she started cutting in a lot. Actually it felt like we lost a lot of width in the attack in the 2nd half, and some players would start making the same runs. We just weren't reading each other, which made the overall play very disjointed.
Pugh--the switch to the 3 back with Pugh coming on for Krieger seemed odd in that we could have just pushed up Kling. Why take out Krieger? Or instead sub out Kling and bring on Pugh (or another attacker...I would have rather seen O'Hara personally.)
Morgan--didn't see a lot of the ball in the first part of the game, but she also didn't do much with it when she had it. She was one of the only attackers in the first half though who was making many runs off the ball.
Press--I attribute a lot of the uptick in energy in the 2nd half to Press who was making a lot of good runs. However, some of her touches were off, too. Bad touches must have been contagious out there.

It wasn't a great game from the US, but also not the worst. If you're going to have an off game, this wasn't a bad time to have one. And a result is a result; we still booked a spot in the semifinal.