Yeah, of all the performances out there Rapinoe's is not one that should receive criticism. Frankly, she was the match winner for the USA that day, best player on the pitch by a significant margin.
I watched her closely. She screwed up on the first, Press left her hanging out to dry multiple times, and how you could blame her for DeVannas goal is hard to understand. Also watch the reply on most of the pushes forward she was marked by a defender.
If you will look closely, because the play starts as an Australian free kick, Klingenberg is positioned as the right back on the play and Krieger gets caught in no mans land trying to get back from left to right leaving no outside defender on the left side. I'm a fan of Krieger's, but she's not playing at her normal very high level.
Did you ever think Kling lined up on the wrong side as Krieger is the RB and Kling is the left and maybe she was trying to get over to cover?
They likely had specific places to be or players to cover on the free kick. It's not unusual for defenders to have to momentarily switch places while realigning after a corner or free kick. Its a difficult moment in transition defense as you realign, but we almost certainly would not have given up the goal had Krieger remained in position until the danger passed.
So the US have won the first game, congrats. But in Germany people call the USA's style of play as shown against Australia "football from the stone age". (SCNR )
we'll see about that. I'm more curious about what people in Germany are saying about your men's team right about now?
I'd probably have to disagree on the best DM title for Lloyd, as I think that title goes to Boxx in her prime. However, I do agree on the rest of it. The crazy midfield lineup has been discussed A LOT the last few months on here. Ellis has said her reasoning for Holiday in the holding midfield spot is that she does such a great job feeding passes, switching the point of attack, and keeps possession, and Ellis wants that skill set in her holding mid. So as far as Lloyd as an AM, my speculation is that Ellis is trying to put the best XI out there and not the best player for each position, so if Lloyd is one of the best MF's we have and DM is already taken, then just throw her into the AM spot. Moreover, at the moment, I can't think of a regular poster here who agrees with Ellis on Holiday, especially considering the poor form that she's had lately. I don't understand why Holiday as a DM is continuing because wouldn't any coach want a player who feeds passes (esp the final pass) as an AM? But at this point, it seems like an Ellis' decision that we're stuck with.
Spot on...cant figutr out what Holidays value us...She was brutal against aussie gomma be worse v the swedes not good for us especially if she plays Abby
At lunch today, we sat next to a couple of very soccer savvy young Aussie women. I described to them the negativity that shows up here towards the USWNT and they were stunned. They thought it was incomprehensible. They also thought Abby deserved a lot more credit than she's getting -- their take is that she's very smart, she's an intimidator, she knows how to work the refs, she puts the psyche on the opponents, she has great intangibles, and physically she's a lot to deal with. I personally prefer Abby coming off the bench in certain situations, and I told them that. They think we underestimate the effect Abby has on a game. It was an interesting perspective from some pretty soccer-smart women who are outside the USA bubble.
Yep. Like I said, it's regrettable for Wambach to miss those two headers but she still helped out the team by her presence drawing so much attention freeing up space for other USA attackers.
The best way to respond to the Australian sour Shiraz is to send them home where their frowns will be upside down.
Top markets for #USA-#AUS, per Fox: 1. DC 2. Baltimore 3. STL 4. Hartford 5. San Diego 6. SEA 7. Orlando 8. Sacramento 9. KC 10. LA 11. PHL— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) June 9, 2015 Top three markets DC/B'more/STL. I am a happy fan right now. X-D
Living in Germany doesn't mean Germany is "my" men's team. But in general, people are impressed and say the US deserved their win, albeit claiming that the Germans hadn't taken this match that seriously.
Coppin,Georgetown,Saint Louis University, and University of San Diego would be disappointed you think so.
This has come up a few times in this and other threads and since I posted that tweet after the first game, I feel like I ought to clarify my position. Yes, I do think it's possible for a star player to have an inordinate amount of influence over team selection and substitutions but from my couch in New Jersey, I can't really even speculate on whether that is the case here or not. I really only shared that tweet here because it was, as I said, an "interesting" take. My gut feeling is that Ellis is trying to squeeze every last minute out of Wambach's international career. That is entirely understandable considering her prolific scoring record for the USWNT but eventually, every legend must step aside.
Ellis has been associated with some of these older players for so long I don't believe she can be objective as to when its time to change direction. She has been so invested in their careers that she cant see the forest for the trees. some of the players she kept on this team I venture to say may not play one minute in this tournament. "the reason I originally didn't apply for the head job was because I wouldn't have the heart to cut any of the veteran players" Jill Ellis
I was hoping they would show that on the broadcast, since I only got to see the game in person. If Holiday wasn't so damn useless at figuring out where the spaces and such were, Lloyd wouldn't have to spend so much time covering for her. I still cannot recall one positive thing that Abby did in the entire game. All she was doing was taking up space. It's kind of sad to see a player that at one point was unstoppable fall so hard.