Horan is the best passer on the team, maybe in the world. When the US offense works, it is because of her one touch, inspired passes. You're missing a great game... It is a somewhat of a problem that we can't get both of them on the field at the same time, because Mewis is a great, great player herself.
It's already been said, but the lack of depth at the outside back position is what concerns me most on this roster, especially considering the current state of the defense. While not a surprise considering the playing time she was getting, cutting Short who is a natural left back doesn't make sense. There is not a single natural left back on the roster, except for perhaps the starting right back! Our "depth" at left back will come from players who will be still learning to play the role while in a WWC. Yeah, that makes no sense. I do feel bad for Zerboni, but there are serviceable options as subs at the #6 (only serviceable though as the rest of the options are more natural #8's). And while I don't like carrying a recovering injured player in Brian, the WWC roster is big enough to allow for one. (I don't know about two of those though if O'Hara is not 100%.) Honestly, if I were Ellis, I would have taken Zerboni over Brian, but I don't know the current status of Brian's recovery. But I also would have taken Zerboni over Long, so there's that. On another note, I have to commend US Soccer on the media push on the roster. The videos and all were top notch.
Yeah, lack of depth at OB has been a glaring weak spot for this team. Short's snub makes absolutely no sense. I think we're totally screwed if Krieger plays, even more so if Sonnett is at OB. Hopefully, Davidson can play every minute at LB and Dunn every minute at RB, because I don't like any of our other options unless Short is a late replacement for KO. Seriously, what the hell are we going to do if Dunn/TD go down or accumulate yellows? Does Ellis really expect Krieger to play 90 minutes (or even 30) against a team like France? Sonnett struggles against tomato cans, does Ellis not see this? Rhetorical question, of course she doesn't. Did Ellis not learn her lesson with Heath at RB in OG16? Rhetorical question, of course she didn't.
Everyone's understandably nervous about the outside backs but I don't think we're as solid as we'd like at central back (as well as the goalkeeper position). I love Sauerbrunn but she doesn't seem quite the same as 4 years ago. And I like Dahlkemper but she does seem prone to one really klutzy move per match.
the French coach has just made major controveries, by NOT picking their league's leading scorer, Katoto, nor the strong phisical player from Barca named Hamraoui Looking at the lineups of Jill Ellis's greatest defeat(vs France at the 2017 SBC)' eight of France's players(that played in that game) aren't coming back(some have retired since then) vs only two for Ellis(Short & Williams). United States vs. France - 8 March 2017 - Women Soccerway so it seems that Ellis gets off the hook against arguably the US strongest opponent. But at the same time, France needs to think about beating other teams as well. so what would work against the US(Katoto speed burned both Dahlkemper & Brunn for a goal earlier this year) might not work against more disciplined NT's like German & Japan(as both Katoto & Hamraoui have had issues eith not getting along with coaches)/ here's an interesting tweet from Aly Wagner
Unpopular opinion but I wish Hallie Mace was given more development opportunities so she had a better chance to improve the WC roster. She has a couple of years as an OB and two years as a forward. Would have fit Ellis system if she had a few more caps under her belt
you also got to look at the 2015 squad's age at that time; Morgan 26 A-Rod 28 Leroux 24 Press 26 Heath 27 Halliday 27 Wambach 34(as compared to Lloyd's current 37) but one thing that Elllis got going for her is the shocking omssion at this WC of some of the world's top strkers, Katato(France) Harder(Denmark), Pajor(Poland) & POY Hegerberg, the only two on par with them is Miedema & Sam Kerr take a look how Harder & Pajor clean up for their club, Wolfsburg, in the German Cup final VfL Wolfsburg - SC Freiburg 1:0 | DFB-Pokalfinale | Highlights - YouTube whats the point of the World Cup when the best ain't playing? lol
She didn't learn anything from the Olympics; she has basically brought that team to France. Brian was brought for "experience" over Zerboni. But the LB and CB backup is Davidson, who has zero WC experience and only a few games of pro experience. I get why she brought MacDonald instead of Short (this is really the trade off); she was too weak to cut Lloyd. However, I find it impossible to believe that in the Quarters vs. France, down a goal, she would ever take Morgan off and put in MacDonald.
The contracts are between USSF and the players. If the coach had a say, Pia would have dropped Lloyd years ago.
Rapinoe is excellent at crossing whether from a dead ball or in the run of play. One of her weaknesses is defense and our set up and player selection makes me think there will be tons of space to exploit between her and Dunn.
Not unpopular at all. I find it odd you would feel this way as you've shown heavy support for the players in the lawsuit. Please remember the definition of equality and social justice also slams the door on new players breaking into the USWNT.
Pia? That was a long time ago. Sermanii was going to drop a bunch of them from the annual contract, which is why the team got rid of him. Again, you said Ellis is not the USSF person picking the players under contract. Who is it then? You were adamant I was wrong, give me another name. Who is picking the team if not the coach?
Very little I disagreed with in the rankings/commentary- https://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2019/5/2/18526305/uswnt-roster-squad-2019-womens-world-cup
I have but one question. Why take Morgan Brien? She’s not fit...she hasn’t capped for ages and she most likely won’t see the pitch in the WC. WHY is she going over someone like Zerboni who could have an impact?
I respect your opinion. I haven't seen it. And, my impression of her passing is a lot of back passing. But, I will watch her passing more closely.
Some replies: "In addition to being an immovable tank of a midfielder who won the ball 321 times last season — 118 times more than any other player!!!" ok, maybe I was wrong. "3. Julie Ertz, DM" I think Ertz is the player we can least afford to lose. "Alex Morgan, ST" I'd put Morgan at 2. And, it's impressive to me how much she has improved her off the ball play over the years. "1. Tobin Heath, RW" Another one who has taken great strides in the last couple of years. These ladies really disprove the common thought that players don't get better after the age of 23. Imo, Dahlkamper's best skill, and it's a beauty, is her long passing. I'd have Pugh ahead of Press as first forward off the bench.
My guess is that the player in the Ertz role has to have excellent offensive skills. With the 2 other CM's pushed up, that 6 is going to receive a *huge* percent of balls from the back line. She has to be super 2-way. Maybe Ellis just thought Brien is a better distributor than Zerboni? Same with Long?
I know it was a long time ago. That's why I used it as an example. Things haven't changed since then. If memory serves, Sermanni was opening up the player pool which included voting rights and the contracted players banded together to stop it. Of course, Hope Solo will tell you the players recently voted for Cordeiro because he promised to keep the contracts going. I don't know who the exact person is that handles labor relations for USSF. I do know this idea that every six months all contracts are decided by Ellis is false. It takes years to phase players out and things like marketability and PR are taken into account. If history is an example, the coach has little say.
With regard to Ertz, I'm recalling that in one of the She Believes games a commentator said she was having a bad game because she was all by herself in the defensive midfield and forced to try to cover too much ground. That's what I'm afraid might happen in the WC if the midfield is Horan-Lavelle-Ertz rather than Horan-Mewis-Ertz.
Really? Press and heath are in the best form of pretty much anyone right now. I would have Press starting over Morgan or Rapinoe at least some of the time. She was the only player capable of generating offense against Spain and France.
I think the Casey Short supporters and McCall Zerboni supporters are most disappointed by JE’s player picks. Being one ot the latter, I need to vent. I have to believe that McCall pissed off JE sometime in the past, maybe at UCLA, and JE still holds a grudge. Otherwise, there is no supportable coaching reason to pick Brian over Zerboni at this time. I was pissed off by JE saying: "you’ve also known what someone is like. Some of the players you don’t ever know until that moment that they’re in the pressure-cooker of a World Cup quarterfinal or semifinal, etc.,” “It’s everything when you look at a player: it’s not just what they can do on the field, it’s trusting them to execute. … On this roster, based on their psychological makeup, no one is going to melt." It is like Jill Ellis never met McCall Zerboni. The WNT has games 5/12, 5/16, and 5/26 before the opening 6/11 game at the WC. Stuff happens. Abby Wambach broke her leg vs. Brazil 22 days before the USA first game of the 2008 Olympics. Cheney got a gold medal. Yes, I went there.
As we've discussed, I'm a huge Mewis fan. But, does she cover more ground than Rose? I think Ellis is putting Ertz on an island offensive and defensively, almost regardless of who the other 2 CM's are, as she has those push up so high.
Per Chris Henderson on twitter: For the USWNT from Jan. 1, 2018 to Now: Player A: 81% pass completion, 5.7 defensive challenges won/90', 47.5% defensive challenges won, 44.3% tackles won Player B: 89% pass completion, 6 defensive challenges won/90', 60% defensive challenges won, 54.2% tackles won From a whole bunch of posts here at BS, you'd be sure Brian is Player A and Zerboni is Player B, right? Wrong. Zerboni is Player A. Brian is Player B. Those darned statistics ....