You are not following the logic which the referee should apply. Was it a deliberate swing of the arm? Yes; nobody's arm goes 150 degrees behind their back when running like that. If the deliberate swing makes contact, then we ask whether it was careless, reckless (caution), or done with excessive or disproportionate force (send off). By definition, USSF says that the contact in this case should be sanctioned in the last category.
can someone please post the line-up in which the Freedom entered the match? I think I heard that 3 players were moved out of position to balance Bompastor's absence. I could see Krieger as being one. Which were the other two? Don't you think that creating a domino effect on moving players in defense and offense had something to do with the disconnect Wambach and DeVanna had up top? Would've been easier / less impact on the team to put one person instead of Sonia and leave all other lines alone? BTW.. I couldn't see McLeod screaming for that ball, so I think Kai's goal was on Cat.
http://matchcenter.wps.stats.com/wps-soccer.asp?lg=WPS&g=2009081511875 MacLeod Senty Whitehill Sauerbrunn Krieger Moros Lindsey Sawa Gilbeau de Vanna Wambach
sky blue moved many players around as well..seem a genuis coaching move to bring Kai off the bench...Rosanna and Hanks up top and white in at lef mid and Collete at attacking.....so we had 3 to 4 players in different positions that they had not played much in those positions all year and Hanks had not even played that much. Hat off to Rampone for taking a risk and it paying off. But maybe freedon does depend on bompastors too much.
Overall, thought it was pretty even game from a scoring chances perspective (both teams had few limited opportunities). That said thought Sky Blue brought "more energy" to game tday and controlled the midfield which was huge on hot day as allowed them to possess more and minimize Freedom attacks. The star of game was Kai who brought huge energy and effort to game and really was the difference maker. Not sure about second goal for SB thought keeper should have had it and defense played too soft on Francielle by giving her space to take the hard shot. NJ keeper was fortunate not to pay for her aggressive play (very risky moves). Well played game overall although pretty conservative by both team in 1H (probably to be expected given the hot conditions). Good showcase for the league and a playoff game.
i agree.. thought averbuch had a good game and your right the midfield of sky blue controlled alot more of the game..the 2 moves with collette and white were good moves ....they both play very well in the mid...
Yes she did but she got injured after she collided with Wambach. I CANNOT BELIEVE Washington didn't take advantage of an injured goalkeeper!! The Freedom should've sent all numbers forward and pushed it like hell because they KNEW that Branham wasn't able to move like she normally does in her injured state. The Freedom just didn't seem to have much fire towards the end and didn't even get many good chances after they fell behind 2-1. If they peppered an injured Branham with shots they would've scored 99% for sure!!
But they did. The only way LdV scored was because AW had clocked the 'keeper. With Kai and the two Brasilinas out there SBFC had a team that could go any which way. With AW and LdV, Freedom was going only one way - over or through you. Normally Bompastor would provide the unexpected changes.
I agree with you about the reckless part. Not excessive or disproportionate force. It was more like a soft slap. After watching the replay several times, it wasn't the elbow, it was more like the wrist and she didn't appear to hit her particularly hard. In fact, it appeared to me that she barely made contact, although the camera angle was pretty inconclusive. I think Kai went out of her way to make it look worse than it was. I'll concede the yellow, but not a red.
She came in and scored about 45 seconds after she entered the match, plus had even more chances, including one that hit the post. The Freedom really missed Bompastor, and thought they had the game in the psychological bag after last week. Christie Rampone deserves this win after what she's gone through after the last few weeks.
But she missed some games earlier in the year and they weren't that much worse off right? What was their record without her?
They still had around 20 minutes AFTER Branham was clocked and Washington couldn't even mount a sustained attack. All they neeeded was to get a few good rebound chances on Branham and she probably would not have been able to chase them all down but I can't even recall one good rebound chance after they fell behind 2-1.
Washington just didn't seem to have the desire that Sky Blue did today. The team that wanted the win the most won today. If they had attacked the goal a little more the freedom would have made something happen. The Freedom had a fine season and Wambach did turn her season around, but I don't think people would say this game was one of the better efforts the team put together. Heres to next season and hopefully a better defense. Cheers to Sky Blue - now go all the way.
I'm sure the Freedom were fully aware of Branam's condition and were trying like heck to get shots on her, but they couldn't. You have to wonder how much Wambach and DeVanna had in the tank at the end of the match after 90 minutes on a fairly hot day. Krieger and Long looked like the two that might cause some problems late and Krieger did hit the crossbar. I'm a bit surprised that Gabarra would use Huffman, because she hadn't been in a regular season game and was coming off of a serious injury. But I guess his options were limited. Sky Blue didn't give up a lot of corners or free kicks in their end. That, to me, is a major reason they won the game. Washington scores a lot on set pieces and headers. More so early in the year, but that's still when they are most dangerous. There were very few times when high serves into the penalty area were dangerous and one time when it did happen, the Freedom scored. DeVanna nearly got behind the Sky Blue defense a few times, but just couldn't get a break.
Krieger's had plenty of minutes in the midfield this year - checking the box scores (and my memory), she was the right flank midfielder in the 8/1 Gold Pride match, the 7/18 Athletica match, the 7/5 Sol match, and the 6/24 Breakers match. That's close to half the regular season games she played.
SCF, where you at the game? anything worth adding from your perspective? Gabarra looked all too calm at the 80' mark IMO.
After watching the match today, a number of observations. First, when I saw that Kai was starting on the bench I thought "uh oh", she's coming on fresh at the half to run at a pretty feeble Freedom backline who have been out there for 45 minutes already in 90 degree heat. Guess we saw how that turned out. Second, Freedom missed Bompastor more than I thought. Gilbeau -- please take a seat in the W-League bus. Guy sitting next to me said "Number 3, just great, we're seven minutes in and she's coughed up the ball three times already." Just awful. Third, Sarah Senty. I hope she has swine flu like Donovan, at least that might explain what happened today. More awful than Gilbeau. Horrible ball skills, bad marking, ugh. Fourth, Gabarra needs to get some more players like Wambach and DeVannna. They fight, they scrap and Abby's collision with the 'keeper could be heard on the sidelines. They aren't "soft", they come to play. Can't say much more about the rest of the team. At times they looked like a suburban girls' team that expected orange slices after the game. Long was in full stride at the top of the 18 when the game was 1-1, did she shoot? No. She diddled around like she usually does and lost possession. The marking on the second goal was worse than rec league. The Freedom need to develop an edge, they don't have one and won't win crap until they do.
I'm staring at another computer and the browser shows my comment posted a few hours ago, but it's not showing up now. Washington's midfielders didn't know how to play as midfielders.
Again, please read the instructional guidance from US Soccer. Deliberate striking which impacts the head, regardless of the force or intent (and, seriously, how many mind readers are out there that can determine the player's intent?) is to be considered SFP and the player should be sent off. Look at post-game suspensions to players this season from tape reviews which state that the referee ********ed up. This topic shows up every other week in the USSF professional referee review material. Sadly, many referees working the women's games do not think that the women play hard enough to hurt each other, so they downgrade or ignore the SFP committed by women's players.
I was at the game - you can actually see me as the large guy in the white shirt in the top row of the lower bleachers in the last section to the right on the far side. Had a bad feeling going into this game - Freedom not as focused as they were last week, what with the Thursday night volunteer bartending and the Friday White House tour. Seemed to be proved right. De Vanna seemed like the only player giving it her all. Wambach and everyone else not quite there, playing tentatively, without a lot of confidence. Sloppy play without a lot of teamwork: feeds down the sideline that were way too strong, crosses into the box before any blue shirts were there, etc. Sauerbrunn did well except for when Kai beat her and Whitehill. McLeod should have gotten to that second goal, but Gabarra said after the game that she'd been sick. Senty was awful, might as well have been wearing orange for the passes she turned over. Haven't looked at the numbers, but it seemed like a very clean game with very few fouls. Think the Freedom only had one corner kick the entire match. Sky Blue didn't provide many chances on set pieces. Will be interesting to see how the Freedom do next year assuming Abby comes in 100% and Sarah Huffman is healthy. It wasn't really a great game from either side, but Sky Blue came more ready to play than the Freedom, and they deserved to win.
Did you guys notice the large sections of empty bleachers on the ends? I'm sure you did since the FSC camera were pointed toward that side. Abby had commented how crowds had been great all year and there was a playoff atmosphere at the Soccerplex. She was very happy to be playing at home. So were some of you surprised at the empty seats because it appeared this game would be a sellout or close to it. Was there anything else going on that drew fans away?
I'm not sure what attendance was, but it looked like the average crowd we've seen this season. It didn't feel like a greater atmosphere. I thought it was actually one of the worst if not the worst. It was hot as hell and more people were huddled in whatever shade they could find, but the attendance wasn't bad for a week's notice and going up against a DC United match on CSN. I'm not sure who expected a sell-out. How did they run out of water at the concession stand so early in the match(before halftime)? I ended up having the last Sierra Mist.
As a neutral observer, the most obvious difference in today's match was team speed. Sky Blue made the Freedom look slow. And I'll state the obvious: they really, really missed Sonia Bompastor. Defensively, Sauerbrunn is the only one I would count on to be there next season. Whitehill is an offensive weapon, but seems to lose her mark at critical points, tonight being Natasha Kai on the first goal. She will struggle against any forward with pace. Senty had a bad night, and I don't think she is WPS material, a reserve at best. Singer was mediocre, and is not able to add much to the attack. None of them have speed, and it showed today. The midfield looked like they were running through molasses. I was a big fan of Lori Lindsey early in the season, but today she looked exhausted from the start, and wasn't making constructive passes - they were almost always backward. Sawa is class, when she gets the ball good things happen. But today she had to spend too much energy scrambling around defensively and getting physically dominated by Averbuch. Moros and Krieger have some skill, but speed is not in their favor; O'Reilly, White, Francielle, Parker...basically everyone, ran circles around them. The Freedom need more offensive options to complement Wambach and De Vanna, who are both great players and gave it their all, although IMO they don't seem to be on the same page all the time, in terms of their runs off the ball. They need someone to add the spark off the bench that Sky Blue had in Kai. The Freedom were fun to watch this year, but I actually expect them to be one of the teams with the most player turnover in the offseason. They have a lot of players who have a specific skill (Whitehill = free kicks, Lindsey = short passes, Long = one v. one, Gilbeau = crossing, etc), but aren't complete enough. As a result, they are not as dynamic a team as they could be.
I've seen a few comments about Abby and Lisa being tired early. Abby was gassed towards the end of the first half because she ended up having to go all the way back leaving Lisa as the only forward. Of course De Vanna made some great runs, but received no support and tired herself out wasting her time trying to hold possession for anyone to get up and help the attack. De Vanna and Wambach weren't always on the same page, but they were unified in their frustration with their own team's midfield and defense. I could go on forever about the match and how the Freedom looked, but a lot of it is the same old. The back line wasn't good so they needed extra help. McLeod made some costly mistakes. I'm not sure if she called a player off on the first goal, but that goal was a gimme with that much space. The second goal looked like McLeod misplayed the ball before the shot. The midfielders were useless and to say they just took up space would be giving the wrong idea of what actually happened. Positioning and passing were bad and it seemed like they had no idea what their roles were supposed to be. Even if they were poorly coached, a general soccer IQ should provide them with some clue of how to play in a formation. Jersey came out more aggressive, but Washington calmed things down and looked decent at times. Sky Blue punished Washington's defenders and midfielders with a high line and a little pressure. Turnovers were easy to come by since the Freedom players didn't know how to move or help to get out of a little pressure. It was frustrating to watch since even then the Freedom looked like they were a better team at times.