Short has had enough solid games and is a good enough 1v1 defender to stick around. But she does need to calm down when she has the ball. She panics and turns it over too much. Not convinced Taylor Smith is the answer at RB. You can't just take every forward or winger and make them a fullback, as Ellis seems to think. I think Christina Gibbons is a candidate for either fullback position. She is good with the ball, is right footed but plays left back more often (sort of like Klingenberg except not so short). She moved to midfield for FCKC out of necessity, but for her NT future I think fullback is her spot.
I recall many almost chances coming after she either turned over or was beat badly or not marking her mark.
All in all, a bad outing by the US. We never did really handle their pressure and Ellis didnt really ever adjust to it. We get fooled by playing South Korea or other minnows when they come to town. Against better teams, we don't look so good. Canada came out, and mostly maintained, a high pressure game. We didnt handle that well at all and seemed to have no answer. I think we had 2 serious shots and one went in. It all goes back to Ellis not being able to make adjustments when plan A fails. I do like that she tries more young players. That is critical, ask Arena, but some need a lot more work. Casey Short for one. Nice speed but too many turnovers and seemed beat quite often. Way too many long balls over the top for me. Hoping Morgan could get a break...but didnt work. Mewis was poor last night.... turnover machine. Press was invisible So we now know what Canada is bringing. Lets see how Ellis adjusts for round 2. Canada is not as deep as us and only has a handful of skilled players. If Ellis can't figure out a plan for their high pressure then she shouldnt be the coach
I beg to differ, there's actually lots of up and coming talents coming up the ranks. Herdman is not afraid to start teenagers to give them experience so when the next big tournament comes around, they are ready to face the music. Contrarily to the men side, the women side in this country at the University level and in Ligue 1 Ontario are very strong and talented As we speak, the U Sports Championship is going at University level. From 53 teams across the country, we're down to 8 for the ultimate prize: The Gladys Bean Memorial Trophy WSOC: Score final: @WesternMustangs a vaincu le champion en titre @rougeetor dans la QF, 1-0. pic.twitter.com/Su7Efig8OB— U SPORTS Soccer (@USPORTS_Soccer) November 9, 2017 WSOC: QF #2 is done, with @gocapersgo beating @uvicvikes 2-1 to move on to the next round. #ChampSZN pic.twitter.com/7KEO9rDTN2— U SPORTS Soccer (@USPORTS_Soccer) November 9, 2017 WSOC: Score final: @Carabins a battu @guelph_gryphons avec un but en retard, 1-0 pour avancer à la SF. #ChampSZN pic.twitter.com/Wg8RmpiYAR— U SPORTS Soccer (@USPORTS_Soccer) November 9, 2017 WSOC: With four goals in the second half, @TWUSpartans beat @umbisons 4-0 to advance to the semi-finals! pic.twitter.com/yXhdFgA4SV— U SPORTS Soccer (@USPORTS_Soccer) November 10, 2017
I noticed Herdman did not play any of the new, untested teenagers - Riviere, Grosso and Young. Rose and Fleming are teens but are experienced already, and Huitema has a handful of caps. I think he wanted to play his strongest lineup at home, to have the best chance for a result in front of Canadian fans (they were very close to a win via Meagan Kelly, but for a nice save by Naeher). I bet he gives the youngsters minutes for the away leg.
Got to say, although I realize it was an away game, my daughters were a bit disappointed when the US players headed straight for the locker room, stopping only near the Canadian Fan Club to sign. They were both able to get autographs from multiple Canadian players including Sinclair. Two soccer crazy girls from Eastern Washington now say they are rooting for Canada when we watch on Sunday...:slow clap: The Canadian players even joked with our youngest about giving them a Morgan jersey to sign and included a few extra “Go Canada!” notes on it.
Some players certainly had a poor match. But the biggest advantage Canada had over the US was tactical. The US could learn from the Canadians. Most goals in this sport, even at the elite men's level, are the result of opponent turnovers. Either in the box in front of goal or as the result of counterattacks. When the US has been most successful they have always pressured well. Too often now the US pressure is sporadic, not sustained, and not all players are committed to applying it at the same time. Players back away from the opponent in possession of the ball in order to re-position themselves. They are clearly operating within a "structure." If there's any swarming it's usually because the opponent played into a crowd. It's opportunistic low risk pressure. Bend but don't break. This wasn't just last night it's been endemic to the team since last year. I strongly dislike this not only because it's passive but because it's net effects in my view are detrimental in the overall scheme. Obviously a defensive player may back off at times when there are no reinforcements behind and they want to hold up the attack. But generally players need to be able to be aggressive, committed, and unencumbered by rigidity in order to effectively and consistently trouble the opponent. Some coaches might believe they're playing the odds or a smart numbers game but ultimately for me it never works in the long run. But I have always been bemused by this tactic in all sports. I've always disliked zone defenses in basketball and I especially loathe prevent defenses in the NFL/college football. Troy Polamalu despised everything about the entire philosophy of prevent defenses and so do I...from the tactics to the attitude. It's great that Jill wants to improve the US sophistication. But improving the US technically is not mutually exclusive to applying high pressure against the opponent. The reality is most goals are going to come as the result of turnovers (the Morgan goal resulted from bad clearance) not length of the field surgical dissections. The tools she wants to improve can be put to use more often when the US actually has the ball and is in a position to threaten goal. The biggest part of that is taking the ball away from the opponent.
You mean arrogant like when Pia was the US Coach and would jump up and down high-fiving everyone after the USWNT would score a goal and the score is already US-8, Latin American country-0. That was arrogant to me. Herdman is OK. The US is so used to beating third world opponents 8-0 so many times that they need games like this and opposing coaches such as Herdman to face. I like that guy. The USWNT at times has plenty of arrogance to go around for everyone.
Huerta needs to play...I don’t get the point of forcing a position change then repeatedly scratching the player. Especially a player that is 24...
#USWNT XI vs. Canada9:20 p.m. ET, FS1 (TV coverage starts at 9)Rapinoe Morgan PressHoran MewisErtzO'Hara Dahlkemper Sauerbrunn SmithNaeherBench: Harris, Short, Sonnett, Lloyd, Long, Sullivan, Williams Scratched: Campbell, Franch, Huerta, Ubogagu— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) November 13, 2017 Only two changes from last game: Smith instead of Short and Press instead of Williams.
This is helpful. Dear Fox, Informing me that coverage of the game that you said would start on FS1 at 9 actually starts on FS2 at 9 because you think college basketball is more important doesn't help when I don't have FS2.
That was much better pressure in the offensive third to recover the ball than we saw in the last game...keep it up!
GOOOOAAALLL! How have people still not learned to mark Ertz on a corner? EDIT: I guess she was marked; Ertz just won that battle.
Alex has a very good chance to score, face to face with the goalkeeper ...Wow...Beautiful corner and goal from Rapinoe...US 1 - 0 Canada...