10 goals given up in 6 games this year, including the Spain match. +1 goal differential for 2019 at the moment. This is a very dangerous way to compete, hoping our opponent's defense leaks worse than ours does. I REALLY hope it doesn't continue in June.
81' 4-3 Carpenter digs ball along our endline wide right almost to right flag, dribbles back to 15m, backpass to 25m wide right. Raso one-touch cross to 12m center, Kerr measures it better, jumps behind/upon Sauerbrunn(?)'s back and nods a header to right post, past Naeher's dive. 81' 4-3 USA subs in (5 of 6) #20 Allie Long for #13 Alex Morgan. 84' 4-3 USA pass toward arc top box left, Mewis chases center-to-left, Polkinghorne chases her and they bump torsos/hips and both slide head-first. Foul, yellow card on Polkinghorne. For that? 85' 4-3 USA subs in (6 of 6) #10 Carli Lloyd for #7 Abby Dahlkemper. Who's in the back now?
88' 4-3 Australia press in our 1/3, but lose it at ~25m center. Mewis sees ball going Lloyd-ward, veers upfield. Lloyd's 1st touch, she sees same thing and passes into Mewis's stride -- but overhits it a bit, Australia collect. Cross from the right to 6m center skims off heads, Lloyd's 2nd touch is a defensive header away past arc top left. Yallop (nee Butt, congrats ) runs on and shoots, Lloyd charges her down and sole-blocks ball -- up into Yallop's nose, she sees stars and goes down. Stoppage for head injury. 89' 4-3 Australia subs in (4 of 6) #19 Katrina Gorry for #Tameka Butt Yallop. +5'.
Our offense is OK BUT our defense and goalkeeping is quite questionable. We will continue to have problems with goalkeeping unless our keepers at least learn to catch high balls high and not allow the ball to drop all the way to the chest.
If the games in the World Cup are all like tonight's I think the fans are going to be doing enough drinking as it is.
Once again, I think some of the players that came on (not Lloyd) are better than some that start. I just have no faith that Ellis ever gets it right. In the end, its a win and we all walk away. However, you cannot bleed goals against England or France and hope to win To Australia - get a new goalie
90+3' (of +5') 4-3 Our backline is now Davidson, Sauerbrunn, Long, Dunn. Moar data for Ellis's scheming. Carpenter right throw-in at box top, long throwin to 7m right post, headed away back to her. Carpenter crosses to 2m center, Naeher punches it away? Australia pump in about 3 crosses, we can never settle and clear. Finally, Naeher jump-basket-catches at 6m center. 90+5' (of +5') 4-3 Off that punt, Australia promptly longball up box right for Raso(?) outracing our makeshift line. Naeher lets it roll to her at 6-top mid-right, finally smothers it. 90+5' (of +5') 5-3 Off that (booming) punt, ball bounces at 24m mid-right behind Simon caught way up. Pugh darts past her, lets ball bounce again to 14m mid-right, lifts a knee-high right instep low chip over Williams stranded way out at 6-top, drops it onto goalline center, and in. Pugh Pugh Pugh x Two.@MalPugh puts this one to bed! pic.twitter.com/sWPEBvd98Y— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) April 5, 2019 FT 5-3. Wacky, and now both teams are worried
Crazy game. Seriously. Also the scoreline reminds me of another Australia game when we won 5-3 or 5-4 or something, leading up to a WWC or Olympics. It was in Alabama. Whitehill and Tarpley were still playing...anyone know what I'm talking about? I need to go back and look.
All we need to do is plan on scoring a lot of goals against our opponent, and it won't matter that we let our opponent score a [slightly smaller] lot of goals against us, right?
Well, we give up 3 goals to Canada at the 2012 Olympics when Ellis wasn't coaching, so there is that. Although, I prefer a solid defense with less goals scored any day.
So the problems the US had in SheBelieves was apparently due to Horans absence but .... do you really think she changed much, if anything at all? I think all of the players in the midfield couldve had way better games and I am very confused on the Lloyd and Long subs. They really had no benefit to this game.
Yep. April/May 2008, a few months before Beijing Olympics. First game a 3-2 win with Lloyd scoring game winner in stoppage time. Second game the 5-4 result you mentioned. Australia came back to tie 4-4 (including two U.S. own goals), only for Hucles to win it in the 94th minute. Highlights below (video quality not the best, this was the "dark ages" of 2008 after all)
Wow, all I can say is wow. Seems like we had 9 chances and 1 goal in the 1st half and ended with 15 chances and 5 goals for the game. Salty, salty bunch those Matilda's. Sam Kerr is like 5 gallons of nitroglycerin just ready to explode at any time. Got to say at first blush we did prevent her from receiving, turning and dashing toward the goal (thank heavens). Final whistle + 2 hours and my heart is just now dropping from my throat back down to my chest. If they are not in the semi's this summer I'll be shocked. How about our Mal scoring 13 seconds (or whatever) after coming on. So happy for her. Any thoughts of Crystal starting in the midfield or forward is so laughable. If you are so inclined, please pray to your respective creator for the health of Kelley this Summer. On to Los Angeles to deal with crazy So Cal yahoos.
Wow, just wow. I am not hopeful of us advancing past the 1st knockout round. Our defense & midfield are way too slow, ballwatch instead of mark space, and there is way too much space between our lines. And offense, hopeful long balls over and over again? There is no short passing, 1-2s, give & go. It looks like we're playing 1990's soccer. It was distressing how many times I thought, " we look like the men " during that game. So disappointing to see our USWNT regress to this level. Australia is the best opponent we'll face before June. I guess, on the bright side, Ellis will be gone after the WC.
Australia was terrible in this game--not at all like the team that played us last time and led 1-0 until the 90' mark when the U.S. equalized. They didn't seem very motivated and were flummoxed in the first half by the U.S. high press and on the back foot most of the night. Their back line diddled with ball too much deep in their own end, which is not wise, and their midfield play was weak. Quite an open game. If you allow the U.S. to have the ball a lot in your end, we have the talent to score, and we scored a lot, and sometimes easily. I have to think Australia is still coping with the sudden coaching change--but credit to the U.S. for being aggressive and taking their chances.
Yeah I agree with what you're saying. We should have tried to advance our game to a higher level but Ellis is not to the one to take us anywhere. Other teams have improved technically, we really havent. As for short passing... I dont think Ellis likes that game. She certainly seems to go for big bruisers, not quick skill players. Rose is one of the few exceptions and she isn't that effective with those others around her. This is the same discussion we had 4 years ago and nothing much has changed. Ellis needs to go after the WC and I dont have high expectations we will win it all this time
I read through this thread and saw all of the comments about the lapses on defense so there's no use in belaboring all that. What I didn't see anyone comment about, unless I missed it, was what happened in the first 30 seconds of the match. Dahlkemper booted an aimless ball into a 50/50 that the US could not control and the midfield could not win back. The midfield actually looked like their feet were glued to the field. De Vanna, streaking down the left side, very nearly scored at about 20ish seconds into the match. If she had another half step on Sonnett it's 1-0 in favor of the Matildas. De Vanna, at age 34 or 35, is still very fast and dangerous. If she were 5 or so years younger, when she was even faster, it's 1-0 Matildas. Those are not the types of lapses that the US can be making. If Australia actually played defense and De Vanna had scored, that first 30 seconds could have been the difference in the match. The women could get themselves in trouble against a better side if that sort of play continues into the WC. It's always been a peeve of mine to see balls booted out of the back and into 50/50s. If a team is going to insist on playing like that with the result being immediate loss of possession, then they should be fighting with every bit of energy to win possession back. I'm hoping that O'Hara works through whatever is ailing her because it is apparent that she's needed. I'm also hoping that Krieger gets time vs Belgium. It was a head-scratcher as to why she didn't see the field last night. I know she's lost a step or two but it is hard to imagine her being less effective than Sonnett was. I also would like to see Mewis start against Belgium. I know that when Mewis came in last night she was one of the players that Foord torched and then Sam slipped when attempting to recover but she did redeem herself and was instrumental in the following equalizer by the US. Mew is should be in the starting lineup. It also seems to me that Horan is not fully recovered from her injury. All in all while I'm not encouraged by what I saw of the US defense, the game was entertaining to watch. Two of my favorite players, Tobin and Sam Kerr, kept me engaged and De Vanna is fun to watch as well. She still has great pace at her age. There are times that I wish Kerr and De Vanna wore US kits but our attack last night was a bright spot. As many have stated, though, we're not going to be able to out attack everyone.