Davidson was my POTM. Her left footed service was often inch perfect. She really didn’t make mistakes on the defensive side either. I know she won’t play in front of Dunn but she was so impressive for a 20 year old....
I wish Endler could win Golden Glove, it's sad that her squad won't be able to take her that route cause I think she is the best goal keeper in the whole womens world cup tournament. It would be amazing if Chile managed to still make it to Round 16.
So we beat Chile with our B team, btw I think Ally Long should stay on the bench... first of all. Lloyd didn't do the hattrick and I hate to sound cliche but I wanted her with the oldest hattrick. She probably wont get it but who am I to say what happens next? Anyone else think the starters should get their feet wet every game of the tourney to stay on track or are they too good that they can relax like they did this match? Is Endler better than Bouhaddi? In other words, would France's keeper be better or worse and will Bouhaddi's defense sort of bail her out as a solution? So assuming with Sweden we start our A team and go all out... because we do want to beat them out of their "park the bus" method with us..... so we ultimately get past them this time or do we not? Likewise, do they eventually score against our questionable defense or not?
1.Are you proposing a rule change here, or a change in tactics? Because with the rules as they are, I don't think you can reasonably expect to win the tournament if you start the same team every time out... 2. Never had much of a brief for Bouhaddi; she's okay and has played well so far this Cup, but I don't see her as anyone special. I probably like Schult as much as anyone on any of the usual powers-- I have loved Bardsley, but not sure she isn't past her peak now... Endler seems better than any of them this month so far. 3. I think we should bunker against Sweden, myself. Make them try to beat us and counter the crap out of them. I think we bear them about 6-3 that way...
I think Sweden may lie down in our match and happily take 2nd, putting us on the other side of the bracket for someone else to deal with...then claim they could have beaten us if they wanted to.
Records by Confederation I made 2 lists for UEFA, their overall records, and their records excluding the 3 games where they played against each other (FRA-NOR, ENG-SCO, GER-ESP). Pretty dominating performance by UEFA as expected. They have 8 of 9 almost guaranteed to go through and Scotland has a great chance to go through with a win over Argentina on Match Day 3.
Perhaps the group that started against Thailand was really the B Team and the group against Sweden was the A team. I would start Press over Rapinoe, Lloyd over Morgan and then Heath on the wing. Ertz stays in the middle with Horan Lavelle. Back four stay the same except move out Krieger for O hara. But overall, it doesn't matter. The US could win with subs, starters, bench players, backups etc. They are that much better than the rest of the world. I know others on this board haven't bought into that yet, but time will tell. It won't be a close tournament.
Press should be starting over either Pinoe on RW or Morgan centrally. I'm not that excited about Morgan's thailand goals given her horrible form all year. Press has more than earned a regular starting position imo. Maybe it won't happen this WC, but I think she might start under a new coach and will be a locked in starter for the olympics. Curious to see if Ellis keeps her job if we win. It's not clear to me that Lloyd should be starting over Morgan, though.
What sort of newspeak are you practicing here? Throw out the Thailand game and her last 365 days is what, something like 15 goals in 10 appearances? Interesting use of "horrible…"
That would be funny. We win the group w/ a draw. I don't think we're built to counter with Tobin and Pino, but I don't think we'd see Jill play counter attack football anyway. Still, it would be funny.
Have you watched her this year since January? she's regularly been one of the worst if not the worst player on the pitch, both to the eye test and statistically. I find that people have very short term memory when it comes to soccer. Lloyd is in better form but I'm not sure if she can start every game at this stage in her career. Pinoe is not in good form either, and if you take her out of the game you remove Alex's most consistent service provider. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't see how our "A team" lineup is any better than the "b team" front line at this stage in time. in 2018 maybe I felt differently.
just getting around to commenting post Father's day. Happy Father's Day to you dads out there. Not much to say. Cept, i wanted to say i don't know how anyone could be critical of Morgan Brian, I thought she played well. Heck, we generated a kajillion shots, gave up no goals. None of the starting mids were a problem. i thought the full backs both surprised with their ability to play make. But, it was a weeeeak opponent, so who knows. Thought Lloyd showed a heck of a vertical leap on her headed goal. I imagine she works on that like crazy, good for her for it paying off. Not surprised she missed the pen. She strikes me as someone who could Coug it on pen, at any time. In fact, i was thinking, if the team was in a must win, must make the pen, situation, who would you have take the pen, of the players that were on the field. I was disappointed that the team didn't have McDonald, or even Becky (if she wanted to take it), take the pen. I know that won't be a popular opinion. Anyway, on to the good matches.
And that adds up to "horrible form? " M'kay... And yes I've watched every minute, often twice, and it is remarkable how constantly the other teams play to prevent "one of the worst players on the pitch" beating them...
Will be very interesting to see if Ellis can figure out the right combination of options for the right match. Not at all obvious to me which players work best with each other or against which opponents. A good problem to have, and if she doesn't get it right, it's probably forgivable, but I hope she figures it out.
Combined well with Press at times against France in a performance where everyone except for Press was pretty much bad, and her linkup play with Press and McDonald was good/very good in the second half against Spain. Superb eye test and statistical performance against Japan where she showed very good hold up play and link up play. She continued that solid link up play against England with some very nice flicks thrown in, and she had the critical shot in the lead up to Heath's equalizer. Morgan should have scored against Brazil, but she again was good in overall play in the first half as she had the through passes for Pugh's penalty shout and Rapinoe's disallowed goal. The second half was admittedly poor from Morgan. Another solid eye test (and maybe statistical performance as well, I don't know) against Australia as she scored the first, had solid overall play, and set up Sonnett smartly for Pugh's first. Solid second half against Belgium as she scored and was involved in the buildup to her goal, and she should have gotten an assist on McDonald's miss. I know most people disagree, but I thought Morgan was okay against South Africa and New Zealand, particularly New Zealand as she forced Nayler into a couple excellent saves on half chances. (Lloyd has been in better form lately than she was in before. However, it took a nutmeg from both Pugh and her to get her goal against South Africa, her first against New Zealand was a tap in with service Morgan never got in that match, and her second should have been credited as an own goal for Erceg.) I won't argue against any intense criticism for Morgan's performance in the first half against Mexico. That was poor, and she should have scored twice. So, this year, I have Morgan standing out as having two very poor halves of football (four I suppose if you want to include France) and many more okay/solid/great halves of football. I don't have short term memory; I just sometimes look deeper into performances. Agree to disagree though.
meh? true. false. she lost the ball in very dangerous positions a couple of times, one of which almost got brunn killed coming to her rescue.
Really? She had some good passes with lots of time to make them. But, if the USA had maybe 7 turnovers in the game outside the opponent's third, she had 6 of them. She gave the ball away with poor passing or just being dispossed on the dribble for just about every decent Chile offensive move. Chile didn't really try to play offense, but they were definitely getting turnovers from Davidson. But first WC game and all. Doubt she will play again.
Need a sports psychologist to comment on whether Naeher is now shot. She had one quick play in the first 180' of the tournament and she let the ball go right through her and into the net. She will be thinking about that every minute until Thursday. Not confidence building. Ellis has no other option, so hopefully she can get over it. I saw that someone thinks she did that on purpose to force VAR to call the offside. I can't imagine that is true because: 1. It is just easier to catch the ball than to let a goal be scored that would be ruled out. 2. This is her second game ever playing with VAR. The idea she has it in mind at the split second is crazy. Most people are commenting VAR is making so many calls because the women are not used to having it since no women's league uses it. Again, she can just catch the ball and prevent a goal. So much easier than letting the goal be scored to force an offside call for interference! Occam's Razor. With Chile pushed up, probably a counter attack waiting if she catches it and throws it out quick. She showed good throws to the winger in this game.
She has a short memory, in my experience, but she makes mistakes like that from time to time. Reminds me a little ofBouhaddi from France.
It's actually 15 goals in 20 appearances, which is great. I think she is still one of the most clinical finishers out there. I would start her over Press.
I do not think she is a good goalkeeper, although she may be the most solid of the US' current choices. However she is a goalkeeper and and goalkeepers that cannot or will not forget mistakes, as far as it effects play, will not last long as a goalkeeper. In coaching keepers it usually is said that every keeper must make every mistake there is at least once. The trick the good ones learn is to forget the mistake while remembering the correction.