My advice to the Dutch: Shoot the damn ball! Not that they had any good chances, but if you can't break through with the ticky-tacky go for broke. A la Sweden in several of their matches with U.S. I'd keep Lynn Williams on the team, because her speed creates chances. She's a low percentage shooter -- but is often in the action when the U.S. scores a goal. Best U.S. player on the field? I'd say Sauerbrunn. Or maybe Ertz.
90+5' 0-2 Ertz rushes a right throw-in, Purce takes it ... and immediately thereafter, FT 0-2. This trip was intended to reveal our weaknesses and expose our lack of matches. Instead, we looked more energetic overall, more organized in the back, and more dynamic when attacking. Netherlands 2(0)-(6)14! shots(sog), 9-9 fouls, 3-6 offsides, 4-6 corners, 62% possession. Our kids looked decent for their 1st caps. Ln.Williams had a typical day for her, creating 8+ chances and missing most of them, but getting the 1 assist that counts (+1 that almost counted). That's more production than all of Netherlands managed.
I saw the first half which US through Rose scored a goal but how pathetic it is that the team had no fresh ideas and had to stick to going deep into the end line and tried to get the ball out which the Netherlands were expecting and blocked. I hope the coach can give the team new ideas such as one-two in the center. The forwards seem to be very rusty and shot all the balls high and wide. We are lucky to have Rose there and surely missed the talent of Alex Morgan. Let's hope US will have a better second half.
Agree on the no new ideas part. We have always played this way forever and I dont see much changing but am hoping. Alex Morgan played in the second half and was mostly invisible except one offsides goal she scored that was not allowed. I am not at all a fan of Lynn Williams. Speed is good but when you consistently shoot it into row 30... what good is it? I think we still need some work in some positions but when the #4 ranked team can't get a shot and looked totally second class.... i guess it really doesnt matter too much. No real complaints on anybody besides williams. Didnt see enough of the newbies to have much of an opinion.
Given that Williams provided the assist for Mewis's goal, and the assist to Alex Morgan's two-inch-offside, almost goal, plus the fact that Williams leads the USWNT in assists this year, despite not being a regular starter, I'll forgive her tendency to send her shots into orbit. The team scores goals when she's on the field.
I missed watching the game live, so thanks! Overall, I'd say the team looked good despite the long gap since playing a game. Most players looked fairly fit, too, and some hadn't played at all since July, so I'm impressed. Yes, there were rusty touches and runs, but it's what I would expect. As for individual players, I was especially impressed by the starting midfield, Mewis and Lavelle in particular. Lavelle's goal was just a banger. It was good to see Morgan back, and even though some touches were off, I don't think it was any more so than other players. Sophia Smith did well in her debut, looking like she belonged out there. As for Williams, whose play seems like a talking point here, I'm not sure on the stats for this game, but my impression was that she was more productive than Heath and covers more ground than almost any other player on the front line. She does put lots of shots off target, but she still gets more shots off and is often good for a goal or assist. I think she's 3rd on the team this year for goals and first in assists (and yeah, I know we've only played 9 games this year, but still...). Also Vlatko is high on her, so I think she's going to stick around, at least as a depth player. Finally, I was especially happy with seeing Sauerbrunn back with the captain's armband, and I also think she did well on the backline. (Dunn did as well; Sonnett and Purce were noticeably step downs from Dunn and O'Hara, even though the defense didn't have a lot to do for much of the game.) Who knows if we'll ever know about why Ellis took the captain's armband away from her, or whether or not Sauerbrunn will keep the armband once other regulars are back, but regardless of whether she wears it or not, she's a leader on the team. EDIT to add: Also I'm very happy to see Kristie Mewis back with the team and scoring a goal. What a storyline she's had this year!
I just watched the Match replay twice on DVR, my therapist was extremely concerned about me suffering an episode of acute Separation Anxiety if I watched a live USWNT Match on TV. It absolutely doesn’t matter: the opponent doesn’t matter, the Continent doesn’t matter, the Season doesn’t matter, the Venue doesn’t matter, the Weather doesn’t matter, the Pandemic related lay-off doesn’t matter, the planet Earth which spins on its axis and revolves around the Sun, which orbits in an ellipse around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is being pulled towards Andromeda within our local group, which is being pushed around inside our cosmic supercluster Laniakea DOES NOT MATTER. Hmmmm, what does matter you ask - - - 23 incredible, amazing, gifted, unbelievable, remarkable, fantastic, astonishing, awesome (check that) completely and totally awesome, talented, 2-time reigning World Cup Champion American Women……….That is what MATTERS. Rose, what can you say, there seems to be a pattern emerging with her and the Dutch. I believe Rose has to pay property tax in the Kingdom of the Netherlands because she owns them. So overjoyed for Kristie, that’s Cloud 9 type of stuff. Half-time segment on the Mewii (yes, that’s a thing) and as if right on que - a Goal in the second half. The Producers at ESPN in Connecticut had to be High-fiving. Last CAP was 2014 - - did the announcers ever say if that was the longest length of time between USWNT CAPS? One correction from the TV Broadcast - - Lynn Williams is not fast, whatever is on the other side of fast………THAT is what Lynn Williams is. Congratulations to Sophia and Jaelin…..... . .
guess possession soccer is extremely overrated in woso cuz the Dutch actually dominated that stat as well as passing us women's soccer - Google Search so how do you teach kids how to play the game these other than hard core pressuring & ran faster, way way faster
I love reading your posts jack. Makes all the shade thrown by other randoms seem so petty. Anata no nihongo wa dōdesu ka?
It's true. Did this tweet ever get posted around here? 😏 Tell ‘em @lynnraenie 💨💨💨 pic.twitter.com/82vky3OzeZ— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) October 28, 2020
Did you watch the game? Most of their possession was around the backline and midfield; I would guess they had very little possession in the final third. Possession is important, and I think a possession game is beautiful, but possession alone doesn't win you a game. Andonovski has said, regarding the style he wants to play, “We want to be an attacking team that uses possession to disorganize and unbalance opponents. When we’re out of possession, we want to be able to control opponents and minimize time on the ball.” The team may have failed yesterday in possession (which is to be expected with the long gap since playing together), but they put on a clinic on the second part of that statement, on controlling the game and the opponent when out of possession. Thus, the Netherlands was hardly ever dangerous. (Look at the shots on goal stat.)
US dominated. Netherlands had ZERO shots on target. 2 shots total. We had procession the first half, then gave Netherlands the ball and sat back to defend our 2 goal lead... 77% passing accuracy doesn't mean much when 80 percent of those passes are between center backs.
I keep telling Euro fans playing the ball from the back to keep/play possession just doesn't work in woso, especially against a high pressure team like the US that have turned it into a science.............but they just don't listen!