USWNT playing Paraguay in September

Discussion in 'USA Women: News and Analysis' started by winster, Aug 21, 2021.

  1. winster

    winster Member

    Jul 7, 2008
    Club:
    Besiktas JK
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The USWNT will host Paraguay for the September friendlies...because why not?

    Paraguay hasn't won a game since beating Jamaica's B-team at the 2019 PanAmerica Games.

    WNT FALL MOBILE P1.jpg

    Also, the USWNT will play South Korea in October.
     
    TimB4Last repped this.
  2. McSkillz

    McSkillz Member+

    ANGEL CITY FC, UCLA BRUINS
    United States
    Nov 22, 2014
    Los Angeles
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Don’t worry, Vlatko is such a perfect amazing coach, the USWNT should be able to beat Paraguay with little difficulty. After his brilliant management during the Olympics, he could do no wrong.

    If we’re lucky, he might arrange a formation where we are down a goal just for sheets and giggles.
     
    FanOfFutbol repped this.
  3. Smallchief

    Smallchief Member+

    Oct 27, 2012
    Club:
    --other--
    Paraguay is 50th in FIFA rankings. Thailand, which we beat 13-0 at the WC, is 39th. Why are we playing Paraguay? It's ridiculous.
     
    blissett and FanOfFutbol repped this.
  4. puttputtfc

    puttputtfc Member+

    Sep 7, 1999
    USSF wants goals. This is a money grab nothing else.
     
  5. winster

    winster Member

    Jul 7, 2008
    Club:
    Besiktas JK
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    To be fair, we've also played multiple friendlies against Thailand.

    Also, assuming Paraguay is in form, I doubt they are meaningfully worse than Thailand.
     
  6. cpthomas

    cpthomas BigSoccer Supporter

    Portland Thorns
    United States
    Jan 10, 2008
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    1. We have to play post-Olympics friendlies, because that is what the USSF-USWNT contract requires.

    2. The games windows are in the midst of the NWSL season. Having easy post-Olympics friendlies will be a help for the NWSL teams, particularly those in contention for winning the regular season or qualifying for the championship tournament.

    Thus it makes sense to play easy opponents.
     
    kolabear and Bob Lamm repped this.
  7. Bob Lamm

    Bob Lamm Member

    Mar 7, 2016
    New York City
    For years, I've greatly respected and often repped comments you've made on this board. But your endless trashing of Vlatko is just plain tiresome. Understand this: if Vlatko is fired tomorrow, it's fine with me. If a female coach gets his job I'll be delighted. I don't blame him alone for what happened in Japan; I feel that Vlatko AND the entire roster were disappointing. I'm not with anyone who loves him, I'm not with anyone who hates him.
     
  8. McSkillz

    McSkillz Member+

    ANGEL CITY FC, UCLA BRUINS
    United States
    Nov 22, 2014
    Los Angeles
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I mean can any national team be worse than Thailand? I still have no idea how they ended up in the Women’s World Cup. They would have had to beat China, Korea or Japan and I honestly can’t believe that.
     
  9. winster

    winster Member

    Jul 7, 2008
    Club:
    Besiktas JK
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    There are numerous teams that are much worse in Asian. Off the top of my head, in recent years Thailand has beaten Cambodia, Singapore and Laos by scores in the 8-0, 12-0 range.

    In fact I have, in person, watched Thailand beat the Maldives by some ridiculous score I no longer remember. To their credit, the Maldives had one player who would have been a solid player on an ok US high school team.
     
    McSkillz and Klingo3034 repped this.
  10. Dfwsoccer01

    Dfwsoccer01 Member

    Jun 23, 2014
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    So I guess to make up for the Olympics showing, we schedule these cupcake teams to obliterate, just to show US soccer still has its mojo?? Interesting.
     
  11. Kevin625

    Kevin625 Member

    Jan 4, 2016
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    #11 Kevin625, Aug 22, 2021
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2021
    Since the FIFA Rankings began in 2003, the USWNT is 82-0 vs teams ranked outside the Top 25.

    Who can they play?

    UEFA has WCQ in both of those windows, so that eliminates 19 of the 29 other teams ranked in the Top 30.

    The other 10 teams in the Top 30 are...
    • #6 Canada - already played them this year (x2)
    • #7 Brazil - already played them this year
    • #9 N Korea - never played a friendly vs USWNT in history (1985-present)
    • #11 Australia - already played them this year (x2)
    • #13 Japan -
    • #17 China -
    • #18 S Korea - WCQ in Sept, playing them in October
    • #23 New Zealand - already played them this year
    • #26 Colombia - already played them this year (x2)
    • #28 Mexico - already played them this year (x2)

    There's really only 3 teams in the Top 30 that they could possibly play, and only 2 of them in the September window.

    Japan and China are the only Top 30 teams the USWNT could possibly schedule (excluding teams they already played this year and N Korea for obvious reasons). I have no idea what their schedules are, but they might have already had games scheduled or they weren't interested.
     
  12. lil_one

    lil_one Member+

    Nov 26, 2013
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    And we might still be planning them later this year. Pre-pandemic, back early in 2020, 2 games were announced against Australia in Australia for November 2021. I don't know if the pandemic has changed/will change this plan, given the situation for entering Australia, but I never saw that those were cancelled. Plus, I did note that the announcement for the friendlies with Paraguay and South Korea specifically said these matches close out the domestic schedule for the year. I feel pretty sure that there are at least something in the works for 2 away matches in November, whether they are in Australia or not.
     
    kolabear repped this.
  13. Kevin625

    Kevin625 Member

    Jan 4, 2016
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    As far as I know we're still playing them. I thought we were supposed to be playing 3 matches total in Australia, with 2 against AUS, but don't know who the 3rd game was against (NZL?).
     
  14. jackdoggy

    jackdoggy Member+

    May 16, 2014
    Big D
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    There is someone, and I won’t say who, that believes every USWNT Match is a glorious – damn skippy I said glorious, celebration of humanity itself not found or experienced anywhere else in our worldly existence.

    No matter the opponent, what is important about the Match is the Celestial Convergence (visually captured below).
    convergence.jpg
    I have it on good authority that the College of Cardinals is close to designating every USWNT Match as a Miracle.
     
  15. Disapproving Hippo

    Manchester United
    United States
    Jan 17, 2021
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Huh?o_O I didn't even know Paraguay have a domestic league let alone a national team. How does USWNT pick their friendly opponents anyway? Randomly or countries lobby the former? I mean this selection is ridiculous but if you look at it from a mere football fan perspective, it is actually helping unknown teams augment their popularity both domestically and internationally. Not to mention great exposure to boost their talents which means more global competition.:thumbsup:
     
  16. kolabear

    kolabear Member+

    Nov 10, 2006
    los angeles
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Paraguay is rated 1490 and ranked #50 (just ahead of Jamaica rated 1469).

    Obviously a weak opponent for the US but they've gotten some respectable results in their last two major tournaments, the Pan-American games in 2019 and the 2018 Copa América Femenina, the qualification tournament for the 2019 World Cup, where they failed to qualify for the World Cup but qualified for the Pan-Am Games.

    At the Copa América, Paraguay tied Chile, lost to Colombia (5-1), and defeated Peru and Uruguay

    At the Pan-Am Games, in the group stage they tied Colombia and defeated Mexico and Jamaica before losing in the semifinals to Argentina (3-0) and Costa Rica (1-0) in the bronze medal game.

    Of course the US just played Jamaica a couple months ago, the team ranked just below Paraguay, and while the US won handily 4-0, Jamaica showed some competence and had some moments, and of course has a few players on their team who play in the NWSL or the English FAWSL. (Jamaica of course has one true world-class striker, Bunny Shaw, who didn't play in the match against the US)

    Wikipedia page on Copa América 2018

    Wikipedia page on Pan-Am Games 2019
     
    cpthomas repped this.
  17. McSkillz

    McSkillz Member+

    ANGEL CITY FC, UCLA BRUINS
    United States
    Nov 22, 2014
    Los Angeles
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It kinda boggles the mind how countries that have top soccer men’s national teams like Croatia and Uruguay have incredibly poor women’s teams that barely see the World Cup, let alone get a friendly with the USWNT. Hopefully, we see more Eastern European women’s teams like Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, etc. The same could be said for African teams. Let’s play against Zambia, South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, Cameroon, etc.
     
  18. hotjam2

    hotjam2 Member+

    Nov 23, 2012
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    In woso, it’s the small Scandinavian countries that do better then their small populations suggest. 5 out of 16 qualified for next year’s Euro championships; Sweden(10 mill)Denmark(6 mill) Norway & Finland( both with 5 mil) and tiny Iceland(350K). In comparison only one team country came out of all the eastern half of Europe, Russia, and they had to win the last wild card playoff to make it.
    Zambia won the Africa title to make it into the Olympics, but then got promptly beat 10-3 by the Dutch in their 1st game. Nigeria are usually a u20 powerhouse, but doesn’t want to spend money, time & effort on their senior NT

    even if we found an top Euro team to play, they usually just pussyfoot with us in friendless & save their real game face come tournament time. I mean earlier this year Sweden just toyed with us with a none sensible 3-back in its 1-1 friendly/France only mustered an mostly B squad even though they we’re playing at home/there’s currently two Netherlands squads out there;
    one with Miedema/one without Miedema(we destroyed the one without Miedema in an earlier friendly)

    so tomato can or supposedly top bigwig, good luck in finding a real competitive opponent until the next major tournament(which would be an whole two years from now)
     
    jnielsen and kolabear repped this.
  19. Smallchief

    Smallchief Member+

    Oct 27, 2012
    Club:
    --other--
    If Paraguay beats us, the Cardinals should designate it a miracle.

    I'll modify my negative opinion to this match to the extent that, what the hell? Most of the Paraguayans probably haven't been in the U.S., so they'll have a new, and hopefully enjoyable experience. Look on it as an aid project or cultural exchange and it's okay.
     
    jackiesdad, jackdoggy and kolabear repped this.
  20. Dfwsoccer01

    Dfwsoccer01 Member

    Jun 23, 2014
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Wow. That’s a crazy stat.
     
  21. Dfwsoccer01

    Dfwsoccer01 Member

    Jun 23, 2014
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Kinda like how the US has arguably the best athletes in the world, but the men can’t even qualify for a WC………. That always boggles my mind also.
     
  22. hotjam2

    hotjam2 Member+

    Nov 23, 2012
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    #22 hotjam2, Aug 23, 2021
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2021
    Italian born Kobe Bryant mentioned once he’s first love was soccer, but what would you choose; multi million dollar NBA contract or the $50K salaries of the MLS back then?

    maybe these days a few MLS players make a million a season, but NBA clubs has given 7 players with over $200 million dollar contracts. So where are our best athletes going to go cept for the big 3(basketball, baseball & football)
     
    jnielsen repped this.
  23. MRAD12

    MRAD12 Member+

    Jun 10, 2004
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    #23 MRAD12, Aug 23, 2021
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2021
    First of all the men have much more and tougher competition on the world stage. Every country puts all their eggs into the men's team, not so with the women unfortunately. Thus you only have a handful of women's teams that are real competition to the USWNT. Much more with the men.

    Second, soccer in this country it's still pay to play, predominantly suburban sport where much of the population and great athletes are still not regularly exposed to this great sport.

    That's why.
     
    BostonRed and Dfwsoccer01 repped this.
  24. Kevin625

    Kevin625 Member

    Jan 4, 2016
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    #24 Kevin625, Aug 23, 2021
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2021
    If you like that, here's another crazy stat...

    The USWNT's record versus teams ranked 16th - 25th is 76-9-1 (W-D-L), which means they've only lost 1 game in history to a team ranked outside the Top 15 since the rankings began in 2003.

    That loss was a big one though as it was a 2-1 defeat to Mexico in the semifinals of World Cup Qualifying (Nov 5, 2010), which was held in Mexico.

    As I'm sure most everyone already knows, this loss meant they didn't get one of the two automatic CONCACAF spots and had to play Italy in a CONCACAF-UEFA Playoff. They narrowly won the first game in Italy, 1-0, with an Alex Morgan goal in the 4th (90'+4') and final minute of added time. Then won at home 1-0. They were actually pretty close to not qualifying for the 2011 World Cup.
     
    jnielsen, Dfwsoccer01 and kolabear repped this.
  25. kolabear

    kolabear Member+

    Nov 10, 2006
    los angeles
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This is a crazy stat. And yet, it's still roughly in line with the US ratings which has usually been in the 2100 to 2200 range the last several years. (It was 2197 just before the Olympics and tumbled to 2110 during it)

    A record of 76W-9D-1L = .936 winning percentage

    Using the Elo scale (which FIFA uses for the women's ratings) a winning pct of (.936) corresponds to a rating difference of 465 points.

    The 15th ranked teams generally have ratings around 1850; the 25th ranked teams around 1700; so let's split it and call the average 1775. So on the basis of these results (against opponents ranked #16 to 25), the US rating can be very roughly estimated as 1775 (average rating) + 465 = 2240

    There's a couple things we haven't taken into account and one of them is homefield advantage. I'm going to guess that well over half of these matches was played in the US, that is to say, at home. A handful (like the 2010 qualifier in Mexico) were played away, and the rest were played at neutral sites (like World Cups, Olympics, and Algarve). I'm guessing conservatively that the average homefield advantage for the US in these matches is 50 points, which is what it would be if 60% of the matches were home, 30% neutral, and 10% away.

    So, a very very rough back-of-the-envelope estimate of the performance rating of the US against teams ranked #16 to #25 is:
    1775 (avg rating of opponent)
    -50 (adjustment for average homefield advantage)
    + 465 (based on winning pct of .936)
    ________
    = 2190 which is on the high end of the range of US ratings over the last decade or so

    If the percentage of home games vs away games was higher than what I used for an assumption here, then the estimated rating goes down somewhat.
     
    jnielsen, JanBalk and Kevin625 repped this.

Share This Page