Aussie Aussie Aussie...oy oy oy - November 2021

As you guys know, I'm not a huge Horan fan. However, she gets props for this game. She was very effective in her slow plodding way.

 

I read an article that the Aussies are currently in panic mode, since there isn’t a new generation of up & coming players(they got clobbered at the last u20 Asian championships, loosing some games by scores of 6-0, 6-1). Though they tried hard, their overall skill level wasn’t even close to ours, obviously their two new CB’s were weak component.
They’ve fallen to #11 in FIFA’s latest rankings(from an high of #5 a few years back) don’t see them as future contenders, not even at their own WC.
Think their problem might be being into multi(and some might say wacky) sports that soccer has to compete for athletes with lithe likes of Netball, Rugby & Australian style football

Wonder what to do with Purce?(since she played so well yesterday. Hopefully O’Hara will retire too(so Purce cL take her place at right FB)

 

Purce and Fox both play that position well. Both could be on the WC roster.

 

It is this article?
https://www.footballaustralia.com.au/sites/ffa/files/2020-12/Women's Performance Gap.pdf

 

She did well BUT she is not a #10, even if she wears the jersey. For that matter, neither was Lloyd.

Over all, we had our moments. Should have had more goals, we had chances. Lynn Williams continues to play herself off the starting lineup with inaccurate shots and too many bad passes. The only one that really impressed me was our goalie, Murphy. She made some great saves and I wonder would have happened if a shorter goalie was in there. She needs serious consideration as the #1 goalie if she continues. Others were solid but not spectacular. I want to see more minutes from Sanchez and hope Smith and Macario play on Tuesday. If so, it might be a blowout

 

I'd hate to see Purce moved away from forward. Why her, and not Williams, for example, or one of the other forwards?

 

As a fellow Bruin, I hope she kicks ass.

I used to follow women's college soccer like crazy. Nowadays, there's so much sports on tv, wcs has taken a back seat to other stuff. So, one of the only times I saw Sanchez play (on tv) was in that championship game against Stanford.

Iirc, that game had Sanchez, Fleming, Macario, and Smith on the pitch. Smith glowed like the sun, while none of the other players were even notable/noticeable.

I'm not posting this as a slight to Sanchez. And, I know it was just one match. But, I'm super excited to see what Smith has to offer.

Go Bruins! Go Ashley! Beat UNLV, Beat Cal!

 

I'm afraid she will be either moved or dropped again once the oldies are back which is very sad because she has been great upfront.

By the way, I am amazed that the young frontline didn't commit any offsides....

 

Wow. Yes, the women didn't play well in the Olympics, by U.S. standards. But, by world standards, they were pretty damn good. There are only 2 teams that would have been disappointed by 3rd place. The rest would have been quite happy with it. And, as poorly as we played, it took a super questionable penalty call to knock us out. We played poorly, but Canada managed to win the Olympics w/o scoring a goal from the run of play in their last 3 matches.

Seems like a whole lot of hyperbole.

And, I'd have Brunn at least as a nominee for my World Best 11.

That said, I love how competitive the women's game is getting. Can't wait until the next WC.

 

A shout for Purce and Huerta.

I thought Huerta played really well. She brings a lot of speed to the position. Purce was kind of quiet other than the assist. But, oh, what an assist!

I'm also a huge fan of Emily Fox. Imo, with Purce's attacking skills, and Fox & Huerta ready to go, there is zero reason to play Purce in defense.

 

I was at this game yesterday, so fun to see live sports again!
Some takeaways (represent my opinion only, etc etc):

Before kickoff I said to my companion “disappointed to not have Campbell or Bixby starting as I rate them over Murphy” *open mouth insert foot* Murphy had an excellent game. Her distribution wasn’t always great but the wind was swirling around making it difficult and she really saved some excellent shots.

I like Davidson more and more every game - just calm and collected and I think it’s generally a good thing to not notice a centre back. I was really impressed by Cook though - I don’t know if it came across on tv but she handled just about every cross and long ball that came towards her and easily had the jump on Kerr. She had one or two misplaced passes but her defending was very good, I thought.

Fox had some great runs in the first half and I’m keen to see her develop further. Glad to see Huerta back in the fold as well and thought she had some good touches. Sonnett did fairly well containing Carpenter early and then Foord/Raso in the second half. Knew it would get a bit fiery down her side and loved it.

I thought Sullivan was a bit quiet, except for giving herself a bloody nose. Horan got more involved as the game went and was more of a general in the second half.
Lavelle (except for the fact that she should definitely have been subbed after the knee to her head) looks so dangerous every time she gets on the ball. It’s easy to forget how fast and unpredictable she is but she had the ball on a string. Love it.

Purce is another great threat I’m looking forward to seeing develop - fast, strong on the ball, making intelligent runs that didn’t always pay off but shows she was thinking a step ahead the whole game. Hatch obviously had a great first touch and then had some more dangerous runs before quietening down a bit. Williams, honestly, felt a bit like a passenger at times. With her pace and style of play with the Courage I expected her to be sitting higher and could have threatened the Matildas’ centre pair but she struggled to get involved.

Other notes - was SUPER disappointed not to see Macario. Was SUPER excited to be in close proximity to Sauerbrunn. K Mewis received a huge applause when coming on which is nice but also a bit weird (the media here are making a huge deal out of the Kerr-Mewis relationship which I find gross and creepy).

For the Matildas - Carpenter IMO is wasted as a CB, she also looks like a threat every time she goes on a run. Kerr had an off game partly, IMO, due to Cook but also reportedly had gastro and her uncle passed away recently. Kyah Simon missing from right in front ‍♀️ It happens but it would have evened the scores and she shouldn’t be making errors like that at this stage in her career.

It was a bit of a weird game maybe due to inexperience on both teams, but it felt like there wasn’t much rhythm until the second half. The crowd lit up every time Kerr got near the ball or the Matildas looked threatening but apart from that you could just about hear a pin drop. Largely families with younger children in attendance (record, btw!!) and very few US supporters, fortunately some were right behind me! Finally got some boos when Horan got the PK which was as much fire as the crowd showed all match.
The pre-match entertainment was Aussie kids’ entertainment superstar group The Wiggles which I found extremely embarrassing and a backwards step in trying to *ahem* level the field between men’s and women’s sport in Australia.

Well, that turned into a bit of a novel, props if you stuck around, but not many people in my life are interested in hearing me rant about woso so there ya go.

 

Interesting to find out that Vlatko’s plans didn’t call for Macario playing in the midfield, but rather to start at center forward. Something I heard he might be planning to do once the 4 game tour was over.

 

It has got to be difficult to be the veteran team playing the greenest US team imaginable, on your home field no less-- and still getting the same old result.

More of an explanation than an excuse, but still... the assertion that our second team could win the World Cup is looking almost plausible tonight.

 

IMO she's even better as a defender... and it never hurts to have someone who can do both...

I'd like to see both of them as defenders, myself... we went so long without enough good ones after Rampone moved inside.

 

From press conference: Smith is still in concussion protocol. Macario is leaving camp early to do rehab in Lyon. Neither will play in the next game.

 

different article, but most probably same source

There’s a several more vying for right-side winter; Trinity Rodman, Sophie Smith, Mel Pugh & golden oldie, Tobin Heath

 

I think of the typical US attack as a pass out to the flank and Rapinoe or Heath crossing the ball back to the middle. In this game it seemed to me that the U.S. made a conscious attempt to go down the center, especially in the second half. We'll see in the next match whether that is indeed a tactical adjustment by the U.S.

So, who is going to prevail in the battle for a spot on the U.S. team? Hatch's goal obviously helped her chances. I didn't think Purce had a great game, other than the one good assist. Given the plethora of young U.S. forwards, she might have a better chance of becoming the U.S. right back.

Speaking of right back, Huerta had a decent game, although she didn't have the opportunity to demonstrate how good her crosses can be. The right back position, in my opinion, is up for grabs among O'Hara, Huerta, and Purce. Left back is Probably Dunn/Fox.

Horan had a lousy first half, but a great second half. Maybe she is the defensive midfielder we need if Ertz plays center back.

 

Also want to see if Bixby will start in this game. And let Sanchez, Balcer and others who subbed in last game start this time.

 

Possibly a longer-term change, but also they were taking what they were given. The Australian backline had two teenagers at center back and the outside defenders being the more experienced.

 

I'm surprised it took them a while to try such tactical adjustment to be honest. They have a player for several years now who can easily set a strictly in the middle offense. It will be a delight to watch if it works out for them as well as it will be a huge trump card as 99.9% of the world uses the same, as you mentioned, pass to the flanks then cross it back to the middle kind of attack.

 

Sophia Smith or some other fast player can make the middle attack possible.

 

I really like Sullivan at dmid.

 

Totally agree about Carpenter. She's fantastic and should be given the opportunity to attack as often as possible. Been a fan since she first appeared on the scene.

 

• I do hope you recycled the bottles. Or cans.