2023 WWC opponents' watch [R]

Discussion in 'USA Women: News and Analysis' started by lil_one, Dec 19, 2022.

  1. lil_one

    lil_one Member+

    Nov 26, 2013
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Since we've had the draw, I thought we could have a thread on the USWNT's opponents in the 2023 WWC. This thread will be a place to report on the opponents' possible rosters and roster changes, match results, and other preparation. I'm starting out just with group opponents, but we can also share information on other possible knockout round opponents.

    As a reminder, the US is in Group E and will play Vietnam, Netherlands, and the winner of the Group A Playoff (likely Portugal, but also in the Group A playoff are Thailand and Cameroon). The winner of the playoff will be determined in February.

    Vietnam doesn't play a ton, but most recently they placed 4th in the AFF Women's Championship (against regional competition) this past July. I don't think they're confirmed to play in any of the February tournaments, but they do have friendlies this coming May scheduled against Spain, Australia, and New Zealand (notably in Australia and New Zealand). Wikipedia also says they are to play a friendly against Germany with no date confirmed.

    Netherlands is going to be the toughest competition in the group obviously as we played them last WWC in the final. As reported in another thread, they also just lost their top scorer Miedema to an ACL tear, and so she'll miss the WWC. It has not yet been reported which friendlies they will be competing in next year.
     
    kennytt and TimB4Last repped this.
  2. zdravstvuyte

    zdravstvuyte Member

    Aston Villa
    United States
    Jul 26, 2018
    Back on tour !!!
    Seeing as I’m here in LionessLand I can report on a few items that may be pertinent down the line.

    News on Mead’s acl injury is that the surgery was a success and rehab will be ongoing through June. She still hopes to go to OZ/NZ. Unfortunately Leah Williamson has endometriosis and will go in for treatment in the new year.
     
  3. lil_one

    lil_one Member+

    Nov 26, 2013
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    There are concerns in this forum on whether Macario is going to be fully ready, and I think most have pretty much ruled out Miedema. I think Mead's injury was only a few weeks before Miedema's. I still think Midema is out and also doubt that Macario can play 90 minutes by the WWC but think she'll still be in on the roster. I definitely don't think Mead would be match fit by then. Yes, she'll be able to run by then if things go well, but to be ready for full-speed contact play? That would be a remarkably quick recovery. I guess timing-wise it would be similar to Rapinoe's in 2016, and we saw how well that went.
     
  4. hotjam2

    hotjam2 Member+

    Nov 23, 2012
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    #4 hotjam2, Jan 1, 2023
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2023
    The date given for Mead’s successful surgery was Dec 22. That would only 7 months to recover for the start of the WC(instead of the 9 month rule of thumb grace period after surgery). Wiegman’s been known not to go too deep, so she could still pick Mead without giving her real playing time, though that would feel foolish as she’s easily replaceable considering all the up & coming wingers/fwds that now England’s is producing; Lauren James, Ebony Salmon, Jean Park all had recently strong NT performances. The veteran, Leah Galton continues to excel at MU(none of them were part of the Euros squad). And they always can switch Rachel Daly to upfront from the puzzling FB spot they make her play on the Lionesses. She’s currently the leading scorer in the WSL.

    Williamson might be more irreplaceable as it’s harder to find top quality CB’s. Not sure how serious her injury is; it’s quicker to recover but could be an more recurring injury & an very painful at that

    meanwhile Tierna Davidson rehabilitating in Wolfsburg, Germany instead of the US(wonder what’s up with that?)
     
  5. ytrs

    ytrs Member+

    Jan 24, 2018
    Chicago Red Stars and Wolfsburg have a working partnership. Tierna’s Chicago team is in the off-season. She is just recovered from her ACL, so she is training in a competitive environment to prepare to return to USWNT and Chicago Red Stars. That is what is up,

    Kristie Mewis has trained with Tottenham this winter too since she has been in London a lot. She is just getting training in while her NWSL team is in the off-season.
     
    sitruc repped this.
  6. kolabear

    kolabear Member+

    Nov 10, 2006
    los angeles
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  7. hotjam2

    hotjam2 Member+

    Nov 23, 2012
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    I guess coach Vilda still got upper hand with the Spanish Feds in the standoff with the A squad. He’s added Hermoso & Paraluelo(queen of the u20 World Cup). Still waiting to see if 2 time current winner of everything, Putellas, will join the rebellion or cross the picket line(she’s 7 month into recovery from ACL). And waiting for that wild card factor, the 16 year old Vicky Lopez, to make her senior appearance
     
    kolabear repped this.
  8. Pelefan

    Pelefan Member+

    Mar 17, 1999
    Chicago
    Vietnam is the only WC bound team that hasn't officially scheduled a friendly so far in February which is a shame. It seems they are pinning all their hopes in the May and June friendlies.
     
    kennytt repped this.
  9. lil_one

    lil_one Member+

    Nov 26, 2013
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    blissett, BostonRed and kolabear repped this.
  10. hotjam2

    hotjam2 Member+

    Nov 23, 2012
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    English players have suddenly become hottest commodity, Man U recently nixed an deal with Lyon that would of made striker, Alessia Russo the highest paid transfer on record, $605K, and get this, Lyon was going to give up Macario as part of the deal! Fellow Lioness Keira Walsh currently holds the transfer record at $500K. Here's a little more about Russo
    Alessia Russo: 5 reasons Man United star is worthy of record transfer fee | OneFootball
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    interesting that Americans fans were all over Horan & Morgan for being "too slow" for the USWNT vs NZ, but Euros do love both of them; Morgans got shortlisted to top 3 finalists for FIFAs best player award, while Horan made the current Champions League all-star team
    FonRAa0X0AE0kUr.jpg
    FomRbSyWIAAveLk.jpg
     
    kolabear repped this.
  11. ytrs

    ytrs Member+

    Jan 24, 2018
    Club is different than international play. Horan and Macario also play for a club team that is dominant in their league. So Horan does not have to defend much in the midfield. Have not heard the complaints about Macario. She has barely played for the US (and no challenging games so far), so there is not much to critique yet.

    Morgan is not even a starter for the US when we are healthy. She was not MVP of NWSL. Her being on FIFA top three is ridiculous.
     
  12. hotjam2

    hotjam2 Member+

    Nov 23, 2012
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    a couple of individual opponents highlights to look at; Japan's Yiu Hasegawa & Canada's Cloe Lacasse. Hasegawa gotten good laurels for her midfield general role currently at Man City. She's gone through her country's excellent youth program/won the 2018 u20 WC.
    Lacase(already 29 year old) has had an complicated history as she was waiting to play for several years ofr Iceland, Got denied, & somehow Canada picked her. She's become one of the best wingers around, maybe the speediest. Her club's currently Benfica of Portugal

     
    kolabear repped this.
  13. zdravstvuyte

    zdravstvuyte Member

    Aston Villa
    United States
    Jul 26, 2018
    Back on tour !!!
    #13 zdravstvuyte, Feb 16, 2023
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2023
    Settling in for 3 matches with my local Lionesses
    First up South Korea !!

    It’s on CBS Sports and Paramount + for y’all back home.

    [​IMG]
     
  14. zdravstvuyte

    zdravstvuyte Member

    Aston Villa
    United States
    Jul 26, 2018
    Back on tour !!!
    Lauren James played like an absolute superstar.
    Another one to add to list of amazing performers for England.
     
  15. hotjam2

    hotjam2 Member+

    Nov 23, 2012
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    highlights below, very impressive overall by England who were able to march right through South Korea's bunker like defence---mean't to stop the passing & dribbling lanes, but which misreably failed. Definitely got n keeper in James, surprise starter over Hemp/the equally superb Salmon didn't even get playing time. Starting Wlliamson at mid instead of CB was the right call too.
     
  16. SiberianThunderT

    Sep 21, 2008
    DC
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    While it won't be a given thing until after the playoffs if they advance into the USA's group or not, POR just matched USA's 5-0 demolition of NZL.
     
    blissett repped this.
  17. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Having recently watched Portugal play at Euro 2022, I'd say USA would need to respect them, should they end in their group by advancing from the international play-off. :coffee:

    They are a quite unpredictible team: able to come back from 2-0 to 2-2 vs Switzerland or Netherlands (in the second case, anyway, only to end with a 3-2 loss) or looking confused and hopeless vs Sweden to the point of losing by 5-0.

    But on a good day they can give headaches to any team, and players like Diana Silva and, especially, Jessica Silva are the real deal.
     
    kolabear repped this.
  18. hotjam2

    hotjam2 Member+

    Nov 23, 2012
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    here's the full replay of the just played Australia vs Spain friendly(spoilers after that)



    Australia wins 3-2, Spain's first lost sine forming the B squad after the rebellion of the 15 mostly Barca A squad members. This could be an good/bad thing as it probably means Vilda will have to make peace and/or concessions with the rebellious faction & get some of them back(sorry idk on whatever the dispute in the first place)

    for Australia, a stunning turnaround since they've saw their FIFA rankings fall from an high of #5(2018?) to only #13 in recent tines Looking at their starting lineup: they got some new players, like Vine ,Hunt, Grantto along with the popular Kerr, Foord, Raso, Cately...but also still some weakr vets like Gorry & Polkihorne who I rmembered being put on waiver by respective NWSL clubs for not being good enough. But their now on impressive win streak(4-0 win over Sweden last fall)after an disappointing quarter final exit at the Asian Cup about an year ago
     
    kolabear and ytrs repped this.
  19. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Some of Australia's drop is likely attributed to not playing in competitive matches (worth more points in FIFA's rankings). That's always an issue for the host team.

    Of course, they haven't been as scary as they have been in past years.
     
  20. SiberianThunderT

    Sep 21, 2008
    DC
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    A lack of matches will never drop a team's rating since you can only lose points in matches played. Besides, they actually played in the AFC qualifiers despite being already qualified as hosts.
     
    kolabear repped this.
  21. hotjam2

    hotjam2 Member+

    Nov 23, 2012
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    looking at the scores from last April's Asia Cup
    group play
    AUS-Thailand 2-2
    AUS-Philappines 1-2
    AUS-Indonesia 4-0

    and then the quarter ls vs South Korea, yet still had most of their top of the line lineup including back then, Carpenter(often credited as the best FB in the world, though now missing to ACL)
    Australia vs. Korea Republic - 30 January 2022 - Women Soccerway

    then even back in September,they lost back to back friendlies on their home field to Canada, but recouperated by Nov. with an 4-0 win vs Sweden. So just saying, very impressive turn aorund for them compared to last April. But haven't kept up with their newbies, do maybe thats why their looking so good these days/as shown with the very impressive goal vs Spain from an someone named Vine(now if they only got Hollywood, lol)
     
  22. hotjam2

    hotjam2 Member+

    Nov 23, 2012
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    starting an mostly B lineup, England got another impressive win, this time over Italy(who looked like their had their starting A/or at leasr several starters from Juventus). The one differrence; finally starting Rachel Daly at central striker(she's usually FB for the Lionesses). Perhaps no the greatest sportsmanship on that 2nd gol(as an Italian is lying down on the field), but Italy unfairly given an goal since the cross looked like it came from out of bounce
     
    kolabear repped this.
  23. TimB4Last

    TimB4Last Member+

    May 5, 2006
    Dystopia
    In the Inter-Confederation Qualification Playoffs, this week we have:

    Chile v Haiti

    Portugal v Cameroon

    Paraguay v Panama
     
    kolabear repped this.
  24. kolabear

    kolabear Member+

    Nov 10, 2006
    los angeles
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    TODAY. TONIGHT. For two of the games including the one between Portugal and Cameroon which will decide the final spot in the US group.

    14:00 New Zealand time Feb 22, Chile vs Haiti; from what I see Spanish-language Universo will be televising it beginning 7:55 ET/ 4:55 PT which would be a live broadcast, but check out your TV schedules because I could easily screw up the time-zone conversion

    19:30 New Zealand time Feb 22, Portugal vs Cameroon; Spanish-language Universo beginning their telecast at 1:25 AM ET / 10:25 eve/ PT, again appearing to be a live broadcast if I didn't screw up the time zones.The winner of Portugal / Cameroon will be in Group E along with the United States. If Portugal makes it, just think of it as making up for the lack of Algarve tournaments the last few years (tee-hee!) Portugal is rapidly becoming a respectable side and Netherlands, in particular, has had trouble against them recently
     
    SiberianThunderT and TimB4Last repped this.
  25. zdravstvuyte

    zdravstvuyte Member

    Aston Villa
    United States
    Jul 26, 2018
    Back on tour !!!
    Tomorrows match press conf.

     
    kolabear repped this.

Share This Page