I would say the world has not really caught up, the US looks like the current favorites at this moment other countries aren't picture perfect on their preparations either; Australia only has one warm up game(in two months) tapped before the WC; against of all people...........Vietnam a quick look at yesterday's Frankfurt/Wolfsburg shows how the other so called favorites are doing; Japan's two superstars, Ogimi & Ando, were mostly on the bench, only coming in for the last 20 minutes of the game. How do you expect Japan to try and make bench players(which is where they were during the mosr of the season) into their main focus points? The person most shocked from the FRA/WOL game, must of been Sylvia Neid, as her NT picks looked rather underwhelming. The game was completely dominated by either foreign players(Vero & Hansen) or retired NT's(Garefrekers & Mueller) As for the Ireland game, don't know what anybody out there expects? We out shot them 30-0! Out & out destroying them on the score sheet(let's say 10-0) would that make an really good impression on the rest of the world?(instead of showing some mercy?)
i'm very comfortable with this team not being very good now. yes, it would be nice to see a better game. but I don't need them to be good now, as long as they're good when it really counts. I definitely think that they're playing conservatively and not showing everything - which should not be too surprising. (not saying the team is perfect. but then, none of the teams are.) not if (as has been pointed out) the coach does not believe in dms. ...and especially not if that "dm" is lloyd.
30 shots and yet we score three of them, a 10% conversion rate. With the forwards the US has, against a team like Ireland who are playing 5+ players with <5 caps, we should be converting 40%-50%. A 10% conversion rate isn't going to cut it in the semis/finals when we will only have maybe 3-5 total chances. I believe the US's highest scorer this year is Johnston, a defender. As we saw during WC qualification and against Ireland, the US has no creativity and can't break a bunker. What happens if we go down a goal and have to face a semi-bunkering France, Japan, or Germany? We continue to play Press and Cheney out of position. I can't remember the last game Cheney looked good in. It may have been when her last name was actually Cheney. Press is currently the only threat going forward and is the only player willing to try and break the other team down. Wambach isn't scoring chances she would have buried 4 years ago, Alex Morgan is perpetually injured, Leroux is out of form. The only players who look ready and are in form are Press and Johnston. This team is capable of a lot more than what we saw yesterday. These games are suppose to be morale boosters, but I felt demoralized after watching yesterday's performance. I hope Ellis and the players were able to spin yesterday's result differently. On paper we have the best team in the world and we typically step up our game for big occasions. I hope the World Cup can bring that out of us this time.
Im not opposed to Lloyd getting forward...that's her game. My problem is this formation by nature provides very little defensive cover. If ur playing six in attack all the time as Ellis does u need the one midfielder staying back to be able to stop the ball. Im not sure that's Holiday. When Brian was paired with Holiday they both stayed back to try and stop the counters. Would it have hurt Ellis to try the obvious? Put Morgan and Press on top with Lloyd sitting behind. Then put Holiday and Rapinoe paired behind Lloyd providing the play making. Let Johnston be the ball stopper behind them and replace Johnston with either Rampone or Engen.
A lot has been made of the low goal total...that didnt bother me as the way the game progressed. What I would have expected in a perfect world was the US to score a couple quick goals and then back off and work on things. Then when the subs came on in the second half theyd ramp it up again because the subs r trying to earn minutes. Instead they made chances but struggled to finish. The set pieces were horrendous. I dont mind them trying different type set pieces but I really dont get playing it out to the top of the box. It's a tough angle to serve it back in and a shot has to go thru most of the players from both teams milling in the box. I would have liked to seen some variations on short corners where they immediately serve it in from a better angle.
I rather u lost the proviso. Press should be the focus of the attack period. Morgan is best in a secondary role where she provides excellent service while still demanding attention. Morgan will still get her shots. Morgans get credit for big goals but she also has some very big assists on her sheet.
I have no idea what Jill Ellis is thinking. As to Wambach, my guess is that Ellis wants to start Wambach as often as possible and have her play the full 90 minutes. The first 2 friendlies are a week apart, which gives Ellis the chance to see how Wambach does after 6 days of rest. There will be 7 days of rest between group games 1 and 3 in Canada; 9 or 10 days of rest between group game 3 and the quarterfinal; and 7 or 8 days of rest between the quarterfinal and the final. I can easily imagine Ellis starting Wambach in every other game in Canada and sitting out the other games (unless its an elimination game that the team is losing late).
This is a matter of semantics. Norm to me means average or standard, not above it. It means she should be consistently sending in balls that force the defense to adjust/make a decision, and set up her teammates. Botched to me means her corners failed to be dangerous or force the defense to adjust, thus leading to scoring chances. There was one that went behind the goal (or into the side netting as you mentioned), but she had at least two others that couldn't clear the first defender. She also sent a free kick in a dangerous area directly into the wall. Is it unfair to call out Holiday? Perhaps. She certainly isn't the only person who gave poor service. She was the only player who just nonchalantly jogged around after she gave the ball away—I suppose it was her apparent laziness compounding my distaste for her play yesterday. And I'm all for the US trying new things or trick plays; varied attacks are great. Whether or not Holiday had instructions to play near post corners, trying new things shouldn't be so foreign to her that she can't consistently put the ball where she wants it.
At this point and with Morgan's recurring injuries, I'd say this is probably the best way to go. If Morgan is able to walk she will draw plenty of attention from the opposing defense, which should help free up space for Press, Wambach, Rapinoe, Lloyd, etc. If I was Ellis I would try and take as much pressure off Morgan as possible by simplifying her role with this team a bit. If Morgan can attract 3 defenders and just concentrate on providing beautiful assists to our other forwards, it would go a long way into helping us winning a championship. If Alex can finish the WC with 1 goal and 5 assists I would consider it extremely productive for this team. Also, if teams start realizing that they're constantly being burned by someone like Press, they may lay off Morgan, which should help her get off some good shots on goal. Right now I just feel like with her constant injuries, not being in top form, not having her scoring touch, etc., it may be a huge blow to her confidence if she's still expected to lead the team in scoring but is not able to deliver early on.
I've had some of the same thoughts. It's been a long time for Morgan and I don't see how the team can be relying on her right now as a goal scorer. They did say, during the Ireland game, that if it were a World Cup game she would be playing. But the bigger question is, can she score? If not, I do like her as a a play maker providing good service to other scorers.
The good news is that even with her recent struggles in the scoring department, she's still a great passer in traffic. I would love to see her get the ball on the flank, draw a couple of defenders, take the ball to the end line and make one of her patented passes in the box to an open forward. In her current condition, it's just too much to ask her to take on 3 defenders to get off a great shot on goal. Most of the top teams have been burnt by her in the past and will double team her whether she still has it or not. Why not take advantage of that? My biggest concern is that her left foot has been really inconsistent over the past 2 years. Since her 2 beautiful precision goals against Canada in June 2013, she has only scored 3 times with her left foot (vs. 4 via headers and 6 via her right foot) with the NT and Portland.
Maybe you're right. I think a front three of Morgan-Holiday-Press would be excellent. The other two are big enough scoring threats that defenses wouldn't be 100% laser-focused on Morgan. Would give her more space to work. Plus Holiday is a smart enough player there might actually be some teamwork and interchanging between the forwards, unlike what we are seeing now. It's that pesky midfield that makes my proposed forward line difficult. Lloyd would be a good tip-of-the-spear attacking mid. But you'd need two more conservative mids to cover for her. Brian could be one. There isn't really a second though. HAO, Heath, Rapinoe don't fit the bill. Boxx and Clalupny...are they really starters anymore? This team is crying out for someone like Huster or Winters to defend up the middle, win the ball and play simple passes. But alas. One thing I don't like about the 4-3-3 is there isn't really a place for Pinoe, unless it's one of the front three.
Jill Ellis shows a major west coast bias in her starting 11. She coached at UCLA. Arod USC Holiday UCLA Morgan CAL Rapinoe Portland Johnston Santa Clara Press Stanford Solo Washington
I'm not sure about this, but one could argue she's unwilling to give younger people starts (JJ only started because of injury) she's poor at picking out talent, in-form players, and rests way to much on laurels of past players and their one-time success. After watching some NWSL games and NT games, you realize how many players are not in form and/or not at the same level they once where. How does Ellis not see this in camp? I see a coach making decision based on fear and not confidence. Let's bring Boxx because she's been here before and it's safer than bringing Dunn, etc.
I'd liked Tony DiCicco's commentary on sluggish play, "too many touches here, not enough touches for Lloyd" etc. One I didn't agree with was that "you shouldn't show all your different corners in this game, the teams in group will be able to go to school on that. " I think they will set up different corners for each of the teams in group, and they won't look like they do in a game against Ireland.
I had to run out for a Mother's day event so I didn't see the whole game... went out right as Boxx came in for Lloyd at minute 78. These are my impressions: The defenders (Krieger, Chalupny, Johnston, Sauerbrunn, Klingenberg O’Hara) + Solo did an adequate job considering they were never under any particular pressure. K & K were effective on the flank assisting the attack, and of course JJ is turning everyone's heads. Regarding the midfield and forwards: What I've noticed in 2015 is that when not working the center of the pitch on the attack, the WNT tends to work up the left side more than the right side. I don't know why this is. Press was really good, there should be more offense working with her. Rapinoe was decent, although I like it best when she whips in the crosses from the left touch line. Holiday was meh, but she's not playing her historical position. HAO restored some balance to the right side, had a couple of good runs. Carli didn't have enough touches. Brian --- I didn't see anything remarkable. ARod had some good runs, but she needs to start burying these chances. Wambach had a slow start, but did what she does best -- she scored two goals, nuff said. She's not fast enough to play 90 in the WC, but she will be a great substitute. Leroux had no chemistry on Sunday, and this led to another tangent by Tony, namely that only Alex Morgan appears to be able to link up with the other forwards. Again, I don't know if this is true, but it doesn't help the continuity on offense when Alex can't start. Overall, it seemed like a glorified scrimmage, and just maybe the presence of everyone's mom there was a bit of a distraction in this way: the team wanted to "show" for mom, instead of being down to business and treat the Ireland squad like a college team and be merciless. Would I have loved a "firing on all cylanders winning 6-0 display?" Yes. Didn't happen today, didn't have to happen today.
You're not going to get Top teams to travel here less than 30 days from the world cup especially teams that might face each other in the tournament. They were suppose to play Australia but thats not going to happen.
It's not a bias. For quite a long time, the colleges in the western region of the country have been, on average, the strongest as compared to the colleges in the other geographic regions. The colleges in the southeast region have come next. I'd expect most of the starting players to come from those two regions.