For the first time in this tournament the US is facing a team that actually knows how to play the game. It has taken a bit of time but the US is beginning to dominate.
The match has slowed down and neither team looks really dangerous or likely to score but the US is playing more in Mexico's end than the other way around. There has been one good shot by the US but it missed by hitting the left post.
No stoppage time. The half ends 1-1. The US looks the more likely to score. Mexico's legs look like they are becoming heavy after the extra time match less than 48 hours ago.
Mexico's goalkeeper make a bad error by dropping the ball and then not covering it so Fishel kicks it in out from under her. Then a little later she gets another via an easy header. Mexico really looks fatigued.
Random thoughts as we are in the last 5 minutes of this match: -I miss that jersey. I like it better than the new white one. -Its nice to see Harvey as animated as usual on the sideline. And that's 4 for the US. 4-1.
Match over the US wins fairly easily 4-1. Except for scoring first Mexico never looked in danger of winning. They were just outplayed for 90% of the match.
Agree on Rodman, she hustles and throws her body around and is a overall very good player considering she is not in college yet. Pinto to me is the best player on the team. Expecting big things for Rodman In the future.
In this tournament I think Rodman was the MVP as she brought more to the game than anyone else. Assists+ goals+ defensive recovery = MVP for me.. She also seems to make everyone around her better and that, to me, is very valuable as well.
Tournament awards: US wins Fair Play. Fishel wins Golden Ball. Toledo (Mexico) wins Golden Glove. Dumonay (Haiti) wins Golden Boot.
In 2019 (and 2018?), the U23s have played in Portland's pre-NWSL tourney in late March. That's a fun format: 3 NWSL teams and the U23s. Sometimes they also travel to an end-of-season tournament overseas, in late August, as other countries' pro seasons are also winding down. USA's U23s aren't a permanent team. Since there's no WWC-23, there's no incentive for them to define a cycle and have regular call-ups, with continuity. So it's more of a disjointed sequence of one-time call-ups for additional WNT training/scouting purposes. I guess most U23s worldwide do the same thing, for similar reasons. Our recent U23s are NWSL rising-star players, plus a few exceptional NCAA players for the Portland tourney only. Last year, the U23 Macarios beat Portland and Chicago, and lost to the Reign. (And since Macario didn't leave Stanford early, she'll surely be back for this year's version.) If Sophia Smith (Portland's #1 pick) gets called up, she might play against Portland As for the U20s, I agree completely that they should use La Manga in a WWC-20 year for more reps together. Other nations who qualified are using it the same way.
Cheney (and Heath) were too old in 2008 for u20. They both played in the Olympics that year. Tony Dicicco took over for Jill Ellis for the u20 2008 WC and cut O'hara from the team. (which made room for Morgan) I'm not sure if Press actually made the final roster either.
diccicco cut O’Hara because she wouldn’t commit to the required camps. In his post cup 2008 technical report he called her toxic to team unity and went so far as to say they wouldn’t have won the cup with her and Press on it. on it. See item 1 from the technical report. And in my opinion the decisions of those two player was a big part of the reason they were slow to earn spots on the full team. When your national team calls, you go. They both said they wanted the national championship. As it played out, they lost in the semis to Notre Dame.
I shared Kelley O'Hara's letter to her younger self on a different thread, but she shared her side of the story on the Player's Tribune: "You’ll have some pretty intense internal strife about whether or not you want to be on that World Cup squad because it will overlap with your college season, and one of your biggest goals will be to win a national championship for Stanford. Well, lucky for you (I guess), you won’t have to decide. Because on that U20 team, you’ll be playing for Tony DiCicco, a World Cup-winning coach. And he’s not going to take any of your crap. And at one point, after your team loses in the final of the World Cup qualifier in Mexico, he’ll have some pretty specific thoughts as to why you lost. But you’ll have a different opinion, and you’ll voice it to a teammate at the airport ... in front of an assistant coach. And when Coach DiCicco gets wind of that, he’ll call you up and tell you that you’re out. He’ll cut you, on the spot. He’ll say it’s because of your attitude. That you need to be a better teammate. A better person."
...meanwhile, what should I conclude from the anomaly of the only pro, sophie smith, only appearing for a few scarce minutes in a couple of games in this tournament. is she not twice as good as rodman? or fishel? if she was injured, why did they take her?
From what I've seen, I think they brought her with a minor injury that they thought she could get over and play some. But apparently she didn't. Also I'm not sure if the sub off at the 27' in one of the games was just her lack of fitness or actually a re-injury.