.S. YOUTH NATIONAL TEAMS RETURN TO ACTION WITH FALL TRAINING CAMPS FOR U-17 AND U-20 USWNT

How do we think a perennial top 10 type - FSU, UVA, Stanford, UNC, UCLA - team would do in this competition?

 

Caveats that it's only one half, up a player, v. ostensibly weaker group opponent: lots of exciting talent on this #USWNT U-20 side. A nice change from the past (in general)? Full professionals (NWSL) on this team. Shaw to Moultrie was nearly a sweet combination for a goal.

— Jeff Kassouf (@JeffKassouf) August 11, 2022

It’s commentary like this from a respected source that sets the bar

“a nice change from the past”

 

Very fair. I think sometimes people don't realize how little training time these YNT have together. I certainly concede it is hard to develop a system and cohesion and chemistry with a handful of camps.

 

Can you explain how a U.S. win by two goals gets them the tiebreaker advantage over the Dutch.?It's goal difference for the group stage right, so why would what the Dutch do not matter? I'm not getting this at all.

 

Top 2 advance

 

It gets them a tiebreaker over the Japanese. A win over Japan by 2 goals would tie Japan and US on 6 points, but would bring the US to a +2 GD (currently at a 0 GD) and Japan to a +1 GD (currently at a +3 GD) sending the US on as the 2nd team in the group no matter how much the Netherlands wins by in the other game (assuming they win). In that scenario though, Japan would need the Netherlands to lose or tie to go through as the 2nd place team.

 

If she is the head coach doesn’t she decide who is selected for the camps and the roster? If a player has bad ingrained habits why are you calling up that player? There is so much talent in the US but the YNT coaches that have had control over this age group for over 6 straight years have called up basically the same players over and over without much variation. And they have favored players that play a certain kind of individualized style of play with hot shot strikers and athletic play and little soccer IQ. I hold the coaches responsible for this - they should be setting the tone and style of play for the team

 

tracy, or her employers, us soccer, seemed to be pushing a theme of rotation and giving as many players as possible playing time.

they made 6 changes (including the gk who I think was partly responsible for 2 goals) from the team that did well against ghana.

the dutch made no changes from the team that lost to japan.

the u.s. got bitten.

the dutch players' familiarity with each other won the day.

 

I don't think it is simple if the USA wanted to go the extreme end of the spectrum and play a possesion based style like Spain and Japan, they would struggle to find 30 players. Because the system does not produce them as they do not fit into the model. Those players don't filter from the pyramid.

 

To be fair, I can’t think of many teams across the spectrum who have the tactical flexibility to be extremely direct and extreme possession, nor do I think it’s necessary. Whatever style the USA were trying to play they were ineffective vs NED. I think they will be a lot better vs JPN. They need to be compact, intelligent and aware defensively to not chase and burn them on the counter and set pieces. I am tipping the USA to play very well today

 

I haven’t really followed the youth game on the women’s side so I’m not familiar with the player pool or politics involved. So just coming from this perspective, and watching the game against the Netherlands, I was utterly stunned how outclassed from a tactical and soccer IQ perspective we were. The gulf between the U20s and senior team is absurd.

 

I agree that this style would be the best tactics for the US. Would love to see it. They have the talent and pace to hit on the counter, however I will be shocked if we actually come out and play like that. The only style this group has played in the past is press high and try and close down and then attack.

To be fair...these players all CAN and in many cases DO play more tactical and modern soccer for their schools. Most come from programs and clubs known to play possession soccer and not just a simple direct style. Schools like Stanford, Duke, USC, UCLA, Notre Dame, Virginia, FSU, even UNC possess much more than playing totally direct.

It has been pointed out by others that it's difficult to develop more defined roles, cohesiveness, and a tactical system in a few week long camps a year. It's much different than the Full US team. YNT tend to more of an "All Star" team and less of a true team...

Not making excuses, just giving an explanation.

 

Ok thx for the response. Hopefully that is the case. My first impression was that it looked like the Dutch players have access to established world class academies and the US players were being trained in colleges. History from the men’s game suggests that is not a recipe for success on the international level.

I haven’t been one that is on the bandwagon that the US reign is over and Europe will now dominate the women’s game, but I have to admit, watching that game the other day it gave me some doubt. In any event, it’s just one game and youth tournaments don’t necessarily translate to future success at the senior level so we shall see.

Will be very interesting to see how everything shakes out at the next senior WC

 

I think one thing to keep in mind is that European teams (and Japan as well) typically train and play together much more than the US at the youth ages. They have a smaller player pool and more manageable size / travel requirements. They can be more of a traditional team as far as training and tactics.

 

On that subject this is definitely the case in Europe as normally the u-20 team comes from the u-19 team from the previous season that played the WC qualifiers. Therefore they have a two years cycle to prepare and play about 20 games in those two years.

This cycle is an exception due to Covid-19 and many UEFA teams have not practised together. The French team has played 8 games overall together in two years. I believe the Nordics countries did more, but they actually did not qualify for that world cup. Not sure about Japan though, but knowing how tough the restrictions were on foreign entry I don't think they did travel much during the pandemic.

 

Yes, although normally we, Nadeshiko Japan's supporters, were able to assess quite clearly the level of our youth NTs, this time, due to covid breaking the normal cycle, we're almost as much in the dark about them as the rest of the world. There are some exciting players in this Japan's side, some of them having already played their fair share of club football at the top-level of Japanese professional league (as Maika Hamano, for instance), but actually no-one of us have a clear idea of what they are capable of together.

Some see them at a similar level as U-20 World Champions from 2018, some think that they're not at that level.

We can only hope that they adjust their aim toninght vs USA.

 

There is so much that those not directly involved assume that is way off. Those who know have no incentive to reveal. Without facts the narrative rules

 

remember defensive responsibility is rarely required at the schools you mention. It’s goals. Most of the games they play they dominate. One reason I only value players based on matchup. I throw out a lot of data

 

I have made a few attempts to evaluate or predict or analyze this match but I have quite thoroughly failed to produce any reasonable evaluation or analysis. I am not at all sure why but I think it has to do with my old brain being completely unable to process the horrible loss to the Dutch and therefore my analysis has been more than a little in error over and over.

I am not going to compound my mistake further by getting myself deeper into flawed evaluation.
What I will do now is simply watch and maybe comment during the match but I will not try, at least until it is over or clear what the outcome will be, to try to analyze the progress of the match beyond what I am truly pretty good at, analyzing goalkeepers.

My granddaughters are joining me for this match but they are about as somber as I have ever seen them. They, as I, know there is nothing that can be done by us to change the game but that will not prevent us from yelling at the TV from time to time.

 

It looks like we are going to have one of the good commentators and not the chatterbox pair we have had before. That is a good thing. Maybe this will be more enjoyable.

 

The US needs to score to have much of a chance but all Japan needs to do is keep everything under control. So far the US has been in scoring position exactly once and the only thing that made it hard for the 'keeper was a lucky deflection.
Japan has been in better positions much more often but they are doing nothing with their chances either.

I think the way the match is going it is unlikely either team will score because of anything they do but there may be a goal or three just from poor skill in defense.

The US is NOT playing like they need to win, rather they are playing like it does not matter at all and, judging by some of the expressions, few players for the US care much at all.

 

To me it looked like Japan is just better. Better technically. Better at exploiting the pockets of space in the midfield. Better at understanding where the next open pass will be. Better at moving without the ball. Better at maintaining their shape.

The US obviously believes they can get onto an early ball over the top, they are looking for it and playing it almost every possession. There certainly is a chance that the forwards can get onto one or Japan will make a gaff, but so far Japan looks pretty solid and confident. They certainly aren’t plying like a team that just needs to sit back and play for a tie. They are pushing forward and playing for the win…kudos to them for that. We’ll see how that plays out.

 

usa are playing for an individual to win it. Japan probe. Find pockets. Use first touch and vision to move your shape. Different challenge that the USA players rarely face.

 

Isn’t that a common approach in the entire soccer world? I saw Euro teams also play like that.

 

Pretty serious failure compared to US women’s expectations. Little combination play from the team and no impressive individuals. So if you wanted this to be a team success or an opportunity to develop individuals it was a mess either way.