don't worry we'll be much better team in a few more practices together, beside WC is still far ahead, remember the Brazil men team, they almost not be qualified for the WC and in the end they become a champion.
Yo, Good luck to the U.S.A. women's team!!!!!!! I hope that they destroy Japan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations Mia!! Larry
WNT VS Japan analysis..................................... Game Analysis: this is going to be a project...lots to talk about here, i am going to take this one stage at a time. first off...rusty, rusty, rusty...no question everyones touch on the ball was less then sharp. and the loss of key veteran players showed. the US overall were constantly being pulled out of shape...there was a deffinate lack of dicipline. no chemistry, you had players playing as individuals, and not as a team. They played in a 4-4-2...and I realy think they would have been better served in a 4-3-3 formation. I am going to look at the back line for a moment: Joy.... had a quiet but solid game. She did her job. I think she may have been asked to stay at home...I did not see alot of movement by Joy over the mid-feild line. i imagine April wanted her deffenders for the most part to stay home with so much inexperience on the field, probably a very wise decision. Brandi....as par for the course also stayed at home. had a solid performance deffensively. but; was deffinately not sharp on her free kicks. I felt Aly had a little more accuracy with her passes, and perhaps should have been called on to take those free kick as is demonstrated by the final free kick oppertunity of the game. Where Aly was given the oppertunity..she was much closer to being on target with Abby then Brandi had been through out the match. More on Aly later. Sobs....A quiet game as well, but; solid. made a couple of good flank runs...but overall not much to say. Kat reddick....was probably the most visible deffender in this one. Made some excellent flank runs, and tried to work the ball ahead. unfortunately overall ball control was terrible. with the exception of a few pritty moves..the ball movement itself was lack luster.. Mid-field: What mid-field?...honestly...TR and Fair aside from a couple of oppertunities did not contribute much to the run of play. and off ball movement by the flank midfield players was predictible. failure to continuely switch the point of attack provided japan the deffensive edge. most of the ball movement was down the left flank, and Japan was stacking the side with players..and no middi seemed to notice this. Wags service was off all game..aside from a couple of well placed balls, not a very good performance. I do think that her service over the ball from the corners displayed that she was a little better then Brandi in this situation and under these conditions because of this, i think she should have been taking those free kicks. Mac...was working hard...and was clearly trying to make things happen, but; i don't think in the touches she had that she looked for an open player enough. Millie...again as Mac seemed to be trying..She would have served herself better against this quick/fast japanese team to have moved lateraly along the deffensive line of Japan, and then slot herself behind the defense as a timed run on service from the Mid-field. These are the kinds of runs that make millie successful and Dangerous...But; she didn't utilize it today...She tried to outrun the Japanese defense. and they were fast enough to stay on level footing with her. CP....battleing tendonitis in her knee...she was clearly not on top of her game. though i admire the effort. She was for the most part silenced by Japan. Siri...Had a strong game other then a couple of shanked balls...She chose the right times to come out, and the right times to stay home. She seemed very sharp..only her feet seemed to suffer from the break. 2nd half: Mid-field subs: Hucles...I know some people are down on her and don't understand Aprils interest in her. But; the first thing about hucles you must understand is what her role is. Her role is to be disruptive to the Japanese mid-field. to assist on the counter if she is in position to..but beyond that expectations drop off. She is a very hard worker. she is chasing every ball in her vacinity. She is not a flashy player. you arn't going to hold your breath when she gets the ball. but, she performed her role well today. She isn't out there to score goals. If the oppertunity presents itself of course she will shoot. But; that is not realy her job. She is a player that does her job quietly. Klugle....I felt played well..I think she deffinately made an impact when she was sub'd into the match. however more oft then not her efforts went un-rewarded. she worked to strip the ball away from japanese deffense and midfield..and made some great flank runs for the U.S. Tarpley...realy a non factor in this match..didn't see much from her but then again she didn't get a ton of time out there either. Forward subs: Abby...Abby actualy had a good game. unfortunately she didn't get alot of help from O'reily who kept forgetting to continue her runs. A mistake of youth no doubt. Abby was positioning herself well through out the match but, no one could seem to get the ball to her...The final pass was off consistantly through out this match. Frankly the passing was off period. The U.S. showed a deffinate lack of patience. and rather then settling the ball down and reorganizing when they needed to, the tried to pick up the tempo, and out race the Japanese to the ball. This tactic is not going to work against a team like Japan which features a fast player at almost every position. O'reily....as i said before failed to continue her runs...often i would see her just stop running when the ball went over her head. many of those balls she could have gotten to, or could have pressured the player with it and potentialy force a bad pass, or force the player to boot it out of play. I also did not see the Mid-field move up to support the run...or the forwards. very few attempts were made by the mid-field to creat numbers up in the box on the counter until the play was about to be stiffled by the defense. Deffensive sub: Thori....played well for the most part...but made an incredible poor decision to pass that ball back accross the face of the goal. never, never, never, does a deffender ever want to do that. It is not even an option. if you can not clear it to the mid-field put the ball over the touch line..but, never send the ball toward your keeper with the opposition forwards crashing the box. it is a cardnal sin. Bean...not real sharp in this one... made a couple of poor decisions. never come off your line for the ball unless you are certain that you are going to get to it before the opposition. All and All the lack of veteran leadership in Key positions was obvious..I stated before the match that i certainly felt it would be close. That I thought the U.S. would win but by no more then 1 or 2 goals.Japan is a good team. They are very good at controling the ball. They are fast, quick, and tenacious. and frankly we were very lucky to walk away with the draw. The stats in this match while favoring the U.S. are deceptive. everyone who took a shot on goal was leaning back to much on their shots, and the balls as a result were missing high, or floating on them. These young players in limited use are a compliment to this team, but throwing to many on the pitch without you primary core players is a recipe for disaster. End Analysis:
"No Longer Dominating" Here is the SD Union-Tribune write-up on the game: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/mon/sports/news_1s13ussoc.html
Pathetic I'm sorry but we SUCK. You can make all the excuses you want about time together, blah, blah, blah, but the fact is that we've going down hill fast and the only reason we're doing anything at all is that we're still getting milage out of the pre-April group. Those days are winding down fast. The "younger" players showed nothing but hustle. Where the Hell did it all go? The Women's nats used to be a thing of beauty to watch. You could make training videos out of their games if you wanted. Now it's all accidental offense, cross it into the boax and maybe something will happen and a lot of meaningless ramming around. I can hardly stand to watch the game anymore and I'm not even sure they could beat a top college team today. April has developed exactly zero new players and has destroyed what was a pleasure to watch. If it weren't for the "older" players still hanging on, we'd be NOWHERE today. Maybe when we choke in the next big cup, someone will have the guts to pull the plug on April. She must go and be replaced by someone that can bring the team back to the level they once held.
Re: Pathetic I bet you will say tottaly different when they're coming back from the chinese's four tournament, because they will be champion ! i have faith on this team no matter what the situation is, few more practices, problem will be solved.
CP and Milly were having problems with Siri's kicks in the first half because they had to look right back into the sun - there were several times where Milly and the defender behind her misjudged the ball so badly that it went over both of their heads... Here is the Soccer America account of the game... http://www.socceramerica.com/article.asp?Art_ID=562132824
I've never really rated Parlow and Sunday did little to improve my opinion. Battling tendonitis is one thing, being unable to pass a ball, make a run, or shoot is another. Why even play if you can't do at least one of the three? Oh, to take advantage of her size, eh? That's the only reason I can see she's even on the team in the first place. Wagner started, but didn't really look quality until the second half. Hopefully some more practice time and games for the squad will improve their efforts.
After watching the tape I think whoever said our diamond midfield got outplayed was right. that's definitly going to be an area to work on. It's a little scary looking with Foudy and Lilly out of the picture.
yup. our midfield will ALWAYS be outplayed when both Fair and Roberts are on the field at the SAME time.
Best indicators on who dominated whom: Score: USA 0, Japan 0 Saves: United States 1, Japan 1. Best scoring chance: “With Beene out of position, Kaoko Kawakami had plenty of open net staring her in the face, but she shanked her angled attempt and it rolled wide of the far post.” Best recent synopsis on the USA chances in 2003 WWC: Looking ahead to China '03, Milbrett sees a daunting challenge. Repeating as World Champions might be considerably more difficult than capturing the ’99 championship. “You might say that in ’99 that it was pretty difficult for China,” Milbrett explained. In order to win the championship, China had to defeat both Norway (which it did in convincing fashion) and the United States (which it fell short against by the slightest of margins). The Chinese were justifiably less than pleased with their travel schedule. It had them criss-crossing the country and saddled them with the additional burden of jetlag. “I’m sure we’ll see the return favor coming our way…”
More then a few thoughts on the game, and on the USA team in general. First I liked the new kids the US put in the second half lot of potential there. On is the rest of the world be catching up? Well they are getting better, but they have not caught up as yet. We were a head of everyone else, but you have to keep adding to your game to stay a head. Especially, when everyone knows your game. A weaker side can keep the game close when they know how you play from playing you a number of times. Once they get some real skills, and there players are getting more skilful then they were. Keep the game close, you can lose the game as we almost did lose this game on one or two occassions. Our young new players look good. So we just need to build on our game to stay ahead. We don't seem to have a Mia type player at least from what I saw in this game. We should have a close inside passing game by now, after all this time with the same players? We don't Dicico was starting to do it. Then he leaves, and adding anything to our game left with him. I don't think our current coach can take the team where they need to go in the future to stay on top of the heap. ------------------- Did the Japanese play man to man game that didn't give the US side much time to operate? If you think so answer this. How do you play man to man, and still double team at the same time without leaving men open? If it was man to man why didn't we make a lot of diagonal runs, and other crossing the field runs to open up space? In man to man defense you also see a lot of intercepted passes by the fist defender comming from behind his (Man) receiver ball side. ------------- On another note Evidently, the US national team backs when they had the ball we were having a hard time passing to the US midfielders. So they took a page out of Bora's coaching book, and kept moving the ball side to side using the backs from one side of the field to the other. Hopeing to get one or two of the Japanese mids impatient and come towards then. Thus losening Japans midfield. Problem was our backs got impatient first, and began moving up closer to the Japanese midfield which made the space more congested. What you can also do to open up the midfield is a back with the ball takes on a player. Especuially, if they were playing man which I am not sure they were playing. Beat the first man the second defender has to leave his man to pick up the dribbler that will also create space in the midfield. Women backs in general even with the National team rarely take on a player. Men do it, that is just one of the differences from the mens game and the womens game. It was not a good game for the US, but the new kids give me hope for a good future once they change coaches.
I was also disappointed with Wendy's commentary in the first half, she kept giving the US to much credit for "good play" when in actuallity they were getting beaten to the ball time and time again, when they weren't making bad passes and throwing the ball away.>>>> Wendy has the worst conflict of interest in broadcasting,what do you expect???
I was somewhat conflicted during this one, but I did notice a couple things on both sides. Japan: 1) Their defense wasn't as shambolic as it was in previous viewings. Their keeper and middle defender had a few hair-raising moments, not to mention a few bouncing balls in the box, but after showing little defensive organization and/or understanding at the last WWC, they seem to have turned a corner in that department. 2) Not unlike the men's team, finishing is still a problem for Japan. Goals will defnitely come easier against the likes of Singapore and Guam, but such profligacy won't work against North Korea, South Korea, China or Chinese Taipei. U.S.A.: 1) Where's the other gamebreaker? Without Hamm to fall back on, the U.S. didn't seem to have a lot of creative spark out there. Parlow and Wambach could've (and maybe should've) had a field day in the air, but without any decent service they were just taking up space. 2) If the game's purpose was to solidify the backline and see to it that everyone got PT, then mission accomplished. However, Heinrichs should take a tape of this game with her to the WWC, if only to remind her team and herself that the same old, same old won't cut it anymore.
On Parlow she is a factor because she is good in the air, she is big and she is physical. There is a big lack of quickness with her. Quickness is more important then even speed in our game. She lacks that, and that will always be a weakness. But keep serving her balls in the air she will most likely keep scoring. It also means she will lose the ball alot. Take the good with the bad I suppose.
true, Parlow should speed up her run and movement and also Abi Wambach. They will be very dangerous if they do.
LoTheLurker brought this up... Was the Japanese team even scouted on Wednesday? Last Wednesday they took on a bunch of San Diego All-Stars that ended in a 0-0 draw. Perhaps it was a closed door match? But wait...at least one poster from these boards attended that match. I don't know. I guess the point I am trying to make is that if April and company scouted the team on Wednesday...couldn't they have made the necessary tactical and personnel adjustments to beat Japan?
For those that missed mention of it in the Charge Forum, April Heinrichs was on the "Inside Soccer" show the day before the game. Here is where the transcript can be found. http://www.spiritedsoccer.com/news/transcripts/radio/heinrichs_is111.html
WNT VS JAPAN GAME ANALYSIS........................ Game Analysis: this is going to be a project...lots to talk about here, i am going to take this one stage at a time. first off...rusty, rusty, rusty...no question everyones touch on the ball was less then sharp. and the loss of key veteran players showed. the US overall were constantly being pulled out of shape...there was a deffinate lack of dicipline. no chemistry, you had players playing as individuals, and not as a team. They played in a 4-4-2...and I realy think they would have been better served in a 4-3-3 formation. I am going to look at the back line for a moment: Joy.... had a quiet but solid game. She did her job. I think she may have been asked to stay at home...I did not see alot of movement by Joy over the mid-feild line. i imagine April wanted her deffenders for the most part to stay home with so much inexperience on the field, probably a very wise decision. Brandi....as par for the course also stayed at home. had a solid performance deffensively. but; was deffinately not sharp on her free kicks. I felt Aly had a little more accuracy with her passes, and perhaps should have been called on to take those free kick as is demonstrated by the final free kick oppertunity of the game. Where Aly was given the oppertunity..she was much closer to being on target with Abby then Brandi had been through out the match. More on Aly later. Sobs....A quiet game as well, but; solid. made a couple of good flank runs...but overall not much to say. Kat reddick....was probably the most visible deffender in this one. Made some excellent flank runs, and tried to work the ball ahead. unfortunately overall ball control was terrible. with the exception of a few pritty moves..the ball movement itself was lack luster.. Mid-field: What mid-field?...honestly...TR and Fair aside from a couple of oppertunities did not contribute much to the run of play. and off ball movement by the flank midfield players was predictible. failure to continuely switch the point of attack provided japan the deffensive edge. most of the ball movement was down the left flank, and Japan was stacking the side with players..and no middi seemed to notice this. Wags service was off all game..aside from a couple of well placed balls, not a very good performance. I do think that her service over the ball from the corners displayed that she was a little better then Brandi in this situation and under these conditions because of this, i think she should have been taking those free kicks. Mac...was working hard...and was clearly trying to make things happen, but; i don't think in the touches she had that she looked for an open player enough. Millie...again as Mac seemed to be trying..She would have served herself better against this quick/fast japanese team to have moved lateraly along the deffensive line of Japan, and then slot herself behind the defense as a timed run on service from the Mid-field. These are the kinds of runs that make millie successful and Dangerous...But; she didn't utilize it today...She tried to outrun the Japanese defense. and they were fast enough to stay on level footing with her. CP....battleing tendonitis in her knee...she was clearly not on top of her game. though i admire the effort. She was for the most part silenced by Japan. Siri...Had a strong game other then a couple of shanked balls...She chose the right times to come out, and the right times to stay home. She seemed very sharp..only her feet seemed to suffer from the break. 2nd half: Mid-field subs: Hucles...I know some people are down on her and don't understand Aprils interest in her. But; the first thing about hucles you must understand is what her role is. Her role is to be disruptive to the Japanese mid-field. to assist on the counter if she is in position to..but beyond that expectations drop off. She is a very hard worker. she is chasing every ball in her vacinity. She is not a flashy player. you arn't going to hold your breath when she gets the ball. but, she performed her role well today. She isn't out there to score goals. If the oppertunity presents itself of course she will shoot. But; that is not realy her job. She is a player that does her job quietly. Klugle....I felt played well..I think she deffinately made an impact when she was sub'd into the match. however more oft then not her efforts went un-rewarded. she worked to strip the ball away from japanese deffense and midfield..and made some great flank runs for the U.S. Tarpley...realy a non factor in this match..didn't see much from her but then again she didn't get a ton of time out there either. Forward subs: Abby...Abby actualy had a good game. unfortunately she didn't get alot of help from O'reily who kept forgetting to continue her runs. A mistake of youth no doubt. Abby was positioning herself well through out the match but, no one could seem to get the ball to her...The final pass was off consistantly through out this match. Frankly the passing was off period. The U.S. showed a deffinate lack of patience. and rather then settling the ball down and reorganizing when they needed to, the tried to pick up the tempo, and out race the Japanese to the ball. This tactic is not going to work against a team like Japan which features a fast player at almost every position. O'reily....as i said before failed to continue her runs...often i would see her just stop running when the ball went over her head. many of those balls she could have gotten to, or could have pressured the player with it and potentialy force a bad pass, or force the player to boot it out of play. I also did not see the Mid-field move up to support the run...or the forwards. very few attempts were made by the mid-field to creat numbers up in the box on the counter until the play was about to be stiffled by the defense. Deffensive sub: Thori....played well for the most part...but made an incredible poor decision to pass that ball back accross the face of the goal. never, never, never, does a deffender ever want to do that. It is not even an option. if you can not clear it to the mid-field put the ball over the touch line..but, never send the ball toward your keeper with the opposition forwards crashing the box. it is a cardnal sin. Bean...not real sharp in this one... made a couple of poor decisions. never come off your line for the ball unless you are certain that you are going to get to it before the opposition. All and All the lack of veteran leadership in Key positions was obvious..I stated before the match that i certainly felt it would be close. That I thought the U.S. would win but by no more then 1 or 2 goals.Japan is a good team. They are very good at controling the ball. They are fast, quick, and tenacious. and frankly we were very lucky to walk away with the draw. The stats in this match while favoring the U.S. are deceptive. everyone who took a shot on goal was leaning back to much on their shots, and the balls as a result were missing high, or floating on them. These young players in limited use are a compliment to this team, but throwing to many on the pitch without you primary core players is a recipe for disaster. End Analysis: