WHEN RODMAN WAS a toddler, Michelle filed for divorce from Dennis. Proceedings and postponements would stretch out over the next eight years. The Rodman children were absent from their father physically, emotionally and financially. (Dennis could not be reached for comment on this story.) When Trinity was blooming on the field, she lived at an Orange County Comfort Inn with Michelle, DJ and her older sister Teyana Lima for almost a year. Michelle didn't want them to realize the depths of their struggles, so she turned their tenure into a game of sorts. Michelle chose the closest room to the pool. She'd wake Trinity and DJ every morning before school and let them take a dip. "I wanted to make it like a vacation," Michelle says. "I would let them jump on the beds and do whatever they wanted, so it wasn't necessarily like, 'Oh God, we don't have anything. We're staying at this motel.'" They'd eat waffles in the hotel's lobby and free lunches at school. Michelle stocked up on Cup Noodles and $0.99 frozen burritos for dinner, the kids' favorites. "We didn't have a house or a car. And that's not the most ideal situation to be in with a family. But our mom made it fun," DJ recalls. "That was probably the hardest time in our lives. But we would never trade anything in the world to grow up differently because it's probably the most humbling life I could ask for."
Three big ughs. The US attackers continue to run fast and not play soccer. Rodman, Purce and Smith had two good passes among them. Second. The entire Colombian team played like it was the prison league from the jump. Just ugly and disappointing. Boo. Third, the ref was useless. On the plus side, good to see some direct play.
plus their top club, Deportivo Cali, was playing FC Gotham the other day. Do you know why Ramirez wasn’t on their NT???(she started yesterday for Chelsea)
They did her and club the favour. Chelsea has insanely tough schedule in March (domestic league, cups and UWCL), plus Mayra has just arrived to completely different surrounding: cultural and language-wise. I would say with 2 goals already she adapted pretty quickly.
That is who they are. That is what got them there and has given them success. I don't agree with the "not play soccer" part! It's a style and it has worked for them. The part I don't understand is the expectation that they will change. If you want a different style, then select different players. Combining players like that with ones who want to connect more is not helping either style.
I think it’s a fine enough style when the other team is overmatched. But when the other team is solid, then I would prefer other players. Maybe they don’t even exist, but hopefully Hayes will find them over the next couple of years.
I would say she is still young from a sport stand point. She is not yet in her prime, so we could expect her to continue to improve. A good model of that could be Sam Kerr, who was known as a speedy scorer before becoming more well rounded, coincidentally, it happened at right around the age Smith is now. And from just a basic stats approach, Smith does seem to be improving her passing with each year in the league.
Re: Smith ... it seemed like she and Mal were developing some chemistry. Am I wrong? Also, since I mentioned Mal, she was not a good passer at Sophia's age. SS is still young, still developing her game. Maybe it will become more well-rounded. Same with Rodman. I think Trinity is tooo enamored with nutmegging. The defender knows it's coming now. I used to play pick-up w/ a guy that was a nutmeg pro. Everyone ooooohed and aaaaahed when he (frequently) pulled it off. I just started playing him to nutmeg every time. Even if we were running parallel, he'd get the ball between the defenders legs and go around, as they tried to figure out what happened. I played for that, too. The guy could have beaten me more on the dribble, but he always wanted to prove he could meg me. Trinity is going for the meg too frequently.
How about the chemistry that was developing between Swanson and Morgan? SheBelieves 2023 - Morgan assisted Swanson's first goal vs Canada, Morgan pressured Canada into coughing up the ball for Swanson's second goal vs Canada, and Morgan assisted Swanson's goal vs Japan. Add in Morgan's good goal vs Brazil, and she was a key contributor to four of the US' five goals at that tournament. Gold Cup 2024 - When has the US played at their best? With Morgan at CF and Shaw at LW/RW. Morgan's subpar WC shouldn't have distracted fans/viewers from the equally subpar wing play, but it did probably because Smith and Rodman are so young and part of the long-term future of this team.
dang, are you Alex's mother or something? If so, how 'bout telling her to stay the hell on side. There is so much to unpack in your post. So much silliness. Creating a turnover that someone else scores is not "chemistry." Scoring a "good goal" with no mention of another player is not "chemistry." She got 2 assists in a SheBelieves. And, zero goals, I presume? She starts as the 9 in just about every match for the US. In the past year, how many goals from the run of play has she scored? How many assists does she have? These are not rhetorical questions. I'm asking them. If you don't answer them, I can only assume that you're not answering because she suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks. I complimented her play vs. Colombia. I even said I could live with her as a 9. I can live with her b/c it looks like she's the best we've got. Which is sad. I'd like to see Hatch given more of a look. And, I don't understand why Williams is never played as a 9. Williams is as good in the air, is a muuuuuch more active presser and is much faster. Why not Lynn?
I'm confused. Where's your evidence of supposed chemistry brewing between Smith and Swanson? I didn't mention the "good goal" as evidence of chemistry; I just mentioned it in support of Morgan's impact. Okay on Swanson's second goal, but assisting two of Swanson's goals vs good opposition is more evidence than you're presented so far for Smith-Swanson chemistry. Zero goals? I literally said she scored a good goal vs Brazil at SheBelieves 2023. She had five assists last calendar year for the USWNT; I'm not sure anyone on the USWNT had more in 2023. I already said Morgan had a subpar WC; I just don't get why she got the brunt of the criticism for a team outside of the defense that underperformed as much as her, but whatever. Hatch? She's a better option than Morgan? You know I did find it funny how Morgan got so criticized for scoring 10 non PK goals and 5 PKs in the NWSL in 2022, but Hatch got so little relative criticism from what I've seen for scoring 4 non PK goals and 5 PKs in the NWSL in 2023. I will always stand by my opinion that Morgan's been a better presser/defender than she's gotten credit for throughout her career. Her play on the first goal yesterday was no surprise to me, but whatever. One of the biggest gripes with Morgan for many is her finishing; I don't think Williams is exactly an improvement in that department. But yes, let's hope for Williams to get a chance at CF.
So what puzzles me is: Almost every year we get at least one of these games, a street fight in thin disguise, with the ref doing f-all to contain it. FIFA supposedly reviews every game in detail with every ref, yet these games, which seem to me should be career ending or at least altering for the ref never seem to be. What is the disincentive for the ref, to stop them from allowing arena warfare for fun or profit?
FIFA is basically gutless. They impose sanctions to cure some bad acting but they almost always reduce the sanctions or eliminate them totally, after the smoke dies down. They say the monitor refs but it seems to take a direct assault of the ref for anything meaningful to actually happen and it is NEVER the refs fault as they, according to FIFA can do no wrong. Players do get bans and refs seem only to be banned for crimes like bribery or, maybe, abuse. There seems to be nothing that fans or the press can do to get bad refs removed and refs like we just had will, probably, be judged to have done a great job and she may get the final. At least it would not surprise me. FIFA only seems concerned about money and bad refereeing does not cost them any money. We will just have to live with the crappy refs because FIFA and CONCACRAP seems to have no desire for really good refs. They just want refs that will keep the matches interesting and there is nothing more interesting than a bench clearing brawl. If one of those were to happen the players and teams will get reprimands/sanctions but the ref that lost control of the match will get praised. FIFA, like a lot of other folks, professes that they care for the "game" but all they really care about is money. We will just have to live with what we get as FIFA/CONCACRAP will do nothing unless they get richer from it. Maybe there should be referee fines for bad performances. Of course whatever was implemented would always be reduced or eliminated as the gutless leaders do not want to upset anybody that works for/with them.
My understanding was that Morgan's PK was her first goal for the WNT in a year. So, her header must have been her first from the run of play in over a year - is that wrong? How many non pk goals did Morgan score in NWSL in 2023? And, where does Morgan rank in number of offside calls for both the NT and club in the past few years? Re: Williams, ya, she only scores when the keeper is out of position. She doesn't beat a keeper. But, if scoring from the 9 is not a thing that we require, Williams is a wayyyyyy better presser than Morgan. And, Morgan's finishing is nothing like what it was when she was young. Re: Alex's pressing, she is making much more of an effort than she used to. Keep in mind, I said in this thread, I'm ok with Morgan as the 9.
SheBelieves 2023 was more than a year ago; she scored there. I haven't disputed Morgan's serious lack of goal scoring. Morgan scored 5 non PK goals in the NWSL in 2023, and she also had 5 assists. Her G+A/90 was just barely under Kerolin's. No idea, but I don't think that's been as much of a hindrance as some act like it is. Agree to disagree. Of course, Morgan's finishing isn't what it used to be; I just think she contributes to goals/chances via her passing and physicality better than Williams could, but again, agree to disagree.
Agree to disagree. I dont think soccer works like that. Kerr was never similar to Smith imo. Very different players
Because ooohs and ahhs get paid. Let's agree to disagree on Smith. Why do we need to watch a maybe/ development at full NT level? Go away, get better and get selected then? Or keep her in the team and accept what we see now. I know what I would prefer. Think about the signal it sends other players?
Williams at CF is a hard pass from me. Unless the game plan is put the best athletes out ther and hit long balls early.
I didn't get a chance to watch the US vs COLOMBIA game. How did Korbin Albert do? I see where someone here is criticizing her for being timid in the Mexico game, but she came in for about only 10 or 15 minutes at the end, by that time the US had pretty much lost. I am really rooting for this young player as I have watched her play in Chicago area since she was 11 years old, and then at Notre Dame. I realized when I first saw her play as a little kid she was going to be a special player.
LOL…not bad to be a rabid fan I guess, but get your emotional support group ready. The best I see her in Olympics would be in the 4 person reserve, slotting in like she did on this Gold Cup tourney. With 16 ( sans GKs) for the Olys roster, Swanson and Macario on the mend, Shaw on the rise, Morgan’s prospects are really not looking good—- with Emma on the reins. USSF however, may be her salvation. As for the rest of the “she’s hot/cold” details brought up, I think the frustration in Horan’s face on that missed sitter yesterday sums it all up.
I'm actually already prepared for Morgan not to get into the Olympic squad; I just don't like how she's been scapegoated by so many (along with Andonovski) for the World Cup. That's all. Ah yes, it's not like Horan only scored thanks to Morgan. That was close to full stretch and at an awkward position. A big miss, but "harder to miss than to score" (which I've seen online) is an exaggeration.
I didn't think Albert was timid in her 20+ minutes vs Mexico; I thought she was simply poor. Albert was largely good vs Colombia in my opinion. Not much in the way of penetrative passing, but she definitely showcased her defensive work ethic as an 8, which I think is her biggest strength. She had one good distance effort that was saved by the Colombian keeper.
Yes. I just wish some fans would own up to that and not try and act like Smith, Rodman, and co should be on the team instead of Morgan purely on merit.