Cat Macario scored again right after coming on for Chelsea. She scored for Arsenal, but that kind of makes it more remarkable.
Greetings and salutations my little soccer buddies!!! I know I’ve been away for a while, but in the grand scheme of things, you all deserved and needed a break from me. Shall we review the last two weeks: Witness the Greatest Team in the Universe compete - - ✔ In SoCal - - ✔ Exchange pleasantries with Cindy Cone - - ✔ Enjoy post-match libations with the Lavelle and Coffey Families - - ✔ Observe the USWNT bring home the hardware - - ✔ Stay at the Team Hotel in San Diego - - ✔ Do shots with Trinity’s Mom post championship Match - - ✔ After that San Diego swing……the Lord can take me. Onward to Atlanta/Columbus/Denver/St. Paul. Mystique Schemystique. With all due respect to her immense literary talents, Meg wouldn’t know Complete and Total Awesomeness if it bit her on the ass. And to the USWNT’s detractors, naysayers, critics, haters, cynics, disparagers, belittlers - - - YOU CAN ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
It barely touched her & didn’t change the ball’s projectile movement much(unless maybe the GK already committed), Kim Little should of been credit for the goal instead large sell out crowd that would make the Premier League envious, was this an derby? Seemed like it was played at Emirates stadium, but then the crowd was more pro Chelsea amazingly accurate ‘rainbow’ shot by Lauren James, could of taken sn deflection too, but then she keeps scoring consistently those type of goals. I can see her up for Ballon D’Or, but knowing FIFA, they’ll probably give it to Caro Hansen instead(even if Barca don’t win the Champion’s League!)
It wasn't 'sold out' but it was a very good crowd for women's football, the stadium was Stamford Bridge. All men's Premier League games do 'sell out' however women's football has only recently been a 'thing' in this country, this season for the first time ever even I have watched some womens games (including this one), the attendance was about 32'000 (best ever for the Chelsea ladies league games), the stadium holds about 40'000.
Three minutes after she subbed in she scored the only goal of the game against Everton. The 1-0 victory qualified them for the FA Cup quarter finals against Manchester United.
Ah! FA Cup. They have so many competitions over there , hard to keep track if you dont follow closely.
This year they actually have 4 compititions: The WSL title, Champions League title, Conti Cup, and FA Cup. It’s called the Quadruple. Right now they lead the League, are in the quarters of the Champions League, in the final of the Conti Cup, and Semi’s of the FA cup. The Last and only team to win all four was Arsenal. I believe Hayes was an assistant for Arsenal at that time.
Swanson started and went something like 70 minutes in Chicago's NWSL opener last night. Red Stars beat Utah 2-0. I thought Mal pretty much looked like her old self. Maybe a bit more timid in challenges, which is understandable. No goals or assists but I'd say she looked like the best player on the field and was very dangerous all night. More importantly, it does not seem like her speed has been affected at all by the injury. On a side note, Naeher played out of her mind. She has been on quite a roll lately.
so to home loss to Mexico, US falls two slots in newest FIFA rankings, but still will make em odds on favorite for Olympic Bronze(since England falied to qualify)
It’s now official; USA Germany Australia winner of the Zambia/Morocco So maybe dodged a bullet with missing the rough/hooligans, Colombia, but instead got an higher ranked Australia. The Matildas had to reactivate the formerly retired 35 year old Michelle Heymann due to Kerr’s recent ACL. That kinda of shows that they’re nowhere near depth, since as well as carrying a lot of other 30+ year old players. I did read a few years back an article that the Aussies were in ‘emergency crisis’ in finding new, upcoming prospects idk on why they don’t want to wait till the Zambia/Morocco match before making it official. Those are two vastly different playing styles; Morocco’s coached by WC champ, Vilda. So I guess expect a lot of tiki tacca out of them, but still missing big name types, meantime Zambia completely different, relying on their play direct, speed burners Banda & Kundananji, might not be household names, but recently both broke the record as the highest transfer fees in woso h and then kinda of the ‘irony’ of it all is we were hoping that Emma Hayes could either turn Fishel into an viable striker or Macario back into her former glorious self, but instead made an German fringe player named Nusken into an superstar—so now she’ll has to face the monster she created, lol btw…..new American prospect in PSG’s Gaetino?(scored yesterday while playing good defense in an CB, 3-back formation).
Moultrie only played 83 mins/2 games in the Concacaf 66 mins vs DOM Rep as starter 17 mins vs Colombia as sub Except for the amateur Dominicans, coach didn’t seem to think she was ready for prime time yet it be better for her play in this year’s u20 WC. There’s no dishonor in it; last tourney’s(2022) mvp, Selma Paralleulo, became arguably the world’s most dangerous striker within an year
I think Brazil, not just in ranking terms, but also on the field, are the most dangerous, especially since Australia are without Sam Kerr. But Germany are certainly a challenging draw from pot 2. Given that Germany have also had some indifferent form, I think the US should be expected to win the group. (Also, frankly, Zambia could hurt anyone on their day, though I wouldn't say its likely, I could see our backline struggling a big). Group A is clearly the easiest on paper, Group C may be the hardest. Group B winner probably has the hardest QF--the Group C runner up, probably Japan or Brazil. In fact, the runner up has an easier game, likely Canada or Colombia, setting up a probably rematch in the semis. So likely path is Japan/Brazil > Germany > Spain/France Or Canada/Colombia > Germany/Japan/Brazil > Spain/France
the Olympics can be uniquely different than the WC in that your reduced to just an 18 player roster than 23 & games are played every 3 days instead of 4, and do to only 12 teams, an particular group will look a lot tougher than at the WC—I mean every match going to rough/no taking it easy filler NT’s here like Vietnam or Costa Rica. keeping this in mind, you would want an roster of 100% fit players that can last 90-120 minutes if need. It’s probably why Canada with some of its ‘Ironman’ type players(instead of overall quality) is so consistent in winning medals in the Olympics but keeps flopping at the WC. Likewise Jill Ellis was able to navigate successfully two WC titles, but couldn’t find the right formula for here one try at the Olympics—where she only got to the quarter finals because she brought on some players on an already trimmed squad but were still recovering from injuries, so weren’t fit to play entire games. so look for the Olympic tourney to be very unpredictable, often group play looking confusing because coaches will slow down the pace to conserve the energy of his/her players for later rounds, yet allowing as many as 3 teams to qualify for the playoff round