Just reading the match report, I'm having trouble figuring out why Aly Wagner wasn't US player of the match. She assisted on all three US goals, and it sounds like she could've had another 5 or 6 assists with decent finishing. Good to see the young bucks (or is that does?) playing well.
Yeah it sounds like Aly was in control over there. Ok Thori has a goal. When does KATE! get one. But WooHoo!!!!!! We beat Norway!!!!
Maybe you can convince coach Heinrichs to let her move up in front of the goal on corner kicks, and stick Thori back as one of the 'safeties!' On the other hand, who would you rather have stay back as a safety, Kate - or Thori?
You can't argue with the result, but there are some questions I'd like answered. Assuming we went with the diamond midfield 4-4-2 we've been seeing, who played at left and right back? Kate and Thori typically both play on the right, but since Benson subbed in for Thori, should we assume Thori played on the left? That spot is still Slaton's/Reddick's to lose, but it would be nice to know how the backups are doing. Did Hucles start at left mid, since Kluegel was her halftime sub? Was Roberts at d mid and Fair r mid? No real mention of their play in the match report. How did Parlow look? Wagner has seemed to combine better with Millbrett, O'Reilly and Wambach (of the forwards in China) than Parlow or Mac. Can we assume the same held true in this match? It sounds like Aly gave Mac a good pass near the end but Mac failed to get the quick shot off. That's worrisome. Did Hawkins take Aly's spot at the top of the diamond in the 88th minute, or was everyone just trying to play defensively after O'Reilly put the US up 3-1 in the 87th? Questions, questions.
Good Question, though it does sound as if Milly created havoc on attack. But to get all three assists in the game is fairly remarkable. I wonder, when was the last time anyone got all the assists in a game when more than two goals were scored?
It is with some embarrassment that I admit that I have no idea who Thori Bryan is, even though I've been watching this team at every opportunity since 1995. Anyone? Overall, it's a great result. Have we played Norway on a neutral field since Sydney?
was the player of the match based on decision of US officials' opinion or the tournament's officials ? if Millie beat Aly Wagner on this statistic, she must have done her job really well, maybe as good as her performance during the olympic 2002 opener against Norway.
Actually today's match was the fourth time since the Sydney Olympics that the U.S. has played Norway on a neutral field. The U.S. lost to Norway in both the 2001 and 2002 Algarve Cups and also lost to Norway in last year's Four Nations Tournament.
From the information I received it appears that Hucles did start the left side. Thori apparently was on that side as well in the back.
Thanks, sokrandlaw5. Heinrichs recently said that there is perhaps one open mf and one forward starting position: (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/national/2003-01-22-women-youth_x.htm) "The Four Nations is really a preseason scrimmage against the three best teams in the world, but it opens the door for a little more player development," she says. "Looking at our starting lineup, we have maybe one spot open in the midfield, maybe one up top. We have a chance to see if some of these young players can play." If Angela is versatile enough to play l mid, I like her chances of making the squad. I think she's played at r mid better than any of the other options we've seen recently. (Except for Foudy, but I'm hoping Julie's going to start at d mid against the tough opposition.) I keep wondering what will happen if one of the starters gets injured going into the WWC. There is going to be a long buildup, and odds are there's going to be at least some unfortunate fallout. We're pretty deep on the front and back lines, so I think those are covered. But if anything happens to Lilly we're in trouble. While Kluegel can arguably fill in at l mid if needed, that's really the only position at which I'd want to see her, and I'm not wildly enthusiastic even on that. If Angela continues on her current trajectory, I'd say she presents the best wing mf option.
I agree with your assessment. I like her on the right side more than the left but to date I believe she is the only mid to play all four positions in the diamond. I may be mistaken but I cannot recall anyone else doing that. Still, the right side is her strongest.
Actually Aly has played all four mid spots in the past but she needs to be at the top of the diamond for obvious reasons. I think April put in the diamond to take advantage of Aly's unique talents. Jenna is still an untapped resource and if given the opportunity could ultimately be the next L mid. I think she just needs time and confidence to go out there and have an impact.
Views from Norway coach Åge Steen on this game: -------------------------------------------------- Translated article from Toppserien.com: "En veldig god fotballkamp" -------------------------------------------------- - A VERY GOOD SOCCER MATCH by Wegard Bakkehaug National team coach Åge Steen is impressed by the USA and thinks Norway made a good performance against the Americans yesterday. - We lost, but it was a very good soccer match. The match was even for a long time and we had some good periods during the game, says Steen to Toppserien.com Norway scored a nice goal when Hege Riise played a perfect ball through to Dagny Mellgren who scored one on one with the keeper. - It was a textbook example of scoring on the counter attack. We also had a couple of great opportunities early in the second half through Anita Rapp. First Rapp hit the inside of the post after a set piece situation. Later she "scored" on a header, but the goal was disallowed because of a dubious offside call. - The match was more even than the result indicates. We are never satisfied when losing, but our perfomance was very good from time to time in this game. Especially since we had young team out there, says Steen. Before the game the coach was very excited about the choice of testing out three new players in the backline and a goalkeeper making her debut. - We made some minor errors and were punished severely for it. Marianne Paulsen was good in the build up, but was partially responsible for the Americans third goal. Ingvild Stensland was solid, but missed a little on their second goal. She was awesome for parts of the game though. Ingrid Hjelmseth was good overall, but was caught out of position on their opening goal, Steen sums up. - They were all involved in a goal each and was punished against such a great team as the US. They need more matches together, concluded Steen. ----------------------- A sidenote: Norway hasn't won an international since France was beaten 3-1 in May last year (6 games ago).
It's interesting that Steen appears to be getting young players experience at the expense of a few losses. Whenever April does that a lot of our fans start lobbing shells at her.
April is being set up for a Steve Sampson type fall. She doesn't have the experience or weight to shove all of the old favorites out of the nest. I'm sure part of the TV and sponsorship money is dependant on a certain number of "stars" being on the team for non-World Cup games for marketing reasons. So she ends up going the path of least resistance, and I suspect we'll get run off the pitch next fall in China. The Class of '95/96/99 is done. Sure, the teams should have a few key players from that group for experience and talent, but the 2003 team will be based on the teams of 4-8 years ago. If we win in China it will be sheer force of will, and Heinrichs will be the luckiest human being alive. It's interesting watching some of the parallels between MLS and WUSA. MLS hurt the national team in 98, but helped greatly last year, and will likely be a greater help in the future. WUSA's presence has greatly cut down on the number of friendlies the national team plays, limiting the amount of international experience that hopeful national teams can get. Over time, however, it is helping to develop a huge player pool to choose from. Heinrichs is in an awful position. Replace all the stars and lose a bunch a games and your job. Or stay with the stars, but not have enough young legs and talent to win the World Cup...
Ingvild Stensland I've heard a lot of great things about Stensland from some of my contacts over in Norway who watched her play for league champions Kolbotn last season. This tournament is providing some very valuable international experience for Ingvild and I wouldn't be surprised to see her become a fixture in the center of the Norwegian defense for years to come. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that Norway has actually played only five international matches since qualifying for the World Cup with their victory over France last May. They had a 1-1 draw against the Ukraine in Kiev a few days after the victory over France and then there was another draw against Canada last July in a match that I seem to recall was played in Toronto. A few days after the draw against Canada, Norway lost 4-0 to the U.S. in Minnesota. A few months later Norway lost 3-1 loss to Germany in Grimstad, Norway and then finally there was Thursday's loss to the U.S. in China.
It may not be "guts." She may not have the "mandate." I doubt final say over player selection is written down anywhere, but if she up and chose a side that featured none of the stars of '99, you can bet her job might be on the line. The political situation she's in has to be really tough. The fact is, there's not way to guarantee that the US will win the World Cup. In fact the odds are against us, and pretty much everyone else, too. China, with the home crowds, would have to be the closest thing to a favorite that there is. Now if you're probably going to not win it all - would you pick a bunch of young bucks or a squad basically built on the media darlings and stars of the past? If we lose with Mia and Brandi and Kristine, there'd be a lot less whining and complaints - across the board - than if she took a bunch of new players. I got a copy of the latest Soccer Jr. at the NSCAA convention last week. They had the winners of their contest where kids sent in drawings of their favorite soccer players. They had ten finalists. The seven male players drawn were 2 Cobi Jones, 2 Clint Mathises, and one each of Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, and Brian McBride. The three female finalists were all Mia Hamm, one of which was by a 16 year old. I'm sure Soccer Jr. would have loved to have had someone other than Mia represent women players, but I suspect they had little else to choose from. Like it or not, Mia Hamm is still the face of women's soccer. Which is not a terrible thing, she was in terrific form at the end of last year. She is still one of the most dangerous players in the world.
I guess some may say April is in a no win situation unless USA wins the whole thing. But I'm not sure they could win without some of the "old ladies" along to lend some stability. If she fielded a team with only the young guns they might get caught looking like deer in the headlights.
I don't think anyone would expect to replace all of the old-timers - however Heinrichs has more or less wasted two years of time since the Olympics in which to get rid of the "deer in the headlights". Compare the number of players she has used over the last 3 years to the 77 players that Arena used in the 4 years between 1998 and 2002, 42 of which received their first ever cap. Another 23 were called into camp. In the only two games since WC2002 he's already capped three or four new players...