So, that France-NK result was more than a wee bit surprising. What do folks think will happen in this game?
NK can't be as bad as France made them look in the 2nd half. I'm sure they'll be busy playing "hack a Wombat" as well.
I might tune into it for a short bit. I don't see the US having too many problems with the PRK. The US side is bigger and shouldn't have too much trouble moving around them.
Any news on what's the status for Boxx on this game? With all the drama after the colombian game, I haven't been able to find anything on Shannon.
(D)PRK ran themselves ragged chasing the 1-0 lead. As you know, they drop way back on defense, then push way up while probing/attacking. I think their LB + RB did a lot of running. France subbed in Thomis (at RF), who has speed like Morgan (or faster). That wrecked DPRK's backline strategy for goals 2, 3, and 5 -- suddenly, their 60+' of overlapping wing runs was all wrong. (Then again, if their LB had stood around to conserve energy, Thomis still would have outrun her by 1 step instead of 5, so it is likely that France is just superior) During the first 60' of ping (at 1-0 while DPRK were still in it), this DPRK squad looked not nearly as parade-march intimidating as their eerie WWC'07 debut vs USA. On a Likert scale of 10, they'd be about 7s across the board (control, creativity, possession, speed), and a 9 for effort rate. Clean, no gamesmanship, slightly rugged in challenges, can be borderline rash as they tire. No(t much) individual brilliance, but the relentless clockwork grinding exerts a mental pressure, which can wilt lesser teams -- probably how they qualified in AFC (e.g. over Australia). France managed the game well, pinged enough to maintain control, and lured DPRK into expending bonus energy. For USA-PRK, I expect USA's control to be equally good enough (if Lloyd and Cheney play well) to defuse midfield. That should force DPRK to dial their motors up into their red zones. Then we'll just out-experience them everywhere: backline hold them out better than theirs can stop our own dogged attacks. As a trump, DPRK should be vulnerable to our late-game speed package (Rodriguez, Leroux).
The boxscores for lineups & substitutions from the two NK games don't give me much to go on. One player was not listed at all for the 2nd game--was she hurt? I didn't watch the Colombia-NK game. I'll be interested to see what (if any) lineup changes Pia makes. A couple of players haven't played yet and the tournament is compact enough that spreading minutes in the last group game is usually a good idea if, like the USA, you've got the pts to advance.
i can't read this dprk team at all. but i like gilmoy's analysis. i suppose we have to expect that they will go for it from the start. so if we are patient and good on defense, we can hit them on the counter. but i guess they could also be cautious at the start (having run themselves ragged in the last game) which means we have to read that and attack immediately, putting them under the gun. my predicted lineup for the u.s. -----------------------------------------------solo-------------------------------------------------------- mitts--------------sauerbrunn------------------------------buehler------------------------lepeilbet ----------------------------------------------lloyd-------------------------------------------------------- hao-----------------------------------------cheyney----------------------------------------------heath ---------------------------------------abby-------------alex----------------------------------------------
I can't see NK being very cautious. I haven't noticed them doing that in other games vs the USA. And they *have* to get a good result to have any hope of advancing. (I haven't checked the other potential 3rd place teams to see where things stand). Per the referee forum, here's the ref crew for the game: Referee: Jenny Palmqvist (SWE) Assistant Referee 1: Anna Nystrom (SWE) Assistant Referee 2: Helen Karo (SWE) Fourth Official: Bibiana Steinhaus (GER)
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/48401451/ns/sports-olympic_sports/ hmm. that's why it's not my first instinct about how they'll play. but they really ran themselves ragged against the french. so i'm saying they might also start cautiously and keep the uswnt off the scoreboard in the first half and then hit it in the second. don't know really.
she's rested her in the past (admittedly second half rests). and they've already qualified for the quarters.
Like that line-up, but for a tweak: Rapinoe has probably been on the best roll of her WNT career. I wouldn't mess with that. I can only see HAO starting if it is thought it will help her confidence after a poor outing v. Colombia. Even then, I'd keep Megan on the field. Since Behler is indirectly involved in the spat heard round the world, there's no way she sits for this game.
yeah. Did you see when she went down? It was a header where there was no one around her and you could see where she pulled up & fell when her hammy went. She tried to shake it off but realized pretty quickly she was done for the game.
i wouldn't object. as long as she doesn't have to play past the 60th minute. actually, i would ignore all the hullabaloo. she's been defending very well. and since she has younger legs than rampone, i expect her to play.
They're in a good position. They actually just need to get a draw to advance although it would be preferable to get 6 points and secure their position and maybe grab a higher ranked spot. I think we can safely write off Colombia, South Africa, and Cameroon from advancing. That leaves Canada, DPRK, and New Zealand. Canada and DPRK are sitting on 3 points, New Zealand on 0. However, Canada will play Sweden, DPRK US (the GD from the France game will hurt), and NZ will be playing against Cameroon... Easy enough to see. Draw or better is guaranteed advancement. A loss would still leave them at 3 points, but with DPRK currently at -3 GD (so this will get worse with a loss) and NZ likely to win against Cameroon, NZ will probably have the GD on them as will Canada, unless Canada loses by a bunch to Sweden.
The Sweden-Canada game is being aired on MSNBC and the (legal) online feed I've got is the NBC 'simulcast'. Both are taking commercial breaks during the game. If that happens for the US game (the first I'll be watching via online feed), I will b1tch and moan quite a bit.
FWIW, online there is normally an uninterrupted feed (without or without commentators) of the match. I don't know why there is only the MSNBC feed for this. NBCSN shows matches without interruption. Likewise, the Olympics soccer channel shouldn't have commercials nor should the official streams.
yeah, I've watched other sports on their feed and not the simulcast w/ commercials. Not sure why today's Can-Sweden game is the broadcast one only. Oh well. And I'm not near a tv until tonight so online (and legal) are my only options for today.
I was late watching the match until I saw posts on BS since it wasn't listed on the NBC Olympics schedule.
Thanks for the recap - I didn't see it happen. So when does Pia make the decision one way or the other? Before the quarters? Seems like it would be wiser to do so after this game rather than wait even longer. Personally I'd be just fine with Lindsey coming in.
Coca Cola sponsors commercial free US matches, or so they announce, now if we could just get Pepsi to black out Twitter ... Also for others that were slow to figure it out like I was, if you have Directv 705 (iirc) is a dedicated soccer channel so you can DVR specific matches instead of 11 hours of mish-mash on 603 just to get a match or two and some highlights.