Fanoffutbol, you are a hump! All you did was blast the US in the first half and then rip Scotland in the second half. You did no back-tracking or foot from mouth removal when the US exploded to a six goal lead. Are you a fan, or just someone who likes the sound of their own voice? Also, this was a "friendly!" Do you watch preseason NFl games? Do teams play their top line ups the whole time and just think of results? NO! This is when the US tries things out and experiments! Who cares if they only would've won by one goal or even tied. If they learned that a formation does or does not work and are better for it in qualifying, then it's all good! As it were, they figured it out. On a side note, this game got zero promo in C-Bus and many kids had scheduled game to play in and couldn't attend. Plus, it was hot as balls both days this weekend and most of the 600,000 people who drank their weight in beer at the Ohio State game on Saturday couldn't leave the ac for WNT!
FSW is not on the standard cable option, you have to get Digital cable for it here in Cowlumbus, so it probably did not reach a whole lot of people. The local advertising was pretty much non-existant. I hear 1 radio comercial for it on friday. For the MLL championship I saw ads in the newspaper, and on the local tv channels. It helps to get the word out.
Some thoughts on the game: The US is loaded with forwards who can finish, leading to a nice problem about who sits and who starts, who is on the roster and off. Wambach impresses me more and more—I think she has some extras over Fotop but if it is a question of Wambach versus Parlow, I don't know. When Millie is in, who sits? Formation change might be in order with Parlow or Hamm withdrawn? MacMillan seems to be back on the bench although I will take her over Fair anyday as right middie—I am going to make a (perhaps stupid) assumption that Fair was in and playing 90 mins because of her 100th. This game showed why central back is all about positioning and game vision. Bryan has speed but not enough field awareness and I think her positioning is not automatic as is Fawcett's. Why was Sobrero on the flanks? She doesn't have the instinct to go forward and is much better in the center. I wonder how close Pearce is to being fully fit? I also remain unconvinced about Brandi as a center—the US has Fawcett, Reddick, Sobrero at minimum, the trick is to get one of them to be louder and talk more. I thought Roberts played quite well and she stays on the radar if the US stays with this formation. Serlenga has been playing well and if she and Heinrichs get on the same page, she might be worth a look-see. I do think formation chould remain in question and the team should have flexibility. When Wagner is in camp, where does Foudy go? Are they competing for the same position? I have no doubts that Solo is a good keeper but I agree with those who think she needs more seasoning and, indeed, that is what friendlies are for. Scurry simply looked much more in command of the box. I was surprised Mullinix didn't make the roster but I think she'll be at the Gold Cup. Lingering issues: The Fair problem as not been resolved. The problem is that she has skills and contributes but hasn't found a place in the formation that I don't think someone else can do better. As a pure d-mid, she was okay. On the flank, she's okay. But okay is not spectacular. MacMillan can be spectacular (although inconsistent) but, yet again, there doesn't seem to be a spot for her as a starter. Will she remain super-sub? Discussion welcome! Mingyung
Yeah I agree about Kate. She is tenetive about going forward, but i think that has a lot to do with her always having been a stay at home central defender. Her speed makes her a good option at flank. On that second goal though, she had her player covered. She was expecting Solo to make a play, she didn't. We did miss Joy in there though. I suspect Bryan was in there because she was match fit and Pearce is probably still working out her knee issues and Cat wasn't there. TR looked real good. Spunky, scrappy and determined. With regards to Solo. Look all I'm saying is she's not ready and that's what this start was all about for her. April wanted to see if it worked. It didn't. It's time to move on. Put Solo on a shelf and let her mature and take another look in a few years. We have plenty of options right now. It's not like we are desprate for a back up. We have Siri and Bri battling for the starting job and Beene is quite capable of stepping up if need be. Bri is at the end of her career but Siri and Beene are just getting started. So barring some unforsen freak accident, we're all set in the Keeper position.
April has been forced to put Brandi in the middle with Joy out of necessity. Kate is a great 1v1 defender but she never turned into the leader to replace Carla. She doesn't have the right personality for it and neither does Joy. For the immediate purpose of getting ready for the WWC April had to find some way of stabilizing the middle.
94F? That is ((94-32)/9)*5 = 34.4C. The temperature in Scotland very rarely goes above 25C (77F), even in midsummer. I think this puts this in perspective. The Scottish WNT is an up-and-coming team, but they are all (apart from Fleeting) amateurs who train twice a week. They are starting to compete with a country like England (they lost 1-0 in Bolton the last time they met), but it will be many years - if ever - before they can compete with the US team.
You didn't watch too many of the Boston Breakers games, did you? Kate has proven after two seasons in the center of that WUSA team that she is not a central defender. Sobrero naturally gravitates towards the sides. Someone made mention of the need for good leadership in the center. too. The instinct to go forward should be mellowed by the intelligence to stay home. I did not see the game so I cannot comment on the specifics of play in this match. I can refer to the forementioned Breakers for a myriad examples of flank backs going forward, only to expose the team to counterattacks.
I didn't catch as many Boston games as I'd have liked so I defer to others' judgments on Sobrero on flanks vs center! She just didn't seem comfortable to me out there. Quite frankly, I wonder if she has hit a plateau in her development. Early on, I was very excited about her emergence onto the team but haven't seen a lot of development recently. This is, of course, perhaps due to her injury so I will cut her all sorts of slack and won't be at all surprised if she improves exponentially over the next months. Yes, there is a problem with lack of vocal leadership in the middle and it may take a young one like Reddick to come in and just start bossing the vets around! This is not to say Fawcett isn't a leader, she is, (and I am one of her fans) but loud, she ain't. I confess, I kinda wish Fawcett was back out on the flanks herself! I prefer Slaton on the flank (even more than I like Chastain) but her talent is such that she could go middle if needed. Who else for the middle? mingyung
Beulah's match report As always, a perspective well worth reading. For goodness sake, why doesn't one of the on-line soccer journals (or print ones, for that matter) offer the woman a regular column? Note: Unfortunately, Beulah's match report was removed from its site, so the above link no longer works. Hopefully this will be remedied - stay tuned for updates.
my Q of the day here is my question of the day, now that Mia and Abby Wambach become the US lethal weapon and did great things together, what we're gonna do with Millie? does it mean that we have to bench her? will she be except that? I heard April said right after the game that " we will continue and try to get better with this system" and i think she reffered it to the frontline combo.
Re: my Q of the day You really can't think about who should sit and who should play until they get to play teams like Canada, Germany or even mid-table teams like Mexico. They played "scarry" SCOTLAND yesterday. With the excellent forwards that the US have, Mia belongs in the midfield. I think she actually likes it better there. Anywhere you put her, she'll be lethal even if she plays as a wingback. Sitting Milbrett is the same as Norway benching Mellgren. Complete Madness!!
I don't follow the women's team closely, and, thus, had no opinion about Solo as a GK. She had a great one handed reaction save on the first shot that preceded the first Scotland goal. On the second goal she was hopelessly out of position for the cross having gone well beyond the near post. Had she stayed between the pipes, it could have been a routine catch. That was her goal. On the Scotland near goal right before the half, that would have been hers, too. Had she been in position, she could have run out of the box and cleared the through ball with her feet. She reacted slowly or from too deep a position (not clear from TV) and was caught in no man's land. Sometimes you put a young player in to see if they are ready for prime time. She's not even close.
I've always felt that Mia would be more effective attacking out of the midfield than playing up top. In the last WC she was tightly marked and mercilessly hacked, and she was a bit of a disappointment. She doesn't match up well with physical defenders sometimes. In the midfield she has more space and can be creative. I thought she had a great second half coming out of the MF. I don't remember her looking that good in the recent past.
about Brandi in the middle Whatever else one can say, Brandi is a dynamic vocal leader and has shown she likes to coach on the field. This is really no different from what Carla did. Brandi just brings it in a flashier package. In terms of the future I think Reddick looks like a possibility.
Not at the international level. Jen was thoroughly exposed by Prinz in FC2. She can be a good player in a well-defined system, but when she gets stuck in 1v1 situations she can be a liability. She had a shot at fullback under Tony D.
You mean this one?: http://www.geocities.com/kbl_17/index.html Unfortunately it has not been updated in quite some time.
FearM9 is right - you can find some of Beulah's archived match reports at the site he linked, but, alas, not recent ones. The US-Scotland report was accidentally deleted from the WSW board when its server was re-set. If anyone has suggestions regarding a good permanent home for Beulah's analyses (with complete editorial control to the author, please), drop me a pm. And no, I am not Beulah.
I don't think anyone's commented on Rob Stone's play-by-play. I thought he was MUCH better. I didn't feel like stuffing a sock down his throat. He was much more professional--less frat boy. I think someone gave him a well-needed talking to.