Algarve Final - USA vs. Germany

Discussion in 'USA Women: News and Analysis' started by exref, Mar 12, 2013.

  1. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006

    You are the one that brought Engen into this. Your whole deal is to get Engen on the National team and you figure the best way is to declare Rampone washed up.

    That's not the way it works. You have to earn your way onto the team, not have it given to you by default because there is a void. Stop trying to create the void. It isn't there, at least not with Christie. She will just have to show she has it still in 2015, not now. We already know what Chistie can do in peak form. Engen hasnt shown a peak form ever for the Nats.

    Whether Engen is a favorite player of yours doesn't matter. When you talk about the National team, the best players should be on it and there are other players yet to try. Cutsall might be stronger, better in the air, faster, and have better range. Until she (and others) gets her chance, we don't even know that Engen is even the best new prospect.


    Engen had a crappy game and an Ok game in the cup. That's her body of work and it's not enough. She has Barney behind her saving her ass when she didn't track her mark.

    Rampone, on the other hand, has a body of work longer than your arm.

    I get that you are a UNC fan and would like to get a UNC player on the team. But don't do it by trying to get another UNC player who has excelled her entire career off the team. You look foolish.

    when Engen goes up against the top strikers in the world and stops them, we can talk again. She hasn't done that. She went against two u20 players who are themselves trying to make the German team and came up short just as often as Rampone did against Schelin. She went up against a German team that was doing just as much experimenting as we were.

    She stunk up her first game of the tournament ( though you were declaring her the USWNT savior). Maybe it was because she was green and it won't matter down the road, but maybe not.

    She still has a body of work to develop in her portfolio, whether she is your favorite UNC player or not. She gets no extra credit for being your favorite player.

    Engen did well enough that she earned another shot at showing she belongs In the hunt, nothing more. She didn't show she was better than any of the other candidates, including Rampone. She also didnt show she was good enough to shut anyone who hasnt gotten their shot out of the competition. She isnt the auto pick for 2015.

    And three years from now when Sernanni is filling out the roster, she will have to have the best resume.

    It's pretty funny people clamored for players to get chances and then want their own favorites to be the only ones getting them.

    Next time, be careful what you wish for.
     
  2. ForeverLOST108

    ForeverLOST108 Member+

    Jan 23, 2010
    Orlando
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Sorry, I don't know what you're watching. The highlights clearly show Sauerbrunn was late to the play and it was Sauerbrunn who lost her mark. Need to watch again? 1:17 mark.



    Engen is covering the players at the top of the 6. The U.S. already had Sauerbrunn, Press, and Buehler, and Dunn in that area. Sauerbrunn lost her mark (Popp), Press lost her mark (da Mbabi) and Dunn & Buehler both made awkward tackles. I have no idea what you can deem Engen did wrong when she has four teammates already surrounded around the ball. And once again, it wasn't her that lost her mark.
     
  3. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006
    Maybe she was cheering or something, but she was ball watching. She did no defending.
     
  4. ForeverLOST108

    ForeverLOST108 Member+

    Jan 23, 2010
    Orlando
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    What do you want her to do??? She was not the even close to the initial play. If she would have came over and "defended" as you seemed to want her to do, and then if the balls squirts free to the players sitting right there at the top of the 6, they have an easy tap in. Then you'd be complaining Engen left a wide open goal for Germany to shoot in!
     
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  5. hasselhoff

    hasselhoff Member

    Mar 22, 2005
    Sauerbrunn played on Mewis' side against China, and she was the one who had a ton of whiffs. Engen was over with Kreiger, and they played pretty well together as far as I remember.
     
  6. kernel_thai

    kernel_thai Member+

    Oct 24, 2012
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    The important thing here is the change of philosophy at the top. Sermanni is looking at people. Sermanni doesnt seem seem to think the veterans r untouchable. He seems to have instilled a lot of competitiveness within the teamand that a plus for me.

    How is this year different than last year in the world of Whitney Engen. Last year, in an attrempt to make the team, she went to the Algarve Cup and sat on the bench for four games, playing zero minutes. This year she is still attempting to make the team, but logged around 200 minutes to make her case.
     
  7. enfuego

    enfuego Member

    Oct 9, 2006
    When has Clive ever said anything good about UNC player?
     
  8. babranski

    babranski Member+

    Dec 15, 2012
    Raleigh, NC
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Clive I'm waiting for you to quote me all those times I've called for Engen to replace Rampone.
     
  9. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006

    Ok, fine. The question now is if that is it or if we are going to get other players in and give then 200 minutes against other players.

    When Cutsall and other players get their minutes the it will be different that Pia. Pia put 11 new players on a 18 player national team. The complaint was she didn't try enough players.
     
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  10. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006

    You are an idiot. Where did Rampone go to school?
     
  11. kolabear

    kolabear Member+

    Nov 10, 2006
    los angeles
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    People sometime have their favorites and it's fair to point it out but there's no reason to be so tiresome about it. It might look foolish to try to get another UNC player off the team for Engen's benefit except that Rampone did not go to UNC. And speaking of resumes, Engen's been the WPS defender of the year, not Cutshall.

    But true, Engen still has a ways to go to cement her place in the team. But as much as I love Rampone, I think the signs are growing that her remarkable time as anchor on the backline is coming to an end.
     
  12. kolabear

    kolabear Member+

    Nov 10, 2006
    los angeles
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    hint: not UNC. But I guess you thought she did so your intentions are pure. :)

    A little college called Monmouth would like to have a word with you, though.
     
  13. Dundalk24

    Dundalk24 Member

    Jul 20, 2007
    PA/OH
    Monmouth
     
  14. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006

    Oops.
     
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  15. kernel_thai

    kernel_thai Member+

    Oct 24, 2012
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    I have no problem with Cutshall getting the same chance. I expect Sermanni will bring his favorite players from the NWSL in for a look this summer.

    I think Pia gave her first cap to 17 players over her time here. The problem was most of them were at the beginning of her tenure. The rap on Pia was that she would protect some players by not giving their competition a fair shot. The poster children for that r Press and Engen who both got beat out for spots last year without actually see the field.
     
  16. babranski

    babranski Member+

    Dec 15, 2012
    Raleigh, NC
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This talk of Engen is off topic. Nobody was calling for Rampone to be sacked and Engen to take her place permanently. Engen's performance against Germany came up naturally in the comparison to Rampone's performance against Sweden, which was the original point I was trying to make.

    This entire topic of conversation came about post Sweden when several players (myself included) was alarmed by the extraordinary poor play of Rampone. Some agreed with me, some believed Rampone "held Schelin in check" (whatever that means, and is it even quantifiable?) and some believed Rampone played this glorious game with game saving tackles and used the Force to alter Schelins shots and make her take poor touches.

    It all went wrong somewhere, but we all need to just simmer down. Rampone isn't going anywhere now and I've already said I am interested to see how she reacts. She probably knows she didn't have a good game and will come back strong. I would even like to see how she plays paired with someone new like Engen.

    I've never pushed for Engen to play more than anybody else. In fact, when we were all making our original rosters for the Algarve games and I thought we had only 20 spots to work with, I left Engen out. I think it was you Kernal that reminded me it was 24 because of the GK situation we had last year.

    So lets all agree that Rampone is still on this team and its way too early to dismiss her, and then hopefully we can all agree that her play needs to improve or she will find herself in the back of the bus come 2015.
     
    Cliveworshipper repped this.
  17. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006

    That's totally reasonable. I think if we are looking for "the new way" players can compete for the jobs available, everyone has to be at risk. It is quite possible that Rampone will be over the hill at 40. But people thought that the last two cups and she saved the defence.

    It might well be that Engen will be the new back line stopper and we get other players also and none of the current players make the squad. I actually want her to do well, But she will have to earn it over the next 60 or so games before the 2015 team gets selected. The body of work has to be big enough to really see what a players is like against the top teams. But it also can't be so big others don't play.

    You have to give way more players a chance and risk playing them against top teams. That includes Engen and the others. I know Germany is ranked #2, but if we think beating the team they put on the field in the Algarve is the test, we will be shocked in Canada in three years.
     
  18. kernel_thai

    kernel_thai Member+

    Oct 24, 2012
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Wonder what the German boards r saying about us. They cant be two thrilled to catch us without Solo, LePeilbet, Rampone, Cheney, Lloyd, Rapinoe and Wambach and still come out on the short end.
     
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  19. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006

    Don't know about German fans, they have tailed off a bit. But the DFB did about a sentence and a half on the match.

    But I bet both were thinking they would have been better off with Angerer, Schmit, Bartusiak, Krahn, Laudehr, and Beringer, like they did this fall against the USA.
    Less than stirling play by a couple of their replacements was the difference for them.


    It'll be interesting to see who the players on the pitch are April 5th on home soil.
     
  20. RagingBull

    RagingBull Member

    Oct 29, 2009
    Zee Germans were furious after the game.
    (if you understand german)

    Basically accusing the US-Players of being too brutal for a friendly and the ref for not calling it.
    Someone even suggested not playing friendlies against the US anymore.

    Because of this and the fact that Germany played with a completely new defense there was not much criticism except for the keeper Schult. But I'm sure that will change if Germany loses again in two weeks.
     
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  21. necron99

    necron99 Member

    Oct 17, 2011
    Club:
    Washington Freedom
    All I can say to that is shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittt.. Hello Pot? this is kettle.... How many players did Behringer foul without calls during the friendlies in October.
     
  22. JanBalk

    JanBalk Member+

    Jun 9, 2004
    As did every new USWNT coach at the beginning of their term as long back as I can recall (IOW Pia and Greg), if Tom still does it in two years we can talk about a change.
     
  23. newsouth

    newsouth Member

    Nov 20, 2010
    Club:
    Santos FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    I do think he'll bench starters against the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Of course he won't have this type of crazy rotation 6 mths out from the WC, would be crazy if he did.

    Then again, the American fans will probably be crying because he isn't capping their favorite.
     
  24. Dundalk24

    Dundalk24 Member

    Jul 20, 2007
    PA/OH
    Coming from someone that only cares about there favorite players getting caps ... don't take the self parody too far.
     
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  25. taosjohn

    taosjohn Member+

    Dec 23, 2004
    taos,nm
    Hunh! So much for the superior sophistication of the European audience...:rolleyes:
     
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