What? You think the Germans wish Pia thinks like me in seeing the necessity of scouting and knowing what the opposition players have been doing for their club teams? You make no sense.
I guess I'm just not getting what you are thinking because the Germans just got beat rather easily in my opinion. Regardless of the score being 3-2, we had the better of the chances, and the game easily could have been 5-2. Unless you are saying that the Germans tanked the game, which I highly doubt, they got beat pure and simple. (But that would just be my opinion.)
The Germans got you snowed. But who cares. It's not like I'm making any kind of sense. Why are people here get so angry when people disagree with them.
Not angry. But I will wave the bulls^!t flag when you are clearly discounting facts. If you think Neid or the team tanked this game, you're mistaken. And you ignore the facts that certain aspects of the USA squad are new/experimental. eta: did you watch the highlights of the game?
Here are my facts. I know they will be easy to ignore but they are still major FACTS. 1. Bajramaj was unstoppable attacking the US right flank when they last met. Did Neid even try that again? NO. Did she play the whole game? No. Only half. 2. With the exception of Bajramaj, I cannot think of any flank attacker right now who is better than Garafrekes whether she's playing left or right. Did she play any of those positons? NO 3. Any manager who really wants the W will never play Prinz in the back. I don't care how old or often injured she is. Yes I watched the highlights. It was a water logged pitch. Just what you like when your team is slow and you are playing a team that can move the ball on the ground.
Well, these three points you make are opinion not fact--particularly nos 2-3. I also think you're basing some of your opinions on reputation and (well past) performance and not current age, ability, form, or club needs. Yes, Bajramaj is in amazing form now and seems to really have flourished w/ her move to Potsdam. And how do you know she didn't attack the flanks? I saw her completely blow a prime chance on the left. I also saw her make a run on the right that was stymied by good USA defense. If given a choice would you attack the newbie flank defender or the experienced one? As for points 2 and 3, I take it you don't pay attention to club form, age, or reality? If given a chance, at this point, of the German flank players not named Bajmaraj, I take Behringer over Garefrekes. Don't get me wrong, I highly respect her and she's been nearly unstoppable in the past but right now, I think there is a reason she was tried out in defense here. As for Prinz. Do you know how many goals she scored in the Euros this summer? I'm a huge fan way back to the WUSA days and she's great but she's not what she once was. And currently tied w/ 3 others for 8th in Frauenbundesliga goals this season.
Congrats to the US girls on winning your 7th Algarve. Sounds like the USA played some good soccer and possibly could have been up by more. Refreshing to see Lloyd play well. Mitts and Lloyd getting cautions seems like old times. Our defense although not speedy sounded as tenacious as ever. Pia's hiring has been good for this team and I think she will continue to improve it by making changes. I am looking forward to the highlights.
Pia's pregame analysis was right on. Germany did not have to play defense in their previous 3 games. Attack the defense and see what happens. If the conspiracy theorist is correct and Neid was trying not to win the game (from a sports psychology standpoint not the best strategy) then why was Angerer so ticked off at her defense??? Was she acting??? Fake injuries by the USA starters: Kai, Tarpley, Rampone (it was a pillow and she's borrowing her neighbor's kid), Chalupny and Heath. USA is #1 in the world and we kicked Germany's caboose today. Live the swagger.
i think it's clear that most of these are not facts, but opininions which are so easily negated that i wonder if you are just winding us up. YES, SHE DID. bajramaj missed one of the few chances she had from the right flank, and she was simply not as effective as she was last time because pia inserted speed on that flank, and the team defended her better this match. one of your few facts. but there's a simple reason. she was taken off because she was not effective. neid obviously used her where she would work best for this team. they were trying to WIN the game. look at angerer's gesticulations when the defense is beaten. look at the germans pressing forward to score after they had been scored upon. look at them hustling to fish the ball out of the net and restart quickly after their second goal. look at them send numbers forward and press for the equalizer. then you don't know enough soccer. forwards have moved back as they grow older and slower in order to stay in the game. prinz has been playing well as a midfielder for germany in this tournament. as kool has pointed out, she is NOT germany's best forward. did you see those beautiful one touch passes ON THE GROUND around the box that put the uswnt thru numerous times? like i said. your "facts" are really opinions that are easily and logically answered. the day before the match i pointed out that you were already realizing that the uswnt would probably win because they were playing and beating better teams than the germans. so you started making your "sandbag" excuses early. see post #160.
So, enough about Germany. Let's talk about our team In the clips of the Germany game, the US had at least 4 wide open chances that were muffed/stopped by Angerer or the mud. Love that we were getting in those positions but wow we've got to do better w/ the chances. I'm glad that Lloyd reportedly (Pia's post game comments) played really well as (to my mind) it has been a very long time since she's played well. Perhaps her very bad showing in Germany motivated her to step up even more this time. I'm a critic of Lloyd but not so much that I can't say well done to her (assuming the reports are correct) for showing up in a big way. Very limited video info out there right now from any of the games so I think it is very hard as a fan to make too many overall judgments. I do think it is safe to say that Cheney just threw down a rather large gauntlet to the rest of the forward corps. She scored and provided assists and was in great position to score (but did not) multiple times. It will be interesting to see how she does for an entire pro season in Boston. I'm still concerned about the defense but w/o more video to watch I can't make any sort of real evaluations other than to say WPS defenders, hone your craft and make your case.
agreed. we probably can indeed blame the mud and angerer for maybe one or two of those. but a couple of them looked waaaaay too easy. i had posted during those criticisms that i thought i knew why pia was sticking with lloyd. she was the only player that could consistently threaten the opposition goal from the middle, bombing from outside the area with both feet and forcing the defense to step up, thus allowing forwards to occasionally get behind the defense with well orchestrated passes. this is exactly what lloyd did in this tournament, and the result was cheney, lloyd, and boxx getting thru several times with wonderful one touch passes. she is charming me enough to soften my call for leroux to the uswnt. i love the wps for the reason that arod, kai, cheney and wambach can settle things for pia right before our eyes. in fact i think it's fair to say that we can thank the wps for schnur providing a good temporary (and maybe more) replacement for chalupa at the left back position this tournament. all hail the wps!!! pia again celebrates the play of buehler in her post match comments. even tho her comments were mostly about heart and contaion, i still don't get it, because i haven't seen it. she doesn't look like or play like an international defender when i see her play. but i'll let pia make that call. good job uswnt! keep getting better!! we need to win the world cup!!!
One last comment about Germany (since I didn't see the game and have little to say about USA): THEY aaah de schampions abb dieh Welt!! You don't need to be a conspiracy theorist to go a little slow about these results. I'm sure both teams were experimenting with line ups and tactics. My opinion is that in the US this was more of necessity, with Germany, perhaps more by choice. I'm sure both teams worked hard for the win, and Huge Congratulations are due Team USA for a great win in the face of tough competition and many missing USA starters. That said, Team Germany is all about the WWC. That is perhaps why despite Team USA's last seven victories at the Algarve, Germany is the reigning WWC champ. We did good in Portugal. Its always nice to beat Germany in the Olympics. But if we Really want bragging rights over Team Germany, we need to beat them in 2011. That's where they live. Everything else (from their perspective) is just preparation.
Absoultely disgraceful. It looked like a completely empty stadium. I didn't see one single fan. I know there must've been some on the other side but it sounded like a few dozen. They should just have this tournament in the US or Canada since even China vs. Sweden would get a few hundred fans to show up! The game was great and it gives you an idea how good World Cup 2011 will be as the US and Germany will likely tangle again on a much bigger stage.
Great win by the WNT, but, of course, the Algarve is not the World Cup. Just a step in the right direction. One thing that seems clear is that Pia has calmed and settled this team. The veterans seem content, plenty of younger players are getting a look, and there generally appears to be a high level of unity. Pretty good spot to be in with WWC '11 still a ways away - enjoy it while it lasts.
you mean if we want to stop the germans bragging among themselves (and probably the rest of the world) we need to win the world cup. but since soccer is not a big game in the u.s., if we really want bragging rights at home, we need to win the olympics. yes, that's true folks. the uswnt is always in must win (some might say no win) situation. we need to win the olympics to be well thought of at home, and we need to win the world cup to stop the rest of the world from talking smack. that's ok. we hereby accept the challenge!
Clever. But to turn that around.... You mean if we want to continue bragging among OURSELVES (and no one else) about things that don't Really Matter, we can continue to focus on our narrow, new-world, preoccupations with the Olympics and obscure Portugese tourneys.... I'm just kidding.... The US fields a great team and we get much well deserved respect for the quality of our side's play, especially in the Olympics. But, I'm not kidding about this: If those German gals gather next summer for a group photo with three fingers in the air, that's ALL they are going to care about, and the rest of the world will agree with them! For international soccer, its the world cup or go home...
I liked that Cheney has stepped up her game.... I'm not as concerned with all the "missed opportunities" because I didn't see the run of play to determine how "open" these chances were. She's getting into position and that's a good sign. No other striker that has been paired with Abby has been doing this. If the Arod experiment works I love it. I'm still worried about our midfield against Brazil and the Germany next Summer. We don't have the speed to match either team and I don't think we really have the individual skill either. Next Summer the fields will be fast and the crowds will be against the US - if Pia can find a relentless, fast runner to add to the midfield that is of great help. Boxx and Lloyd still worry me because, together, they really lack speed. Especially if Buehler and Whitehill are behind them in the defense. That makes the team pretty slow down the middle. But from Pia's comments, the team play and positioning seems to be making up for this. Over the past year I think the team has gotten younger and deeper and I only see WPS helping this even more. I'd love to see O'Hara get into some games because I think she could be another speedy outside midfield experiment. I'd also like to see Angeli get a call-up to see if the team can add some height to our central defense. As for Germany tanking the game.... come on, but I have stated here many times that winning these types of tournaments is not that important to the European nations. Their fans and media understand the importance of developing players at these events far more than the US fan base and media. I think that makes it easier for the coach to experiment. And the Prinz thing.... yeah, I kind of remember Germany doing this with some guy named Beckenbauer... seemed to work out ok for him.
video of uswnt vs germany at ussoccer: http://www.ussoccer.com/Multimedia/Media-Center.aspx#/id=61b89664-70cc-430f-9f51-ce886cff11f5 a couple of arod's crosses probably should have been goals. one with the right peg and one with the left. so this experiment just might be extended. but she may have trailed behind the opposition's attack too many times (altho the german attacks you see her trailing didn't go down her side). as a left mid, you've got to play defense too. i know, i know. too many assumptions from a short highlight video.
Interesting to compare the two different game highlight videos (German one above compliments of kool-aid in earlier post) and then the US video in previous post. The German video looks like it is taken from higher up which makes it easier to see the entire play unfold, while the US video camera looks like a lower angle which gives you more of a closeup (but tougher perspective to see what really happening). Either way, kudo's to both organizations for posting the video clips of such a great game.
WOW...and I thought I had some crazy conspiracy theories. Let me heat up some popcorn while I read this thread! Anywhoo, I'm glad to hear we're finally playing some entertaining football again!
Agreed. But the Algarve showed two evenly matched clubs. When it REALLY MATTERS both nations are dead even. The USA has won 2 World Cups and so has Germany. In fact, the USA has 5 1-4 finishes and Germany 3 1-4 finishes. So 2011 is the rubber match. Other than that it's all even. Germany 2 titles (2003, 2007)1 runner-up (1995) -1 fourth place (1991) United States 2 titles (1991, 1999) 3 third place (1995, 2003, 2007)
I agree. I think it is definitely game-on for next summer! I'm just saying if one wants to evaluate Germany (and beat them) at their best, the WWC is the venue that counts. I'd also remark that if Brazil's women's team gets some economic support and training time between now and then (to develop some chemistry and calm down as a program) they have the talent to be a spoiler in this equation.
They should move it to Miami. Great weather this time of year. invite the best of the best: US, Germany, Brazil, Sweden, north Korea, england. If they actively promote it in the Latin American media, they will pack a stadium. We can call it the "America cup" ....whose in? I start the mojitos. We also have a bunch of soccer specific stadiums, so we are all set. As for out play this year- I like the way this team is progressing. I wondered about lori lindsey and now see why it was such a good choice. I am also really happy to see cheney progressing.
Well, they won't move it, because the Algarve Cup is put on by the various Scandinavian FAs and I'm fairly certain sending 4-5 teams to the U.S. is a lot more expensive than sending just the U.S. to Portugal. Just FYI.