Well, we weren't going to be able to go anyway, and now it seems that a big thunderstorm is rolling in. Hope it does not delay the game too much!
Looks like the plane landed ok...Starting Line-ups New York Power -- Carly Smolak, Christie Pearce, Shannon Boxx, Jaclyn Raveia, Margaret Tietjen, Anita Rapp, Justi Baumgardt, Joanne Peters, Emily Janss, Tiffeny Milbrett, Christie Welsh. Carolina Courage -- Maite Zabala, Staci Burt, Breanna Boyd, Nel Fettig, Brooke O'Hanley, Tiffany Roberts, Erin Baxter, Unni Lehn, Danielle Borgman, Birgit Prinz, Danielle Fotopoulos.
Strategy: without Hege, the team is going back to a flank attack approach and bypassing the midfield; abandoning the diamond midfield, according to Yanki
1.0 new york, welsh beat fettig and then shot. Yanki blames lack of "cover" for Fettig... no other player after fettig got beat
NY goalkeeper picks up ball outside the box? or there is some other foul right outside the box. On the free kick Lehn's kick almost goes in but not quite. Yuk
Ouch... From where we were sitting things didn't look so hot (missed you there Heeligan2... :-( The Courage offense would be ugly if it ever shows up. The New York coaches were a hoot. They actually joked with a couple fans from the Heeligan group (in the middle of the game no less... you'll have to guess who...)... they made a correct assessment that the refs were keeping us in the game... no one could really deny it either. Prinz and Fotop played decent games. Prinz gives so much effort it is hard to fault her for much. She goes out 150% percent. Fotop looks like she's been working on her ball control skills... some decent passing and settling of air balls. The defense really didn't look like it was clicking. Is it the goalkeeper's responsibilty to make sure there is some organization in front of her? My feeling was that it was somewhat chaotic when the ball got in front of the goal. Dani didn't get/create many (any?) chances on her wing. Unni didn't get/create many (any?) chances on her wing. Venus didn't get/create... The team is very obviously missing Hege already. Playmaking? Who needs playmaking when you can kick the ball around the field like a bunch of 10-year-olds? Bypassing the midfield is right because there wasn't any control in the middle at all... Did I mention that Prinz played a very motivated game? Not pretty soccer...
What's missing? 1. Winning Strategy 2. Organization 3. Teamwork 4. Confidence After the third straight loss, last year is officially history....Carolina is going to have to reinvent themselves. Right now the whole is less than the sum of the parts....
And Luckenbill, and Overbeck, and Slaton only for a half ... Hey Andy -- didn't they tell us yesterday that Milbrett didn't play in the WNT game because she tweaked something in the warmup?
A great quote from the WUSA boards "Someone will step in an adaquately fill in for Riise. If losing one player can completely destroy your team, they aren't very good to start with, and that's just not the case." What ails Carolina right now runs deeper than the loss of Riise... not that she wasn't a big loss... but Carolina lost both games with her on the roster. My impression of all 3 games was that Carolina came up short in many areas that make the difference: 1. Pressure on opponent's ball carrier 2. 1v1 battles 3. Unforced loss of possession 4. Conversion on set plays 5. Methods/options of attack 6. Execution of attack The results: 1. Less time of possession than all 3 opponents 2. Poorer average field position 3. Fewer quality scoring opportunities 4. Much more reliance on the defense and keeper to make big plays
Anyone who watched the Courage last year probably realized that Hege, whether we like it or not, did mean that much to the team. Last year we won the Championship. Without Hege, we probably wouldn't have made the playoffs. If there's anything fortunate in a season ending injury, it's that it happened early. The team has time to adjust and figure out how to play without Hege. Until we do, we could see some very ugly games.