US soccer is reporting that the US beat Norway 3-1 in the first match. Three assists to Aly Wagner with goals from THORI Bryan, Tiffany Milbret, and Heather O'Reilly. Congratulations!
http://www.ussoccer.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=26938&itype= USA LINE-UP: Briana Scurry, Thori Bryan (Jenny Benson, 65), Joy Fawcett, Brandi Chastain, Kate Sobrero; Tiffany Roberts, Aly Wagner (Hawkins, 88), Angela Hucles (Jena Kluegel, 46), Lorrie Fair; Tiffeny Milbrett (Heather O'Reilly, 67), Cindy Parlow (Shannon MacMillan, 46)
concerns How can we play such a stinker of a game against Japan and then go trounce Norway with the same team? Consistency of play is an issue.
Substitutes? I thought I read somewhere that this tournament would only allow three substitutions. Clearly this is not the case since 5 subs came in. What is the limit?
Re: concerns You have to give Japan more credit. Their players were clearly better technically than their US counterparts. Japan's man to man harrassing midfield defense also made the US midfield play very fragmented. It wasn't like the US created and blew a lot of good chances.
Re: Re: concerns the US was not only rusty but did not take the game seriously because it's only a friendly they know which game is important and which one is not and they change the pace of the game when they enter major tournaments as they always said: let's get it on, show me what you got
Aly's continued improvement sokrandlaw5 "Three assists to Aly Wagner with goals from THORI Bryan, Tiffany Milbret, and Heather O'Reilly. Congratulations!" Three Assists for Aly and numerous other chances created. Sounds like she is continuing to carve up oppossing defenses. Here is the catalyst for our offense that we have been looking for!!!!
Re: concerns Good question, but consistency may not be the issue. 1. By all accounts Norway had one goal called back and another shot off the post... trounce seems to be a bit of an exaggeration. 2. Japan may actually be a better team than Norway right now. Norway's recent record is not stellar and they are in the process of rebuilding with young players. 3. Assessment of USWNT play seems to be based more on expectations than the true/current strength of the opposition. Let's see what happens in the rest of the tournament.
Re: Re: concerns Well USA could have come close to a few goals too, but they don't count those. What they count are goals that actually go in and those that go in legally at that (usually).
Re: Substitutes? USsoccer has a nice update on the happenings in China to date. My question was answered as well and I am glad to know that I was not going crazy. The number of allowable subs was changed from three to five just before the tournament.
the bad thing about 5 sub, we lost to China 0-2 ! , why don't we play w/ the same players throughout the tournament ?, there'll be alot of experimental matches after this tournament prior to WC.
I just posted on the thread concerning the game the reason for the shuffling. I found out that five of the players, Sobs, Millie, Mac, Ally, and Hucles were all on IVs prior to gametime because of the bug Joy reported on her website. This bug has affected at least half the team and is making its rounds. Hucles, for example, played a full 90 which she typically does not do in part because of this bug even though she herself was affected. With the shuffling needs I am certain the flow of the game was likewise impacted.
based on this tragedy, i think they'll bring their own food and cook for the next WC, and i believe they should.