USA-Japan 2.0 On three days rest will the USA have enough left in their legs? I'd have to think safe money bet would be Japan. But don't count the USA out.
First question is whether or not Buehler will be ready to go, and how comfortable we are starting Sauerbrunn in her place if she can't go.
Would have no problem with Becky starting, although I hope Buehler is healthy. I really hope Cheney becomes more of a presence.
I'd keep everybody the same except: 1) Sauerbrunn for Buehler. Rachel's already no speed demon, and it looks like she came down pretty hard on that ankle. We don't need somebody with limited mobility back there against Japan. 2) Boxx for Lloyd. If I'm not mistaken, Lloyd has played every minute since Boxy went down. (And she looks it!) If Boxy is not healthy enough to be used now, then it was a mistake to keep her in England when she could have been replaced with someone effective. 3) HAO for Cheney. Cheney didn't look very effective at all out there yesterday. Her tired legs, just like Lloyd's, are gonna hurt us. We looked more dangerous with Heath sliding into the middle and HAO switching sides with Rapinoe.
It's not big news that the US defense is a little suspect but here's some numbers from the tournament - Using only the games among eventual quarter-finalists, here's the goals against average with Japan (no surprise ) leading the way with the stingiest defense: Japan: 0.5 goals allowed per game Great Britain: 0.67 New Zealand: 1.33 Sweden: 1.33 Brazil: 1.33 USA: 1.6 Canada: 2.0 France: 2.33 It's interesting that of the four semi-finalists, one (Japan) had the best Goals-Against average while the other three teams have so far posted the worst (again - only counting games against other teams that made the quarterfinals) It kind of shows that shutout streak was at least somewhat deceiving. I have some other numbers that show a troubling defensive performance by the US and I may post those later, too but hopefully I get a chance to double-check them.
US defense seems to be flood or drought. Sometimes, they go a game with very little shots gotten off at all, and then sometimes, they're a sieve and a bunch of balls go through at one time. Considering that it's two games by two really good teams... Yeah, sounds about right.
Anyone know the WNT travel arrangements? Don't know whether it would be better for recovery to travel to London late after the Canada match or this AM. Japan, of course, played their SF match at Wembley.
I'll answer my own question - from tweets it looks like the team trained/recuped in the AM in Manchester and then left for London by bus this afternoon. http://twitter.com/ussoccer_wnt/status/232856108790841344/photo/1
Been busy at work, so thanks for the heads up. Clean up on aisle three complete. And on topic: I wholeheartedly agree with BRUUUUUUN getting a start! There is no drop in skill level. In fact, her soccer savvy might serve us better vs Japan instead of 'Dozer's physicality.
Pickle jars are easy clean up. No worries. We run lean and mean mod-wise round the women's forum so it's helpful when regular posters let us know about these things like that.
hard to know. She went up for a challenge and when she came down it was like her legs gave up on her. Her ankles twisted on all kind of ways very weirdly and then she was seen as she was cramping... it wasn't pretty, but certainly not as bad as this: -:40 mark-
It was the funny landing where she appeared to twist that made me initially think she'd gotten hurt rather than a cramp. but then another player started stretching her calf so...
Absolutely. In those two warm-up games against Japan before the World Cup last summer, Sauerbrunn was in there and played well if I recall--granted it was for Rampone, but Sauerbrunn calms the defensive line down.