I'm sure someone will get on my case for being clueless and uninformed, but how come she did not start against France?
Here's what I think. The best wide midfielder on the USWNT (maybe in the world) is Megan Rapinoe. She has to be on the field. She can play on either side, but is more comfortable and gives better service on the right. The decision was a good one because she absolutely owned Bompaster (translated from French as "the drum beaten to death"--I kid). HAO is a right sided player. The decision was do you flip HAO or play Heath on the left. Since Heath has gotten stronger and more disciplined, it's obvious that Pia preferred her the French match. Seeing the contributions that Heath made in that game, it was the right decision.
Then why didn't O'Reilly sub in? She provides way better defense (and offense if Pia still wanted to push) than Rodriguez.
She was benched in favor of Tobin Heath. It happen a couple of friendlies ago. Pia said something about her being predictable.
Funny thing is in the one match she played with the Boston Breakers that I saw, she started on the right and immediately moved to the left to stay there the rest of the game (almost as a forward). She spent a lot more time varying her game, so it's something she's aware of.
Maybe she just needed Pia to "rock her world." She's been starting what seems like forever. Look what happened with Lloyd yesterday when she came in off the bench. Totally different focus. Played her role very well. It could be that Pia wanted to send a message that NOBODY'S starting spot was safe. (Except Wambach!)
My take is Pia has decided to emphasize offense, and wants the ball in the box as often as possible, for obvious reasons. Love HAO work ethic, but no getting around her game has no variety (call it predictable). She had a poor game against Colombia. She ran herself ragged, which to me means she was trying too hard. Heath is no wunderkid, and I doubt over time she will rise to Rapinoes level in terms of distribution, ball possession. I don't think Heath is any real improvement over HAO. Heath's dribble and dish in the France game late is what Pia is looking for, and the chances of getting that are better with Heath than HAO.
Perhaps, but there was another thread I saw that suggested that Pia is too wedded to starters and getting her to break from a pattern of starters is an uphill task (look how long it took Morgan to supplant Rodriguez, and when did Buehler inherit her spot?).
Arod is a better defender than HAO. And Arod can play in mulitple position, FW, CM, DM/Holding-mid, Winger or outside mid.
I'd agree an upgrade, but very slight. She has technical skills superior to HAO, but as soon as the pressure comes, Heath is routinely dispossessed, and when she is, she seems to give up on the ball. I'm still looking for her first quality serve from the wing into a forward. Heath often breaks formation by straying into mid-field. As far as creativity, she made a great foray against France to set up Morgan. Perhaps Heath is ready break out and show some game brillance. I hope so. But so far, it's only been her bag of tricks that has made anyone notice her.
You missed the earlier Japan game before qualifiers, then. She served a beauty up to Morgan. It has been a long time coming. Her performances in the last WWC were not good, but she has improved of late.
Reallyoldnorth, I agree with you that Heath's main problem is that she gives the ball away. She tries to be too fancy at times, and it causes unnecessary turnovers. BUT Heath has provided some quality service to the forwards from outside. During the most recent friendly with Japan, she played a perfectly weighted ball from the outside to find Alex Morgan for a goal. Not only her service, but her positioning and play making ability has really improved. The fact that she was all fancy footwork at the beginning of her career with the national team, and is now showing better ball possession and distrubition shows that she is a player who grows and strengthens, and can improve on her weaknesses. With her techical ability, improving distribution and work ethic, I think she's a very dangerous, versatile threat.
BTdubbs, I have an ethical question for you all. Did anybody think it was strange the hell came down on the women's badminton teams for not playing to their capacity in order to influence their quarterfinal round opponents, but Japan obviously tied South Africa on purpose in women's soccer so that they could influence their quarterfinal round environment and nobody said anything to them? There was even two articles saying how they played weakly on purpose, but it wasn't seen as anything but tactics. Nothing negative. My first thought when i saw that (before I heard about the women's badminton teams) was that that was CRAP! and bad sportsman ship and not what the Olympics are about.
Heath is playing outta position outwide. Heath is an CM/CAM, that's why she drifts inside a lot. That's no different than Cheney, who's a striker who was playing out wide. Every time Cheney would drift inside that's her natural position, center of the park. Heath is the same way.
The Japan game is complete with a quote from a Japanese player saying it was hard to play with 4 starters and directions from the coach not to score. That startled me a bit. But the Brasil-Great Britain match looks like either Brasil tanked it or have really fallen from their peak. It looks to me like two teams worked hard to avoid the left side of the bracket.
Playing for a draw is a bit different than trying to lose, because RSA was still attacking exuberantly, and Japan dealt with those fires. Japan did attack throughout 1H, when Sweden was winning vs Canada (with GD 2 higher than Japan). Hence Japan could win by up to Sweden's margin +1, and still stay in 2nd. But Canada tied it 2-2 late, and only then did Japan noticeably ease off. That's not as blatant.
it still bothers me that a world champion like Japan intentionally throw off their game to place in the quarter-finals. It's the same exact thing those Badminton players did and they got banned from the Olympics. Maybe Japan should get banned too... they are so much better than that. IF Sawa was a true leader she would have stood up and said this doesn't seem right that we are intentionally playing lower than what we are truly capable of. It wouldn't surprise me if Brazil intentionally went in to lose, they have shown in big games that they love to dive left and right and waste time. That stunt Erika pulled with the US last year I will never forget how angry I got when I saw that she was faking. I hate athletes that like to fake around, why don't you play for your country and make them proud instead of embarrassed?
Sisterluke, That's what I'm saying! I think it's bad sportmanship! Plus, he openly admitted to waiting for the results of the other game in order to instruct his team how to play from then on. I'm not saying that trying to lose is the same as not playing fully, HOWEVER, it is still in the same spirit of manipulation and unsportmanlike conduct. I am curious that he can openly admit to it, and nobody says anything, the the badminton players are shamed and banned. Why is everyone so mum about Japan?
I'm a bit confused as to what the Japanese coach was thinking. I understand him resting his starters since they had clinched already, but deliberately going for a draw seems a bit strange. Whether they finished 1st or 2nd in their division they would've avoided playing the U.S. until the final game anyway. There's no way that the Japanese coach would think that North Korea could beat the U.S. and have them finish 2nd in Group G. Was he trying desperately to avoid playing the French team in the quarterfinals instaed after losing to them 2-0 two weeks ago? Perhaps he was hoping that Brazil would beat Great Britain on Tuesday (even though they Japan lost to England 2-0 in the 2011 WC), and that Sweden would eliminate France on Friday. Japan matches up way better against Sweden than France. Also, what if Canada came all the way back and won the game, South Africa scored on a late penalty kick and NZ tied Cameroon. All of a sudden going for a tie would have been a stupid decision since they'd wind up placing third and playing the U.S. in the quarters. My gut tells me that they wanted to avoid France at any cost in the quarters and would risk playing the US if the unthinkable occurred.
You folks all realize there are threads about the Japanese team and that this thread is about HAO, right?
Like we the US(USWNT) never dives, never stales to waste time. What's called gamesmanship, Erika staling or other players diving. Wambach dives, Hope Solo has staled in friendlies. Llyod cheap shot against the Mexican player during the Olympic qualifying and acting innocent when the Mexican player retaliates. LP dive against Brazil in the box at the last WWC. Llyod intentail hand ball in the Brazil match at WWC. Your American, call it down the middle. Other teams/players have faked stuff, don't act like we haven't done stuff just as bad.