Natasha Kai

natasha kai is one of the reasons i'm excited about finally seeing this team on tv. lloyd, frimpong and the improvement of mitts is another.

i am a little concerned about not having the toughness of boxxy in the center, but osbourne, her likely replacement sounds like she's ready. i'll just have to wait and see.

 

They've got Rampone back, probably, as the right back. Cat should step into Markgraf's spot as the organizer. The other two defenders spots are up for grabs between LePeilbet, Chalupney, Frimpong, and Mitts. I think Chalupney goes forward better than the other three. Frimpong is still the wild card. If her first touch and abilities on the ball have improved, she's going to be really exciting to watch.

 

I think Amy LePeilbet is way underrated in this discussion. She has been solid in every game she's played and made numerous awesome plays. I can't recall which game it was but last fall TV commentators kept calling her the woman of the match.

She deserves more props.

 

I agree with yu on Frimpong..she is so fast but unless her touch is better no way..And its hard for players to get that touch that much better at this age..That takes years to accomplish...it starts when they were young.

Maybe Miller could play there! NOT! she is htere for inside info for Ryan!!

 

Nice guess on the Miller one...

 

What's up with all the tattooes on Natasha? She is definetely inked up, not only on her arm, but I saw several on her back. Maybe the the NBA has made it's way onto the Women's National team.

 

Yeah, and the lip ring, too. Woohoo.

I was excited to see Kai since this is her first homeground appearance, but she'd didn't show much.

Like I said, LePeilbet came through in the second half with a header clearance and two defense kicks. Nice job.

I really liked Lloyd, too.

I am surprised at Tarpley; she has not progressed as much as I thought she might.

Osborne? Big question mark.

 

I think within 2 years, Kai will be a better player than Heather Oreilly and will be a starter up top over her. She has a lot more upside than Oreilly. Already, she is faster, taller, better in the air, and more of a natural goal scorer. The only thing Heather has over Kai is experience.

 

i agree pacmaam on your assessments. Kai has such an upside to her game as welll as Leibelt and lloyd... Tarpley is a great player but i have heard others say she has peaked and i have to agree. Osborne looked way out of place in her position..Wasn't impressed at all with her play.

O'Rielly just the speed and agressiveness helps so much that she brings to this team. Playing Lilly up top takes away 1 spot so it will most likely become a dog fight for that 3rd spot.

the team has a long way to go to gel....wasn't impressed with their play after being in residency for so long but I'm sure everythign will ocme together eventually..Ireland shoudl be easy and then get ready for the Canada game which should be tougher.

 

I second your comment about the team not being as tight as I thought they would look after being in residency camp. Maybe they need to play more games, not just technical training.

I also agree that Kai could surpass O'Reilly. O'Reilly and Tarpley are surprises to me because it just doesn't seem they've added anything to their games in awhile.

I am very interested to see next week's game.

One caveat: There is a whole lot of game you don't get to see when watching it on TV, so maybe the game looked a lot different in the stadium.

 

You're kidding right? There's no way that Kai is faster than O'Reilly.

 

O'Reilly has more speed than anyone on the pitch... you don't realize how fast she is until you see her in person... That said, O'Reilly has proved she can score in big games and that is what counts. bet she scores vs. Ireland

 

I was thinking the same thing. Anyone faster than O'Reilly is going to be generating sonic booms.

 

Exciting player.

 

O'Reilly has a horrifically bad strike rate for the WNT. Yeah, she did get the OT winner in the Olympic semis - but soccer is a "what have you done for me lately" sport.

Natasha Kai is scoring goals by the bucketload. Christie Welsh and Heather O'Reilly better step it up or they'll find themselves fighting for substitute minutes instead of the other way around.

And living in the Triangle, I've probably seen around 10 O'Reilly games/year for the last several years and while Heather is fast, she's not that fast. She can race past most collegiate defenders, but the top international competition all have backs that can match her stride for stride. Today was an exhibition of O'Reilly getting the ball stripped away.

I've been a big fan of O'Reilly's - mainly because she's got the right attitude - the mere thought of losing makes her angry. But I'm beginning to realize that her game has not progressed since she burst onto the scene three or four years ago. Yeah, she's world class, but I'm not sure that a year from now she'll be first 11. The players that she was far better than four years ago have closed the gap.

 

With the numerous young US strikers coming up, Christie Welsh and Heather O'Reilly better watch their back. I think that within 4 years time, both of them would have a hard time starting or even finding the bench for the USWNT.

 

I agree with the statements made by the announcers in the game last week about O'Reilly. She has a tendancy to rush her shot, to make poor last second decisions. When Mia was there during the Olympics, anything that O'Reilly contributed was golden. Now that she's the #9, the pressure of scoring every game is on her. Maybe she's feeling that.

Kai doesn't have any pressure and the other teams don't know very much about her, but they are learning very quickly. Reminds me of Wambach in her first year when everyone played Mia and Parlow tight and let Abby go. It will be interesting to see what happens when the other teams defenses start zeroing in more on her. She's very exciting to watch, that's for sure.

 

talented soccer player, killer bod, great looks, seems like a nice person, cool tats = the perfect women!

 

this happens to youth soccer players a lot. in the u19 world championships in canada heather was streaking past other youth soccer players like they were stuck in the mud. she was a terror.

then when she moved to the senior team it was a little harder but she was still faster than most.

then she got an injury. when she came back from her broken leg she didn't seem as fast as before.

then the game progressed. all the good women's teams are better and faster. she doesn't blow by people like she used to anymore.

(she may be doing weight training to get stronger and that sometimes sacrifices a bit of speed. but they have experts looking at that kind of thing.)

 

At this point, Heather is more hype, than actual results, while Kai is producing. If you didn't have to listen to the television announcers, you might question why Heather is starting over Natasha. I don't know hat goes on in practice, but I have seen the past 2 games, and I would drop Heather from the starting 11.

 

I would drop both Welsh and Heather. Welsh actually hasn't done much at all.

 

We can solve the mid-field problem by bringing in Woznuk and getting rid of Wagner..... 20 goals and 34 assists are really productive for a 100 caps. she is guess useless.

 

It's a good thing that successful coaches for players like Gazza, Ronaldo, Valderamma - while hoping for better fitness - never let that get in the way of the fact that soccer is results oriented.

And if he's all concerned about fitness, was it just me or did Welsh appear horribly out of shape?