Nike Cup - US v Russia pre-match I thought it was time to start individual Nike Cup match threads. From US Soccer: U.S. Women to Face Russia on Sunday to Open 9th Nike U.S. Women's Cup Good news: "Fans can follow all three U.S. matches as they happen on www.ussoccer.com's MatchTracker presented by Philips Electronics." Interesting news: "Teams are permitted seven substitutes per match, or in other words, all of the reserves on the roster." Russia news: "Russia is the only one of the four teams at the 2002 Nike U.S. Women's Cup that has already qualified for the 2003 Women's World Cup. Russia earned one of the 16th berths available in China by winning Group 3 in the European qualification tournament. Russia earned 11 points from its six matches, outdistancing Iceland, Italy and Spain, despite two draws with Iceland and a loss to group doormat Spain. Russia's two wins over Nike U.S. Women's Cup opponent Italy, 3-1 and 2-1, gained key points in their qualification process and might make the meeting between the two teams in North Carolina a fiery one. Russia recently competed in a tournament in China in late August, losing to the powerful Chinese, 2-1, beating Japan 1-0 and then falling to the Korea Republic, 3-2, to finish a third in the tournament."
Re: Nike Cup - US v Russia pre-match At the risk of nitpicking... Does anyone else wish we'd have a game where only three subs were allowed? Sure, it's great that the other players are getting their time in, but honestly...I wanna know who April puts the most trust in when it comes down to a final roster and the three reserves she values the most. As I said...nitpicking.
Interesting lineup. It looks like Mia is playing attacking mid in a diamond formation and Parlow and Wambach are starting at forward. Wonder how those two will work together?
I got a call from milbrett about 20 mins ago. She said that attendance was looking bad. She has seen more at Power games. Hopefully she was drunk when she called and is wrong on this. I have faith in the people on Strong Island!!!
Hello Fear, Do you know the roster for the team? If so, please post the 18 players April sellected for this game. Thank you.
Go here: http://www.ussoccer.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=22556&itype= Starters for this match... Bri in goal. Slaton, Fawcett, Sobs, & Chastain man the backline. Lilly, Foudy, Hamm, and TR in the midfield. Abby and Parlow up top.
Thank you for the info. I was hoping to see Kylie on this team. This must be frustrating for her and some of the other players who keep coming into camp only to be turned away. It seems they are sparing partners for the chosen few. The team she picked is good however. Just want a few more to get their big break. It is a tough team to break into but for some of the older players it is even more difficult to be sent down. I saw an ESPN survey the other day asking why fans really liked players. The overwhelming answer was DESIRE AND DEDICATION (56%). Kylie and some of the others do have that. They just cannot give up.
Second half started--3 US subs. Fair for Lilly, Hucles for Roberts, Wagner for Parlow. Anyone else out there or am I talkingto myself?
It's on the Food Network. Some notes when I talked to milbrett... 1) Abby was pulled cuz she was playing like crap. She looked like crap in warmups. 2) Scurry was bobbling the ball. 3) She guessed 6000-7000 in attendance. magiclamp guessed 6000. According to MatchTracker they have 4,322 there. WAY TO GO USWNT FANS!!!!!!
USA 5-1 Russia USWNT record in the US Women's Cup is 22-0. Viva Cannon-Fodder FC! Goal and two assists from Aly Wagner. Two goals and an assist by the Hamm chick. Ms. Hamm played 65 minutes. That's good to see. 26' Chastain USA 1-0 33' Parlow (Hamm) USA 2-0 61' Hamm (Wagner) USA 3-0 64' Hamm (Wagner) USA 4-0 66' Wagner (Sobrero) USA 5-0 85' Barbachina (PK) Russia - USA 5-1 Russia
Got another wake-up call from milbrett.... She said that when Lilly was subbed out they immediately wrapped her lower back in ice. When Lilly came off she looked to be aggravated.
home from the game Hey, I just got back from the game and here's my two cents: 1. Attendance: 4,000 and change- it was empty and felt it- I just can't believe that the Nats can only pull that number- it must be the venue. My feelings about Mitchell is that it's too inconvienet to get to- I hate driving on the parkways on L.I., it's confusing and a hassle. I wonder how many people come on the shuttle from the train station? The crowd was sort of into it. I feel like Zap (the Power mascot) got more attention than the players ::sigh:: 2. Abby Wambach: I do not think she played like crap- she didn't play extraordinarly well but I think she looked fine, except that she has Russians ramming into her the whole game. She looked REALLY unhappy about being pulled- stormed off and put her head down. She didn't smile again until Mia came out and talked to her. 3. Heather O'Reilly: is a feisty thing. She has some good runs and steamrolled through some Russian defenders. It was great to see Mia feeding her balls in the box. We can expect good things from her. 4. Aly Wagner: Aly is a star. She's so smart as a playmaker. She made Mia's first goal from nothing. I love the game she plays. 5. Kristine Lilly: She did get ice on her back, but it was cold out there, I'm sure they didn't want it to stiffen up if it was already hurting her- I would have expected it. That being said, maybe she was hurting, she didn't impact the game very much. 6. Angela Hucles, Kate Sobrero, TR: played good games- their consistency was good to watch. 7. Shannon MacMillian: was hungry- she had some bad luck and hit a crossbar 8. Mia Hamm: My mom says that when Mia got the ball today everything else on the field stopped- I take this as meaning the Russians were a little intimidated. She played a nice game and should have gotten a nicer ovation than she did- but hey, the crowd was just not into it. 9. The Russians: are tough cookies. Numbers 11 and 7 was particularly notable. 10. Heather Mitts: Yes she was at the game, not playing but going into the locker room after the game. She walked right by me and I said "Hey Heather" she looked around and when she realized that she didn't know me she kept walking. : ) Thought I'd mention that. 11. After the game: They closed off the exit so the players could go through the crowd to the locker room. The only way to get out was to go around back and cut through some practice fields. This was sort of annoying even though I got upclose with Siri and the Russians 12. Etc: I talked to some mothers who just couldn't understand why no one was there- "The girls on Long Island are just CRAZY for soccer!" they said. The say there was no publicity and that they don't want to buy season tickets to the Power until they know that the games will be at Mitchell (they lived in the area).
Thanks for the report, SunnyJah Here's the AP write-up of the match: U.S. Women Blast Russia 5-1 Looks like Heinrichs agrees about Aly: "We're seeing some qualities in Aly that make her a world class player," coach April Heinrichs said. "Her ability to change the point, her composure in possession, her decision-making with the ball, her ability to find her teammates and put the ball on their feet -- she makes the game look so easy. And what she's doing is one of the most difficult aspects of soccer."
I thought you were the coach "I was concerned with our mental preparation with this game," said Heinrichs. "It didn't seem like we were totally prepared to step on the field against a team in the World Cup. Quite a few of our players didn't prepare properly for this game and what you saw was a lot of carelessness out there." I would guess Abby must have been one of these players if she was pulled after almost 40 minutes. April herself should accept some of the responsibility for the team not being mentally prepared. We'll have to wait to see what changes she makes for the next game.
Re: Heinrich's comments. Hmm, she claims some of the "younger" players were a problem, i.e., sloppy. The only two bona fide youngies who started were Slaton and Wambach so does she mean them? Does TR get counted as a "younger" player—but then again, someone [osted that Tr had a good game. Dang, I want in-depth game reports from folks who were there!!! mingyung
A few more articles. Newsday: The Oldies Are Still Goodies NY Times (registration required): U.S. Changing Team, Not Result Fox Sports: Americans Rout Russia in U.S. Women's Cup
>>>Attendance: 4,000 and change- it was empty and felt it- I just can't believe that the Nats can only pull that number- it must be the venue. My feelings about Mitchell is that it's too inconvienet to get to- I hate driving on the parkways on L.I., it's confusing and a hassle. I cannot agree more. The Power did a terrible job in promoting the match, and the game didn't even rate two hours on the MSG network. The least that USSF could do was to offer the match to someone else if The Mouse couldn't do it. And it wasn't as though there wasn't a two-hour window on ABC after the Formula One race (a time-buy by Bernie Ecclestone). The lavish way that the USSF release described the goals, there must have been some golazos that you wouldn't have found anywhere else. But you couldn't watch. And like SunnyJah said, MITCHEL IS NOT A GOOD FOOTY VENUE.
Re: home from the game Well thank God for Mia. Poor Abby. I think she'll play much better next game. Mia needs to keep it up. She has what, 6 goals and 4 assists in the last three NT matches? That's just...outrageous...