I must have been in a coma. When did Denmark and France become world powers? The squad Canada fielded a few weeks ago was not 100%. Nonen's absence put one of your bigest scoring threats on the back line. I'm not looking for the US to play some super team. Just a team that will pose a serious challenge. Of the six teams we've played this year, only 2 play at the same level as the US (and i'm including Canada in there so you don't feel offended again). Yes I am talking about Brazil, Sweden, and a 100% German squad. I don't care that Brazil hasn't played a match this year. I can bet they have trained plenty and would show up to play if asked. Bottom line is: Scheduling and playing games against the Ukraine and Iceland are a huge waste of time.
M9fanatic You're not in a coma and thanks for not offending me. Here's the thing. There's the USA and Germany and there's the rest. Leaving aside their reputations, there's not a whole lot to choose from between Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, England and Canada this year. On any given day they can all beat each other. If Brazil is serious about building their women's team they have a strange way of showing it. Whatever momentum they gained in Athens is draining away with inactivity. Another 6 months of this and no one will know where they're at - like usual. I agree, the Ukraine was little better than playing a CONCACAF small fry. Iceland could be a more balanced match. The last game against Iceland was 3-0 but the 3 games before that were 4-3, 1-0 and 0-0. One would expect Iceland would put up more of a fight than the Ukraine. Which brings us back to Germany, the one active team who can for sure push the USA to its limits. If I were Ryan, that's the team I would be targeting for friendlies. And besides the usual suspects, I'd also take a look at Japan, who seem to match up better than one would expect. The last 4 games against Japan were 2-1, 1-1, 0-0 and 1-1. By all accounts the USA was outplayed in the 2-1 win.
i agree with cafan. the u.s. has played germany, france, denmark, canada, and ukraine this year (did i miss any?). iceland is next. they played the hand that was dealt them in the algarve, and invited the teams they could schedule - not as straight forward as just sending them an invitation. i'd like to see them play germany and brazil every game. but that's just not realistic. in 2006 they'll start ramping it up. but it still depends on the other federations and what they are doing and how much $$ they'll be able to make coming over here. if you've seen the recent crowds the ussf can't be promising much.
Playing the same two teams over and over again is a horrible idea anyway-- everybody would get bored, coaches would start to run head games instead of strategies, it just gets ugly... I've been there...
Here is a link to an article about Mac. Apparently she was not on the roster due to the hip flexor injury and is still on the training roster for the HDC match.
When Aly Wagner has time like she did against the Ukraine, she will cut you up but if you have a fast closing team like Brazil, she is not as effective. There are few who can make as pretty a pass as Aly but she does require more time to execute.
from the article: "The goal was nice, but her assist made me do a double-take. A cross came to Wagner while she was in the penalty area. The defense expected her to chest it down and shoot, but Wagner flipped sideways with her heel while the ball was still in the air, giving Tiffeny Milbrett an easy score." when was this? i've watched this game twice. what kind of soccer journalist is this guy? chastain was publicly criticized, wagner will be a superstar someday, and her flip sideways with her heel in the box led to milbrett's goal on sunday. judge for yourself.
Amen, 6thMan. Wagner can put the ball right on your foot just about anywhere on the field. Her vision is just about as good as they come, but I don't know how many times she's been dispossessed because she didn't judge the speed of a defender properly. If she has enough time she will hurt you big time. It's her lack of speed and assessment that's the question mark about her.
Publicly criticized is a huge overstatement. While I am not 100% thrilled with how it was handled (understanding that I don't know all the details) I don't think you can regard his remarks as criticism. The closest he came to that would be something to the effect that "what he was looking for in future players were qualities that she didn't possess at this point in her career."
Maybe Germany's upcoming trip to Canada for two matches in September would have been a fitting opportunity for the US to have also a friendly with Germany? They will be (relatively) close, anyway.. Of course, that's pure speculation. Even if they tried (and I cannot exclude they did), there are enough possible problems to prevent it (like, the Bundesliga and UEFA Cup schedule that looks rather full again). Just a thought. But definitely, there's still lots of time until 2007 and to have more friendly matches against tough competiton.
It would be good to "piggy back" on their trip to Canada. Are we sure that these three games are the only ones that are going to be scheduled this year? They weren't announced a long time in advance, maybe a month or two, so what's to say that US soccer won't pick up a few games for the fall or winter?
I've always been amazed at how the USSF just seems to throw these things together without much apparent forethought. I became a fan during the WWC'99. The next match after that was an exhibition against Ireland. It was Scurry (I believe) who couldn't attend because of a prior commitment. I was dumbfounded that the matches weren't scheduled far enough in advance so people wouldn't have prior commitments. I guess I was used to other sports where the games are scheduled years in advance. Is this the way soccer usually is handled?
During the game last Sunday, Foudy commented that there would be 5 domestic matches this year. No word on when or where the last two are.
From a story on Carli Lloyd on the Rutgers Website (bold added): Upon her return from the Nordic Cup, Lloyd will be able to focus on finishing her degree this fall in exercise science/sport studies at Rutgers College. Another WNT camp may be in the works for October, a brief interruption to what should be an otherwise quiet semester for the former Scarlet Knight.