i'm not convinced that we HAVE TO greece our way to victory, but with the lineup and formation that sundhage consistently uses, we have no other choice. our movement off the ball and our spacing moving forward are quite poor. often we lose possession because we simply have no options to pass to, not necessarily because our players lack the ability to maintain possession. also, the central midfield pairing of boxx and lloyd just isn't working. one needs to start and sit deeper in midfield, while the other needs to be replaced with either cheney (and rapinoe outside) or lindsey who should play in a more advanced position. there has been a consistent hole in front of our center-backs and behind our center-midfielders, and that could be solved by stacking the center-mids instead of playing them side by side. that would also support the transition into attack more effectively as well. regardless, we all know sundhage won't change, so we'll just have to hope that we can grind out one more result.
As soon as Rapinoe came on and Cheney moved to the middle, I thought of your post. Lloyd played pretty well in the first half, especially that pass to HAO on the goal. She disappeared soon thereafter. LP had her best game of the tournament. Who knows, maybe she can be forced into that left back spot. And I love me some Sauerbrunn. If the US wants to win this thing, they need, need, NEED to keep possession more. France is a great team, and to constantly turn the ball over to them, either with errant passes on the ground or through aimless long balls, put the US on their heels for much of the match. Once Cheney held the ball in midfield after those tense first 20 minutes of the second half, the US looked like a different team. I kept screaming at the TV, "Calm down. Stop panicking. Play the easy ball." The US players' inability to pass accurately looks more like nerves--more like its in the players heads--than in their ability. I am thrilled for this team. Now win this thing!
It must have been obvious to many of them because abby caught herself doing the same thing. She was like and when Llyod came out.....and then quickly moved on LOL.
It's so nice to hear someone else express this view. I think Abby Wambach is doing a wonderful job of establishing her own identity as an all-time great soccer player. Akers is still uniquely the overall greatest player, but the reality is that Wambach has been the team's best player since she joined it. Four times now at quarterfinal stages or later in WWC or Olympic tournaments Wambach has scored the WINNING goal. She has earned her own legacy of greatness, but I am hoping there is at least one more legendary performance to come from her!
I love wanda sykes tweets during these games. So funny "I just did a Mia Hamm in the living room! It was worth the carpet burn."
This is the first game that I thought Morgan was a noticeable improvement over Rodriguez. In the Sweden game, Rodriguez was much more effective than Morgan. (I didn't understand that sub in that game. Rodriguez had been causing problems for Sweden, and the forward position was not the problem. The midfield needed major adjustments.) I think Morgan has a lot of potential for the future. I just don't think she's there yet, and saving her for late in the game seems to be the best way to use her. The US has played Sweden twice this year and lost both. They've played Japan 3 times this year and won all 3. I'll take Japan at this point. They'll control the midfield, but our defense should be able to absorb the pressure. We'll have the set-piece advantage except maybe on direct shots from free-kicks. The US will have to take some lessons from the Germany-Japan game, though.
Can we stop with the mantra that the USWNT is not technically a good side or other garbage comments. The USWNT is one of the best soccer teams in the world, because they have technically sound palyers, and a very disciplined team. We would never have survived this game if that was not the case. Was our team at it's best today? Hell no. I think we saw the very real effects of fatigue, and France had fresh legs almost all game, when they lost a little of that advantage by having to chase the game for so long they lost their advantage. It was critical for the US to score first in this game to shield France for as long as possible. It's clear to see that the US was willing to play conservative and hope/pray they didn't need to score again. It didn't work out that way and they immediately changed their scheme when the situation on the field change. I can guarantee you that for the last 25 minutes of the game the USA won the possession battle, why? Because they imposed their will on the game when they needed too. Even a person down against Brasil, they imposed their will and had more possession than Brasil. Imposing your will requires skill. I think that's what a lot of fans don't understand. When the USA needs too, they impose their will on the game. Whatever it takes. The USA is a damn good team. To top it off the USA has that other little something called guts. They will punish your slightest mistake and which team doesn't ever make mistakes? The best analogy I can make is this team reminds of the England's MNT. ( at least when they were good back in the day) They have great players but would never be accused of having a flowing or even enjoyable style of soccer, just effective and tactically sound. They get most of their goals on set pieces too. When played correctly this style can prove very effective and fruitful if you have the right pieces. A great goal scorer, a sound defense, and a boss keeper. Luckily for us, we have all the elements and will ride this team to a WC victory if lucky! To the finals!!!
Great game! if I'm Pia, I go with today's starters (HAO looks like she's feeling better; Sauerbrunn reminded me of Kate) and I have a pretty good idea of my subs. Cheney for Carli was huge,, but I'd start Carli in the center and see if she will steady. Arod is not doing well but the Morgan as super-sub strategy is producing - I'd keep the same mix. And hopefully Krieger isn't too badly nicked - she came back strong late in the match. Either Japan or Sweden would be a handful. A rematch with Sweden would be fun, especially with a more solid defense, a healthy HAO and a Morgan en fuego.
Yeah, they just don't play well against Sweden. Sweden just neutralized all the US advantages in size, speed, and set pieces while their forwards are just too fast and tricky for the slow US defense. Sauerbrunn will make a big difference this time around though (if Pia is smart enough to keep her in the starting lineup that is).
dsnipes made some very good points. You saw that Morgan was very in-effective in her 1st 10-15 minutes today. She was very in-effective in the last couple games in the WPS as well. I don't think she can go 90 minutes either. Morgan might be a little better than ARod and probably will be a lot better down the road but right now you want to use ARod to stretch and tire out the defense some. You don't want to start Morgan for 60-65 minutes and then bring in ARod, you are closing the game with your lesser choice there and that is a no-no.
I would like to know that as well. I would prefer to see both her and Buehler on the bench for the Final but that probably won't happen.
Anyone know where I can download the entire match. Couldn't catch it live and construction in my house caused my DVR to remain unplugged. Highlights will not cut it. Help anyone?
I thought Morgan was effective against Brazil in terms of off-the-ball running, winning fouls and corners, and pinning defenders back with speed. Not that she was great, just quietlly effective.