Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden It's not like any of us here have been saying this wasn't going to be at least semi-tough...
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Unfortunately, the team also played like this under Ryan ESPECIALLY when under pressure. Yes, it's the coaches, but it's also the players - i'm looking at you LLoyd and Boxx. The play has been going through these two for 5 years and it's been shit for 5 years. They do not play well together and never have. I can't tell you how many times I've seen them play together, regardless of how good they are in training - coaches must look at performances. The back line is an entirely different story - horrible horrible coaching. If anyone has seen Amy and Buehler play this year - they would know they weren't in form. then putting amy at lb - Bringing Mitts over Engen...i mean really. I'm furious with Pia to be honest. She may have set back American soccer for years - her repercussions will be felt for a while. ONE player under 24 on this team? are you kidding me. I really don't see how our back-line can keep up with Brazil's or our midfield for that matter. We have players back home in the wps league who could though... shameful. The attack doesn't have to be sophisticated by any means. getting behind this back-line will not be hard. I hope Brandi C doesn't run into Pia after the tournament and if she does, i hope it's caught on video tape.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden She bleeds USWNT, I don't blame her for that. Not professional, but fans were all thinking it. I'm probably just flogging a dead horse here, but I just finished watching the match. O'Hara... Now, I don't follow the USWNT as much as the men's side so I can't criticize a sub when I don't know the player that well (as opposed to happily criticizing a consistently bad Bornstein...), but wow was she off form. Definitely had a chance of getting at least 1 point. Attacking options just decrease without O'Reilly, so sad for the depth of the team. Also, it's probably a good thing Lloyd was pretty much non-existent the last 1/4 of the match or so... So much to work on with the back line, then again, "can't teach speed," like they always say.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Most of us knew the weaknesses of this team at least a year ago: Left back. Running the offense through Carli Lloyd and expecting anything other than long shots & turnovers. Lack of speed along the back line. Left back ARod's inconsistent finishing. Expecting Lloyd to defend competently. Pia's repeated square peg/round hole stick a player "wherever" lineups.srsly. Who plays Averbuch as a left mid in a 442 EVER, much less more than once? Rapinoe's inconsistency. Pia's inability to try out actual outside backs to fill the outside back role Pia's inability to rotate players in friendlies to get everyone experience so no one looks like a frightened kid in what I think is her 4th cap. Boxx & Rampone's ages and lack of backups of their quality. Pia's inability to make the sum of the parts greater than the individual pieces. In fact, it seems she does the opposite--the sum of the parts is worse Please note I am trying to be kind in the above list. I know ARod's finishing has been consistent--consistently bad. And I've said enough about Lloyd over the years that you all know my opinions there... There are threads from well over a year ago outlining all of these problems. Pia did not improve the glaring weaknesses of the 2007 & 2008 teams. And we have to pay the price. While individually, the players picked may be quite strong and perhaps among the best American players, this roster is not the best American roster. And that is 100% on the coaches -- not the players. When picking a roster a coach has to do more than pick what they consider the best 21 players. The coach must pick the players that collectively make the best roster -- which means picking some specialists who may not be among the best "generalists" but are excellent at that one job needed. Like, to pick an example completely at random, outside back. Yesterday, Boxx (especially 2n half) was not the problem. There are only so many fires her 36 year old legs can put out in one game. And Abby wasn't really the problem either, though Pia should never have played her -- that's a Pia problem. Cheney had some nice play and multiple chances that she must put away. But she left LP on an island more than twice while roaming all over the field. Cheney is a forward and needs to be played as a forward. LP had a real shocker but she didn't get much help from her teammates. Those of you calling for Cheney to be a CM need to recognize that forwards don't magically start defending the center of the field properly (and Brazil is going to be attacking w/ numbers) just b/c you play them as a CM. Haven't we had enough square peg/round hole experiments from Pia to know they do not work? Rapinoe showed why not starting her in the 1st two games was the right decision. A bad game from her. Lloyd. Do I even need to go there? My resolution for this WWC was to be more positive about players and try not to harp on the same things over and over. I was surprised Buehler was as poor as she was yesterday. When she first joined the team I was less than convinced and her first season at FCGP did little to prove she was top shelf. But she won me over and I thought she'd gotten her WWC nerves out of the way vs NK. Guess not. And Pia got out coached. Badly out coached.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden It is not always the better team that wins a game, its soccer anything can happend and did. I am sure that Usa can beat Brazil, becasue the backline is really taking chances on the defense and they are confedent about their skill one on one and its not alwyas doing them any good, remeber that Brazil playing Usa will be the first test for that team so far in the WC, anything the Us wanna change you still got time to fix that. And the US defenders should know by now how to take care of Marta, she is after all playing in the WPS. As soon the samba ladys are getting a ruffer game not going their way, Marta is going to get frustrated. Im sure the Usa team have seen those flaws and know how to handle it. Pia knows Marta and some of the other samba girls have played in the swedish league aswell. Brazil should not be any suprise to team Usa what so ever! Good luck Usa wanna see you in the final! Usa vs.Germany gonna be awsome!!
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden What is so d@mn frustrating is how d@mn predictable yesterday's train wreck really was. We knew these problems a year and a half ago. And do NOT even get me started on the decision in both 2007 and again when Pia got the job in 2008 to give Lloyd the keys to midfield instead of Chalupny. Had Chalupny been allowed to play her natural and best position instead of shunted off to left back, we'd be in a very different place.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden This might seem like a dumb question but after watching Arod miss an open net countless times, Wambach have her frustrations, Lloyd's long useless balls...other than Cheney and Heather O i see we don't have much in the way of a nose for the net. What ever happened to Casey Nogueira? She seemed to be able to find the net in impossible situations. Injured? Not in the coach's favor? Not as good as she was back in college?
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Morgan isn't a bad finisher. As for Nogueira, she has just been too inconsistent in club play. Her rookie WPS season was inconsistent and at times she just slows down the speed of play so much. Remember her freshman year at UNC? While I do think she works harder on the field than it sometimes looks, it is really hard for some folks to overlook that first impression of "not trying" or "slow" or "not intense enough" She's been more productive this season but she's one laid back cookie on the field. And Pia is stuck in this idea that Abby must be partnered w/ a small, speedy forward. Maybe two years ago (I think it was b/f the 2009 WPS draft) there was a quote in the UNC student paper that Pia told Nogueira that if she needed to improve her "mobility" to run off Abby if she wanted to fight for a USWNT spot. The thing is, Abby can play well off different types of forwards. But Pia (and others) have her in this (perhaps not little) box. I've thought for a while that Abby & Cheney could form a good partnership. But Pia hasn't played them as the 2 in her preferred 442 unless under duress.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Nogueira hasn't proved herself at the club level quite yet. I think her play has definitely improved since she moved to Sky Blue and was given a freer role to make plays. She wasn't ready for this World Cup, but I think she could definitely be a viable option for the next cycle. After all, she's always shown up in the big games and has a serious shot. She probably doesn't have much of a shot while Abby is there, but Abby is getting older and Nogueira may find her niche on the team. Morgan is a good finisher, but usually she isn't out there long enough to really make chances for herself. But we wouldn't be at this World Cup if it wasn't for her.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden I don't understand any of this criticism. We didn't look that bad out there. Couple of defensive mistakes, costly turnovers in midfield but what dangerous chances did Sweden have other than the penalty and the deflected goal? The states outshot Sweden 20-9. Not all on goal but many were very close. Just unlucky today plain and simple. This team will rebound against Brazil and we'll all be talking about the finals after that.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden For the record. Shots were 20-9. Shots on goal were 6-5. 30% SOG? That's not unlucky. That's criminal.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden In this I agree with Pia, the small speedy forward stretches the field and give more room for the others to work. If we play much weaker teams, you can put Abby and Cheney together, you can put Buehler and Rampone up front too but that is not the best option. Against top flight teams, with Abby and Cheney together, with no fear of speed, the defense does not have to spread wide, and they will play up on your back, we would not have room to work. You can compensate somewhat for having fast midfield but we don't have them except for HAO and the defense have more time to cover them anyhow. The benefit of an ARod is in how she plays and how the defense plays as well. Edit: You don't have to have ARod, I said this several months ago, you can have another fast player, eg Morgan. A word of caution, unlike other people who are ready to crown Alex, she is good but she has her problems as well. (Watch her the last few games with the WNT and in the WPS before the WC.)
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden I was thinking of this lineup lastnite, I'd take out boxx and but in well, anyone else...this is our only shot at beating brazil How bad is HAO'S injury though
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden There's no doubt Pia will play Lloyd vs Brazil. She's played Lloyd (barring injury) regardless of form for the past 2 years.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden That prompted me to look and what a surprise, for 3 games, the US lead with 27 SOG and 32 SW (shots wide). The 2nd place team for SOG is Germany 24. 2nd place for SW is Norway 22. That is why they are out. The 8 quater-finalists occupy the top 8 in SOG. 4 of the 8 occupy the top 8 in SW: US, Eng, Australia, Japan. The scary thing is Germany 24 SOG, 16 SW. http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/statistics/teams/topgoals.html
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden While I agree that youth development is a major problem, I just want to point out one flaw -- that the USA's "out athletic them" play book isn't working anymore b/c other teams have caught up in that regard. In the women's game that stance has been a bit of a myth to begin with but even if it were true at one point, Pia isn't even trying that. In this particular USWNT in key positions like attacking mid and defense, Pia appears to have chosen the worst athlete available from the pool w/o that player having sooo much more technical or tactical ability to be able to "overcome" their athletic deficiencies. Looking at the pool and the US players in WPS, can people name an outside back with less speed, quickness, mobility than LP who isn't even a left back? Srsly. At least Bradley tries to put players at lft back that have actually played left back and have some speed/quickness. Can people name a starting CM with less athletic ability than Lloyd? I don't think so. Averbuch & Lindsey might be a step worse in agility but I'm willing to bet money they both beat her in fitness and speed over distance as well as endurance and desire (and any weight lifting measure--Lloyd might be the least 'cut' USWNT player I've seen. Even Dunkin Donuts Foudy looked to be more 'cut'). They're both very technical, pass well, and have a good shot. Are there any US WPS CMs that haven't beat Lloyd on the field of play? If you can't complete a pass w/ any degree of regularity, you've got to at least be willing and able to do the running work to get the ball back. We got the European coach that many want for the men's team. And I was happy w/ the choice when it was first made. But Pia seems to have ignored the things that made the USWNT a medal contender and been horrible at teaching/player selecting for the type of soccer she claims is her preferred style.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden During the game, announcer Ian Darke mentioned Coach Pia and Sven-Goran Eriksson in the same sentence... I just hope that Coach Pia ends up with a better record than Eriksson had in German WC 2006...His English team lost to Portugal in the knockout rounds...
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden I completely agree with you on this. When Pia was first named coach I was ecstatic (grant it after April and Ryan I think we would have been happy with just about anyone.) The main problem I have with Pia is her lack of player development. Seriously, why did Morgan never get a start going into the world cup? Why didn't we mess around with different player combination to see what worked best. Yes you need to solidify your team leading up to the world cup and that's what the send off matches are for but I'm talking about last year? Where was the player development? Our central midfield is definitely a weak spot but instead of developing new players there we continue to play Lloyd and Boxx unless one of them is out with injury and then she puts in a new player. Perhaps an even bigger issue I have with Pia is her lack of ability to try new things. For example, why yesterday when we are down a goal did we stick with a 4-4-2? Why not go for a 3-4-3? Put Cox in the midfield if you want and shift Cheney forward. At what point is Pia willing to say "we are down a goal and need to get one and need to move into a more offensive formation." Yesterday's game would have been the perfect chance to do that! We could have come back and one but more importantly if we gave up a goal or had any major glaring problems we would have seen it before the knockout rounds to fix it. Instead she played it safe. In my opinion a coach must be willing to try new things. My biggest fear is that this team goes down a goal in the knockout round and Pia will wait until the 85+ min to switch formations and the team won't respond well because they never practiced it. That's all. I just had to get this Pia rant out. From now on I will be optimistic and root for Pia to make smart choices and the team to win
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden I didn't realize he'd doubled down on the jinxing... Great. We're so getting our tails kicked on Sunday unless there's some sort of magic unicorn delivery of a rabbit to pull out of a hat that also gives all of us ponies to go w/ our win.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden Amy LePeilbet is the biggest liability on the field for the US, especially against teams with fast outside forwards. It's not really her fault, though. The coaching staff should have found a couple of potential players for that spot over the last few years, there's plenty of fast left backs in college teams. Maybe she should be moved to CB instead. Buehler is the second defensive liability. She's always late to react, clumsy with tackles and not that great with the first touch. At world cup level matches againt teams like Sweden or Brazil, I am not sure how the coach thinks she can get away with playing her at this position. I think she would look much worse if Rampone wasn't so good at cleaning up her mistakes. Wambach appears to be much more seriously hurt than what we are led to believe. She is not able to run after 50-50 balls, she is always late and she can hardly jump a foot off the ground. Even the goal against Sweden, she was so late that the ball hit her shoulder, definitely a lucky break. No matter how great a leader she may be, playing her in this condition, especially in an elimination round game where the team has already guaranteed a QF spot is cruel. O'Reilly was one bright spot in terms of US offense but I am worried that her injury may also be a problem for the QF game. Too bad as this world cup was the first time I saw her playing with the level of confidence that matches her speed and skill for the US team. Her absence was definitely felt in the Sweden game. Despite much of the criticism in this thread, I actually think Cheney did a great job. She was a bit unlucky with a couple of her shots that missed the post by a foot or two. If those went in, everybody would be hailing her as the hero. More importantly, she looked very proficient with ball control, dribbling and short passes in heavy traffic. I sure hope she keeps her starting spot on this team. I think Rodriguez was doing a fine job, I would certainly sub Wambach insted of her for the second half. She was extremely unlucky with the lob attempt that hit the crossbar. Right side of the defense is much better. Krieger is excellent and despite a few minor errors, Rampone is still getting the job done. Overall, midfield did not do a great job. A lot of long passes without a purpose. A few times US tried quick direct passes, they actually took Swedish defense by surprise. Brazil defense is somewhat less organized compared to Sweden, US should have much better opportunities if they try a bit of combination play instead of firing the long straight through-ball as they tried many times in the second half of Sweden game. O'Hara substitution was interesting. She was probably not as effective as she could be due to not having many chances to play over the last year. The shot she missed near the end of the game was nowhere near a simple finish as some of the earlier posts on this thread would indicate. This might be a crazy idea but she could used as a left back in the QF game as she does have the speed to keep up with Brazil's forwards. The ref allowed too many deliberate pushes for my taste. Larsson(7) did not get a caution despite multiple deliberate fouls, including an elbow to the back and a deliberate knee-on-thigh which could have done serious damage.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden While we can overcome Brazils backline, their Mid and Forwards are better. ANd When Cristiane is paired with Marta, that is amazing I would rather take Boxx out, drop Loyd into her position, Move A-Rod or CHeny to attacking mid, drop Wambach for Morgan and get MItts in the game on the left (Best speed back) even if you switch Mitts and Kreider - that has to better than what it is.
Re: Pre/pbp/post 7/6 USA vs. Sweden So you want to lose the game in spectacular fashion? Mitts!? Mitts hasn't been a "speed back" in 2 years. Definitely not close to a "speed back" right now. Did you not see her get roasted for speed by a not particularly fast Mexican player in the send off game? Not to mention her very poor 2 WPS seasons? And that doesn't even begin to address the sieve like midfield (defensively) that Lloyd + Cheney would bring. I could *almost* get behind the suggestion of dropping Lloyd for Cheney since the team wouldn't be giving up *that* much defensively. But Boxx would need to sit on top of that back 4 like a mother hen on her clutch of eggs. I can't even take your suggestion of ARod as an attacking mid seriously. Where are you that you're able to be that drunk this early in the day?