Like Rapinoe's energy and play. She does have to be smarter on her challenges. Should have had a yellow and it would have been dumb to get one with a 3-0 lead after the 80th minute. But very good otherwise. I also continue to like Cheney's play. Unfortunately, O'Reilly's injury took the Morgan 75 minute rule out of play. When O'Reilly came off, I was wondering if she was dehydrated and light-headed. She was still running well just a minute before that. Either that or she was having trouble breathing, but I thought when she winced they were looking at her midsection or maybe her thigh. Looked like she had a iv or something going into her left thigh area later on. Still not sold on LePeilbet at left back. Except for Krieger, the defense had a few anxious moments that a better team could have exploited. I still think Heath has talent, she just needs to learn that sometimes (in fact most times) the simple play is the best play. It doesn't have to be cute or look pretty, just get the job done. Rewatched part of the early part of the match and agree that I was wrong and Lindsey did play a few very nice passes in the opening half. If I'm not mistaken, yellows aren't erased until after the quarterfinals, so Abby is at risk for the next game. I wouldn't put her on the bench for her play, but I might consider it for the yellow card. But then if you lose to Sweden, you're probably facing Brazil, which might be the team the US matches up against the worst.
Hard to evaluate since Colombia was so awful. But we need better finishing,we won't get 30 chances vs good teams, and I'm afraid the left back will cost them a game.
Well, I think this makes it a throw away game. The goal is to win the cup. I don't see much difference between Germany=>Brasil or Brasil=>Germany But Germany may not win their group, either. We don't decide to ease up until after their game.
I'm just waiting for her hair to slowly and naturally grow into a mullet, sneaking up on everyone, until there is no turning back.
I didn't think that Colombia was that bad actually. Yes, they were dreadful in the first ten minutes against Sweden, but after that they played liked they belonged in Germany. I would still consider them a minnow, but one thing the Colombians did really well as the final pass into the attacking third. Those penetrating well-weighted passes made Rampone and Bueller draw on all of their speed, guile and defensive ability to stop them from scoring.
They put zero pressure on the ball, showed little speed vs a pretty slow US team, and their defense was a sieve.
Have to agree in that Colombia looked pretty bad. Possibly the worst team in the tournament. If Sweden and the US had put their chances away you could have had record lopsided wins.
just finished seeing the game...great goals, not surprising that the midfielders scored all three. Great to see Pia show some guts by benching Box, and sitting the much hyped Arod..about time. Morgan should have also come in for Wambach. It was embarrassing to see her out there with all her teammates feeding her balls all game long just so she could keep missing. Colombia was awful and looked like a sunday rec team to me. They had no touch, lost the ball all game long. I actually felt sorry for them. Overall a good US victory against a very poor team. I can say I did not like all the smiles by the USWNT after they would make a poor play or miss a goal shot. I would like to see a more professional approach to the games, by keeping a serious game face, this is not sunday league its the world cup.
The first player grades for the game are in from ESPN. I know Colombia is not one of the top teams, so you have to judge performance accordingly. But the US did what is was supposed to do. I thought Lori L played quite well. She and Carli paired up nicely at CM. I assume Boxx will be out there against Sweden but at this point, that's on reputation/status and not play. Neither of them are particularly quick but Lori is a much better passer. I thought Carli played well also-- nice job to create that shot on the goal, which really surprised the keeper in terms of pace from that distance. ARod did not play as well as she did in the first game and the second half benching was a good call. I assume if O'Reilly doesn't go down, Morgan would have been the last sub. For those who said Cheney and Abby couldn't play together, this was proof otherwise. If you have playmaking wings like Rapinoe and HOR, it works quite well because Lauren is happy playing away from the net with Abby in a target position. Cheney's assist to Rapinoe was great. At first I wondered why you would not want a 5-10 player in front of the net on those corners but she's really good with those. I would really watch Abby's minutes in the Sweden game; just so she doesn't pick up another yellow. On D, Rampone (36 year old might be our fastest D) and Kreiger were solid once again, Buehler was OK and Amy L seemed to struggled out wide again. Cox certainly is more of a threat moving forward but they were rarely tested. http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/ne...grading-us-performance-colombia-jeff-carlisle
So the US and Sweden have qualified for the quarterfinals after two games. After three groups have played only two matches, there is only one quarterfinal berth left to be decided. Not exactly high drama, but the placement of the teams could be important. But being a US fan, I really didn't want a lot of high drama in Group C.
It's great that we're getting goals from midfielders and defenders, but we're going to be in trouble in the second round unless our forwards can start putting balls in the net.
I'm back. Anyone miss me? The stylist traveling w/ the espn crew is having too much "fun" w/ Brandi's hair. It has been a different style every freaking day. Not a bad game. 3 goals & could have been more. But several hiccups that troubled me -- both in the back and in connecting the lines (and completing passes in the middle). Now we've got a couple of knocks to deal w/ (Krieger went down at least once, HAO's groin, etc) but are definitely advancing. But general, I'm happy enough. The whole finishing thing? Well, yeah, I don't know what to say.
Except it was said that Lindsey was the best player against Norway in the 3-1 loss just before the WWC
Well, I haven't been following the team as much as in the past, but it seems to me that our best performers have been Cheney and Rampone by a pretty wide margin (not counting Solo, I was just talking field players). Have to be much more clinical in front of goal, and almost everyone has missed at least one golden opportunity (Wambach, A-Rod, Rapinone all come to mind). Maybe not HOR. Still, the last game will be interesting, especially if France manages to win/draw vs. Germany, and thus open up a path to the finals w/out playing the Germans.
Good to see Tobin getting time. I thought she did well. Heather O is at her usual best. Rampinone's keeping our forwards competitive. Rampone and Kreiger are good back there. Carli doing her thing. Lindsey impresses. Solo have not been tested. Lauren is solid. The RB/LB I find questionable, as well as LMW. Finishing poor overall. I like Pia's outfit today better than last match. Brandi is a little school girl. Mia Hamm is still hot.
It's Rapinoe. Sorry if that's being picky but give the girl the decency of spelling her name correctly.
I wasn't overly impressed w/ Heath today. Lloyd didn't play as well as she did in the first game but wasn't terrible -- wasn't overly tested, though. Rapinoe did rather well. I was pretty darn pleased w/ her -- with the exception of the that tackle from behind where she should have been carded. That's a (bad) tackle we've seen from her time and time and time again in WPS. Why has she not stopped doing it yet? And Abby has to give ARod back whatever little "lucky charm" ARod gave her... I've said for a while that ARod needs too many touches to get her goals. It was Colombia and not Sweden. Had that been Sweden, I'd be more excited. I am gald we've got the 6pts and +5.
They did what they needed to do against a weak opponent, so well done. Refreshing to see them loose and having fun, too. I hope Pia shakes up the starting 11 for next match. Some might counter by saying that we need our strongest line-up against the Swedes, who are clearly the best opponent in the group and we want to secure first place. But I think we have options on the bench that will improve the level of play from what we've seen. First, start Sauerbrunn in the middle alongside Rampone and move Beuhler left. Although it isn't her fault for being played out of position, LePeilbet just isn't cutting it out there. Incidentally, Rampone showed today why she is needed in the center...to clean up everyone else's mistakes with her speed. This coming from someone who has recently supported trying her on the left. Second, start Morgan with Cheney up front and move Abby back as a withdrawn forward/attacking midfielder, allowing her to playmake. Or switch Cheney and Abby, it doesn't really matter. Regardless, the team needs Cheney in the center of the field to post-up, distribute, and shoot. I might be tempted to rest Abby altogether, but I feel like she needs a goal before the latter stages of the tournament to get the monkey off her back. Third, Lindsey should continue to get substantial minutes. Give her some time against Sweden, in a relatively low-pressure situation, to see if she can pass as accurately against a more physical team who doesn't give her as much space. Finally, Heath has flash, but not much substance at this level. O'Hara could contribute more effectively to the offense as a winger. In the international game, you need tenacity, grit, and hustle. O'Hara has all these things, plus a better cross and good shot...she won the Mac Hermann award for a reason. Just because she was the last pick on the roster doesn't mean you can't use her. And keep using Rapinoe as a super-sub; it's working well.
Rapinoe! Got it. Heath was lively out on the wing. She could have done better but considering the cicumstance with her that performance was good. The glaring problem I see is up front where our forwards drift too far ahead, leaving a gap between them and our AM/CM. All of our goals came from bombs outside one way or another. I won't complain, that's how we beat Brazil, twice.
Only Sawa is finishing well at this World Cup - everybody else is struggling for some reason. Better GK play is part of it but I think a lot of players are pressing too hard and not doing the easy things well - just making everything too difficult. Glad to see the US win two, be able to rest players and still advance but Sweden will be a much better gauge of where this team is at. Both Korea and Columbia were basically u20 teams - I'm looking forward to seeing the US play a tougher and more experienced team.
Yeah she was out for a year due to sickness then surgery. She hasn't played much at all leading to this WC.