Rapinoe's free kick did not miss by much. She is coming off now for the final time. Everyone gets a hug. She takes a bow and on comes Purce.
Fox, Mia Fischel and Demelo in for Dunn, Morgan and Sonnett It just took Mia going to Chelsea to get this cap that she deserved...
Krueger coming out for Lynn Williams, but a little concern as Krueger appears to have some tightness.
I noticed something in this match. Actually i have "noticed" it before but it kind of did not register on my old brain. What i noticed is that we look VERY static during play. Players do switch positions but that only seems happen when the ball is dead but really good teams switch dynamically during the actual play. We almost never had an overlapping run or a run from outside to central or from central to outside except for a very few times and those runs were very slow. It was kink of like the player(s) making the runs were waiting to be told they were doing something wrong. We had nice straight lines across the field. We really had no need for dynamic play in these matches as SA is a bad team and even a decent team would beat them but I have always felt that you need to really destroy weak teams if you plan to play well against the good ones. These matches should have both been no worse than 5 or 6 to 0 but we just cannot seem to blow teams out any more. Maybe we are too nice. I hope the pride in play that we had under Ellis and that Vlatko Andonovski removed will return under whoever becomes the new coach. Right now the USA women's team is playing close in style, or lack thereof, to the men's team and that is a VERY bad thing. New blood might help in most of the coaching staff.
So we basically took two games -- and two months -- off. We used them on low-pressure, weak-opponent, pat-each-other-on-the-back, say-goodbye-to-retiring-legend, limp-along-with-interim-manager games which were not in any way about the long-term competitive arc of this team. Fair enough, but two games is enough. Now it's time to... ...get the new managerial regime in place with a clear, unequivocal goal of returning the USWNT to challenging for medals in the Olympics and the next World Cup. I'll be worried if this is not a done deal in advance of the next games. ...stop wasting game time on players who will clearly not play any role in major future competitions. Why is Krueger starting today (or playing at all)? How is it possible that a 33-year-old who wasn't part of our best 23 two months ago will be among our best 18 next year? ...give real opportunities to the next generation of talent. I find it baffling that Fishel only got 25 minutes in these two games. It's not like it's going to be easier to give her playing time when Macario fully comes back. And if Thompson really deserved a World Cup call-up, how does she only merit 15 minutes in this window? ...schedule challenging opponents, including some on the road, rather than taking easy domestic paydays. I loved the ambition of England/Spain trip last year (but not the results). And Colombia next month is OK. But this approach needs to be a habitual thing, rather than an exception to the rule. I want to trust the process. I want to give the benefit of the doubt. But I'm frustrated with the complacency of a team and program that is still high on old memories. So to Cone, Crocker, current and future mangers, and especially all of our players...from here on out, get off your ass and return us to where we belong: among the very best in the world, a place we are nowhere close to right now.
actually an good team South Africa, winning the African championship & did make it into the round of 16, but obviously didn’t have the time to prepare for the US friendly as they did for the WC—-their NT’s olay in semi to pro leagues all around the world so(within FIFA’s open window week) it be hard to gather their flock in a few days time to prepare itself properly. Most likely same for next opponent Colombia. meantime Europe once again taking itself an step further with the new Nation’s League, which now puts only first tier teams against their own got future qualifiers(previously it was England against the likes of Lichtenstein). So this will keep them now even more competitive. And then showing just showing how popular woso has become in England—-once agsin sold out Wembley(80K plus?)this last weekend(as compared to about 20k each for the US games). And along with those Wembley crowds with now a lot of investment money that’s especially spent on NT & club infrastructure(which means higher salaries combined with more expertise training personnel previously reserved for men). In comparison only an thousand fans used to show up an decade ago for their NT games/a few hundred for club matches USA should remain competitive—-they only allow 3 Euro teams in the Olympics—as well still boasting the world’s biggest woso infrastructure—400K play high school/over 100K in select, travel squads/39K on one thousand plus college teams/12 full time professional NWSL clubs which is going to expand and yet what does the USWNT do, but start the fading Alex Morgan in both games like apparently there’s no other striker in existence on the whole darn country!
We need to clean house. Morgan is useless... stop wasting time on her. Now that the clown is gone, find a real coach.... one thats not afraid to STOP CALLING in the oldsters. One or two maybe, but no more. Do i have any faith that they will find a real coach? No... they never have done that. We need to get far younger, faster and highly skilled. We cannout hustle our way to an Olympic gold and we are far too old and too slow. I want one with NO TIES to current players too. Some don't want to go but give them no choice. Take the "hero de jour" last night. DId anybody else see how bad she was? Passes to nobody, turn overs, offsides.... I think she knew she wasnt going to the Olympics so she retired. She shouldnt have gone to the WC either but that was political. She is NO HERO either. Ertz is a hero, not Pino. The Nike commercial made me sick... she stayed too long and at the end.... was a liability. At least we dont have to see her anymore. Time to fade away
I’m surprised there aren’t more retirements, maybe after the Olympics next year. But Morgan, Dunn, Naeher, K. Mewis, Krueger, and others need to retire.
Y'know, I can remember a time when most everybody here fervently hoped for a world in which it was possible for a woman to make a career out of playing soccer. Now, it seems like half the posters object to allowing someone the second half of one... It isn't up to the player to retire, it is up to the coach or manager to drop them when somebody else is better.
As long as we're talking retirements, I think for any more retirement announcements this year, personally I'd place my bet on Sauerbrunn retiring. I would be surprised to see anyone else retire until after the Olympics (although some mentioned may very well not make the Olympic roster). And if Sauerbrunn does retire, can they please give her a farewell match where she plays the 9 and finally scores a goal? That's all I ask. (I think she'd actually refuse to do that, but I'd love it.)
That assumes the goal of the USSF is to build a ruthless machine focused on winning. I am not sure that is the case. The focus appears to be dulled by competing priorities now. The players run the show and players are usually the very last ones to admit their own decline. The salary structure in the NWSL relative to the riches available for WNT selection has a big impact on who is willing to stick around and wait for a chance, so a lack of turnover at the very top changes the quality of the pool available. PS If International soccer is a career, then I am missing something.
Retire and retire from International soccer are not the same thing right? I assume you mean the latter. Personally, I don't like making a mockery of the game for any individual and as you imply, I doubt Sauerbrunn does either.
I don't think everyone who walks away will want to issue retirement announcments. Rapinoe craves the limelight. It is what she thrives on. Ertz said goodbye in a social media post (likely to prevent future questions). But US Soccer talked her into playing one more game.
One of the most physically demanding positions is playing as a lone 6. The USA have no one who can play that role and I include Ertz at this stage of her career. the insistence on 4-3-3 bolstered by the myth that Ertz was the solution was so obviously flawed. She was a CB at this stage of her career. Something her NWSL teams realized a while ago. It's just one example. As long as the USSF lives in this world where these women are superheroes capable of feats of longevity that father time has never allowed, the program will be more about popularity than ability. I have stopped watching or caring.
We still do…for careers like Lloyd, Ertz, Cheney, Pearce, etc. The leagues will always accept viable older players, look at Barnie—-if love for the game is really their schtick. NT is a different story, this is best of the best, constantly restocking skill and youth. We’re railing against players who can’t see they’re not NT level anymore, coaches that rely on keeping status quo than actually coaching, and staff that can’t see past marketing value.
If you get a look at the NWSL salaries, you can see that there is very little correlation between performance and pay
Just say that out loud and the ask yourself how we got here. We have been told for as long as I can remember about all the advantages we have. How great the ECNL, GDA etc are. How College soccer is the best development platform. What has happened to make Colombia a "real test" ?