The stats cannot be dined. However, I still maintain she is overrated. The best players in the world make their teammates better. I don’t see that from her. i think for years focusing on her hurt the team’s chances for success. Now, they need to move on. She’s 35. The future of this team lies elsewhere.
Fair comment. But the point is the same. Go back through the US goals over the last bunch of games. Horan played a key part in sigificantly more of them than any other player. She has been key to the US scoring.
Williams has been getting a bad rap BUT she is a speed player and she has apparently solved one of the problems that many speed players never solve and that is staying onside while pressing the line. She has realized that she does not need to push too hard because she has the speed to get behind most defenders even if she starts a few feet onside. She also usually hustles to get back onside after an attack breaks down. That is not true for much of the US forward line. She does lack finishing and, sometimes, her crosses lack imagination and/or accuracy but those are technical that she can improve. She is kind of at a similar level to where Press was a few years ago. Press improved her crosses and shots and has now become one of the best on the team. Williams could well show that kind of development as she progresses. I do not remember who posted that the US really looked tired and asked the question "Could it be from the matches being so close together" but that poster asked a very good question. Almost everyone, except Dunn, looked and played like they were quite fatigued and Williams was one. She seemed VERY tired and made a number of "tired" mistakes.. All in all I think the coaches may have been hearing players saying they were in shape and may have played some players the way they were played just to show that the conditioning was not where it needed to be. I believe Williams is part of the future of the USWNT but she has work to do to make her spot solid. BTW: It is half time in Argentina vs Canada and it is 0-0. Canada is getting chances but they cannot finish. Sound familiar?
Horan was great. Press was great. Dunn was great. Lavelle was very good. Williams was a half step below this level. All others were good with many great and a few iffy moments.
I haven't seen the Brazil game but she didn't impress much in the Canada game. Perhaps my expectations were too high though.
Hard to tell in that match if Argentina has stepped up a notch in its second match since the WC or If Canada is just not able to finish anything without 7 starters, but sure makes the USA win over Canada less impressive.
Love the older players hangin' in there. Lloyd is a beast. Marta is a savvy competitor. Argentina had a 36yr old out there tonight too.
Argentina is a bit better than the past but not much. Kick and run and sprint back into your own end on loss of possession. Oh and an annoying male screamer coach. Someone needs to tell them it's 2021. Canada just doesn't have anyone who can put the ball in the net.
I'm a dinosaur, it is more important to me that a defender can defend than pass out of the back, and it is more important to me that a forward scores or create chances, than presses...
I don't know if you have a favorite player that was not named to the camp, or if this is a reference to the allegedly anti-LGBTQ player, whose name escapes me, that was discussed some during the World Cup. Either way, with the limited time before the Olympics, I don't expect to see anybody that didn't at least make the camp, excluding injured regulars or those in Europe.
Different time now. A goal keeper that can distribute (which they may do 10-15 times a game) may be more important than one that makes outstanding saves (which only happens every couple of games). But I agree - a forward who can't even get a shot off on a breakaway is useless regardless of how she is involved in the defense.
Disagree on the first. Especially with the team like US, who get 70% possession, but faces teams that will pack the back and attempt to win the game 1-0 on one big chance. You need that one big save sometimes to beat the Swedens of the world. Agree wholeheartedly on the 2nd, there was one breakaway where Williams made a high school level mistake, after she cut inside, she kept playing in the ball outside as she dribbled it, which prevented her from getting a shot off because it gave the defender more time to close her and she cut down her own angle.
Horan and Dunn and Rose played great-- but it seems to me that folks posting above maybe missed that this was primarily a defensive game for Rose; her instructions clearly were to support Sonnet anytime Marta got down there against her, and she did. Pretty sure Smith inherited those instructions, and it inhibited her offense much more than it did Rose'. As far as RB overall, Krieger played maybe her best game ever last time we saw her, and Purce seems to me to be clearly the future there, so I don't think we have any real problems; in fact Sonnet seems a little bit better every time out-- who knows if she's anywhere near topping out yet? Naeher seems to me to be just coming into her prime. With a World Cup already in her pocket. And a good sized shutout streak in progress. And if Dahlkamper and Brunn are so bad, why are goals against us so rare, anyways? Ertz did not have a great game it is true-- but it wasn't for lack of effort, she just didn't hit on her normal level of passes... And I thought that as a generality, both games. that people on the ball are seeing spaces are open, and passing into them, but the people in a position to make the run the passer is expecting aren't making those runs-- that is, this year it is the target players who need to get up to speed in the close in passing game, not the passers. Dunn has that switchback spin move when doubled and closely pressed-- and it didn't seem to matter how many times she used it. Even when the Brazilians had to be on guard for it they still got beat by it every single time. Morgan's pretty close to 100%, I think. Williams is starting to convince me just on her ability to command the territorial game-- time and again we got the ball into the offensive end and kept it there just on the strength of her target skills. There's huge value in that even if she never gets a shot on frame or an assist. If it is in that end it isn't in the other, and other folks can work on making wine from the water. Brazil is much faster than I expected, and that backline has huge promise. If they get much better, they will be a tough out even if nobody else shows up offensively. Pia seems to be making a real difference with a team whose previous ability to get anything from instruction has been somewhat suspect.
Are Sam and Rose going to play 2 v 11 ball? Rose’s shots today made me check to make sure it wasn’t AROD spraying shots again.
Huh? Horan will start games even when and if Sam is healthy. All things equal Sam and Rose bring more to the pitch than Horan. Her biggest problem, she isn't as creative as Rose and she isn't as fast as Sam or as big.
Exactly. The handball discussion is ultimately totally beside the point. Glad you are able to recognize that.
The players people are down on .... I think it's largely a function of Vlatko's system. We're not going to find players to plug in that are better. With the exception of .... Williams. I want her to be excellent. But .... she's not good enough. Not right now, anyway. Someone brought up Arod upthread. That's who Williams reminds me of. (And, I was hugely not an Arod fan - she got wayyyyy too many caps). And, Arod was probably a better dribbler than Williams. If the role of that forward is to press and cross, then I'd try Purce there. I imagine she can do both, and she might be a better finisher. I was disappointed that Smith didn't show better in her limited minutes. But, I've got a rule about not drawing negative conclusions about players (espesically women) in their first caps. Not her first cap, or Macario's for that matter. But, it's still very early and it takes a little time to mesh. For the fun of it, I'll post a wildly unpopular take. I'm a huuuuge Dunn fan. Have been since her first caps. And, this is not a criticism of Dunn, but a compliment of the other player, since I don't think she got enough credit at the time. As a playmaking left back, Dunn is not as good of a playmaker as Klingenberg was in the WC (whatever year that was). Klingenberg was the best playmaker on that team. Again, this is not a criticism of Dunn. If Rapinoe ever did a Ask Me Anything, my question would be simple: Peak Klingenberg or Peak Dunn? Anyway - in the broadcast, they referenced Pia's smash & grab job against us while coaching Sweden. Ellis left us totally exposed to that tactic. I think that Vlatko will as well. Teams that choose to defend and counter against us will have a field day attacking our middle three of Sauerbrunn, Dahly, and Julie. This is not a criticism of those three. Of the CB's that I've seen play for the WNT, only Pearce, and maybe Kate Sobrero had the speed to consistently be holding a line 40 yards from our goal. That's 2 CB's in the past approximately 25 years. You can bring in Davidson. She's faster. But, she's not as good of a defender as Becky or Abby. She's much worse on the ball than Becky and she's not remotely the passer that Abby is. I thought Sonnett did pretty well. The back pass .... that's Vlatko's system. One of our players should have been first to. The flail at midfield? She's a fullback defending a wing player with no defensive support ....... at midfield. That's going to happen. I don't know who you're going to plug in who is going to be better (and I'm becoming a big Purce fan). All these players, all of a sudden having bad games. Did they all of a sudden get much worse, or is Vlatko putting them in positions to fail, rather than succeed? One thing I will say about Vlatko - he has gotten the attacking players to work their asses off. I've never seen Morgan or Press defend like that. Or, Horan. And, Carli has really been working hard on the D end. Williams, I'm not surprised by, and she should also get credit for it.
i think Williams is playing in an unfamiliar position in the wing. Give her time to be comfortable in this position. If her left foot can shoot, she can cut in to the center and fire her shots. She may have to practice this though.