SheBelieves Cup 2020 • Do stop believing

Too many tournaments I guess to get other nations to volunteer. However Euro teams should take advantage of this opportunity to train against the best to prepare for Euros.

 

Japan, England and Spain are a pretty good selection. I believe that should give everyone of the teams some good friendlies. But that is all they are, a bunch of friendlies.

 

Important for preparing for the Olympics for the teams involved.

 

Actually I wish the US would travel more to get friendlies. Along with needing good matches it is good to get used to playing in countries and in front of crowds that are unfamiliar. The US had little trouble traveling to France but it is good to provide some solid travel experience along with the match experience. Playing so much at home is not good for either the men's or the women's teams.

No US team of either sex in recent memory has really traveled for friendlies enough to be ready to play in the environments they will encounter in real tournament play. The women are, usually, good enough to overcome the problems that a foreign environment can create. It has cost the men a LOT but even the women need to travel more. I think the problems at the last Olympics were exacerbated by a lack of preparatory travel.

I like Japan quite a bit and have even considered moving there for my retirement but it is a very different culture than most US players are used to. I think friendlies should be used for preparation for as many different issues as possible and the lack of traveling for friendlies is not as good preparation as some additional travel would be.

 

Not much to look forward to in this tourney;Spain is basically Barcelona without its big stars, Lieke Martens & Caro Hansen

last year, Japan had the point lead going into the 3rd game, but apparently didn’t want to win as they started their usual subs instead & got promptly wipe out in the 1st half

US is better prepared this time since they just finished the OG qualifiers(and thus huge favorites)

that leaves only England, but will Neville bring/start/give playing time to a plethora of newbies that been dominating the WSL league, or go back to his has beens?

I look more forward to the French Tournament, but then again it’s the French, who refuse to show their woso for free on TV & streams, lol

 

How quickly people forget that Spain gave the US the most trouble out of all four knockout-phase opponents last year...

 

I believe Spain can continue to give the U.S. trouble because they move the ball so well--better than almost anybody. They need to translate good possession into quality chances and goals--that's the hard part for everybody in this sport and especially for teams playing the U.S. You've got to be a really good passing/ball movement team to cope with the U.S. press.

 

I'm betting its influenced by many players playing for Barcelona or some other Spanish teams.

 

You sure the theme this year is "Do Stop Believing"?
Seems counterproductive.

I'd like to see England replaced by the Netherlands next year.

 

actually, England is the one team I’m looking forward to since they’ve got several rising stars within the WSL league like the ironic named, Beth England, who’s has outscored team mate, Sam Kerr, 6-1, since Kerr joined Chelsea. Or Chloe Kelly, who’s been known to score half her goals from Hail Mary type shots from past the 30 yard line. But unfortunately coach Neville even admits he’s a “I will never change” type guy & probably wouldn’t start them

Unfortunately, quickly tournaments is not the Dutch best virtue; their squad is spread out all over Europe & pro clubs usually don’t release them till that week of the tournament. They perform so much better come summer when they get about a month to practice together before an upcoming major tourney

Spain is a strong ‘friendlies’ squad due to the build in chemistry of having a dozen, Barca players on it, but has flopped at the major summer tournies since........\???(if making the semis is the barometer of success). Last year’s WC was on par; 2 losses, 1 win, 1 draw.
US/Spain WC bout;
as Shakira would sing....stats don't lie
Spain vs. United States - 24 June 2019 - Women Soccerway
only 1 out of 4 shots on target for Spain/US two goals was the exact for the last 5 WC games/US won possession(55% to 45%) over the very possession minded, Spainards. Spain(ranked #13) still should be competitive at SBC(as Barca's in season right now),, but will still find a long road to make it into the top 10. To be sure, they'll pass the disappearing act called North Korea(#11), but I would still prefer #12 Norway with it's several individual standout players & Japan(#10) with its younger squad should only rise, but they do have a habbit of hide their best till the summer/aka the Olympics this time

 

Spain was the highest remaining ranked team available at the time. There's no way North Korea would come over for this tournament.

 

England squad announcement on the 18th of Feb at Wembley Stadium.

 

Spain v Japan
(BBC Red Button, NHK BS1, TDP, fuboTV Espana, ESPN 3)

 

Yeah, it seems that I have a different recollection of that game than quite a few people. Don't recall Spain looking all that dangerous at any point of the match (maybe just the last minute of stoppage time), and their goal came from poor play from Sauerbrunn and Naeher rather than good play from any of their players. Where Spain excelled was persistent fouling and restricting the US to limited openings as well.

 

The fans really didn't show up in Orlando....

 

England looked awful and lost. Individually talented teams, but goodness me they are badly coached and managed. You could give Phil Neville UNC or Stanford roster and he wouldn't be able to make it to the NCAA final.

 

England was pretty solid in the World Cup but bad tonight. Just struggled with their passing, struggled to get it out of their own end and connect passes, and I didn't think the midfield was good at all. The lineup was different and the team looked rusty and out of kilter. Neville needs Daly and Bronze in the lineup to compete better with the U.S. He had Williamson, who's mostly a centerback, playing outside back in place of Bronze. She seemed to do OK but not a position she is accustomed to playing.

 

Considering most of these players were just recently playing in FA WSL, its unacceptable.

 

White talked about still being haunted by her disallowed goal vs the US pre match, and the US’ second goal would have been fairly ruled out by VAR. You couldn’t have written it any better.

 

Usually Blisset & Lechus keep us updated when Japan plays, with extended highlights & lotsa replays of goals(if there were any). So what’s the scores from last nite’s games?

 

Usually you brag about actually watching most of international matches, so you sure know the scores?

 

It’s called bad coaching and management with all their talents available. Phil Neville failed to react what was coming, and what’s going to happen if you play the USWNT.

 

Spain 3 - 1 Japan
(Putellas 8', L. Garcia 48' 78' - Iwabuchi 44')
(full match)


Spain deservedly won as their players are in the middle of the league season while Nasdeshiko League starts at the end of this month. Takakura as usual experimented a lot as this is pre-season for Japan.

Feel so sorry for NWSL fans though....having to deal with ref Koroleva calls on a weekly basis

Oh, and one worth of lotsa replays:

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