Tokyo Olympics QF: USWNT vs Netherlands, July 30, pre/pbp/post

I am seriously considering looking for an opportunity to make my first serious sports wager ever. I bet Netherlands will be great value here.

 

Control Miedema, and the USWNT wins.
If Miedema gets free and gets anywhere near her usual # of opportunities ....
if so, Dutch will win.

 

I am quite unsure of what to say about this upcoming match. The result will depend on which USWNT shows up. This has been in a lot of ways a "Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll" team without the "Jekyll" side not even as good as it should be and the "Hyde" side not really bad but just lazy.

I do not believe that we can win if we play like we have in any match so far and I have little hope that we can actually step it up several notches like we will have to in order to advance.

The play seems to be exactly what Vlatko Andonovski has been training the team to do. They play slow and disjointed as exactly how Vlatko Andonovski has been working hard to get into their system. Him being "happy" with the last match is a strong statement that he is incapable of coaching this group of ladies to anything other than ties and losses in important matches.

He cannot motivate if he accepts mediocrity as OK. It is too bad he is unlikely to get separated from the team because he, and his ass kissing assistants are just not getting the job done.

BTW: Subbing Williams on and then not letting her attack is simply destructive to both the win/loss record but also to Williams herself and to the team's overall well being.

I know the USWNT should beat anyone in this tournament but Andonovski has them playing like a mid-level college freshman squad.

This match is the last chance to get something good out of this team. (There will be other "last chances" if we win) I know we will face the best that The Netherlands can offer. But at this point it looks like even the best that Andonovski can have the team produce is not just good enough.

Our best hope, as I have said before, is if the players on the field just play their best and, for the most part, ignore what they have been told by the coaches. But there are few players that are willing to piss off the coach and we are suffering from the fact that the players "like" him. I wonder if that continues if he leads them to another embarrassing loss.

It is my belief that all the training that has been done has changed the USWNT into an average team that has players a lot better than the team as a whole. And he has made the USWNT into a team that no one fears.

 

A combination of playing favorites while better players were left off the roster, over confidence and poor coaching just cost the softball team. It will probably cost the soccer team as well.

 

it’s okay, they still have Carli Lloyd
(even though she has wrinkles now)

All they need to do is get her a $50 bottle of Goji juice a few hours before the match, so she can feel 10 years younger again.

Too bad about the offsides rule in this sport.
Otherwise, they would score 7 goals on the Dutch, and Alex Morgan might actually be able to score a goal in a meaningful tournament knockout game, like she used to be able to do once upon a time.

Just let Julie Ertz coach this match, as a player/coach. She would make much better decisions than Vlatko can make in his lame soccer dreams.

Let Vlatko be the ball boy in this one.
Have him chase down every ball after each time the USWNT scores an offsides goal.

 

I love all the people posting on these threads as if all is lost, as if the U.S. has already been eliminated, or as if the U.S. should just do an honorable resignation as in chess and forfeit Friday's game against the Netherlands.

For months, some of these people have posted that Vlatko should be fired, that the older players shouldn't have been on the roster, etc. etc. They are one U.S. defeat away from being able to say convincingly that they were right. And I myself am NOT optimistic that the U.S. can win a gold medal next week or even advance to the semifinals.

But what if somehow this U.S. team wins its next three games? Will anyone retract a single word they've said?

 

Can God create a flood for all 3 games?

Turn it in to a wet bloodbath on a muddy or slippery pitch.

That will even the playing field.
And then the USWNT might be able to hit heads or tails 3 times in a row under Vlatko in knockout games against elite competition.

So they need a flood in all 3 games.
And to then hit a coin flip in all 3 games.
And then to NOT jump offsides when they score in a penalty shootout after 120+ minutes of flood ball in wet slop conditions.

 

I'm listening.........either way, winnings contributed to National Women's Network of the USSF.

Ahhhhhhhh.....Nope.

 

The NL scored 21 goals in 3 games. Fourteen of those goals were scored by the front 3, eleven of those were scored by the center forward(9). Eight of those 11 were scored by Miedema. Let us not forget the outside winger Martiens also had 4 goals.

I assume Vlatko doesn't think the US can match up with NL? So is that the reason he used the game plan he did against the Aussie's? From what I have seen from the backline, it will be a tall order for them to prevent NL from scoring a couple of goals even with that game plan and difficult for the US to score playing that way. Those betting odds are looking mighty good on taking NL.

 

ARE YOU KIDDING?
GOD"S BLOODY WOUNDS,MAN!
I'm going to be taking credit for reverse jinxing it

 

Well Vlatko Andonovski has successfully squeezed all the "juice" out of this great team. He has them playing like they are all rookies just learning how to play.
If he had any pride himself he would resign and allow say Foudy to step from the booth to coaching the national team. But he won't do that because he thinks things are going just swimmingly.

 

So it would not surprise me one bit if Miedema and Company score a bunch of goals against us. They are the best offense in the tournament right now. Granted, a lot of their competition was against two the weaker teams: China and Zambia and one great team Brazil.

We had a pretty tough group with Sweden(arguably the best all around team in the tournament), New Zealand(not great but nowhere as bad as the other eliminated teams), and Australia(great team when they decide to play and not play for a draw)

We have the best depth in the tournament. That we have going for us. We have the most experience. We have that going for us. However, our identity has been taken away during the group stage and we are entering the knock out stage with zero momentum because Vlatko made the super obvious decision of throwing the 3rd match against Australia and playing for a draw. This strategy is counterintuitive to American soccer attitude and culture where we play to win every game and gain confidence.

A lot of this tournament is not only having the talent but it's also the mental health going forward. If we are over analyzing and second guessing ourselves which is what seems to be happening under Vlatko and his fixation over watching several hours of video, then we lose the end goal and we lose our identity. We look so lost out there in all of our group games it's like watching a completely different team sometimes.

Given this is Vlatko's first big tournament, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and see if his management ends up giving us at least a Gold Medal match which is what our expectation should be. Anything less and it's an upset and all of you guys on here know it. We have the best pool of talent in the world in a highly competitive domestic league and we are expected to be in medal contention. Otherwise, Vlatko should be fired.

All these excuses people make on here for Vlatko like, "oh I think somebody chose the roster for him so he's not to blame.... blah blah blah"
BULL.
BULL.
BULL.
He selected his roster. He went on record with saying he chose a more experienced batch of players in one of his press conferences. This is his tournament to lose.

If he loses against The Netherlands, my guess is he's going to be fired a week later. Especially after all the backlash going on with his 3rd group match against Australia. You have former USWNT players already criticizing him all over twitter, you have journalists scratching their heads, you have fans and US soccer supporters frustrated and confused. All that negative response is going to get him fired if all his questionable decisions during the tournament doesn't get the USWNT in medal contention.

I will be setting my alarm for 4:00AM to see what happens on Friday. If I don't like what I see, and the USWNT are still sluggish and mentally unglued it's curtains for Vlatko. There is absolutely no excuse for that whole roster of Americans to be playing like they have been on a 2 day bender.

 

Damn Skippy, 2 day benders are exclusively reserved for us fans.

 

IDK about any of that, but considering we’ve looked like the 6th best team in the tournament, I’m not feeling optimistic against a Netherlands team in top form. Part of me doesn’t mind seeing any of the US powerhouses (women’s soccer, gymnastics, men’s basketball) struggle. Dynasties are boring. Victories are sweeter if you have to fight for them.

 

Isnt the U.S.--Netherlands game at 7:00 a.m. (U.S. east coast time)?

 

LIke you, I'm not optimistic about what's ahead for the U.S. But since SO many people posting on these pages are writing as if the U.S. has ALREADY been eliminated, I'd say our team is now exactly in the position you have described: "Victories are sweeter if you have to fight for them." If this U.S. team can somehow beat the Netherlands and go on to a gold medal, no one will say that this path to victory was predictable and boring. Not after 50 people here have essentially said it's absolutely impossible.

 

Yes. On Friday.

 

I would think it was more about not tiring his starters so they got more energy going into the playoff rounds. The question would be why not let the benchwarmers like Macario, Williams, Krueger & Kristy M start instead vs Australia? I take it’s Vlatko not comfortable with making too many changes in his starting lineup

One problem though is that in the past, Wiegman has shown to be genuinely scared of using those direct style tactics vs the US that worked so well against others—-remembering the WC final where out of nowhere played previously, she decided to pull back Miedema & turn her into an CAM, as well as bunkering the rest of the squad/last friendly, it was aimlessly passing as both Miedema & Wiegman we’re no where to be found.
So much will depend on this game if Wiegman finds the confidence to take the US head on, otherwise it’s meaningless whatever scoring records they’ve accomplished so far

 

The formation against NZ should be the same for this game (at least the mid and the final third). I know it's only NZ, not a very good team, etc. but there was more chemistry, they can actually string more than 3 passes together regardless if there was defenders around or not. Also, what in the world is going on with Sam Mewis?

 

Mmm, they were sloppy in the defense and also in their passing in the midfield.

 

Yes, I hated what Wiegman did in the WC final--and to say that it was uncharacteristic of the Dutch would be a massive understatement. The Dutch never bunker; like every team, they can be put on the back foot in matches by an opponent that is playing well--and that may happen on Friday--but that's not to be confused with bunkering--which surely is not even a word in Dutch! You've got to come out and play aggressively---and I'm sure that's what the Dutch will do, for better or worse.

 

I expect the US to win gold and My future self is still annoyed at our roster selection, lineups and style of play.
So I guess I’m a terrible person because even winning doesn’t satisfy me. Lol.

I’d rather lose with younger more technical and tactical players trying to play soccer than win with two completed passes and a long ball ahead.

maybe we come out these last two games and set the world on fire with our possession, chemistry and creativity in the final third. And if that happens awesome. I’ll be stoked for the squad. But even thus far in our winning I hate the way we play and who we have playing it. So I remain a grumpy boomer cursing at the clouds.

 

That was impossible, due to the toe injury of Martens. She only this year finally is free from it nagging her, which shows in the Barcelona matches she had.
Now we have the front line in order, but the knee injury of Spitse is a downer, as she with her laser guided passes could put them into potential dangerous spots.
Question is who's going to deliver the ball behind the US defense.

 

Obviously, he's a west coast poster. 4 am on the Pacific side of the country.