39' 0-1 #12 Zakia Bywaters dribbles up the box left channel, gets around new sub #8 Elizabeth Addo at 30m. Addo hacks her down. Free kick from 30m box left, drops to #19 Sydney Leroux at 8m 6-right, but she's offside.
43' 0-1 #2 Toni Pressley, way up in the attack, settles at 27.5m left post (5 stripes), looks up, and blasts a low rocket through a light screen. Arrives with force at sternum-height, and #21 Patricia Mantey spills it! USA can't poach, Mantey clears.
Doesn't sound too promising so far. Can someone watching give us the US formation? The various Matchtrackers are useless in this regard. What have been the US' biggest weaknesses? From the sounds of it, the midfield is playing very disorganized, and shots are not anywhere close to being on target. I wonder why Noyola isn't playing? She should be able to settle the play down.
hahah I dont know who number 5 on US team but the way she runs is funny wit her arms all over the place
I wish I could give an accurate formation I can't decide whether they're going 433 or not. The long service is what they're having the most trouble with. That and decision making. The roles in midfield do not seem to have been clearly established and they're all over the place -- or else the players are completely and utterly ignoring the directions they've been given to the point of out right rebellion. I'm going w/ the former. I don't think there's discord in this camp & certain not enough for players to just do what ever the hell they feel like against orders. I think Ellis must not have prepared them properly.
The USA is playing timid...not fighting for 50/50 balls and not attacking as a unit... Ghana is playing bunker and looking to counter... Presley's long shot on frame was the only good moment for the US this half...
Halftime without announcer. He's out getting coffee? No babes in the stands (or this camera crew stinks). Finally they pick out a flock of ~11-year-old girls, who just happened to be watching the stadium big screen at that instant. They react in the usual way ...
Brooks w/ a foul. Ghana keep the shot down but USA keeper catches on her line. Come on USA. (midfield getting run over/through)
Leroux w/ a shot. Noyola coming in. Nairn coming off. Not the player I would have taken off (that would have been Mewis or Brooks). Is it me or is this team playing w/ NO sense of urgency?
54' 0-1 #11 Christine Nairn dribbles to 22m box arc left, passes inside-out to box top arc right, as #19 Sydney Leroux cuts left-to-right. Leroux gets squished between two defenders, shoots-while-sliding a low cutback toward center. #21 Patricia Mantey sprawls and blocks it at the 6-top, then crabwalks to fall on the leakage. USA subs in #10 Teresa Noyola for #11 Christine Nairn.
I was annoyed at the USA play. Now I'm starting to get pissed off. What has Ellis and her staff been playing at during training. And wtf are the players doing on the field?
Another Ghanian down. expect to see more of this as the game goes on. And Ms. Quon. You're supposed to have great vision/ball skills/passing. What are you doing killing the attack by passing directly to the Ghanian defender?
oh, it is only going to get worse the longer the game goes on w/o a US goal. Time wasting by the keeper already.
And yet another Ghanian player down. I've lost track, is this #4? Anyway. My espn3 doesn't have a clock showing. How much time left?
The ref is getting at the Ghana GK for taking too long on her goal kick. Nice to see. And now another one is down. The goal scorer has just gone off BTW.
62' 0-1 Ghana cross midfield. #6 Elizabeth Cudjoe goes right-to-center, passes flat left just at center circle right, and -- rolls her own left ankle inside-out? Crumples down under neither challenge nor contact, stays down. USA pings up the mid-right, backpass to #3 Rachel Quon(?), she sees the run-and-shoot sprint and tries to thread a 15m pass -- and unerringly finds the one red shirt in the way. Cudjoe stays down and starts rolling back and forth. USA in a 1-v-3 wrestling match just past midfield, poked away, foul by Ghana. Finally, they stop play for Cudjoe, who leaves on a stretcher. 67' 0-1 Ghana subs in #7 Samira Suleman for #6 Elizabeth Cudjoe.