89' 1-1 USA lose it into right touch way forward. Ghana's player is down. Ref insists that Ghana resume play. Ghana has used all 3 subs, plays on with 10, as that Ghanaian is still sitting down at her own box top left touch. 90+1' 1-1 Ghana punt forward to 25m arc right, #1 Bianca Henneger comes out to meet it, punts it into Ghana's left touch around midfield.
90+3' 1-1 Ghana threads a dangerous through-ball from 25m center to box top arc left. #3 Rachel Quon tracks back, intercepts, and hoofs it over for a left corner.
And that is ballgame. 1-1. Well done to Ghana. Ellis & team need to get their sh!t together or they aren't going to advance.
90+5' (of 5') 1-1 Ghana's 2nd left corner, open header, no power, #1 Henninger collects. Off the goal kick, Ghana muff the header, #19 Leroux challenges and forces a bad header, #9 Kristie Mewis collects in space at 30m. Carries to 22m, shoots hard left foot to the upper right corner -- #21 Patricia Mantey leaps and palms it over the bar.
Isn't there one national women's team in this country that can play this game any more? It took a blown offsides call to draw Ghana?
While reading the Breakers board last week, I was thinking about the fact that coaching national teams is a much different type of job than coaching a club team. DiCicco seems to get the job done on the international scene but not the club scene. Is Ellis the reverse? I put the team disorganization (most glaring in midfield) on her.
Pretty disappointing. As has been said, it took an off-side goal to tie Ghana. I'll give credit to them as they played hard and generally showed more poise and ambition. This team and Ellis need to work it out before the next game.
Ellis needs to work on her personnel management. No reason for the slower players to be in against Ghana. I'm not saying change the entire game plan, but at least give the players a chance to play to their strong points. Every single one of Mewis' moves was read by the Ghanaians. Looked like Ricardo Clark trying to juke their men's team. (Not to pick on her because I think she's a terrific player, but c'mon!) Maybe her moves will work better on some other teams.
That whole midfield was a mess. And it never really got sorted out very well. Even at halftime. They were less disorganized in the 2nd half but no where close to actual organization. Did they not have a plan in place and talk about who goes where and covers when? And how to track players & defend as a unit?
For this U-20 US teams, there are only a couple of players worth mentioning (Leroux, Hayes, Dunn, and probably Noyola), the rest just isn't worth mentioning, too technically and tactically deficient. Too many stone feet players out there who can't hold the ball, shield the ball, pass the ball, know where to run, get open to receive passes, and lastly can't shoot worth a crap. Not to mention the clueless coach who always under perform. This team only go as far as Leroux can take them. All the Japanese youth teams technical ability are putting the US youth teams to shame. Watch them if you can. WPS is our last hope of maintaining our top position in women soccer. If it dies, we will slide down the ladder pretty fast. You can see the technical and tactical abilities of many youth teams around the world are eclipsing ours right now. If it weren't for the WPS improving our technical and tactical deficient older players, we would probably fall behind Germany, Brazil, Japan and maybe a couple of other teams already.
Not impressed by the top two coaches of the women's national teams this week. Please show me better preparation and game management in the coming games. The USA can't win on athletes alone anymore... it will take soccer sense to win these games.
I thought Leroux looked terrible today. Noyola changed the game when she came in. Nairn seemed like she just wanted to stand around, glare and look BA all day without connecting one pass. My personal opinion is that some of these players have been "instituted" to this team and don't feel like their future participation is at risk due to poor performance. In any event, it was a very poor performance.
Japan tied Mexico 3-3... WPS being the last hope...I don't know about that... Between 2003 and 2009, there was no WPS. In 2004, US won gold at Athens. In 2007, US won the third place in World Cup. In 2008, US won gold at Beijing. Maybe the importance of a women's pro league for the USWNT is being exaggerated? If there is no WPS, then US Soccer will probably set up residency camps for WNT players. I am sure that US u-20 team will get out of group stage...Swiss may not be good as I thought...It lost 4-0 to S. Korea...
The youth level Japanese teams are amazingly technical. Their first touches are golden and they play at an extremely high speed. However, they seem less advanced tactically. A lesser quality team with superior tactics can easily take them off their game. It is obvious that the Japanese development model is far more concerned with technical development than wins. It will be interesting to see how the current group of youth players transition to the senior national teams where they will most likely be introduced to more advanced tactical play. The Japanese could be a true powerhouse within the next couple of cycles.
I wish Tony was coaching instead of Jill... Tony's player selection was so much more on the mark... Two speedsters up top that played well off each other in LeRoux and Morgan.. now we have LeRoux working with Bywaters who just doesn't come close to having Morgan's skill, passing or placement... Plus there was a midfield and defense that hustled and made a difference providing service to the forwards. Here was the line-up vs N. Korea in the WC final in 2008. USA: 1-Alyssa Naeher; 6-Elli Reed, 15-Lauren Fowlkes, 17-Nikki Marshall, 3-Meghan Klingenberg; 11-Christine Nairn (12-Ingrid Wells 81), 14-Keelin Winters (capt.), 8-Becky Edwards; 16-Nikki Washington (10-Michelle Enyeart, 65), 13-Alex Morgan, 19-Sydney Leroux Subs not used: 4-Liz Harkin, 5-Kierstan Dallstream, 7-Alyssa Mautz, 9-Gina DiMartino, 18-Chantel Jones, 21-Cat Parkill Head Coach: Tony DiCicco Keelin Winters was a commanding presence in the center of the field and she sprayed balls around the field and especially to the wingers who had speed and vision... Today, I saw none of that from Mewis (until the 94th minute), DeMartino, Brooks or Nairn... No confidence, no passion, no fight... When Hayes and Noyola came on for DiMartino and Nairn the team was immediately better.... The USA is in deep doo doo. The Swiss were really quite poor vs an excellent S. Korea so it is a must win on Saturday if the USA has any hope of advancing. 2 ties and a win should get them through but I am not convinced they can do that after game #1!
we've had residency camps for many years (when there is no league) and the world still has been catching up with us. the only thing the past indicates is what happens when we pay attention and $ and the rest of the world doesn't. now that the rest of the world is beginning to pay attention and $ i think we'll need the wps a whole lot. see pia's comments on the wps the video on the multimedia page of ussoccer. http://www.ussoccer.com/Multimedia/Media-Center.aspx#/id=628250e9-bbd3-4a16-a9d3-94ef9f4ff319
Bywaters spent A LOT of time in the midfield so much so that I wasn't sure she was up top. She had more energy and "positive" play than many on the field today, though. I wouldn't have taken her off, I don't think. The whole formation and team shape was f-ed up today. I don't know what Ellis was thinking nor what she told the team to do. Did anyone else figure it out? If she was trying to have just the three of Narin, Mewis, and Brooks run the midfield against the 4 (possibly 5 at times) mids Ghana put out, that was a big mistake from the start. Of course, I'm not convinced of the 433 at the international level. Particularly if you can't organize the middle three so that they know their roles and can do them. All that said, it took quite the fab shot from Ghana to score.