For those of you with rocks on top, the US won 3-0 yesterday. It my my first international and World Cup match that I was able to attend. For those of you who are fence sitters--should I go, or not go? Go! The atmosphere around the stadium is electric and its great to see the best women in the world in the game they love. I was surprised at the lack of vocal supporters though. I would imagine it's hard to get organized with all the soccer moms and miawannabes snatching up tix. The only organized supporters were for North Korea. Perhaps they would lose their apartments, rations or vacation homes if they didn't beat the drums and chant. Anyway, it was strange seeing the segregated under an awning in the corner of stadium. My assumption that was to ensure they didn't mingle with us Americans. Back to the game, the US fielded a B- team for this match. No Mia, No Boxx, No Parlow, Foudy didn't start, and did I mention that Milbrett was out on the field the entire game. I love Millie, but I think she is a shadow of her former self (Can you say "female Cobi Jones?".) April needs to pull the plug on her unproductive play. The USWNT team has players who make plays, and Millie currently is not one of the those. Millie, please, go keep Brandi company on the end of the bench. Our central midfield was very shaky. I am sort of surprised that Ape toyed with the beating of heart of the USWNT. I could see either toying the A-mid OR the D-mid, but not both. The attack going through Ally Wagner was very disappointing. Maybe I believe too much of the hype about Ally, but her passing was just not up to snuff. Her placement, timing and touch were not as billed. Sorry, I didn't see the vision everybody raved about. Millie and Abby made great runs all for naught since Ally either lost the ball or held it too long. Ally also had a couple of shot attempts that were very weak in the second half and the weakness looked to be due to her lack of fitness. She just couldn't step up to get any power on the ball. Tiffany Roberts is no Shannon Boxx out there. She played well, but the Koreans kept getting opportunities due to Roberts inability to win, hold and distribute the ball like Boxx. This put quite a bit of pressure on the central defense. Bivens was a very pleasant surprise as the left midfielder. She was our most effective middie. She's one tough cookie and she played smart and well within herself and the role Ape gave her. Lilly was Lilly, she was the only middie who could hold the ball and focus the attack. Too bad she was removed when Foudy came in, but I can understand wanting to rest Lil. The central defense played well, but we gave up too many chances. It looked like Korea sent several headers and shots just a foot or two wide or Scurry made some phenomenal saves. Reddick was stalwart as was Joy. The play of the outside backs sparkled in my view. Kate Sobrero was so good at left back. Her speed is mind boggling. Cindy Pearce was never really challenged. She was so calm back there. The 3-0 scoreline is sort of misleading. If it was not Reddick coming up on corners, it could have easily ended up 1-0. Cat was my WoTM. I also have to call out to Abby and Mac. Abby was a handful all day long. She scored two--well, they only counted one. Did anybody catch the reason for the PK? I held my breath with every cut, run and pass that Mac made. She looked very good out there. I would say that she is fourth forward. Again, Millie, please have a seat. On the drive back to Rochester, I got to the hear a diplomatic liaison dispute yesterday's result on BBC American on NPR. He said that the refereeing was very biased that was the reason for the stinging defeat. Well, I got news for Kim Jong Il's lackey, it was due to the DPK's inability to defend on corner kicks. All three goals either came off a corner kick or the play after a corner kick. My advice is to work on defending the set piece cross and allow your players to have more individualistic haircuts. In short, this was a C+ performance from a B- lineup. Please excuse my stream of conciousness rambling, but I just had to get this off my chest.
No problem! I can't believe that Milbrett is getting so much playing time. Why not bring back Michelle Akers? I think that she could do a better job coming out of the stands. " Hey, pretzel girl!! " Fawcett finally lived up to the hype. Someone said that she was the most underrated player on the squad, I think that she is among the most overrated. Her performance yesterday will cause me to re-think my position... I pretty much agree with the rest of your analysis, although I think that DPR is a much better squad than anyone expected. If the ruling clique keeps their hands off, they could have a real treasure.
I too thought Wagner had a very poor game. I didn't like all the through balls going nowhere. Part of that may have been due to Milbrett's lack or form, but in previous games Wambach has gotten dangerous chances on well-placed through balls. Wagner just wasn't able to deliver those. The US has scored most of its goals on set plays, (corners, PKs, free kicks). Here's my question: Is that because the other teams are so freaked out by our offensive players (esp. Wambach, Parlow and Hamm) that they do anything (usually foul near or in the box or boot the ball out for a corner) to allow the US to score from the run of play? Or are the US players just not executing well in the final third of the field? Three wins by a combined score of 11-1 in the "Group of Death" is nothing to complain about. I just wonder if smarter teams (Norway, Germany, China) will give the US so many set piece chances in the final third.
Bealah, Beulah, where for art thou, Beulah? I can hardly wait to hear your thoughts on the match. Looking forward to it.