US vs. Sweden, November 19

I suppose Pia could be casting her memory back to last fall, when the team nearly failed to qualify for the World Cup. Perhaps she does, in fact, have plans to revamp the squad in early 2012 by integrating some new players, but feels that going into qualifying, she needs her experienced stars for leadership purposes. Maybe after the Vancouver tournament is over, she will open roster spots up for competition. I'll believe it when I see it, but it's a possibility anyway.

 

November 23, 2011
Dear Ticket Buyer:
On behalf of the U.S. Women's National Team players and staff, we want to thank you for coming to watch the team play at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale. Everyone on the team really enjoyed the atmosphere and we were all impressed with the passion for the game in Arizona. I am told it was one of the largest crowds ever to watch a female sporting event in the state and we are proud to be a part of that history.
This was our final international match of an emotional and historic year and even though we didn't get the win, the team created many scoring opportunities and played an entertaining 90 minutes. I hope you enjoyed watching it.
Our next competition is a big one as we will enter qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games. The qualifying tournament is being held from Jan. 19-29 in Vancouver, Canada, and we hope to see some of our fantastic fans make the trip up to BC Place in beautiful Vancouver.
I promise that our team will continue to work hard to improve as we look to bring young players into the mix to combine with our veterans to hopefully play an attacking and dynamic style of soccer that is both winning and fun to watch.
As we settle in to preparations for the year ahead, we continue to appreciate all your support. Thank you for helping keep us motivated as we continue to do our best to represent the great legacy of the U.S. Women's National Team and our fans throughout the country.
Sincerely,
Pia Sundhage
Head Coach
U.S. Women's National Team

 

I finally got around to watching the match (which US Soccer kindly put up on its website), and here are a few brief impressions I came away with:

Starters

Barnhardt: one poor clearance, but the handling was secure, no fault of her own on the Jakobsson goal

Krieger: lots of effort and hustle, generally solid, but made a few potentially dangerous misplaced passes that, fortunately for her, went unpunished.

Beuhler: was solid enough defensively, but distribution from the back was too often off target. I don't rate her as highly as Pia Sundhage seems to, but it's hard to see her getting displaced between now and the Olympics.

Rampone: solid performance from the captain; aside from the defensive side of things, she made several great long, sweeping cross-field services.

Sauerbrunn: Many timely interceptions out on the left, and drifted inside to block a few menacing shots; would be better utilized centrally, since she offers little in the way of attack.

Lloyd: some good penetrating runs and passes early on, but once again settled into that bad habit of hers...overplaying things and turning the ball over too often.

Boxx: excellent performance, truly a class act on the ball and workhorse off the ball; Pia needs to manage her minutes this year if she's going to get the most out of Boxx in London. I truly hope the coaches integrate one of the younger holding midfielders (Edwards, Winters, Bock, etc) into the team for this very purpose, and because Boxx won't be around much longer to mentor her eventual replacement. For years it was supposed to be Leslie Osborne, but ever since her untimely ACL injury, a suitable successor to Boxx hasn't been developed.

O'Reilly: a solid effort as usual; however, a bit more creativity from HAO would be nice - she can be too predictable at times, although her speed more often than not compensates for it (I suppose when you've played in something like 70 consecutive games, the devoted fan is going to be able to predict your moves).

Rodriguez: For me, A-Rod doesn't offer enough to warrant a starting role on this team; she seemed tentative out on the left wing, usually choosing to play it back to Sauerbrunn rather than attack one v. one; panicked on her few occasions in the box and skewed her chances.

Cheney: continued her impressive World Cup form; the most calm and sophisticated U.S. player with the ball at her feet; rarely makes a careless play, her touches and passes have the correct texture and always have thought behind them. A good example of using a "fancy move" constructively came early in the second half, when she took a pass from Wambach at the top of the box, froze the defender with a stepover and quick turn to get the ball on her right foot, and hit a solid shot on target. She's got a good footballing head on her shoulders. In my view Cheney must be the fulcrum of the U.S. attack for the foreseeable future.

Wambach: to be honest, a pretty anonymous game for Abby; I'm not sure she's the player you want as the lone forward in a 4-2-3-1 formation; of course, the header off the post (and the goals against Canada in September, and the clutch World Cup performances) shows why removing her from the starting line-up is such a tough call for any coach.

Substitutes

Mitts: well, she escaped with no hamstring tears or any new injuries, which bodes well for her Olympic hopes; put in a couple nice crosses from the right, but not tested enough defensively for a complete assessment. The jury is still out.

Heath: Slowly but surely growing more accustomed to the international game; she is cutting down on the superfluous flair moves (although there was one completely unnecessary backheel pass that went straight to Sweden); she unsettles defenders with her unpredictability and certainly is more adept at 1v1 duels than A-Rod out on the wing. A little more efficiency in her game will make her a dangerous force. I was losing patience with her earlier this year, but she has shown improvement lately.

Morgan: completely changed the game and added spark to the faltering U.S. attack, which had been mediocre in the first half and downright toothless in the second (outside of Wambach's header) until she came on; after her entrance, there were at least six or seven quality scoring chances, and she was involved in most of them. Pia Sundhage argues that Morgan is excellent as a super-sub, which is certainly a true statement, but imagine what she could do with 70 or 80 or 90 minutes instead of 20. Of course, Pia could be right; Morgan might not have the same dramatic influence as a starter, but have we even seen it tried? In her 27 caps, has Morgan ever started a match? I'm actually curious, because I can't remember it happening.

Cox: a player who doesn't draw much attention either way, be it outstanding plays or unforced errors; she is very steady, but again, I question her ability to stick with faster wingers (although it's not like the U.S. team's other current options, Sauerbrunn or LePeilbet, are speed demons in their own right).

Speaking of LePeilbet, it was a bit sad she didn't get to make an appearance in front of her home state fans. They even made a video about it on USSoccer.

US Soccer has now shown that they can put together a decent webcast. A model for future games with no television coverage perhaps? Here's hoping.

 

Rampone - Best wheels on defense, the only reason they can win Olympic gold, given she can pace a marta run and can mark France's faster forwards.

Boxx - Winters can't hold position. Still have no clue how she is an option in mid-field. Brasil and France's mid-fields will pick her pockets clean.

Wambach - Feet don't seem to work anymore. Basically, she's a walking header now.

Morgan - As noted 10000 times, she's not a 90 min forward which was evident in the wps. her 30 yd runs work on tired leg defenses, not when her legs are tired after 70 mins of play.

Sub - Too many to name who should be playing in these games or getting chances. Osborne with a broken leg is better than Winters. Tina would give them even more backline speed with Rampone. Press, Sydney and Nogueira (big leg like kelly smith) should be trained and given serious looks against the current forwards, would give them more speed with a-rod and legit long-term strikers.

Same old, same old forwards and attacking mid-field, and they don't produce a lot of goals unless abby goes header crazy. Games are tight when they shouldn't be.

 

great analysis. I agree on most every point except I guess I am less patient regarding Heath. I feel like, aside from one or two good runs, she gave away the ball almost every time she touched it. I don't know, maybe HAO has set the winger/mid standard too high for me?

I am also hoping for some new blood in January especially for a Boxx/Lloyd replacement(s).

Apparently the next camp is already starting in a week or so...

 

Morgan can't play for 90 minutes? Nonsense. Morgan played for 75 minutes in the World Cup final. Games don't get any bigger than that. What was her performance? She scored a beautifully timed goal and made an excellent assist to Wambach's goal. In the dying minutes of the game she was fouled just outside the penalty box that resulted in the red card. Had she not been fouled like that the game would not have gone to PKs.

Morgan is the best forward we have. Not starting her is just a ruse to keep playing Rodriguez who did not give a single decent performance in WC.

 

She had one good game. Plenty of players had one good game in the world cup. Best Forward? Give the other young forwards out there the lime light she is getting and I bet one will surpass her, but she's the golden girl, next hamm. Like i said, over the course of a season or tournament, she's not a 90 min forward. She starts and ends the game against a team with a fast and strong back line. They kill off her 30 yd little runs which work like a charm vs a tired defense. that's why pia subs her against fatigued back lines. a-rod is better, better feet and ball control in tight spaces, just needs practice more on her framing. that's about it. i'd say she is better than cheney and slowbach. press is more dymanic, but who knows what's going with her getting stuck on a u23 squad when she is college player of the yr, wps rooke of the year, top 5 scorer with no coaching help. crazy a wps coach thought about starting her over wambach. that's insane or she has big time up side. that's talent. sydney and casey (if her head is right) would be better if they got the reps she is getting. anyway. that's the way your usa soccer goes.

 

just looked at the game for the first time - thanks to ussoccer.com

my thoughts:

we played against a top 5 team. i didn't see any possession stats, but:

we controlled the ball more than they did.
we out shot them by 2 to 3 times.
we shot on goal more that 2 to 3 times as much as they did.
had more than twice as many corners as they did.
we hit the woodwork 3 times.
we even fouled less than they did.

i was hoping to see leroux play, but she played on friday night for her college team, and pia's contract ends after the olympics. her job does not include what happens after the olympics unless it helps her team before the olympics. so it's reasonable that she will be reticent to make changes. i'm still hoping for a couple.

the danger is that in a few months she may not look so fast. it happens suddenly with older players.

however, she and sauerbrunn need to be in the middle, to deal with pacy forwards. becky is not an attacking left back - altho i can see the coaching sense in playing her out wide to defend against speedy right wingers, and keeping buehler inside for size against the more powerful attackers.

i actually like bock, winters, edwards, osborne. tomorrow, boxx, like rampone may suddenly lose 2 steps. it just happens that way when you're old. but right now, none of the above mentioned can beat out shannon for that position. pia is clearly going for olympic gold, and planning for the future of the team after her contract is up be damned.

but that's her job. she's doing her job.

has been for a while now. and the achilles problem will only make it worse. but much of soccer is about set pieces, set pieces, set pieces. few coaches would leave her out of the starting lineup.

i tend to agree.

i don't see morgan play in camp, but the coaching staff monitor every little thing these players do. so they undoubtedly know that this is the best way to use morgan.

the only name i don't agree with is noguiera. flashes of skill yes. but i don't think she is mentally an international caliber player.

when is that?

this is soccer. women's soccer in the modern era. the games against the top teams will always be tight. sweden is in the top 5 in the world. those who expect that games against them will not be tight are living in a dream (past) world.

 

That was not Sweden as in the Sweden we saw at the WWC. That was Sweden's B team. We should be able to take advantage of two new center backs and two new central midfielders, scoring more than 1 goal. The fact that we couldn't is disconcerting.

 

except that we dominated the game.

we did take advantage of the situation.

we beat the gk 4 times, to sweden's 1 (apparently defelected) score.

but, as we have seen happen a thousand times, the better team dominates the game and still loses - or in this case draws.

 

A better team needs to finish. You need to have a player who can finish. Morgan is that player. Rodriguez is not. My assessment is based on the games in the WC and celebration series games.

 

I don't buy the 'we played great - except we don't score' idea.

Also, a story's floating around:

While this might explain Abby's lackluster performance, why does she HAVE to play in a friendly!? Uuuuuuugh.

 

Not really the B team, a very depleted Sweden yes, half the ordinary starters was missing (including Schelin and pretty much the entire midfield) but almost half was the best we have.

 

I find it even more disturbing the doctor decided to blog about their patient for the whole world to see. Isn't that illegal?

 

no debate on that one.

but it doesn't negate the fact that we bossed most of the contest. and since it was a practice game looking forward to qualification, that's probably a positive thing.

it's not a new or strange idea. it happens repeatedly in the epl, in other premier leagues, in international soccer, etc. the better team dominates the game, but loses (or draws) because of a deflected or otherwise unusual goal.

 

Well, that means that we created more scoring chances but could not convert those chances to goals. I would say that in WC final we played great, at least in the first half, but could not convert those chances.

 

Schelin was there.

 

I understand what it means. I just don't agree with the view.

The people missing from Sweden's team were: Seger, Sjogran, Nilsson, Rohlin, Oqvist. Think a couple more got hit by the stomach flu but I don't remember if they recovered in time for the game or not.

 

just watched the game vs sweden, very happy ussoccer.com posted it.
really liked cheney in her new position. much smarter and much cleaner passer than lloyd.
agree with what a lot of people are saying. heath played poorly first 20 minutes then settled nicely into the game. by far the biggest factor in the game was morgan though. the idea sheºs not a 90 minute player is a bit silly. she played 120 minutes in the final of the wc and scored a goal and assisted on the other. there is really no comparison between her and arod. she is wildly better.
please though pia, start playing some young players so boxx, rampone and abby to not keel over and die playing every minute of every game. they will be nice assest for the world cup
engen not on the team is a cruel.

 

Really, and you sound like the guys trying to give her MVP of the world cup after one good game. I think Bopp had one good game too. Wildly better than A-Rod? That's a new one in the morgan hype machine. Over the course of a tournament or a WPS season, she isn't a 90 min forward. Her strength is the 30-40 yd run she can pull off against a tired defender. That dont work over 90 + min games in and out. She was ok for the flash when they ran her most of the game. Her big goals again came as a sub.

 

You are entitled to your wrong opinion but you are not entitled to a wrong fact.

 

Morgan played 75 minutes, not 120, but I agree she should have more minutes.

 

yes, my bad. arod didnt start..rapinoe started and morgan came in for second half and overtime. and of course only scored and assisted because of tired defenders..........and because she is pretty, thats obvi. the defenders are distracted by her looks.

but i have watched all of forwards in the us pool play and as hope says, if you are anyone who knows anything about soccer... and of course as mentioned above its all just opinions until you look at the facts and even that can be missleading...like morgans goal to minutes ratio...that too is a direct result of her shapely legs.

she will be starting by next year for some time to come, imo.

 

Jakobsson did, Göransson didn't.