Well once again I am happy I waited and watched the game before reading all this... So let's see, 34-0 in four games, and the defense is disorganized and the offense sucks. Tough crowd... No one wants to say anything about Morgan's unconscionable dive? We are now officially all Italians. She just stole the ref's lunch and fed it to the dogs. Costa Rica is gaining on this thing by leaps and bounds-- they improve this much again by next time we see them and they'll not only qualify for WC, they'll hurt some folks when they get there. However they are pretty unsophisticated in their efforts to get chippy. Looked like Nigerians-only-not-as-big out there. I do hope everyone noticed that, whatever else you think of them, Boxx and Lloyd are still really adept at providing payback without appearing to. I wish April hadn't broken the DiCicco ethos, but as long as we're not going to be above it, I'm just as happy we be good at it. Thought O'Hara was once again shaky at the start, and not as good defensively as I expected, but she did better than well offensively. I'm happy with her. I was not one of Beuhler's critics ging in to the WC; but there were many of them, really there were. But I certainly thought she had a truly terrible Cup-- I thought she should be dropped from the starting lineup immediately. But she seems to be in much better shape now, much lighter on her feet. Still, I was still more impressed by her at right back than in the middle. I'd rather Sauerbrunn got the starts, or Amy moved back in and we just played O'hara there till she gets good at it, or we played Cox or something. But to be fair there's one comparison between Rachel and Becky that is no comparison. Buehler is a far better one v one defender. Watch with your head and not your ego-- she just snuffs posessions out without either shot or attacking pass developing, two or three a game. How many times have you seen the other team get someone loose on the quarter against her-- and that person wind up turning the ball back because they can't find any opening at all. I suspect Sauerbrunn did not play because of the knock to the knee she took late in the Mexico game. She didn't make a big deal out of it, but it didn't look good in slow-mo. Boxx did not have a very good game this time out, but she is still one of our best four or five players. The foul was a classic tactical foul, but the pass was just plain bad. It feels like having a peppered gyroscope in my mouth to say it, but Lloyd was the player of the tournament for us no matter what happens against Canada. And she has apparently in this tournament figured out that she will do a lot more damage if she doesn't try to strike the ball as early and as hard and as often as she possibly can. Her set pieces were much closer to on target, she had a couple of near goals just stroking the ball far post instead of smoking it over the top by five yards. Even the goal in this game was simply struck, not blasted. It reminded me of the difference in Randy Johnson when he stopped throwing 101 and started pitching 97 mph. Went from that guy who threw so hard to a Hall of Famer overnight. Man, Heath cannot win-- for a couple three years people here have bemoaned the lack of players who will go at the defense and try to break them down with the dribble. Now we've got one and people are upset because she loses posession a lot when she tries. And as for Abby-- a lot of the reason people think she's adding nothing is because she's not being asked to fill the same role as before. This year on crosses and corners and such the back post run is being given to Cheyney or Lloyd or Boxx for the most part. Abby's coming a couple of yards inside the box, and often from a little farther away. This takes a couple of people out with her, and yet gives her the opportunity to beat them when the ball goes by, putting her in a good spot to clean up the garbage. Brandi. Wow. I wound up turning the sound down. If Morgan's goal wasn't pretty damn technical, I'm not sure what the word means. Pele would have been proud of that one. When they shoot Brandi wants them to pass, when they pass she wants them to shoot, when they score on corners, she wants them to take short corners, when they take short corners she wants them not to lose posession without getting a shot or cross. If you find fault with everything, you can be sure of criticizing whatever actually goes wrong. I ownder if Brandi realizes Pia's contract is about up and Pia likely will go back to Sweden? Ken Harrelson got the White Sox GM job once by criticizing the incumbent on the air... We've had better corners this tournament than we have had since the days of Mia and Mac. Cheyney's about got it down. And the shirt pull on Rapinoe-- hard to figger what warrants a card if that doesn't... it wasn't truely DOGSO, but it was clearly an "oh-oh" foul. And I still think we should clear the bench for starters in the final-- it shouldn't mean anything to the seedings, and its a great chance for people to get minutes against a competent and physically challenging team. Solo Mitts Sauerbrunn Lepielbet O'Hara Lindsey Lloyd ARod Heath Rapino Morgan/Leroux Not what I'd want to see in any other circumstance-- but as long as the gods have managed to give us a game that is both meaningful AND meaningless, let's take advantage fo the opportunity.
How dare you call Buehler a horse, she only has two hooves. Really, I am about to snarf coffee out my nose at reading your attempts to prop Buehler up. She has a frenetic style that is not desirable in a centerback, is a poor distributor of the ball and her positioning is very suspect especially when the opponent has numbers. One thing that Buehler does well is her play on the USWNT corners. She has some goals, assists and secondary assists (if you view the clips). But, really? Is that one bright spot enough to justify sacrificing what Sauerbrunn would bring with composure, distribution and way superior positioning? No, it's not.
Stop crying so much for cards on every little foul. That seems common on this board. Mexico and CR were completely ManWomanHandled. Give them something to fight for other than the score. Like i said, if there aren't any injuries, then the refs just turn a blind and let the girls play. So far I like how the refs have handled things. Pia won't clear the bench. And i think there is something seriously wrong with their back-line, given she won't even give rampone 45 mins in games that don't matter. I guess when she gets pulled you can split the center like moses and the red sea and get clean shots centrally instead of her riding a striker or always one step ahead of them. CR gave it a go by attacking alot on O'hara's side. maybe canada plays opposite of her. i guess pia has to prove me wrong and rest her against a u17 squad. morgan got a super-sub goal, so what are the fanboys crying about, now?
I couldn't help but notice you were somewhat critical in your post too. Thankfully, I don't think I need to go into a long-winded comment about being realists and simply stating what we see that is good and what can use improvement. Perhaps I need to see it again, but I recall her simply tripping. I didn't see simulation. I saw officiating that is more often the norm especially for the women's game and this tournament. Morgan didn't call the foul nor did it appear at all that she was attempting draw a foul at that moment. I cannot blame her at all for the call she did not make.
A lot of posters seem to have reading comprehension problems when it comes to my Buehler posts on this thread, and you seem to be one of them. I NEVER said Buehler was a superior player to Sauerbrunn. In fact, I said I would have no problem with Becky (or Engen) starting. I simply said Buehler takes a disproportionate amount of abuse on these boards compared to her actual level of play and that she's earned her stripes on this team with several years of solid play preceding WWC. I said the gap between her and Becky is not as pronounced as some were making it out to be ("Becky is 10X the player"). As Taojohn said in his post preceding yours, Buehler is a good one v one defender and I would say she's good tackler. Those skills are kind of important for a CB. I think she's a better player than you and others do, that's all. I don't think the sky is falling because she plays. I don't think she incompetent or a detriment to the team. I also have no problem with those who think Sauerbrunn or Engen deserve to play more than she does.
Wasn't "crying for a card." What difference would it make at that point? Was simply observing that: 1. If you call a foul at all on that you must have seen the jersey grabbed-- there wasn't much else happened. 2. If you saw the jersey grabbed at all, you must have been able to see that it was from behind, and restrained her. 3. If you saw those things, you must also have been able to tell that it happened because the play was very likely to result in a good chance. Not all calls/cards are about injury and danger-- some of them are about making actual game play possible. I do think this ref needs work experience, but she wasn't horrible by any means.
Went back and watched the US vs Columbia in WC, to make a comparison of play against CR. There is no comparison. With a makeshift defense, a goalie who cant kick a ball down the field after an injury New outside backs, outside midfielders. playing a game every other day, this team is much better, in every phase of the game. Lets not forget Brandi"s own goal she scored against, I believe Germany that was great ball handling there. Sorry, had to throw that in.
Well, that one isn't hard to "figger" at all. Law 12 is very clear on that one, though for some reason refs still have problems with it. A ref doesn't have to do any figgering, he only need read the law. If a player uses the hands, arms or body to prevent a player from moving past, and the referee makes a decision to call a hold, the only correct course for the referee is to caution the offending player. The wording is: The law then goes on to say there are no other options. Must is a kinda special word. It does not leave judgement for the referee to decide to only caution for serious versions of the offence. If you blow the whistle and a hold is called, a card, either yellow or red, has to follow. Also note that the way it is worded you don't have to actually succeed in preventing the opponent from gaining advantage. Yet despite this wording, for some reason referees think they Are in "in the opinion of the referee" territory. And despite a whole section IFAB added to law 12 explaining that around the box All holds in the run of play must be cautioned whether they actually impede a player or not, you also still see set pieces where virtually every attacker is held and no call made. So when somebody argues that maybe a hold didn't warrant a card, it indicates they haven't read or understood the law as written. You are confused about what people bemoan. We don't want people who try to break down the defense. We want people who break down the defense. She doesn't. She only tries to nutmeg her way through doubles and doesn't use her teammates. Opponents know this and just double her.
heh. true. Looked like a slip/trip on the turf (kinda like HAO's total fall on her face in the defensive 1/3) that the ref made hash of and not a dive to me. Agreed that CR is on the rise and can Too bad they're not playing Mex this time as it would be interesting to see how they match up. I'm not sure what you mean here? Are you saying DiCicco's USWNT didn't get their payback for hacks/chippy play? Because that's flat wrong. Abby has looked better to me in the qualifying than she looked in the last friendlies. She's moving better, has beaten some defenders w/ speed, etc. and the team isn't just trying to send balls to her head. You only have to look at the USMNT to see a guy that campaigned for his job on tv & got it. That said, I don't think that's what Brandi's doing. The refs have kept the cards in their pockets for fouls that should have been called all qualifying. Not a bad idea but I don't think Pia will.
That's exactly what I saw, too. To me it was clearly an unintentional slip, not a simulation, which probably explains why it didn't look like a simulation to the ref -- it just wasn't a foul, either. There's more room for debate on Morgan's fall than on HAO's fall, but I say they're both innocent trips.
Agreed; Morgan tripped, blown call. She had more advantage in just continuing her run (having already turned inside one defender and just beaten a 2nd one). Plus, she knows Leroux has like 5 gols afoot, and any free kick she wouldn't be taking anyways No way would she simulate just to pad Lloyd's stats!! Last time she got fouled in that spot on a similar run (for USA, anyways) was in the WWC final, 2nd ET, by Azusa Iwashimizu, DOGSO red card. Lloyd missed the free kick. Not really plausible that Morgan would settle for more of that.
1. I may have blamed Alex for the ref's failure-- if so I apologise to her. It did look intentional to me. 2. I understand why there's no third place game; but this would be the occasional tournament in which one might actually be spirited and entertaining. I thought Costa Rica was better this week anyway than Mexico... 3. DiCicco spoke early and often about the need to stay above it and let the officials take care of it, and team members paid lip service at least to the idea. But its true that your Hamms and Parlows and Chastians and even Foudys were known to put their thumbs on the scales of justice from time to time when they felt the need. However, there was a game fairly early in April's tenure-- might have been her first Mexico game-- where the game was reasonably in hand IIRC but the first 45 had been unusually brutal. After the half the US came out and everyone started busting bodies all over the place. The group I was watching with-- including several long time players and coaches-- concluded as one that April had decreed that there was a new sheriff in town. As I recall there were some pretty shocked expressions on the other team... am I the only one that noticed/remembers here? 4. Indeed they have. It didn't ever seem to get really out of hand, or favor anybody in particular, so I wasn't bothered by it-- except that the one call seemed to require such a degree of conceptual contortion that I was moved to comment on it. No biggie.