every chance Cheney has the ball, even if she is in front of the goal, she passes the ball to Lilly. I wonder if she is the one Cheney's parents gave Lauren's allowance or if she is the one that promised to buy the booze after the game is over..
I got into trouble at work making up an ass scale where I called half-assing it cheeking it and accused another co-worker of half-cheeking it. Evidently I was the only one who thought that sounded more work appropriate that quarter-assing.
there is no way Lilly is the booze-runner. Its either wambach, lindsey, or rapinoe. Rampone would get it but only if Cheney's willing to drink single malt scotch or jack daniels from the bottle.
Good game and good result. No apparent injuries. A good Saturday night. BTW, the referee for this match was a serious upgrade from the statue that called the match in Omaha. The ref crew called a great match in my opinion. Good night all.
so the game ends 3-0, nice game, still worried about the defense, hope Solo is Ok and gotta run to the WPS to see the Pride beat the Independence. night all!
Probably Pia's answer to Prinz e-mailing Abby pictures of her World Cup medals and asking Abby to compare it to her Algarve medals.
Like the last game, I haven't read the thread b/f posting my thoughts on the game. Boxx & Lindsey's legs were completely and utterly shot in the second half. As were HAO's legs. And that's when Pia decided to try out the 3 player midfield No wonder Swedes ran thought the central midfield w/ ease in the 2nd half. We must start seeing some younger CMs soon or we're going to have trouble. Krieger wasn't bad. Would like to continue to see more. Did Schnur complete two passes the entire time she was in the game? I was not at all impressed. Next contestant, please. What about Lilly at left back if neither Cox nor Chalu are able? I'm only half kidding. Rampone hasn't gotten her speed back since baby #2. Will she ever get it back? Several cbs made really turnovers while trying to play it out of the back w/ little pressure on them (Amy LePeilbet, I'm looking at you). They've got to cut that crap out. Ok, these are the highlights. Gotta run. I'm sure I'll have more later
I wish Pia would have made as many changes in the starting line-up as her counterpart did. The team missed a real good chance to develop younger players here.
Overall i was happy the way the usa played. Had a great time with a bunch of crazy fans sitting next to us on field seating. The long drive was worth it! Pictures from the game. http://s188.photobucket.com/albums/z200/eamaral70/usa%20VS%20sweden%207-17-10/
This. People got excited about her speed and ability to hurl forward from the back. But defenders, even 'offensive' defenders, still have to defend first. Wilson still needs to improve her defending. Which, imo, gives some fuel to the has Chalu been cut fire. As I remember the story (from an interview Solo gave at one point, during a scrimmage in Solo's first WNT camp she punted the ball b/c she didn't know how to do a drop kick. After a bunch of punts that dropped in badly for the forwards, Mia stopped and hollered at Solo to do a d@mned drop kick, etc. Duly chastised, after that very practice Solo asked the keepere coach to teach her how to drop kick & she learned how to do it b/f the next scrimmage. The biggest surprise to me from that story has always been, how the hell does a keeper make a WNT camp w/o knowing how to do a drop kick?! Really, they teach it in most top shelf high school keeper camps. Particularly in the central midfield. But I'm a broken record about that. I've got more confidence in the younger forwards to step up w/o a ton of blooding at the international level than I do center mids. :shrugs shoulders:
Possibly because Solo was a forward in high school before converting to goalkeeper at University of Washington. She made her first USWNT camp very early in her college days (year 2000 or so), so the incident with Mia probably occurred when she hadn't had much goalkeeping experience. A funny story though. Mia wasn't always the angel the media made her out to be! Regarding the central midfield, Boxx is clearly indispensable to this team. Lindsey was much improved over both Germany and the first Sweden game. When she has time and space, she generally chooses the right pass and is accurate. I don't know if she would be as effective against Brazil though, and we always seem to face them at a critical juncture in major tournaments. That's why we need to try out someone like Rapinoe or Chalupny (when she returns from the wilderness) there. For this to be an option, Pia would need to identify a serviceable left back. Rachel Beuhler isn't the fleetest, but is faster than Cox and Schnur, brings more tackling presence, and she did play there for FCGP some of last season. Last night, she put in some excellent crosses, including for Wambach's second goal. I love the intensity she brings, but her lack of height can be a problem in the center, as can her occasional lapses in distribution. If Markgraf can regain her old form, or Taylor/Engen continue to develop, or Pia comes to her senses and calls in Allison Falk, Beuhler might be better suited to left back. This wouldn't be a bad World Cup line-up: ---------------------Solo----------------------- ---Krieger---LePeilbet---Taylor---Beuhler--- ---------------------Boxx----------------------- -O'Reilly-------Chalupny--------Rapinoe----- ---------Wambach----Rodriguez-------------- Subs: Barnhardt, Dowling, Rampone/Markgraf/Engen, Lindsey, Lloyd, O'Hara, Heath, Cheney, Morgan, Leroux
Except that Solo was a keeper in high school as well as a forward. She played forward for "lesser" teams (ie high school vs Region/youth nat'l team). She was a keeper for several youth national teams (eg. the u-18s when that team existed) I get what you're saying about the media & Mia but anyone that paid attention knew that Mia (and all the '91ers) were uber demanding of themselves and each other.
Kassouf asked what was up with her and the position of the spokespeople for the WNT that the USSF doctors have not cleared her to play for them. But that 2 sets of WPS doctors have.
but today at the WPS game, the commentators said that Chalupny was not available to play (again) because the WPS doctors haven't cleared her due to concussion problems. No one is talking about sinus problems anymore.