I’m not. I fully understand what Brazil is about. That said, us not looking technical has very little bearing on Brazil playing a physical game. It’s not like they simply bunkered down and fouled us all game. The game was wide open, and we looked terribly poor. And sorry Rodman fans…. She’s never been very good. She clearly hasn’t improved at all with her first touch. It just pings off of her every.single.time. Hopefully Sophia, Mal, and Rose can save this team…….
You said you haven't watched it in many years, and you can know whether this group is good or not in one game?
This opponent's intensity won't affect tech quality is very wild. England and Spain must be very poor techinically because they both looked even poorer playing against this Brazil, England even lost to a 10-person Brazil in Wembly.
I thought we looked very technical. Brazil was at home, not us, and Brazil for a change is taller, and maybe faster and quicker, and were better in the air as a consequence. I thought our passing was pretty good, almost always to a player or a reachable space, but our receiving was not so good, largely because the trip is long and tiring. Plus Brazil was far more committed to quick close marking than I have ever seen before, and they commenced with the grabbing and whacking and tripping pretty immediately, whereas we waited a bit to see if it was going to be allowed or not-- a reasonable approach given that we have lost to Brazil on other days when red cards were given to us early when no US foul was committed. I thought Fox was slightly to blame for both goals conceded, and in the first half Brazil seemed to be focusing on getting non foul called against her through positioning; either she found better ways or they gave it up later on, I couldn't tell which. I thought a tie might have been a juster result, and I thought the ref was not bad, just more tolerant than we would like-- and in the era of Trump, I don't think the US can expect any help at all, ever. Elections have these sorts of consequences also... Things will get better when Coffee is back, when Wilson gets really up to speed-- keep in mind that it is the volume of chances she creates that makes her good, not her skill at finishing them. For a change, Heaps really did have a bad, too slow moment. McGlynn played well when she got the rust off, and the first pair of subs were good. Since this seem like the better of the lineups we brought, I'm a bit worried about the next game.
I think the weakest link today was Yohannes. She was actually amusing in the second conceded goal. She simply does not yet have the physicality to play this type of game.
Two trips down the field Haas shove our player to the ground. I feel like you’ve got to play to the whistle. If the ref is letting the other team do what they want, you play to the refs rules. And, importantly, start shoving and chipping at the opponent away from the ball, where the ref won’t see it. Letting it turn into a shitshow is better than letting the other team play another set of rules
I do not know if it says something or nothing but both US national soccer teams lost today with the same score 2-1 and for mostly the same reason: 1. The other team played more physically. 2. The ref let a LOT go. It seemed that as it became a little rougher and the ref let more and more go neither US team could up their game to stay even and the last half hour or so saw the USA spending more and more time complaining to the ref and seemed to lose focus and became non-dangerous. It seemed that we lost our desire to win and replaced it with a desire to, using an extreme phrase, run home to mommy. In the case of the USWNT I believe that Hayes has enough experience and knowhow to right the ship. In the case of the men I am no so sure. I bet we see a huge uptick in quality in the next match. My confidence in Hayes quite high until she does something really poor and losing an away friendly to a team as good as Brazil is not even close to what is needed to make me lose confidence. I will be watching the next match very closely to see if the problem has been addressed in the short term but that could be too fast to expect anything much. I just want improvement in responses without any drop in skill level. That is not too much to ask, is it?
I thought Lilly played quite well. Her objective is not to bang heads with a team like this, but rather to catch them off balance when they try; and she has the skills to make it happen... Frankly, I haven't been paying much attention to your posts because you don't seem to have watched the game I did. I just seized on the word you have been hammering on because it seems quite an inappropriate criticism. I'm not out to be your enemy, but I'm also not buying what you say, either. Brazil has been a minor betting favorite for WC after next; and I thought today made them as credible for this next one as well.
The importance of overcoming Brazil is to deny their advantage when they have the stamina by absorbing their physicality and speed. Lily did especially poor in both departments. Go watch the reply of second conceded goal and see how absurdly bad she was in turning over the possession and defense. Her decifit in defense and ball contestation are simply too significant to be made up by her few good distribution.
Hutton & Yohannes probably have never experienced an environment like that, G. Thompson or McGlynm either. All are very young. Wilson & Rodman still not fully clicking yet. Games like this is why we need a real CF #9 on the roster. And show how too many home games.
In her 79 minutes of play, Yohannes turned over possession 28 times, higher than any other American player on the pitch. As a central midfielder who does not enter the final third that much, this stat says one simple thing: she was the weak link and she got targeted. It is right that her touch and distribution is very good, but in such a high intensity game, her being prone to lose the ball so frequent and usually close to the defense third is in acceptable.
Hutton got similarly exposed in our last loss against Brazil as well. She was much better today. Yohannes on the other hand...
Sorry, I thought it was pretty obvious that I was being hyperbolic. I still recall the 2011 WWC QF match, where half (*more hyperbole*) the Brazilian players were faking injuries late in the 2nd ET to keep the US from mounting an attack, only to allow a late header by Wamback to tie it up and go to penalties.
One thing I feel confident about, Emma Hayes will have this team much better prepared mentally to play a more physical game. Anyone know who the ref will be for the next match?
Unlike a lot of people, I don't mind losses like this once in a while. I think it helps the team get better in the long run.
Me too. We only checked because we experienced the same effect and weren't sure if we were being hyperbolic-- in case it wasn't obvious. We have often felt the stoppage time in these sorts of games was inadequate; and this time we felt like the actual amount was reasonable-- after checking.. (That's not a royal we BTW --I watch with my wife, every game for 30 years now...) I still intend to get a stopwatch and track future games...
And they got so much more upfront; missing from this particular roster were Adriana, Debhina, Geyse & and youthful speedster named Johnson other hand, I don’t think their bench was that strong; Gio & Gabby P feel a bit underwhelming. I’m pretty sure we will win if both teams started their benches next game meantime Emma pushing Lilly too quickly up the tandem poll, seen enough midfield teen protégés peaking early only to get buried & battered by early 20’s(as DM’s take way more than fair share of tackles & bruises. this time looked like their immovable object was able to stop our irresistible force. Ill let you guess what club Hass plays for?[hint]; they’ve just won the Concacaf club championship!
Didn't watch the game. Did any of the US players come back hard in response? Sometimes the game is about who can physically intimidate the other.
Yeah, I agree. We did not handle it well at all. Suck it up and deal with it, and don't go down early and make it easy for them. I was just calling a spade a spade.
Brazil won this one by gamesmanship. Time-wasting, harrassment, boldness to the point of being disrespectful of the reputation and talent of the U.S., and a friendly crowd. I've long thought the U.S. makes a mistake by not playing abroad more often in front of hostile crowds as you will find in Mexico and Brazil. The U.S. couldn't deal with all that. Get used to it! Wilson was clearly the best U.S. attacker -- really the only good one, although Ally Sentnor looked good in her 10 minutes on the field. Cooper added some life to the U.S. team -- and Patterson looked tough enough to match up with Brazil. I would have liked to have seen more of Emma Sears. Maybe with her speed and crossing ability she would have created some scoring opportunities for the U.S. Rodman had her moments, but she looked to me like she was having back and leg pain. I wonder about her physical condition. The Thompson sisters are quick as lightening, but maybe not physical enough to play against Brazil. Yohannes looked lost. We missed a player like Coffey. Anyway, the U.S. got mugged. It was an impossible game for the referee to call. Either it was to call a foul on Brazil every minute -- or to let them play. She let them play. I have no problem with that, so long as dangerous fouls are called.
[ Where did you find that stat? Not questioning it as much as it's surprising to me. The turnover on the second goal was a miscommunication between Hutton and Lily. Lily's big mistake is that she HAS to commit the professional foul there. She did the same thing that led to a goal in the CL final against Barca. She needs to learn when to take the yellow. Last night, it probably wouldn't even have been a yellow. I thought midfield was not great in general. Heaps was a ghost. She looked tired, a step slow, and was partly culpable in the first goal, although Foxy probably deserves more of the blame. Coffey would have helped the midfield. I think we will see more of Rose in the second game.
Interesting. Ya, maybe that's a lesson from this. But, you've got to play to the what the ref is calling. You can't just give the opposition a different less restrictive set of rules just because that's not now the game is usually called. I agree. These matches will be critical for our development. It's great that these were lined up. Maybe we can play more road matches before the WC? I don't know the schedule. I was wondering, maybe the virtually unlimited subs helped Brazil. It is generally assumed that the US is the most fit team in any tournament. That idiot Ari Hingst once said the US has never been the most skilled team in a tournament (a comical assertion), but is always the fittest. That said, the current core is not that fit. Rodman, Wilson, certainly Heaps, are not fit for 90 minutes - although maybe Brazilians' time wasting would help wrt that. Lavelle is on a perpetual minutes restriction. Sonnett is no spring chicken. We're going to look a little disjointed. How many times as the midfield of Hutton, Heaps, Yohannes played together? Rodman, Wilson, and Thompson haven't played together for maybe a year and a half? Longer? And, the best 11 is not settled. Though we don't have many matches remaining to make adjustments. Looking forward, maybe in a match against a physical team, Sanchez is a better fit than Thompson. Ashley is currently tearing it up, and from what I've seen, Emma said she was very close to making this roster. We'll see if she can stay hot. I've been a big Sonnett fan. But, I don't think she has the footspeed to play a high line. I think it's clear that Wilson is not close to as fast as she was. We'll see if that comes back. I've long thought Cooper was about as good as Rodman. If Cooper is on the rise and Rodman has plateaued ...... Don't know yet what Mal can bring. Where was Moultrie? Coffey should be back. Maybe Macario gets healthy, Maybe Tordin works her way in (she has like 7 goal contribs so far this season) On the back line, are Sonnett and Davidson our best CB's? I can see Emma wanting to lean on the experienced players in a match like this. And, it makes sense to play the newer players (Hutton, Yohannes, the Thompson twins [I know, they aren't twins], with some more experienced players. But, the line-up felt kind of Vlatko-y.
2nd half much better than the 1st. Patterson & Cooper for the Thompson's helped. And I think the entire team got better acclimated. Wilson's chance at the end of half, Hutton's shot, the potential red on the Fox takedown, and Cooper in behind were all chances/points where things could have swung back our way. But I love playing away AND more physical. Will be interesting if we see an entirely different XI or mych the same with a few changes. But I think the group will benefit from the experience.