My question is more with Heaps. I am not real sure why but she has always seemed to play "soft" and her lack of speed is a real liability in matches against teams with speed which Brazil has. But this lineup should be more than adequate if they overcome the bullying that they were subjected to in the earlier match. I am not saying that the USA should play dirty or even excessively physical but they must respond to the expected physical play with good control and when/if they score there should be none of the girly girl celebration we saw last time but rather the response should be "lets get more and try to run the table on these weak sisters." We cannot play Brazil soft like we did in the last match and we need to act like the no nonsense team we have been in the past. "First goal, First foul and First card." should be our goal right out of the starting gate. We should not play dirty as that will play into Brazil's hands. But we should play hard in a take no prisoners mode through the match. Like I have told teams in the past, "if you knock someone down during play keep play and, if needed, bring them flowers later at the hospital if needed." There should be no "nice girls" on the field for the USA in this match. não faças prisioneiros
I like, really like, the Brazilian kids mugging for the cameras. It kind of fits Brazil as a fun loving country.
Heaps backed off twice, once on a header and once on a very playable ball on the ground in the first few minutes. I am NOT liking what i am seeing so far.
I thought Heaps was supposed to be good in the air. So far she has lost three headers and won none. That has got to be better.
You know, I liked the old goalkeeper steps law better that giving the 'keepers freedom to run around the area without limit.
This is better. We had the first foul and now the first card now I just hope we get the first goal. This feels like a counter attack goal match.
They were doing it profusely on Saturday. The difference, to me, is that this official is not having it and calling the match much tighter.
Crap game to watch. Field was poor. Brazil's constant holding and GK getting "hurt" all of the time. US poor passing and reaction to the physical game. US back three were put under pressure and were lucky that Brazil's finishing was not the best. Not a big fan of Sonnet in the middle and Davidson, while getting better as the game progressed, struggled with the speed of Brazil. Fox was at fault on the first goal. Still, with some better quality from Rodman and Wilson, the game would have been closer. Subs did well, except for Cooper. While her speed and physicality were good, I'm always left wanting with her passing and finishing. Good game with respect to being tested. Brazil does look to have more potential in attack, but still not certain with their defense. They are not going to get away with the holding in a WC match.
On the replay, her knee buckled. And when did the ACL check, she immediately winced in pain and put her hand to her knew. I really hope I'm reading too much into it, but worried.