USWNT v Japan in April 2026, pre/pbp/post

My bad, her name’s Montserrat Salvidar
last year’s stats were 27 goals/10 assists in 45 games for Club America(Mexico City)

 

Nations league is nothing but glorified friendlies. The fact that is a "tournament" extending into several months actually decrease its value.
The major tournaments and a connected series of friendlies are two different kind of animals. The reason why major tournaments are important partly lies in its most intense competitions being compressed into a shorter period. Winning the Nations League is like being the winner of qualifying tournament. It is better than being not qualified but it is nothing major.

It is not Europeans allowed 3 teams to participate, it is FIFA. The ranking of European teams are inflated because they can use of most of the International windows but a lot of good South American and African teams don't have this priviledge.

Edna Imade is 25 years old and probably the other very athletic forward is Salma? Salma's physical fitness is very questionable and she has been stagnated for 2 seasons.

Every youth competition's result means nothing, otherwise DPRK should long have been the World Champion. The only goal for Youth competition is for talent idenfitification.

 

Tanikawa has very poor defense contribution and her relative lack of mobility makes her a bad fit for Japanese pressing systme.
Japan played Hasegawa as the second line technical director and Matsukubo is naturally displaced.

 

Martinez is getting better fast. She played a very good 45 minute for Spirit in their away victory at Bay last Sunday. It is a matter of time for her to score.
Sydney Schertenleib is a question mark for me. She is tall and she has good touch, but what position she is playing in? Is she a forward but lacks any back to goal play and sprint speed? Is she a midfieler whose mobility and defense contribution is also very dubious?
Chikwu is a college player, I see her talent but she needs to play pro first to be included in the discussion. Another teenager Canadian Kaylee Hunter is actually worth mentioning. She plays very similar to Hemp.
Saldívar is a tall attacker for Mexican NT and Mexcian club America. Playing on both wings and occasionly the center area. Very athletic given her size and good at finishing.

 

Wrong again, LOL, it's Saldívar.

 

Glorified friendlies?….hardly; first Nations League determined who got to go to the Olympics. 2nd NL decided A-B-C tier standings & I’m sure after their disastrous NL campaigns Switzerland, Portugal & Ireland will argue the importance(m as they now will have to claw their way out of their respective B groups & insurmountable wild card matches for an WC berth. It be ashame if the Swiss miss it considering all the up & coming players they got/I guess US fans be happy Portugal might not make it. Pia got fired by the Swiss after the NL failure despite sn good performance at the Euros


The other CF debut for Spain was Ghabarro(might be misspelled but I’ll let poster @MiLLeNNiuM figure it out. She too scored in her first match. Yeah, I’m surprised at Imeda’s surge at age 25, but in the same vein with practically unknown 24 year old Kiki Van Zetten currently best player in the NWSL.

Tanikawa starting DM at Bayern, so can she be so poor on defense? Bayern having an remarkable we’ll Champions League despite the numerous injuries they’ve had, & could of made it into the finals if they weren’t meeting Barca in the semis

But really don’t think you’re going to see the best out of both teams; Japan nearly always plays their friendlies on the road as nobody wants to travel to Japan during FIFA open window week—- don’t play with as much inspiration or at least intensity as they do with an home crowd or an major tourney

meantime this don’t look like the best US currently has to offer—-I mean just look at the lackluster NWSL stats of the fwds(Rodman Wilson Lavelle with zero goals/Sears Shaw Cooper with one)

against the disciplined Japanese, Hayes will counter with the experienced but uninspiring Heaps instead of the way more electrifying Yohannes

Look for Japan to ball hawk most of the game & try to lull you(if not sleep)into an false sense of security & then strike you with an unexpected strike that can catch the GK off guard (it’s the way they won the Asian Cup final)—-but this doesn’t necessarily make exciting soccer

 

I'd inagine with three games, everyone will get a shot. Though Davidson & Wilson will be on restrictions.

I think the stories saying we probably get (mostly) 2 different lineups. One for games 1 & 3 that includes more (but not all) of the A teamers, and one for game 2 that contains fewer.

Maybe some adjustments to the XI for game 3 based on who excelled & who did not in the first two.

 

Really excited for these games, especially when we run-out this starting line-up tomorrow night:

GK PTJ

RB Fox; LB Patterson; CBs Girma, Sonnett
MFs Coffey, Hutton (Or Yohannes), Moultrie
FWs Rodman, Wilson, A Thompson

The frontline is the next-best thing to triple espresso. MFs these are unquestionablly best/most in-form. Patterson proved herself the best leftback in the Colombia game and Reale has been struggling.

Hayes will probably start Heaps over any MF but Coffey, at least in the first game.

 

I will be standing watch for the next 24 hours till first kick.

 

That frontline is so unbalanced. Similar profiles who thrive in similar game states. The USA need a player who can hold up the ball and win duels in the 9 to allow the wide players to get in behind more. Unfortunately, this type of player struggles for attention in the NWSL. Mostly faster, wide attackers get headlines.

 

Been waiting for your 'beachhead established' post.

 

Over the long term, but not yet, Pietra Tordin may be a player who could fit the role.

 

Will be attending the game. At this moment, the rain will be in the evening. Looking forward to the game as Japan is one my favorites along with the US to win the next WC. Bummer that the NWSL is in early season and players are just starting to get into form.

 

There are players who have that profile. Worthy starter? I don't know what you mean by that, but I believe the team would be better with that profile. It would mean a "star" sitting, and that would not be popular. It feels like the coach is trying to do it with a "False 9", but the problem there is the duel winning part.

 

NWSL is the league that literally has the most numerous target nine right now. Banda, Kosseler, Tiernan, Tordin, Huitema, Kosseler, Gift Monday are all effective in hold up play. Among the current members of the US NT, Joseph has a strong hold up game despite being used as a winger mostly in the league.
Moreover, Thompson, Sophie and Rodman are not similar at all. Rodman is essentailly an wing back, very good at tracking back and running down the right lane. Good crossing but more limited ball handling cutting inside or playmaking skills. Thompson is a inverted winger that is good at cutting inside to shoot. Sophie is a channel runner, although her biggest weapon is to run over opponent defenders' shoulder, her reception game is severly underrated.

 

If it’s anything like the SBC or yesterday’s u23, Hayes will go with the disastrous 4-4-2

so going with Emma’s past choices, it might be this lineup

PTJ
Fox, Girma, Sonnett, G Thompson
Sears. Coffey, Heaps, A Thompson
Lavelle, Sentnor

let’s so Japan’s on vacation(like so many others that travel over here) otherwise I don’t think it’s going to end well

 

My two cents.

Japan are coming to the US for three friendly matches, and that is probably how their performance should be viewed: sparring matches.
Of course, they will play these matches with the respect due to the quality of the hosts... but I doubt they will be giving 100% in the battle for the result.

Japan played six matches in the Asian Cup over a period of just over two weeks, then immediately boarded a flight for one of the longest journeys (Europe to Australia) to play another two high-stakes matches 48 hours later (the UWCL and the Manchester, London and Liverpool derbies). Three days later, some of them were back on a plane from Europe to Japan for a national team training camp... and now they’re flying from Japan to the US again to play three matches in seven days.

And all of this within the last month.

With such a heavy schedule of intense matches and long journeys, most of Japan’s players simply need a bit of rest. Added to this is the situation with the interim coach, in which it is difficult for the players to motivate themselves to greater dedication in implementing his plan when they have in the back of their minds that said plan will end up in the bin in a month’s time once the new coach arrives.

I suspect the first match will be quite similar to the Japan v Australia clash in the Asian Cup final. If the Japanese manage to score a goal in the first half, they may give the ball away and focus on defending their lead for as long as possible, limiting their own attack to counter-attacks only. I doubt, however, that they will manage to do this for the full 90 minutes. I expect a USWNT victory by a margin of one or two goals.

In subsequent matches, with more rotation in both teams’ line-ups, results may be closer.

 

By the way: the first match is probably the only one happening at an enough comfortable time here in Europe that I could watch it, but I wonder if there are non-geo-blocked streaming feeds.