USWNT v South Africa, May 12. Pre/pbp/post

Discussion in 'USA Women: News and Analysis' started by jackdoggy, May 10, 2019.

  1. Gilmoy

    Gilmoy Member+

    Jun 14, 2005
    Pullman, Washington
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    For completeness:
    37' 1-0 S.Mewis

    78 2-0 Rapinoe dribbles away to 32m arc left, Ramalepe trips her with a slide-tackle from behind. Foul, Rapinoe pops up, prompt restart left catches South Africa not ready. Return pass to arc top box left, Rapinoe whips a cross to 6m 1/3 left. S.Mewis follows ball in from spot (held onside by a defender at 6-top right post), GK Swart dives and slaps ball with left hand off Mewis's shins, Mewis stumbles over her, ball reflects into 1/4 right back low.
     
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  2. Cannons

    Cannons Member+

    May 16, 2005
    the announcer is correct, we still have trouble breaking down a bunkered team. This was another very easy team and yet, we struggled to get shots until the end and they were worn out. Must create more shots
     
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  3. Gilmoy

    Gilmoy Member+

    Jun 14, 2005
    Pullman, Washington
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    90+2' (of +5') 3-0 Rapinoe cross from endline wide left, deflects out to Pugh. Pugh steps between 2 to 11m 7-left, pulls a left roundhouse ground shot to 6-top 1-left. Lloyd stops ball dead, steps to 4m 3-left, shoots left foot low through Swart's wicket, into center back low.

    FT 3-0.
     
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  4. MiLLeNNiuM

    MiLLeNNiuM Member+

    Aug 28, 2016
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think Lloyd had a double nutmeg for the goal.
     
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  5. puttputtfc

    puttputtfc Member+

    Sep 7, 1999
    Whether a team is bunkering or not, I have no idea why we don't shoot from distance more often.
     
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  6. Semblance17

    Semblance17 Member+

    United States
    Apr 27, 2013
    Lighthouse Point, FL
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I thought so too for a second. I know she megged the keeper, but I think the ball then completely bypassed the defender behind her.
     
  7. FanOfFutbol

    FanOfFutbol Member+

    The Mickey Mouse Club or The breakfast Club
    May 4, 2002
    Limbo
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    A shot from distance that is on goal is usually saved and it is the fear of that which causes many forwards and mids to try for that one more pass or one more move to change the probable save into the perfect goal. The problem with that thought is that you often end up with no shot at all.

    You are right that we need more risk takers but I have the feeling that in the current USWNT risk takers get berated if they fail and the nature of risk is that it will often result in failure. I often criticize Press for failure to make the final pass or shot but I really like that she is at least trying.

    We seem, even when attacking, to believe that the goal is not to score but rather to possess but we do not seem to really trust that we can win the ball back after losing it. That is we are usually the most skillful team on the the field but we do not trust that our skill is good enough that we can take a few risks to reap the reward.

    The shot not taken never scores.
     
  8. hocbz

    hocbz Member

    Feb 15, 2016
    Not surprised Lloyd and Mewis were more effective than ot
    We don't have players on the field that do that. Morgan is incapable of it and basically can't score if she's not handed the ball six yards out. I've never seen Heath do it. Press can, Mewis can, lloyd can. That's about it as far as the players on the field tonight. It doesn't shock me at all that Mewis and Lloyd were more effective than others tonight.
     
  9. hocbz

    hocbz Member

    Feb 15, 2016
    I don't see this at all. What I see is players that can't keep up with her physically and aren't on the same page. It's even more glaring on her Utah team where she's the fastest player, speed wise and mentally, by a very large margin.
     
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  10. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Then why was she on the field at all. We have six subs, it's a friendly. I work 150 sporting events a year and I can't recall anything like this in the last decade. Most games with blood get shut down immediately until it's stopped or removed, and the court or other surfaces (other than turf) are bleached.

    Especially being a friendly, she should've been off the field.
     
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  11. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    And if Long is the only healthy d-mid on the bench, wouldn't this be the perfect time to get her some minutes with the national team? Better now than throwing her in the deep end in France?
     
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  12. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Wolff's main problem is that he was the point guard that never shot the ball. You go back and look at the comments from his club and national team strike partners over his career. Effusive praise all around. Which makes sense. He worked and worked to create space and pass the ball for them to score. His mpg peaked at about 200 minutes/goal and often languished around 400. In the end he was a liability as teams began to learn that they could focus their defensive attention on his strike partner. A little more aggression and greed, and he would've been a much, much more dangerous player.

    Press is mainly just fast. Even at Stanford, O'Hara was the much more frightening finisher. But you can't teach speed. I'm in the camp that sees Press get ahead of herself, and she's often unprepared to deal with the situation she's gotten into. She's best when she's surrounded by poaches, like Ertz or Sneaky Pete Marino, or Miklos Molnar, who just have that innate ability to get the ball on frame, usually during chaotic scrambles in front of the net. Press's speed tends to create a lot of those. It'd be better if she could finish more of the situations her speed creates herself, but surrounding her with players that can take advantage of the scrambles can be just as effective.
     
  13. rustysurf83

    rustysurf83 Member

    Dec 30, 2015
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Anyone find a gif of that Lavelle move at 12’?
     
  14. taosjohn

    taosjohn Member+

    Dec 23, 2004
    taos,nm
    1. "ot?"
    2. Missed some games, then?
     
  15. Patrick167

    Patrick167 Member+

    Dortmund
    United States
    May 4, 2017
    The team always looks 10X more dangerous with O'Hara on the field. She was making very effective runs and causing SA a lot of problems. On the other side of the field, Dunn is a converted forward but doesn't do any of that. She was mostly invisible past the initial build-up. The build-up where the USA was 4 v 1 against a bunkered SA team and they didn't need her really. Why are we playing Dunn there if she is not going to get forward?

    Press's final ball was incredibly poor. She had good off the ball movement, but couldn't connect on anything.

    Lloyd comes in for Morgan. Ok, this was the plan the last 2 years. So, why is McDonald going to France? Why have seven forwards on your roster when you know one will never play (maybe 20' versus Thailand), is the 3rd backup at striker (maybe 4th behind Press), and you have no good cover for Ertz or Dunn?

    Lavelle played well and Mewis might be the best midfielder in the pool.
     
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  16. taosjohn

    taosjohn Member+

    Dec 23, 2004
    taos,nm
    1. I thought it was a very fortunate game to have scheduled at this exact point.
    Disciplined opponent who doesn't panic. This is soccer folks, a game characterized by long stretches without score. Teams don't have to be first rate to hold scores down. In the old days you could expect to slaughter all but the best, but the times they done changed.

    I thought we played well-- a little rusty with touches and passes, especially O'Hara, but at a very high level for thought and sight. Once the ones without the ball started seeing the same spaces as the ones with the ball it got good. Wayne Gretzky had been a soccer player that's what a team with five or six Gretzkys on it would have looked like.

    2. Carli appears to have peaked physically at exactly the right time. Very reassuring speed wise, looks like she can serve as a 30 minute player now, not 10.

    3. I really do think we're better with a starting midfield of Ertz, Horan and Lavelle-- but damn it is hard to keep Mewis out... It isn't just the goals like yesterday, but she's a really complete player, capable of exerting a tremendous amount of control over one aspect or another of a game...

    4. I did think it was a little odd that Naeher seemed to want Brunn to be starting the offense up the field, and Brunn wanted it to start through Dahlkamper; I would have thought they'd sort that out a lot faster than they did.

    And I'll try again to get this across-- the art and craft of assembling a sports team is almost all in a single thing-- focusing on the things your players can do well rather than the things they don't, and putting them in position to do those things. Ellis has a pool that is topheavy with forward/attacking type players, and so she has designed a team around using that as a strength. Rather than fret about the lack of classic outside backs, what she's asking from an OB is not what is classically asked -- so complaining that Dunn is not in a position to do the things she does best is simply cart before the horse. Dunn is in a position to do what she does best. She is not being asked to do what Short does best and neither was Short. Sonnett is not being asked to do what she does in the league-- she's much better at what she's being asked to do here. Ertz sliding back and forth from cd to dm isn't really being asked to be a peg that fits two size holes-- there are no holes. She's just being asked to move the things she does to a slightly different place on the field, because that seems at the moment to be a better place to have them.
     
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  17. Patrick167

    Patrick167 Member+

    Dortmund
    United States
    May 4, 2017
    Good point about Lloyd, she has learned how to go all out for 20 and not worry about saving anything as she used to going 90. I thought at Sky Blue this year, she was even going all out for 15 then coasting till the end as practice.

    You lost me on your Dunn comment as you seem to argue both ways. I'm ok with putting Dunn at LB. It was successful with O'Hara. But Dunn is either not being aggressive, doesn't know when to be aggressive, or is being told to not be aggressive.

    Nobody is suggesting Dunn play like Short. You would just bring Short then. Again, not sure what you are trying to say. I want Dunn to play like O'Hara, not Short. I would think Ellis does too, as that is what she says publicly and off the record and what you would expect from a converted CAM at LB.
     
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  18. Patrick167

    Patrick167 Member+

    Dortmund
    United States
    May 4, 2017
    Krieger is on the roster because Sonnet is not good enough after backing up RB for most of the past two years. However, Sonnet played RB yesterday and so did Dunn. Krieger didn't play.

    Who is the backup RB? Why is Krieger on the roster?

    Ertz starts at DM then moves to CB. So, Ertz is the backup CB? If Ertz is a CB, who is playing DM? Long?

    Dunn played LB, RB, and CM. Where is she going to play in France?

    If Lloyd is the #2 striker, why do we need three CFs?

    What few people are on this board, seem convinced Ellis is a genius and this all makes sense.
     
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  19. cpthomas

    cpthomas BigSoccer Supporter

    Portland Thorns
    United States
    Jan 10, 2008
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    After seeing how North Carolina has done in its recent games, it makes me think that Dunn is very, very valuable for them. I think you are saying we're not seeing that same Dunn with the NT, and I agree. I'm wondering if it has to do with a personnel match-up on the left side -- Rapinoe and Dunn maybe doesn't work that well. On the other side, with O'Hara and Heath in (notwithstanding Heath didn't have her usual game against SA), they seem to work together much better. I'm inclined to say that Heath is disciplined enough to be able to interchange with O'Hara better than is the case with Rapinoe interchanging with Dunn. It's just a thought, so I'm wondering what others think.
     
  20. cpthomas

    cpthomas BigSoccer Supporter

    Portland Thorns
    United States
    Jan 10, 2008
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You might try coming up with good reasons for what you're seeing and possible good explanations. I.e., think like a debater who doesn't get to choose which side of the debate he or she is on. It's a good mental exercise, if nothing else.

    So, here's an attempt at that, without taking a position on whether it's good or bad:

    It looks like Sonnett is the backup RB. That's what the playing time numbers say.

    It looks like Krieger is on the roster for maturity in the locker room -- which seems important to Ellis, based on what she did with players like Boxx in 2015.

    It looks like Dunn is the LB. However, if someone else can slot in there (Davidson?), it also looks like Dunn still is on the field somewhere. If you look at her playing minutes once Ellis started playing her, Dunn looks like a 90-minute a game player in Ellis' mind. Of all the changes over the last couple of years, that is one of the biggest.

    It looks like Ertz is one of the backups at CB and Long is one of the backups at DM -- although with Horan held out of the game, it may leave open the possibility of others -- could Horan or Mewis or someone else fill the spot in a pinch, I don't know.
     
  21. Patrick167

    Patrick167 Member+

    Dortmund
    United States
    May 4, 2017
    I don't know, O'Hara looks the same whether it is Heath, Pugh, Press, or whomever. It should be easier to play with Rapinoe than either of them since she can use both feet and passes well.

    Against, SA, she was on the same side as her team mate and didn't really get forward. Maybe it is all being saved to be unleashed at the WC. I doubt it. I think she is just uncomfortable in the LB position defensively. She therefore, like all players on a back line that are not confident, tends to default to staying back.

    The only other explanation, that Ellis has told her to stay back, is so ridiculous as to be sad. Even I can't believe Ellis would convert a forward, arguable one of the best attacking players in the NWSL, to fullback then tell her to play defense only.
     
  22. Patrick167

    Patrick167 Member+

    Dortmund
    United States
    May 4, 2017
    Thanks for trying!

    I can't buy the Krieger thing as leadership in a team full of leaders. Plus, it is McDonald that seems to be the one that pushed off Zerboni, who I think is a player that will be missed in France at some point. You can't tell me McDonald is a leader.

    Funny that so many re-tweeted the clip of Zerboni giving the half time pep talk during the SA game ("WE"RE F***KING WINNERS") when she was not selected. I always wondered why she was even giving that talk and how she thought it was her place.

    Maybe Zerboni was too much of a leader and Krieger is a softer, more get along person that doesn't hurt people's feelings when they are playing poorly? Maybe Zerboni stepped on some of the established veterans' toes?

    I could also buy that McDonald is just around to get the atmosphere and be with the team ahead of 2023. But she is 31...
     
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  23. Kevin625

    Kevin625 Member

    Jan 4, 2016
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    #73 Kevin625, May 13, 2019
    Last edited: May 13, 2019
    Just as Patrick said, I don't buy the maturity in the locker room inclusion of Krieger either. We're once again (probably) going to be the oldest and most WC experienced team in the tournament, with or without Krieger.

    Also, I'm not sure Ellis sees Sonnett as the immediate backup to KO. I wouldn't be surprised if the first backup was Krieger or Dunn (with Davidson at LB).

    Sonnett has played a lot of minutes (1097 minutes to be exact) at RB over the past year, but has struggled and was exposed against quality opponents, especially at the beginning of this year when she played a string of quality opponents -- France, Spain, Japan, Brazil and Australia (she didn't play vs England). After over a year at RB, she's still struggling (except against tomato cans), which I think has been fairly obvious to everyone. It was never so glaringly obvious as the game against Australia. The following game, Krieger makes her first start at RB in over 2 years. Coincidence? I'm not so sure it was.

    Sonnett's minutes have been shrinking at RB recently, with Dunn, Davidson (briefly) and Krieger getting minutes. KO has missed 6 of the last 9 games (dating back to November 2018). In those games, Sonnett played 278 of the 540 minutes (roughly half) at RB.

    To me, it looks like the reason Krieger was brought in was because of Sonnett's ongoing struggles at RB with KO not at 100%. Dunn is a better RB than Sonnett, and I think the first choice if KO can't go is Davidson/Dunn at LB/RB. So we have 2 players that are only there to play RB and possibly CB in an extreme emergency (behind Sauerbrunn, Dahlkemper, Davidson and maybe even Ertz).
     
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  24. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Dunn is very valuable for the Courage primarily because she doesn't have any defensive duties other than normal offensive player tracking back, or applying a high press. North Carolina has several other players to play outside back, including two in the USWNT player pool. Dunn is put in a position to thrive with the Courage - namely the freedom to move around anywhere in the front two lines.
     
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  25. puttputtfc

    puttputtfc Member+

    Sep 7, 1999
    I think two things are at play here. Dunn is not in her natural position and still isn't comfortable as a back. Second, I find Rapinoe incredibly lazy in her defensive duties especially when compared to Heath.

    One of my biggest concerns with the lineup is the space between those two will be exploited by the better teams.
     
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