Innocent question here as I did not pay close attention to individual US players until more recently, and both of these players have dealt with injuries during that time. What type of midfielders are Sam Mewis and Horan? I know they are rated quite high historically. Rose and Sanchez are dribblers and creators. JJ was a defensive specialist and destroyer at the 6. K Mewis is incredibly technical, a brilliant passer, and connects the lines. So how would you all describe Sam M and Horan? Horan was quiet yesterday. Sam is not healthy. So I just have no idea what I am looking for in those two. Thanks.
Sam is fast, strong, big with a big shot, can hold well and out physocal players while battling for ball. At one point in time around the last WC was considered one of the top midfielders in the World. Horan has a sneaky, smart part to her game as evidenced by the move to hit that header toward goal. Solid passer, can find open spots to sit in, more crafty than physically gifted. Issues are, she isn't particularly quick. She is better in a straight line but not a burner, compounded by being nicked up at the moment. Certainly isn't shifty or a particularly gifted dribbler. If Sam comes back in form I think Horan will sit behind Sam, Rose, Sanchez and not on 6. I hope. Horan in my mind, isn't defensive minded enough for the 6 and physically inferior there. My 2c.
Horan’s ability to hold the ball at her feet, see the field, and deliver a good pass, including at distance, seems to me her best attribute. She also is a decent shooter (missed PK notwithstanding) and a good header of the ball. My question about her in relation to how I see the team now is that the team plays the ball very quickly, which makes having a player that can hold the ball not as big an advantage. I agree she did not have a great game, it appears to me she is carrying some kind of injury -- I know she was out for a while, and just coming back, at OL. Because she can hold the ball, she takes a pretty good physical beating in games, drawing a lot of fouls. She has been very resilient, but this time she looked not quite right. I would say she and Mal Pugh were the two who looked a little out of sorts.
So which team looked the most convincing out of the US or Mexico out of the friendlies we saw against Colombia and Peru?. Mexico beat a similar Conmebol side Peru by a similar amount to what the US did to colombia.
But Conmebol women teams hardly play competitive fixtures(only Copa America and maybe world cup), Colombia also failed to qualify for the 2019 world cup.
If Colombia and Mexico played against each other, it would have been more tighter game. Just that Colombia was just no match against the pace and physicality of the USA, neither is Mexico. If Mexico played, it would have been the same result. Mostly playing in their own half.
But mexico did beat Colombia in September 2021, 2-0. Anyway when the US and mexico do play each next month it likely be a dead rubber because both would've already beaten Jamaica and Haiti. Top 2 go through to the WC.
Last year U.S. vs Mexico they played each other twice and Mexico lost twice 4-0 both same scores. Jamaica vs Mexico should be interesting.
Mexico’s currently ranked #26/but only 5 points(1695 to 1690) ahead of Colombia. Compare that 63 points separate #1 USA to #3 France. So MEX/COL are near identical. Wouldn’t go much with FIFA rankings anyways, they still got North Korea #10 even though they haven’t played in 3-4 years/#8 England just beaten #4 Netherlands 5-1(not picking on the Dutch, but I feel England could be the #1 team in the world right now) ironically USWNT hasn’t top 10 ranked team since the Olympics(#12 Australia was closest)
they’ve done everything right so far; Outbid everyone else to hold it in their own country Their games at Wembley are sold out already Bought the world’s top international coach in Wiegman Bought the world’s best conditioned coach(previously with the US) Turned the WSL into the only fully professional league in Europe right now I think they could beat the US, since Vlatko apparently doesn’t want us playing top 10 competiton That worry could be put out to rest once & if we best #6 Canada
To answer your question of what kind of midfielders they are, for the USWNT, they both mostly play the 8, or the box-to-box midfielder. Horan has also played the 6 for the US (but more as a regista, not a bruising defensive midfielder), as well as the 10. Sometimes, instead of the US playing a 6, 8, and 10 in triangle formation, they're playing more like with two 8's and a 6 or two 8's and a 10. All three formations have happened (or at least, that's what it has looked like to me); it depends on the opponent and the lineup. In an 8, you're looking for someone to really connect the lines and play both sides of the ball...pressuring early on a turnover and winning the ball back or getting back on defense to break up an attack plus making passes to break the lines on offense. Both Mewis and Horan can do all of that; Mewis is especially good at seeing and connecting passes that break the lines, and of the two, I think she's better at the defensive side (but that's just my opinion). Horan is probably better at holding the ball and waiting for the pass to open and gets a lot of the service on set pieces. In a traditional setup, of all the players on the field, your 8 would be covering the most ground. Coaches sometimes say an 8 should cover every blade of grass on the field. On the USWNT, especially a team sitting back on defense, covering the whole field doesn't always happen. Instead, I think the wingers and outside backs probably cover more distance. And like others have said, Horan had an off night, but she also looks to be carrying a bit of an injury, and is the only player on the team who is currently coming off a bit of vacation time instead of being in the thick of the season.
just watched the game on youtube. Lots of possession, totally dominated but had trouble scoring. Something was missing and I think that something was Catarina Macario. It has to be obvious just how much she adds to the team. My only other comment is I thought the two dinosaurs added little. Morgan ran around but offered little, Rapinoe... ran some, had a nice kick on the 3'd goal but otherwise.... not enough I think for a roster spot. She is no Pugh and I hope this tournament is her final outing (Morgan too) Time moves on for everyone, It happened with Abby and Lilly was also dropped (she was better than Rapinoe is now when that happened). Do the right thing and and retire from International Soccer gracefully. Dont wait to be cut
I hear you on Pinoe and Morgan, but what exactly did Hatch do? Your description of Mogan can apply directly to Hatch. Also, the announcers totally agreed with you. They could not stop talking about Macario. The game reminded me of the Olympics run. Lots of ball control, missed finishing touches, low score (until the second half).
Impressed me: Sanchez, Morgan, Lavelle, Kornieck, Smith, Rapinoe. Didn't impress me: Horan, Hatch, Pugh. The U.S. defenders didn't have much in the way of opportunities to impress me.
Y'know, thinking about it-- Pugh had about as good a bad game as is possible. True, everything she tried to feed through was blocked, to the point that it became almost comical, and she missed what chances she had; but she was a constant threat throughout her time on the pitch, stressing the defense this way and that. Smith had a terrific game-- but partly because she was able to pick on people who kept having to read the other side of the field over their shoulder. Fox. We just don't celebrate Fox enough. One almost starts to see her as a field condition rather than a player. If she were a scorer there's be numbers to keep reminding us of how good she is, but... I felt pretty good about the defense myself; liked Cook's game and Brunn's, with the rider that we probably won't get away with working Brunn that hard many games in a row. And Sullivan was good again-- shows up when needed, breaks stuff up, does something constructive with it if she carries it away. Seems to me the backup plan is K Mewis, supported by Horan as a sort of semi double six. Takes advantage of that deep passing eye, makes her the new Holiday...and for the first time in a decade or so LeMew is loose on the world again... One wonders if Korniak can play there. Me, I think Horan's at her best when she doesn't hold and pass-- it is the surgical, one-touch, even volley passes that make her really special. Lavelle was pretty prime. I thought the PK miss was rather a good effort-- those were both good efforts, and it was pretty brassy of the keeper to guess the exact same place on the second. Sometimes you just tip your hat... in the NFL they used to say "they pay the other guys too..." Hatch got just about nothing done, Understand, I like her, I don't want to start or take part in a movement against her-- but that opportunity she came up empty. (I would say that Colombia's back line seemed a lot better than I expected, and I thought they'd be pretty good.) Smith, this to me was something of a breakout game; she frustrates the hell out of me constantly, but if she can do the same things wrong all the time, but do those other things that right regularly, I can learn to love it, I really can. Pinoe impressed me-- active and effective beyond what I expected if not what I hoped for. It was, I think, three weeks or less ago that the SO and I were watching a league game together, and about six or eight minutes in I opened my mouth to say "Who's the tall dark haired woman, she's..." and the SO said "controlling the game she's really good!" And we don't ever finish each other's sentences like that. So here we are less than a month later, and she's scoring in her debut. This could be one of the greatest "team in transitions" ever. Like, I dunno, the 74 Canadiens maybe...
We can't know Vlatko's thinking or what's ahead when he actually has to make crucial roster decisions. But right now it seems like he's choosing a tricky approach: combining lots of younger players with some (but not all) of his older stars. This will be easy to trash if it doesn't work, but I think it's reasonable. I'm hoping it proves brilliant. I've said before and I'll say again: the 2023 World Cup should not be Vlatko's only focus. (Even though if the U.S. doesn't win he'll probably lose his job.) I feel the focus should be the 2023 World Cup, the 2024 Olympics, the 2027 World Cup, and beyond. However anyone feels about our older stars, however long some of them can play at a high or at least respectable level, developing our younger players is crucial.
This is how I would breakdown our midfielders: Ertz - Bad*ss mofo S Mewis - Bad*ss mofo Horan - Bad*ss mofo Sanchez - Bad*ss mofo Howell - Bad*ss mofo Lavelle - Bad*ss mofo K Mewis - Bad*ss mofo Kornieck - Bad*ss mofo Sullivan - Bad*ss mofo
For me, I think Vlatko's worry is in three players out for various reasons, two on maternity leave and S. Mewis. The rest, barring current roster injuries, particularly, Heath, can sit (Erm, T. Davidson I don't consider an older vet). If Vlatko needs a dribbler to break down a defense from the wing, Sanchez is there or even Rose. And yea, being 6'1" has its advantages... One reason S. Mewis was always so valuable, size. Edit: Anyone else want to see Trinity Rodman at the 9 for a bit next game? And early, as it appeared to me, Colombia's D wore down late in the game. They started with bad fouls, standing watching business.
One other thing on Pugh for this game: she took the set play kicks when she was in. They were pretty dismal. That is one of the Rapinoe strengths. I also have seen Smith take some good set piece kicks.