United States has the deepest, most technical midfield in the world right now. Spain and Japan may challenge that in the coming years, but with Howell, Catarina, Smith, Lavelle, Sullivan, Mewis, Pugh, Horan, etc. etc. for the next 4-8 years.... we good.
Soooooooo imagine you’re an opposing player - - starting lineups are announced and you realize that affectively you’ll be going up against Julie Ertz for 90 minutes. Talk about praying your Novenas. How about 18 months at SuperMax in Colorado instead??
I don't get the Sophia Smith love here. She was a turnover machine and had a very immature reaction (tantrums) in fouling unnecessarily to the point where a more confident referee would have issued a persistent infringement yellow. Her performance did not fit her narrative and she reacted like an entitled child. She had one uncontested run leading to a weak shot that many NWSL and even college players would have potentially finished better. I don't see any advantage over Pugh (not that I was or am overly impressed there either) other than a couple of years. Her Stanford stats are not all that impressive for a team that outscored its opponents 85-9 in her sophomore year (17g 9a 111 shots .160 ). Additionally defenses were largely keyed in on Macario (who clearly is something truly special) and that frees her up more than other similar attacking players on other teams. She has scored a goal for the thorns and that means??? The 3 goals against UCLA exploiting a big mismatch while the defense was keyed on Macario and that is what everyone remembers from her college career. I am not saying that's nothing but the body of work is definitely not there for me to justify anything at all. She's anointed because in youth matches she was excellent at poaching bad passes out of the back and is a decent (but not great) 1 v goal scorer. She will do that again against the inevitable tomato cans and everyone will think she's amazing. She has always played on dominant teams and gets a lot of chances. She has a quick shot that will be better defended by most higher level teams. She is not amazing on the ball. Is fast, but not track fast. Time will tell if Smith really is something special, but I thought she was a hot mess in her debut. So which is the bigger accomplishment: scoring fewer goals on many fewer chances on a team where the chances are poorer and few, the defenses are keyed in on the only dangerous player on the team, and the service and support is minimal? Personally I think it is. For me players like the Virginia wide forwards are the better prospects. But as a much less selfish players, on a team that clears the bench against weaker teams and doesn't pad their stats, the may not look as strong on paper. I am sure there are many more Balcer type players out there that unlike the UVA kids, have not yet been given a chance. In general, with the European leagues starting to gain momentum, I think we may see more Balcers emerging who were previously silent and that will be fun to watch. I just hope the USWNT hype machine doesn't blind the decision makers from seeing them while it tries to jam in the anointeds to fit their narrative. It may, witness Lewandowski from Lehigh University to the Frauen Bundesliga too little, too late. But since we have so much talent, it won't really matter to the USWNT results, but it will definitely matter to those swept under the rug. Unfortunately for them The USWNT doesn't need them to win, but it makes it a little less enjoyable to me that we don't shake down the US to really try to find the diamonds hidden in the folds of the huge fabric that is girls/womens us soccer. I hope they have many more of these large ID type camps in the future and invite players who are performing under the radar to compete with and against those that have been selected over and over since they were 14. Oh and that the hype machine doesn't blind the evaluators... but that's probably too much to ask.
Sophia Smith has proven herself at youth club, international and the college level. She has a lot of talent and a very high ceiling. I take if you actually haven't seen her play much. Why else would you be putting so much weigh into her first senior level match, after months off, against the WC runner up, where she was on the pitch for 20 minutes?
Actually not true, but I wonder how much you have seen. Did you see the game differently or are just willing to give her a lot more rope? Many players have high ceilings and likely wouldn't even have been given the same chance and if they had would have been told they aren't 'ready" yet after that debacle. You do know that the U20s didn't get out of their group and looked terrible. I have seen many games from u16 on. Just curious, what about her Stanford play really grabs you? Did you only see the game against UCLA? Yep she scored 3 goals exploiting a mismatch and over focus on Macario. That may be the highlight of her entire career unless she gets big minutes against Thailand or something to rack and stack stats. She is currently one dimensional and will end up like Pugh if she doesn't add a lot more to her game. She isn't fast enough to be a speed player, not strong enough to really be a warrior and she isn't skillful or entertaining enough to play one of Vlatko's "artists" soooo I am not seeing it. One game does not a career make.
"One game does not a career make." It's true. But Sophia Smith, at age 20, played 20 minutes in her first-ever game for the U.S. team. The amount of time and energy expended above to trash Smith's play on Saturday is ridiculous. (And obviously others here didn't agree with that assessment of Smith's play.) No matter what, 20 minutes does not a career destroy.
To be clear, I was more trying to trash the existing youth system. Sophie Smith is an anointed player of that flawed system and the recipient of a huge amount of hype.. She failed in her debut and further, she showed poor character. Yes she's young, but if you are going to comment on her debut, be honest.
Lately I have not been posting much but in this case I feel a need to. While Sophie Smith did not fill herself with glory this time out I have to wonder exactly in what way she "showed poor character?" As far as I know she has done nothing to deserve that slur. With the amount of effort you have put into running her down I also wonder if she has in some way hurt your feelings.
Next time I need a lecture on honesty from someone who doesn't even use a real name, I'll know who to ask.
After being repeatedly dispossessed she retaliated including at least 3 fouls. That type of behavior should not be lauded. I am a youth coach and think our youth national team programming is shambolic. She is a product of some of the worst aspects of it including predetermined "stars" complete with over hype.
Regarding Smith, the Thorns gave up a lot to get her. They have a very sophisticated operation at both the coaching and general management level, do a lot of research and looking at possible players and their attitudes and potential, have a long view towards the future, and typically make very good decisions. That being the case, I am more inclined to give their decision to acquire Smith, coupled with Vlatko’s decision to put her on the Netherlands roster following an earlier camp in which he had plenty of opportunity to observe her, a little more weight than I give to a youth coach and especially a youth coach who seems to have a lot of anger about our youth national team selection processes and appears prone to overstatement. Which is not to say that I thought she played well in her Netherlands 20 minutes. She definitely needs more sophistication and I was surprised by her fouls (which were not consistent with what I have seen from her previously, which may suggest she has been told she needs to be more physical on the field, which might have been the case since she went on at a time when the main task was to kill off the balance of the game). On the other hand, she is able to get off shots in the box extremely well and that is a very, very rare commodity.
I refer you to the New Testament - Book of Galatians and a little-known codicil 5:15 (a) - - - Yee shall not harshly judgeth the performance of new United States Women’s National Soccer Team players for thouest haveth no sense of the extreme levelest of awesomeness that they lately have beeneth exposed to. Righteous are those whoest evaluate aftereth a reasonable amount of Senior Team playing time. Biblical scholars inside the Vatican have interpreted the passage as follows: Newly CAP’d USWNT players are naturally and highly susceptible to freak out a little when first pulling on the National Jersey for the Greatest Team in the Universe. Hope that helps.
I am sorry, that didn't come out right and I apologize. But you are in the minority in using your name. I should have said something like. If you are interested in validating my perceptions of her relative success, please look specifically at her performance again. She was repeatedly dispossessed and retaliated with fouls that in their sheer number may have resulted in a yellow for persistent infringement. I don't disagree that she should have more time, but one of the points is that so should many others at all levels of YNT to WNT. My opposition initially was to those who have posted that she performed well because she did not. And further, the hype is not necessarily consistent with her performance. I do have significant experience with our youth programming on the girls side and it has been absolutely shambolic. Not only in their results about which you may or may not be aware, but in the process. For example at most camps, there is an "assistant" coach. This is almost always a youth coach from one of the superclubs who coaches the same age group. That club will clearly include a hugely disproportionate (like 4-6 out of 22 players) number of participants. Further they are put in a familiar comfortable situations with their coach watching over them making sure they get good minutes and play a desired positition. You can say politics are always a complaint, however, this is an objectively skewed statistic. Kids coming in from lesser clubs have a much higher bar to both get there and stay there. There is not enough shuffling of the kids to see who is really developing or not. Very strong cliques also form because of the lack of roster turnover so being a new kid makes it even harder to show. Take Smith's 2000 age group from u16 through u18, many of the "assistant" coaches came from three super clubs none of which was more successful than many others. Also the head coach for even year birthdays at that time and through two age groups came directly from UVA where he was the volunteer assistant ...and now serves as a paid uva assistant. Not too much in the resume required to be a YNT coach as above. For sure the proportion of national camp attendees from these clubs were hugely disproportionate. Many of these same players are not showing much success in college. Then their is Jitka who came directly from an Ohio club. Are you surprised that her first camp included a bunch of kids from her club? Honestly those kids probably (some at least) deserved a look earlier, but there is very little turnover independent of the coaches turnover. Mark Carr... um how did he do? And now in Oaklahoma? Why is this even important? This nepotistic behavior and overhype is a self fulfilling prophesy. The downstream effect on these invitations are huge. Kids are ranked largely on their number of camps. College coaches see these rankings and camp invitations as huge testaments to their recruiting prowess. Some are even bonused for a nationally ranked recruiting class. Kids invited to camps get big scholarships (enter money into the problem) at top programs. There are many Balcers and Lewandowskis out there playing in lesser conferences because their YNT resumes are lesser or nonexistent. I hope the USSF go to a different ID and camp model to widen the net in the future. But the reality is we are so far ahead they don't need to do this to win. Our B and C teams could probably compete well with the world. There is just so much talent out there. Sadly, the consequence to many players possibly unjustly placed in poorer situations is significant.
bulge-in-the-net, I do not understand why you are referring to Smith and UVa coaches in the same paragraph. Smith is from Colorado and she played at Stanford. I also think Balcer is not a good example. She intentionally went to a small school with a strong religious affiliation, for religious reasons. And, the system did find her as soon as she got out of college -- not through the youth system but through the NWSL, where she tried out and got onto a roster and got to play. The USWNT youth system does not look just at the club system for potential players. They scout the college ranks too, to see who should be brought in for a look. This year, that is turning out to be very difficult to do. If there is good evidence of there being a player who deserves a look, they follow up.
I was using the UVA volunteer assistant as an example of the low bar set for YNT coaches he was the coach for the 2000 age group for 4 years. That’s Sophie smiths age group but I did not intend to make any association with smith directly only chose that age group to make a few points. You seem very confident that the YNT “follows up” on good evidence. That has not been my direct experience at all.
so yea anyway. can't wait for Catarina to play in the US kit..also...where on the pitch will she play?
I'll make a prediction on that one. She will play, most of the time, between the sidelines and also between the end lines although she may drift wide or long from time to time.
Even if @bulge-in-the-net is wrong(not saying he is), you cannot state a contrarian opinion without facing all sorts of wrath. Even if its very well put, and based on your direct observation of events. You get a. well you have not watched enough b. hater c. give her time d. shes been injured and many more comments that dont actually address what is being said. Players are anointed from an early age and validated form is often thrown out the window to keep giving them chances. It is what it is. As long as the USA dominate, its not going to change. On Smith, one mans single minded focus, is another's selfish play. Anyone who has watched her play for a long time is well aware of that streak and has seen it many many times. Some like it some dont. With many of the attacking players, you have to look beyond the numbers. Smith has been a high volume shooter all her career. Again, some like that, some dont. She is a dogged presser and a natural back up to Williams if having a pressing winger is key to your strategy. I can think of a few College wingers who would benefit greatly from playing alongside Haley,Macario,Girma,Pickett and co. Smith may end up being great. Hope she does, but i can fully understand why some have very valid issues with both the selection process and the concept of earning it ON the field. On a final note, Covid-19 and the impact on playing time/training may well have impacted some of the USSF choices. Remember, its not just Vlatko picking the team.
I decided to rewatch the game to see what this talk is about Smith fouling. She has her first foul 5 minutes into her appearance. She wasn't dispossessed, it was a standard pressing opportunity. I believe it was the Dutch RB who turned her back and Smith tried to do like we were doing through much of the night and pressed thru her player's back. She has another foul two minutes later. Her and Sonnett got in a bit of a bad position out wide in the defensive third. Hard to tell who was really responsible for it. Dutch players ran a kind of switch that resulted in a bit of a pick. It looked like Sonnett's player was going to get the edge and get a nice run into the box, or at least a good cross. There isn't really a good enough view to see if it was an obvious foul, a contested one, or just the Dutch player flopping to get a potentially dangerous free kick. Third foul is about a minute later. Good piece of work by the Dutch player. Smith is dispossessed and does commit a foul trying to get it back. But they show the slow-mo and you can clearly see the Dutch player give the little redirect and look (like actually turns her head to look) for the contact to draw the foul. Honestly, that is just Smith being outclassed in that battle. And that was it. 3 fouls in almost 20 minutes. No one probably would have noticed if two weren't within a minute which drew the announcer's attention. Other notes from watching her. She had a really nice clearance from a dangerous free kick that led to a Lynn Williams one-on-one opportunity where Smith also was up on the fast break and Williams looked like she was going to try the pass for her, but it didn't come off. Other than that, I didn't really notice much particularly good or bad. For a bit, her and Williams looked like they were playing as wingers in a 4-1-4-1. Also, she needs to get more time with the team. Like I said earlier, there was a miscommunication with her and Sonnett that happened at least once. And then there was Morgan. It really looked like her and Smith were on the same page. The problem was they were both reading the same line. There were at least two times where they weren't playing off each other, but instead each trying to do the same thing. I guess that's what you get with players who have never really been in the same camp, let alone the same game.
Sorry to chime in in this discussion to give my 2 cents, since I didn't even watch the USA-Netherlands game, so I have no idea of how Sophia Smith played her 20 minutes. But I use to quite closely follow Youth World Cups, and I would like to address two of the claims @bulge-in-the-net made, one I quite agree with and one I quite disagree with: 1) he criticizes the management of US Youth NTs: it's a fact that, in the latest WWCs, US teams tended to dramatically underachieve compared to the success of the Senior Team: the last big success I remember is U-20 WWC 2012; nothing really remarkable since then. You could say: it's not a problem as long as Senior NT delivers; ok, but you anyway get the feeling that something doesn't work at best at youth level. 2) He says that Sophia Smith is overhyped: it could be, but from my direct experience I don't tend to agree with this opinion. I was in Concarneau, Brittany, for U-20 WWC in August 2018, when USA U-20 lost to eventual Champions of Japan by 0-1 and I happened to watch their following easy match vs Paraguay also. Well, I have to say that the one player that genuinely impressed me in that team, both tecnically and for her tactical awareness and maturity, was Sophia Smith. That's, for what it's worth, my opinion: not sure if Sophia Smith is Senior NT material, but at youth level it seems to me that she was legitimately shining.
I'll agree with all here with the exception of Pugh. I would like her to prove me wrong, and I wish her the best, but I'm still not impressed.
Pugh has moments of brilliance interspersed with periods where she does not seem to really know where she is. She brings to mind in some ways a soccer version of Evonne Goolagong. All she needs to do is figure a way to shorten her periods of "walkabout" and lengthen her periods of brilliance. When Goolagong managed to do that she was arguably the best tennis player in the world but when she went on "walkabout" my 14 year old niece could have wiped the court with her. I hope Pugh will finally live up to her promise but, right now, she is not even in the top 50 US soccer players.