Well, the good thing is that we should hopefully have a more rested overall team. The bad news is that this is now a 'must win' for us and a 'must win' for them. That they have hope may be a real issue --- it will be important to get at them quickly. IMHO, given their disorganization on set pieces, I'd start Abby. Also, I thought there were several times in the Sweden game (vs US) where whistles were blown on balls into the box for phantom calls. I hope they let them play a bit more in this game on those balls.
Forgot to add this -- what is the timeframe for the review of the blatant off the ball elbow to the face that #15 of Nigeria threw into the Swedish player's face? If she doesn't get a couple game ban then it's a travesty! I was rooting for Nigeria up to that point.
Easiest and best scenario: win. (and get out of the game without any injuries) Interesting to note there are two Group D scenarios that would require "drawing of lots” to determine group winner. pic.twitter.com/9NefcQir8m— Keeper Notes (@keepernotes) June 13, 2015
The question is how much does Ellis play with the line up. Do Lloyd and Holiday get some rest? What about Krieger?
This may not really be must-win for USA but in practical terms it is. If we win this, and win comfortably, so many concerns and worries expressed in media and on here by fans will vanish overnight and immediately. I am hoping Wambach scores as well to start quieting down criticisms of her. My vote is to start Tobin Heath for all 90 as well. We need Heath out there !!!! SHE CONTROLS THINGS AND HAS EXCITING PLAY. I am going to "go out on a limb" and guess USA wins 3-0.
LOL! Concerns and worries expressed here by fans never will vanish. Expressing them is a way of life.
Nigeria don't have a good defense or keeper. Their mids aren't as good as Australia or Sweden. Our defense is strong. This is a breeze.
Nothing is a for sure in soccer at any level..the last WC game Jill Ellis lost as a head coach was the U20 WC... USA vs. NIGERIA!
Either Holiday or Lloyd need to see the bench. Rapinoe is too bright to bench. This midfield has too many chiefs and not enough indians. Another thing, Quit messing around with the forward line so much. Pick a pairing and roll with it for 70 minutes. Let them develop chemistry with a refined central midfield pairing. How about a midfield of Leroux, Pinoe, Lloyd, and HAO on the right. Let Arod and Press start at forward and stick with it. If we are serious about Morgan being a real factor later on in the knockouts and not just getting garbage minutes then sub her for Arod at minute 65 and sub HAO for Heath. Bring on Abby for Leroux late and move Press back into central midfield and go long ball festival the last 10 minutes. The backline has been fantastic. Change nothing there. The truth is for whatever reason Lauren Holiday and Carly Lloyd do not play well together. So many spells of possession and attacks in general are dying at their feet. I would prefer a 4-3-3 but Jill is weak and perhaps want's to play low risk defense first soccer. This will get us to the Quarters but then we will be facing shootout after shootout and will bust out of the tournament earlier than anticipated. There is no excuse for this team to not producing 15 shots on goal per match at LEAST.
And another thing. I see a lot of people here underestimating Nigeria. First of all we have no one with the recovery speed to catch their forwards if they play the right through ball and beat our offside trap so we will probably play a low line and hope they try to shoot a bunch of optimistic and wasteful shots from distance like the men played Ghana last year in the world cup. Nigeria torched sweden for three goals and we couldn't score on Sweden at all. Two, Nigeria are technically competent on the ball and can probably beat us 1v1 throughout most of the starting XI and into the bench. Their weakness is on set pieces and defensive shape and set pieces and shape are on of USWNT strong points so there is our trump. I expect us to play Nigeria like Sweden played us. Bunker and counter with occasional passages of meaningful possession in their third. Alot of crosses from the endline with a steady diet of set pieces on fouls when they hack at us in their third. I can also see a nice dive in their penalty area to really get them mad and even further out of shape.
I would add that we need to also play some possession oriented, patient soccer when we have the ball. Let's have them do some chasing when we have the ball. Their legs are going to get heavy in this game let's try to make that sooner rather than later.
Someone needs to explain to me why they would pass it twice then launch it into the box. I can see them trying that a bit with Wambach but they did it with everyone. Did they expect Rodriguez to win crosses in the box? Press? Leroux is good with her head but not so good at moving without the ball so I dont see it working with her either. Lloyd is a good target but is now back most of the time. Morgan is still learning but not there yet. They need to play to feet and wait for players to come open instead of forcing everything.
Wambach already getting the excuses ready. I am so over this team. http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/06/abby-wambach-uswnt-world-cup-turf-goals
Cuz it's called "American style" soccer. Even Morgan said all not that long ago that WNT needed to play American style. Not surprising since Morgan benefits from long ball. Larger point is this team not only can't possess the ball well, key players don't believe in possession soccer. Morgan is far from alone in that belief.
I don't really believe in possession for possession's sake either. Our U-20 boys possessed the ball in Serbia's half for long stretches last night and actually saw a majority of the possession. They had trouble breaking down the Serbia bunker and even though they were in Serbia's half, they couldn't really get into their third to create dangerous attacks and ended losing in a penalty shootout. The women need to ride with what got them to the world cup. Why try to fit a round peg into a square hole? Teach the kids possession over their developing years and in 10-15 years you can use a possession oriented team. Until then, IF your biggest traits are fitness, hustle, set pieces and defense then go with that. Who gives a crap if it is ugly soccer to some pretentious people whose countries wont be lifting the trophy anyway? France had all the possession against Colombia and lost 2 0. Its about chance creation, quality shots on goal ,energy and injury conservation and defense. Possession looks nice but if you cant score it is east to be come frustrated and start to lose the ball on 1v1 challenges and get out of shape. I read that Wambach remark on the turf and I don't see how she is making excuses. The ball bounces differently on turf and the men don't have to play on turf, it's a statement of fact. Why does FIFA treat the women differently? I am more disappointed with Canada for insisting on turf and not putting butts in seats. Those sparse attendances are an embarrassment to the women who work so hard to get to the world cup. What is the Canadian excuse? They have 30m people. Fill those stadia up.
Nigeria was very impressive against Sweden. They used their speed well to rip Sweden's backline apart. But the lack of subs may have contributed to them looking tired against Australia, and fatigue could be a factor against the US. They have the potential, but do they have the stamina? I'm not so sure about that.
Well... the biggest issue I see on these boards is our inability to create good chances and lacking possession. So, my point would be that we can't have our cake and eat it too. If we don't like the way the team is playing then we need to consider other alternatives. Frankly, I don't count myself as pretentious, but I would say that our inability to hold the ball is going to bite us in this tournament. It very nearly has already. BS doesn't seem to like Abby -- yet if we don't want to possess then frankly, she's our best bet. Our speed has not been very apparent at all so far -- and I doubt it will be against Nigeria either.
But there's a difference between banging it long and trying to use speed and athleticism to beat CBs and crossing every ball from 30 yards out against a set defense. If Ellis learned anything from the NIgerian match it's u have to make the Swedish defense move not just stand in one place and head balls out.
I've been pointing out the turf for some time now. Pretty cool. Oh ya but the 'no excuses' choir rolls through.
This article made me sad. Not long ago, she was the best player in the world. Now she is saying the turf messed up her headers.
"Championship teams are the team that are able to deal with all things, in all moments, in all sorts of ways," she said. Misleading headline. The turf is crap. Any turf is crap. I've seen too many damaged ligaments and hamstring injuries on the stuff. Anyone defending Canada soccer and FIFA on this issue is wrong.