WWC23 group stage: USWNT vs Portugal, August 1 3 am ET

After watching this team for quite a while as it has played under Vlatko Andonovski I am pretty sure that he would never take the kind of chances in roster choices that i and a number of other are advocating. He seem mostly "soccer smart" but he really seems unable or unwilling to really apply that to team choices. I do not know if that is his fault or the fault of the USSF but, none-the-less, he just does not make any sensible changes to either the formation or the personnel so it becomes easy to know how to both defend and attack the USA.

I seem to remember a directive from the USSF that "required" the 4-3-3 be played by all teams under their umbrella but I did not pay much attention when I heard that so i do not know for sure if it was stated as a "requirement" or a "suggestion" or a "goal" or a "wish." But whatever it was the 4-3-3 is simply too vulnerable to be implemented as a policy. In fact there really is no formation that every USA team should play. Except for the formation that stands on the podium to receive their gold metals.

 

On the positive side, that may have been was the most exciting World Cup game the U.S. has had since the 2019 match against Spain. Best matches of all time were the 2011 World Cup games against Brazil and Japan. I have to love the Portuguese team this world cup. They did their country proud.

Among the good things about US/Portugal was that the announcers were the A team: Dellacamera and Wagner.

 

If there had been a draft when I was eligible, Texas would be a province of Mexico.

 

I meant USA soccer not the USA as a country. I do not like democracy as i think the idea of counting the runny noses of the Hoi polloi to decide issues is badly flawed but, as long as it works to allow the "best' to run the country I had no problem. The real problem with Democracy is that, throughout the world, it has started working and we are getting leaders that are part of the masses and no smarter than them so we get stupidity rather than leadership. Even a corrupt intelligent leader is better than a stupid honest one.

 

After listening to Heath, I feel better. She's seeing the same things that I and others are seeing.

 

True. But Portugal's best should still lose to the USA even if we played less than our best. We preformed horribly and our reward was the tie both we and Portugal deserved.

 

The problem with democracy in the U.S. as I see it is that one side no longer plays by the rules we've observed for 250 years, i.e. elections are final and losers concede defeat and pledge their continued loyalty to the country and its government.

 

You may be correct but the lack of intelligence shown by most of or current crop of politicians on all sides is concerning.

 

The one where the US came a post away from going home?

 

I actually believe the match at the '99 WWC against Brazil is the most exciting match i have ever seen. It had everything from own goals to exciting comebacks to extreme skill. I was a fan of Brandi and her own goal followed later by her winning header was one of my favorite comebacks ever.

As far as announcers go I really do not like any of the ones FOX has used, they all talk too much and much too much of their chatter is about things that have no relationship to the match being played. But, when I get too annoyed at them I can use the mute button as, even at my age, my thumb still, mostly, works.

 

I'd much rather have dumb politicians than politicians who don't have respect for the rules and the law.

 

Actually most politicians do not have respect for the law and the rules that govern us. That is why for most laws that effect professional conduct they exempt themselves. They want the masses to follow the laws but they do not want to be so inconvenienced by having to do so themselves. That is also why dishonest politicians are so successful. They do not follow the rules and they think they are entitled to do so.
In other words politicians are simply the crooks that put themselves above everyone else and get away with it because their predecessors exempted most of their law breaking from being enforced.

 

That could well be as my memory is not as precise as it used to be but I will look it up to make my memory more correct. Maybe I have Brazil on the brain as I just watched them stumble their way out of the tournament.

Edit: I just checked and you are quite correct. My long term memory is usually quite good. it just failed me this time, sorry.

 

I’m already excited to see Portugal’s progress four years from now. I’ve always enjoyed watching the Med European countries like Spain, Portugal, and France play soccer.

 

All of the tearing out of hair and gnashing of teeth is overstated. Crystal had some poor passes to no one, which surprised me. Megan did not impress and had one seriously dangerous shanked high ball that would have been considered an excellent change of field if done by Portugal. (Made me think her up side potential now seems outweighed by her down side risk, even for a relatively short stint.) Rose looked to me like she might have been ill, but her play was fine and even better after she got her yellow card. Beyond that, I did not think the US was anywhere near as bad as the doomsday posters are indicating.

(As an aside, although it may appear to a lot of us like the refs are letting a lot go, it also may be that more physicality is allowed elsewhere in the world than we are used to. I think our newbies are having to get used to dealing with it. Hopefully, they are adapting.)

(And as a further aside, I do not claim to be a soccer expert. However, I do have some soccer longevity, having begun playing organized soccer in 1958 and pickup schoolyard soccer a couple of years before then.)

 

Well, from what I have see all over the world there are places, like Most of the Central American leagues and the African leagues where the play is quite a bit "dirtier" and more contact allowed I have not seen even one match from anywhere in the world where so much foul play has been let go. The only place I've ever seen this level of fouling without calls is in the Men's WC. FIFA does not care about the quality of play or the safety of players so the instruct their refs to ignore nearly everything short of a decapitation.
FIFA has also gone WAY overboard on VAR. And the way they have it implemented is dangerous to the players and hurts play a lot. Many matches have had nearly zero flow because of the VAR checks. I do think the automated offside, if it would just get called when it happens is good BUT the delayed offside does nothing except increase the possibility of injuries and allow the refs to not do their job as they believe VAR will bail them out. I also like the goal line technology but it is misused a lot as well.
There are two was to approach this, probably, final match: 1. Continue doing what we have been doing, in which case we lose. 2. Throw everything out and change most everything. That "could" be even worse but, I believe, without major changes we basically just get to appear one more time before we take the trip back home.
Maybe Vlatko Andonovski feels that he needs "home" to cure his fatigue but really that would mean a longer, or at least different, trip home.

 

11 times I think. 10-0-1. Maybe you saw one of the others?

I’m sure they’d still look better than Vietnam, but compared to a semis+ team, they looked really bad to my eyes.

 

Agree. I think the US has fallen from "the standard" but if you look at non friendly results ... is it that far from what has been happening the last 4 years?

I think the post mortem will be interesting:
USSF - Should they have done more to push what worked for the boys development over to the girls? Did the world catch up in a generation or has the WNT just relied on athleticism and are now being found out?
Players Union - Is getting 45% really doing good long term for WoSo? Will you show up for the NWSL?
NWSL - Are your owners prepared to put money down for youth development? This will potentially be a money losing choice for a while
Vlatko - Honestly no idea...
Players - Are you willing to be flexible to learn how to play different styles and fit in different systems?

Although a couple wins and we are back to status quo.

 

I’ve previously wrote this but apparently goes on deft ears; it’s the rise of the women’s Champions League that finally has some of the rich Euro clubs pouring good money in to win it. This means bigger salaries for female players & that in itself breeds more female participation(something that Europe & the rest of the world previously were way behind). Monster squads have been created in order to compete or win the Champions League. Just looking on paper; Barca squad of half domestic players/half top internationals is stronger than the current Spanish NT. Wolfsburg is stronger than the German NT. Arsenal Chelsea Man City are stronger than the English NT. In fact some the level of competition in the CL is now actually stronger that what you’re currently seeing at the World Cup. This as well has helped out some of the third world countries, whose best players are part of a competing Champions League. You could even see how Horan’s becomes arguably the top US player(she’s with the Lyon club).

meantime the NWSL might have good intentions, but sort of introverts itself as yet there’s no similar Concacaf champions league. When next door neighbor, FC Monterrey came over for a friendly Portland, the Thorns started their 2nd tier, subs & consequently got beat by the Mexican club. And what was the excuse of the Thorns? Something, ‘like we got an important NWSL game coming up’. So in part, the isolationism of the NWSL is affecting our play. Other countries are figuring this out, Australians used to be a major fixture in the NWSL, but now as many as 17 of their NT play for England’s WSL league. Brazilian stars still put their faith in the NWSL, but they’ve already bombed. International NWSL stars like Sinclair Debinha Marta been huge disappointments.

So to improve, the NWSL has to find out a way to compete against stronger clubs the world. Obviously they wouldn’t be accepted into the Euro/CL , but they could try for a partnership with maybe Mexico Australia Japan and make an international league(probably travel be an hassle, lol). The NWSL could also allow more competition with colleges(they only got preseason games but are never streamed or televised) maybe have an domestic cup like the Euro leagues have which allows minor leagues to compete in as well—it would create over all more excitement, as like myself, I just don’t watch the NWSL, as it’s the same old teams playing each other over & over again. They don’t seem to play with much ‘chess mentality’(like we’ve just seen the Dutch & Portuguese do). Just about all the NWSL coaches are from England, so it feels like just one dimensional type soccer—-and that’s seems to be affecting currently our game play

 

I totally agree to the impact the Champions League is having in Europe. The new format being showcased by the DAZN coverage, is reaching all of Europe as well as the rest of the world. Record attendance numbers are being reported. It is beginning to filter down to the domestic leagues as well. With England winning the Euros and the growth of the UWCL, there was an attendance jump this last season of over 200% in the WSL. Some of the teams have even announced they will be playing some additional games this season in their bigger stadiums.

 

The problem is they haven’t “fallen from the
standard”. They created their own standard that is no longer working for them.

 

Well I guess a little "good news" is that at least we aren't Germany or Brazil who are going home.....lol