Am currently stuck in Europe where they show every team but the US so I got to watch Germany easily destroy China (the team we beak but not beat up). Meanwhile, we're beating a team of college players with Greek names by a score of 3-0. Greece is not even on the soccer radar screen and we only score 3 goals on 26 shots. Are we worried? I think we better be because all the evidence says we're weaker then Germany and I'm not sure we're even number two. It's time to put up or get out (April) and based on the first game, not to mention, the games leading to this point, I think you better get your paper on the street looking for your next job. This day has been coming for a long time and US soccer will have to live with the decision to keep her around. I still predict that we won't be in the final and if that isn't enough to get her fired, what is? PS - I've seen parts of 3 games today and the stadium is very empty in all games. THe Olympics in Greece are going to be a bust because people won't go there in large numbers. It's too dangerous.
i'm hoping. they still look old and slow to me! anxious to see how they perform against a young and speedy brazil, then i'll guess about germany. brazil apparently did not dominate australia. so after this first game, the early guess is that germany are way above everyone else. they are still #1 in the world, so we'll see.
give us a clue. were the chinese upset with their coach and decided to get him fired or something? did the germans also dominate possession, shots, shots on goal? did the chinese just not finish their chances? were they beaten to the ball with speed or physical domination? we saw nothing. help us out!
i too think they'll play their best soccer v. the better teams. they're certainly not going to go down w/out a fight. but what i do fear is that this team can no longer will themselves to a championship- they haven't shown me that they can pick themselves up a truly battle thru adversity.
The China team arrived in Athens in just 4 days prior to their first match, this has to be considered as a reason to why they played badly against Germany, not because the German team was that great, the score was just too overrated, we don't know how those scores actualy happened.
I think the heat was hurting both teams. China passed the ball around very well, and had much more possession. THis however did not lead to many chances as Germany just backed in and let them knock it around outside the goal area. When Germany counter attacked, they just kept getting people open and finished a high percentage of their chances. China did very well but couldn't score. Germany picked it's spots and finished Also saw Brazil and Australia and Brazil did not dominate. A very even game.
thanx. that's similar to what germany did in the world cup against us. when they countered they countered very astutely and made it count. that's the way their men's teams have played for years. if brazil did not dominate australia, we should be able to win a tough game against them. in that game i want to see how fawcett et al handle the speed of the forwards and if mia and or wambach can get behind the defense.
Correct analysis, just one thing: Germany really counter-attacked only, after they had already a 2-0 lead, and then it was only logical to do so. It lead to the 3-0, and that was basically the end of the story. China was just a) not efficient in front of the goal. They were often getting close to the box, but too few chances resulted from that, only some distance shots going wide or crosses which Rottenberg handled easily... they were just not dangerous enough offensively. b) showing glaring holes in their defense. The German TV reporter partly blamed the Chinese keeper, but wrongly, I think (the 7-0 was her fault, but then it didn't matter). But e.g. the 2-0: If you have just seen that Prinz can score a goal by a header if she gets a right-wing cross from Stegemann, what would be the reasonable thing to do, if you see Stegemann coming up the right wing (exactly the same position) with the ball, intending to cross? Yeah, right: attacking Stegemann to prevent her from doing that or/and marking Prinz in the middle to prevent her from heading again. But they didn't.... Result: a 2-0 that was almost a copycat of the first German goal. I was astonished, because it was so obvious. That can't be explained by physical problems resulting in a lack of concentration, as some mistakes at the end of the game. That was just mental sloppiness and slow thinking.
those 2 header goals by Prinz were 1 more than I saw her get in all of her WUSA games. Heck, when she 1st got to Carolina she did the corner kicks, displacing the best in the world at that (Hege Riise) - because she doesn't like to head the ball. I think that the Chinese did not think that she would be able to head the ball, and thus did not give her the same attention that they did to Wambach. Once in that 2-0 hole, things just began to unravel for them...