The ladies are playing tonight. Sophia Smith’s on-ball skills are amazing, I wish she could break through with a goal or two. With her, Macario, Fox, etc. I think the future is bright.
USWNT
- Thread starter nevadanatural
- Start date
Well, the game ended 0-0, I was not impressed with the second half substitutes. Rodman, despite the hype from the commentators, did nothing. We were much less dangerous after the subs went in.
I thought the first half was very good for the US. We were passing well, getting the ball in good position and making the goalie work hard, in fact we got one past her but it was cleared off the line by a defender. After the subs we never really mounted a serious threat. I know this tournament is not important and it makes sense to rest the older stars so they can get healthy for the qualifiers coming up but I would feel better if they tried out new players in some of their friendlies.
The ladies came out a little better today with a 5-0 win against New Zealand although the NZ team scored 3 of those goals. I think they credited Purce with one of those own goals because she headed it into the defender who headed it in.
I had a commitment last night so I had to watch the SheBelieves Cup final recorded today. Ladies win 5-0 over Iceland in a very entertaining game.
Macario is ridiculous and creative up top. Pretty nice result for a US team playing mainly reserves and development players with a few main team players in spots.
The women beat Uzbekistan 9-1 today. The Uzbek defense played tough but their skill level was no where near that of the US. Sophia Smith finally breaks through and scores a hat trick. Most of our first team players aren’t playing right now for various reasons (two due to pregnancy) but this team is deep with quality, especially on the offensive end.
I watched the first match of World Cup, and Olympic, qualifying tonight and it wasn’t pretty. The US won 3-0 but were lucky it wasn’t 2-2 going into the last 5 minutes. The back line was slow and porous and it was like they didn’t respect the Haitian forwards and they have two pretty good ones. A lot of the players also played lazy soccer, not going to meet balls, lazy passes, hesitant to put it downfield. A win is a win but they need to improve before the WC next year.
This was a B+ squad the US put out there. Maybe 4-5 normal starters. The D with the exception of O'Hara was all 2nd teamers and the inexperience showed. And don't sell Haiti short. They had some great athletes up top and as you watched the broadcast they mentioned how many of them were playing D1 soccer or had played D1 soccer in the US. Alex Morgan looks like she is ready to return to the primary striker role but her timing with this group is off just a tad...she was constantly caught trying to push the line and ended up in offside positions a lot.
Give them time. In CONCACAF they will be fine b/c Canada is really the only team that can push them consistently in the region. And I suspect when it comes time to play Canada in a meaningful gun you'll get the US' top players into the game...Samantha Mewis, Tobin Heath, Dahlkemper, Ertz. They'll be fine.
Morgan’s two goals were both beauties, I’m glad she’s back from maternity leave. I haven’t seen Press play in forever also. I can understand getting all these girls playing time because many of them will probably be stalwarts in the Olympics in two years but I hope the mainstays don’t get rusty. Team chemistry is so important in this game and I didn’t see it last night. I’m guessing that the continued absence of Catarina Macario means she’s probably now a part of the A team.
I think some of it is also managing the wear and tear. Morgan has been sort of relegated to a back-up role as she is just now getting back into the shape and mentality she needs to be in post-pregnancy. And that's fine...pregnancy and giving birth is something us males will never fully understand in terms of the mental aspect or the physical toll it takes on a body. As for the others, right now they're in the middle of the NWSL season which is pretty grueling as well. And those players are getting older too so giving them time away from camps and int'l matches when they're not necessarily needed to gain results while seeing who the next gen of players will be is fine. Berhalter managed the men's side through the Nation's League and Gold Cup the same way as he did this last round of int'l matches. One thing both the men's and women's sides enjoy right now is a lot of quality depth. The US is turning out great players all over the place and each week we seem to hear about a new player breaking onto the scene.
It's a good time to be a soccer fan in the US
First off Ashley Hatch was not offside! Watched the ladies beat Jamaica 5-0 tonight and the effort was much better, no lazy football and much better chemistry. With Mexico losing its second game in a row the US is guaranteed World Cup qualification, now to win the tournament and automatically qualify for the Olympics.
So the result against Haiti ended up being a pretty good one for the US in hindsight, especially with playing so many B siders. While Mexico dominated possession in their game vs Haiti, Haiti showed that it was extremely efficient in generating good chances when they did get the ball. Mexico had 14 shots w/ 2 on goal while having 72% possession. Haiti had 10 shots w/ 6 on goal. 2 of their goals did come off of PKs but that means they were in the attack and dangerous. Mexico also suffered a red card in the 77'. Haiti has some extremely talented forwards who are super athletic. It showed against the US and they were also able to use that advantage against Mexico. It would be interesting to see how Haiti would play against Canada who is easily the 2nd best team in the region.
Another “not pretty” night last night against Mexico but I’ll take a 1-0 win. Next game will be Thursday against Costa Rica. One of the commentators mentioned the lack of chemistry in tonight’s lineup and said it’s about time the coach made some decisions and settled on a lineup and backups so the players could develop the familiarity and timing to perform like we expect.
Very disjointed effort for sure. Of course the US missed some fantastic chances that should have been put away (Horan's open shot from the back post into the gut of the GK for one, the post shot in the 1st half, and Alex Morgan's flicked on header for another). What I noticed most though was the lack of dominance from the US in the MF. Usually once Horan, Tobin Heath, LaVelle, Sam Mewis, Crystal Dunn would get the ball in the MF or on the outside, you knew a decent chance was coming. I've not seen that with this group (noticeably Heath, Ertz, and some others are missing. There is also noticeable indecision playing out of the back.
Good game yesterday against Canada. The finishing could have been better but they created a ton of great chances. Much better chemistry than in some previous games. I wish the back line was more aggressive in getting the ball forward on offense especially when we’re in a position to counter. It’s looking like Cook is going to be a fixture on that back line. She’s got game.
Good assessment. Creativity in the offensive half was strong...and it looked almost like they were engaged from the get go as opposed to only playing Costa Rica or Jamaica. The focus through the MF was much better. There was also a noticeable change in playing out of the back, especially when things were started with Naeher vs the backup GK being in there. Naeher is not the biggest GK but her positioning and instinct are among the best I've seen. She made the last save and hold look easy in a situation where it would have been easy to get tight.
The women’s team is looking pretty good right now as the changing of the guard continues. We haven’t seen Mercario in two years and Mallory Swanson (Pugh) is still recovering from knee surgery but some of the young ladies, Shaw for one, are starting to hit their stride. I’ll look forward to seeing this young lady in a national team jersey in a few years.
