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I've seen a number of women's teams who have some of the similar traits of Spain. Germany, France, England, and the Netherlands all seem to have that similar Euro style of play...and the US beats them almost every time because the US simply has more players who are really really good.
Read a good article yesterday stating women soccer players suffer ACL injuries at 6-8x the rate of their male counterparts. Differences in male and female anatomy the main culprit. On that note, Nike just released its first cleat specifically designed for women. The shoe is designed not to stick in the ground when cutting. Nike had a booth at ECNL nationals where the girls could try on the cleats and pre-order. Hoping the new technology helps.
Smith and Trinity Rodman make it easy to forget that Christen Press and Tobin Heath, both phenomenal players, are not playing in the WC due to injury issues.
Honest question, have they gotten way better or have they changed their strategies up against top teams? It seemed to me that Vietnam deliberately played extra defense to make scoring more difficult for the US. They succeeded but it made it so that their attack was non-existent.
Probably a combination of both. And maybe that game specifically wasn't a great example or it was because that tactic has never really worked against the US. But let's point to other games like Canada & Nigeria and Jamaica and France that both ended in scoreless draws. France is probably the 2nd favorite to win this WC behind the US and Jamaica held their own with some really good GK, some really good team defense and they nearly won the game a couple of times finding players on counters. Canada is a really good side and Nigeria is up and coming. England struggled in their 1st match. You've seen it up and down. The worst score lines so far are 6-0 Germany over Morocco, and 5-0 Japan over Zambia. Many of these countries are playing in their 1st WWC. I think the gap is closing....sort of the same way you've seen it closing in women's college basketball recently where you're seeing more than just UCONN, Tennessee, Stanford, and Notre Dame in the Final Four every year. I think access to the game has increased tremendously creating more opportunities. If you watch the games closely enough and listen to the commentators talk about players, you hear a lot of them are playing in Europe in the women's leagues (which are really good BTW) OR they're in the US playing college soccer. I know one of the Nigerian players is set to play for Waldrum at Pitt. One of the Jamaican players plays at Florida State (one of the top women's soccer programs in the country). There is just more opportunity and more access so you're going to start seeing women's programs getting better and closing that gap.
They're not really young. Sure there are a handful of players under 25 but the majority are over 25 and vets of the scene. They are decimated by injuries to some key players thrusting players who probably would not make the team if those players were healthy, into the spotlight. Sam Mewis, Christen Press, Tobin Heath, Abby Dahlkemper and Becky Sauerbrun are all plagued by injuries right now. Dahlkemper and Sauerbrun hurt because it then pulls Julie Ertz out of the 6 role for the US and the backline has struggled against runs into space so far...I say struggle because it's happening and leading to dangerous chances against the US, yet the US has still only conceded a single goal in this tournament.
And sadly, as many as three of those players may be past their playing days for the WNT by the next world cup.(They will be 42, 39, and 38.)
Agreed. Rapinoe was brought in to be an experienced leader. She is still a great player and delivers some of the best crosses. This is her last rodeo for the WWC. Still remember the 50 yd cross she delivered to Abby Wambach against Brazil in 2011 (?) to tie the game (semi or quarter) which they eventually won in ET. It may be the best delivery of a ball I've ever seen.
Rapinoe has looked her age the last several games. Poor touches, a step slow, etc.. The game against Vietnam she was outright awful. I don’t think it was by accident she didn’t see the field against the Dutch. Interested to see how much she plays (if any) against Sweden.
I don't think she will and I think she understands her role is more motivational for the rest of the team right now.
I was disappointed after the game as well. Yes…you should go recognize the fans. However, dancing and laughing after that performance should never occur. Need a leader to step up and say that is unacceptable. Reminds me of when Kobe was on a talk show and they showed him the Laker players goofing around on the court after a loss. He was asked what he thought of that behavior. His response “that would have never happened”.
Only a slight upset there. Norway has a good side but they had to go up against one of the host teams. Norway got through by scoring a lot of goals vs the Philippines (which is like the US C squad). That group also had no clear favorite...it was rather meh compared to some of the other groups we saw.
Depends on which group they qualified through? If they are part of Oceania then they took the spot that Nee Zealand was given for being a host. If it was through Asia, then they may have gotten in through the spot that Australia would normally claim. Remember in the men's side there are Arab nations that qualify that don't sponsor women's sides because that's who those governments are and they don't allow women to participate in sports. So countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia that have good men's sides, aren't claiming spots on the women's side. And I can't remember if it was the Philippines or Morocco that had a Muslim woman wearing a hijab on the field and the Fox announcers were calling that a first in a WWC.
The women's big victory, IMO, was winning half the MNT's earnings in that lawsuit and the reason we have a team (the WC) ain't no big deal. I watched a total of 3 minutes of the Viet Nam game and that was during the US Ntl. anthem when something like 3 squad members bothered to put their hand over their hearts & only a couple tried to sing it. If playing for your country doesn't inspire you to do your maximum, you don't deserve to be in the squad, let alone advance.
