Women's Soccer (Football) Thread Soccer • Page 63

ROSE OMG lol

 

badger legend rose lavelle is who I want to be when I grow up

 

Its alright ladies. You still have the W over US Men’s

 

Alexi Lalas is such an ass

 

I don’t like to say anything is definite, but it’s hard to say most of this tournament feels like a formality until a semifinal of USA, England, Spain, and Germany.

 

The fact that you can win a World Cup game 3-0 and still be dissatisfied with your teams performance probably says a lot but yeah we need to do better on Wednesday

 

Props to Vietnam, I expected a blow out. Sophia Smith is about to take over the world

 

when you’re going for a threepeat, it’s hard to set the bar low

 

Kim Thanh had an awesome game for sure

 

Let’s go

 

1-0 England, but I’ve been impressed with Haiti tbh. They have some really fun, technical players.

 

Love that FIFA are sticking by the added time rule from the Men's World Cup. It was so jarring after that to go back to League football with constant time wasting and only 1 or 2 minutes added on. Hope the Premier League adapt it soon.

 

Definitely. I really like it as a rule. Will discourage teams to do a Newcastle and just waste as much time as possible. The most frustrating thing when your team need a goal and the opposition are just rolling around or taking > 30 seconds per goal kick.

That said, when it’s your team doing it, it’s very funny.

 

Our final balls have been so bad.

 

Mary Earps, absolutely world class. Not the flashiest saves ever, but come in clutch on the couple of occasions she's been needed

 

Damn, Denmark finally broke through!

 

omg how did China not score there

(waaaaaaay offside)

 

i have this one coming on Monday, very excited about it

 

Some USWNT thoughts:

1. Sophia Smith is amazing. I watch all of her NWSL games. The only thing her game is missing honestly is she has zero interest in ever getting her head on the ball lol. If she ever adds that to her game that would be wild. If anyone here is new to Sophia Smith go to YouTube and watch highlight of Portland Thorns Vs. Washington Spirit from June 23rd. Sophia scored a hat trick and the goals were all bangers.

2. 3-0 vs Vietnam is a real bummer. We had so many chances squandered in front of goal. Goal differential could legitimately be a key tie-breaker. It isnt out of the realm of possibility that Portugal holds us to a draw as well as they will also be very organized and do a lot of compact defending except with more talent on their side and more ability to counter punch than Vietnam. I'd also expect Vietnam to try to attack more against Portugal which could leave them exposed at the back in ways they weren't willing to risk against us. Hopefully Portugal doesn't beat Vietnam by more than 3. If we draw against Netherlands and Portugal plays for the draw and succeeds vs us it could come down to goal differential to see who even gets out of the group much less wins the group. I hope we don't look back to all the misses (Pinoe open goal miss, Alex PK especially) as the reason we go home in a shocking fashion before the knockouts.

3. Ertz at CB: I feel like we didn't really get tested enough to see whether or not this works. IMO Sullivan is our weakest starter at the 6 (CDM) so if Ertz is elevated as a starter against Netherlands or other quality competition I'd have loved for it to be at the 6, with Cook and Girma as the CB pairing which sends Sullivan to the bench.

4. Demelo: I was honestly shocked she got the start. She's got skill but she looked slow and she wouldn't have even made my 23 player roster. I'd have called in Jaedan Shaw or Tierna Davidson in her place. I thought it was a bit of a slap to the face of Ashley Sanchez that Demelo was given the start over her with Rose on a minutes restriction.

5. Expectations for lineup changes vs Netherlands: Rose Lavelles fitness is the main question mark for me. If we assume Vlatko is going to bring Rose on for the 2nd half my midfield trio is Horan, Ertz and Sanchez for this game. Girma and Cook at CB. Up top I still have Morgan and Smith but I'd bring in Lynn Williams on the other side for the first half or if we start Rodman again this time I bring in Lynn as the super sub. If Rose can go at least 60 minutes IMO you start Rose of course.

6. Portugal vs Netherlands: It sucks that this game is at 3:30am EST but I plan on waking up to watch it. I honestly don't know what to hope for here. Part of me wants it to end 1-0 Netherlands so that Portugal gets a loss which would mean for the USA to advance all we'd need to do is tie our last 2 and it takes goal differential out of play for elimination. Part of me is also rooting for a draw which would mean that a USA win vs either Netherlands or Portugal means we advance.

7. USWNT weaknesses: This group has two glaring weaknesses most other USWNT teams before them did not. This USWNT has a strength in speed up top but a weakness in a lack of athleticism and speed at the 6 and 8. Horan is good but she's slow. Sullivan is slow and doesn't offer much offensively. She can find good defensive positions against weaker competition but is exposed consistently against quicker players for better teams. Without Rose and Ertz there we struggle against the better teams in the middle of midfield. Our other glaring weakness is set pieces on the attack. We don't have any Wambach types to get on the ends of crosses. We have to make up for this by using our speed well and our special players have to make special plays. (LFG Sophia!)

One other side note to this is if it were up to me...I'd move Dunn into the central midfield as an in game adjustment (O'Hara and Fox would then be the outside backs) if we are getting dominated in the central midfield against better competition. Dunn can cover ground and she can break the press and start the attack. I almost left this out though because I highly doubt Vlatko would even consider this.

8. Huerta should not get another minute of playing time in this world cup and if she does and an opposing attacker has any sort of speed the USWNT will regret it. She came on late and instantly was exposed on the counter and run right by.

 

Very happy to see a great Jun Endo performance. So easy to root for and fun to watch

 

France don’t look very good at all, and I think that’s in large part due to Jamaica being so organized. Hope Bunny Shaw is okay; she’s beloved around here for her time with the Lady Vols.

 

Never a second yellow. Ridiculous. Jamaica better hold on.

 

Great to see, considering the time zone difference being pretty brutal for this WC.

 

And my local Fox is in dispute with Directv/ATT

IM not sure on which markets are affected by this but it’s a number.

 

You should look into signing up for a free trial of something like FuboTV, YouTube TV etc... I'd do your research now but wait until closer to the next USA game to pull the trigger on starting your trial.

With any luck the dispute is resolved by the time your trial expires. If not, sign up for another trial for another service after and hopefully you don't miss any of the games.