Thoughts on the WWC? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Thoughts on the WWC?

RSTuthill said:
The point is, that if the EPL is what you watch from time to time, if you don't even like MLS for various reasons, the standard of play in WWC drives you up the wall. I get that the pace and physicality cannot be high, but the skill level could be so much higher than it is. I see progress in quality of shots when not under pressure or not having to deal with awkward balls. But not much in other skills of the game. Maybe it will get better when the competition improves. Wednesday should be a yardstick.
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The women are nicer to look at and their teamwork and technical ability is good too. It’s not really apples to apples.
 
ZooCougar said:
The women are nicer to look at and their teamwork and technical ability is good too. It’s not really apples to apples.
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Their teamwork needs a lot of work -- a lot of standing around and way too little one touch passing as a result. Their first touches need work, and they are unskilled in their dribbling. In general their work rate needs to increase. Other than that I would agree with you.
 
RSTuthill said:
Their teamwork needs a lot of work -- a lot of standing around and way too little one touch passing as a result. Their first touches need work, and they are unskilled in their dribbling. In general their work rate needs to increase. Other than that I would agree with you.
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I watched a highly skilled team of women play a bunch of athletes who played direct, long balls like the old English style, but they weren't very skilled. They easily mucked up the game with speed, athleticism and aggression.

This is the problem with the women's game. Not all these players are in highly competitive women's leagues. Why? Because the money is not there. They are not honing their skills the way the men do.

That's why when you get to the World Cup you might be shocked to see Jamaica or Haiti going toe-to-toe with France and England. They can still muck up a game, whereas the men's sides will counteract it easily.

So, I do see players who can drive in the women's game, highly skilled players who can do it effortlessly, but there are few women's teams out there who are complete enough to have sound tactics through the 11. Mallory Swanson, Rodman, Sophia Smith and Macario can all drive. But you see some deficiencies in their teammates, and the play breaks down.

I still think the US Women are on an upward trajectory. Some of the old guard like Rapinoe, O'Hara, Ertz and Morgan will be phased out for better players. Tobin Heath already has.

You can already see the improvement with players like Girma in the back. She is already the most talented CB I've ever seen for the USA. She is unseasoned and may make mistakes, but long term she is the best CB they've ever had.
 
If Spain didn't have so much controversy, I would pick them to win it all. They are the most talented team out there.
 
RSTuthill said:
With one of their best players not on the squad,
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I'll have to look it up. In a recent NYT article on all the turmoil in their program. Many of the top players signed a letter of no confidence in the coach. Everone was reinstated except her if I recall.

There is a later article than this.
www.nytimes.com

Spain Women’s Soccer Stars Refuse to Play in Dispute Over Coach (Published 2022)

Spain’s federation rejected the players’ demand to fire the coach, Jorge Vilda, and said the players must apologize as a condition of their return to the team.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
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RSTuthill said:
I'll have to look it up. In a recent NYT article on all the turmoil in their program. Many of the top players signed a letter of no confidence in the coach. Everone was reinstated except her if I recall.

There is a later article than this.
www.nytimes.com

Spain Women’s Soccer Stars Refuse to Play in Dispute Over Coach (Published 2022)

Spain’s federation rejected the players’ demand to fire the coach, Jorge Vilda, and said the players must apologize as a condition of their return to the team.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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I just read 3 of the top players were reinstated, while many of the 15 who were part of the strike, well, they were frozen out. They taught them a lesson. Apparently, there's a rift now between Barca and Real Madrid as most of the Real Madrid players are back on the team.
 
upstater said:
I just read 3 of the top players were reinstated, while many of the 15 who were part of the strike, well, they were frozen out. They taught them a lesson. Apparently, there's a rift now between Barca and Real Madrid as most of the Real Madrid players are back on the team.
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This is the best I can do for now.
www.newyorker.com

The World Cup and the Frustrating, Inspiring State of Women’s Soccer

Mistreatment, unequal pay, and discrimination persist. And yet, among the athletes, there is a great feeling of solidarity, and a sense of increasing opportunity.
www.newyorker.com www.newyorker.com
 
Japan and Spain won easily today and advanced. I enjoy watching the WWC although many of you don't. Looking forward to the match tonight vs The Netherlands. I love watching the young talent on the squad especially Sophia Smith and Alyssa Thompson. Hopeful that Lavelle gets more time today as the team needs her.
 
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Wow the USA is baaad. Nowhere near as talented as they used to be.

Oh well, maybe they will stop pounding us with Rapinoe commercials when Sweden pounds this team 6-0 in the round of 16.
 
ZooCougar said:
Wow the USA is baaad. Nowhere near as talented as they used to be.

Oh well, maybe they will stop pounding us with Rapinoe commercials when Sweden pounds this team 6-0 in the round of 16.
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The old players have lost their skills.

But the young players are super talented.

Girma is excellent. Demelo is the best with the ball at her feet, maybe better than Tobin Heath.

Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman are fast but they need a lot of seasoning.

When Macario and Swanson come back, this will be a very potent team. Fox, Huerta, Sanchez, and Thompson are young and up and coming.

I'd say they have the potential to be better than the team of the last several years.
 
Well, possession isn't everything. Lots of teams deliberately do not want to possess the ball. But USA was trying to possess the ball and could not. They were in a midfield block and got dominated there.
 
horrible coaching last night - fresh legs could have made the difference I cannot understand why he only used the 1 sub. big questions on the starting XI as well - hopefully we see Rose start over DeMelo here on out. may want to play Ertz in her preferred position - sulli has not been up to speed
 
RSTuthill said:
Well, possession isn't everything. Lots of teams deliberately do not want to possess the ball. But USA was trying to possess the ball and could not. They were in a midfield block and got dominated there.
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Hmm, I didn't see it this way. I thought they were just playing direct. I mean, I know Dunn and Sullivan had a horrible time making passes (and O'Hara and Rapinoe looked even worse last week). But mostly I saw people like Ertz and even Girma just sending it back in the air blindly.

Clearly, their strategy was to play direct.

I thought Rodman and Smith were poor making plays, but you could easily see how dangerous they are as Netherlands gave them plenty of room. They were just waiting for the mistake (smart).

I'm also wondering whether Smith has a left foot. She turned down easy crosses from the left, and on her break she took the ball inside as though she wanted to take the shot with her right. We might not have a LW on this team.
 
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outlaw said:
horrible coaching last night - fresh legs could have made the difference I cannot understand why he only used the 1 sub. big questions on the starting XI as well - hopefully we see Rose start over DeMelo here on out. may want to play Ertz in her preferred position - sulli has not been up to speed
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I loved what Demelo gave us. I thought she was fantastic. I want to see her out there more. Maybe not at Lavelle's expense but Demelo is impressing me a lot.
 
With the tie, it means last game vs Portugal and Netherlands’ game with Vietnam will be about who can score the most goals.

Netherlands needs to make up 3 but against Vietnam that shouldn’t be too hard. USA needs to beat Portugal by at least 2, imo, to win the group.
 
upstater said:
I loved what Demelo gave us. I thought she was fantastic. I want to see her out there more. Maybe not at Lavelle's expense but Demelo is impressing me a lot.
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In my uneducated opinion, the team plays better with Lavelle on the pitch. It has been either/or with Demelo and Lavelle so hard to say how well the team would play if both were out there.
 
RSTuthill said:
Well, possession isn't everything. Lots of teams deliberately do not want to possess the ball. But USA was trying to possess the ball and could not. They were in a midfield block and got dominated there.
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I noticed that ESPN changed the possession stat from 40/60 to 44/56. I am a big fan of counter attacking direct play, btw. If you are gonna play possession, you have to do a lot more movement off the ball, a lot less dribbling. And a lot more one touch passing. One thing I noticed is that they seem incapable of changing fields to stretch the defense, and their though service lacks touch. I hope the sharpen up.,
 
RSTuthill said:
I noticed that ESPN changed the possession stat from 40/60 to 44/56. I am a big fan of counter attacking direct play, btw. If you are gonna play possession, you have to do a lot more movement off the ball, a lot less dribbling. And a lot more one touch passing. One thing I noticed is that they seem incapable of changing fields to stretch the defense, and their though service lacks touch. I hope the sharpen up.,
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I'd like to see Ertz defer to Girma since Girma seems more capable of making those through balls and connecting.

But instead we have Girma constantly dropping as Ertz moves up to make plays.

I'd love to see the reverse.

On the other hand, I appreciated Ertz showing some urgency when they needed it.
 
upstater said:
I'd like to see Ertz defer to Girma since Girma seems more capable of making those through balls and connecting.

But instead we have Girma constantly dropping as Ertz moves up to make plays.

I'd love to see the reverse.

On the other hand, I appreciated Ertz showing some urgency when they needed it.
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Ertz had a nice block as well late in the second half.
 
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upstater said:
I'd like to see Ertz defer to Girma since Girma seems more capable of making those through balls and connecting.

But instead we have Girma constantly dropping as Ertz moves up to make plays.

I'd love to see the reverse.

On the other hand, I appreciated Ertz showing some urgency when they needed it.
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Ertz is not a great passer. Sullivan isn't great either, but better then Ertz. However, Ertz is better defensively in the 6 role, covers more ground and just makes things happen. (and is good on corners). Also would let Horan and Lavelle (or Demelo) have more freedom going forward. AND Girma and Cooke are better passers out of the back.

USA are missing quite a few players. Besides a healthy Lavelle, also Swanson, Macario, Sauerbrunn (for leadership if nothing else - and to push Ertz into the ), Sam Mewis, Davidson. Some of them would probably be starters. At least giving the team more depth.

I don't expect them to win the WC. Winning 3 in a row is crazy anyway. But it's fairly wide open this year, sooo anything could happen. But it would surprise me if they even made it to the final.
 
meyers7 said:
Ertz is not a great passer. Sullivan isn't great either, but better then Ertz. However, Ertz is better defensively in the 6 role, covers more ground and just makes things happen. (and is good on corners). Also would let Horan and Lavelle (or Demelo) have more freedom going forward. AND Girma and Cooke are better passers out of the back.

USA are missing quite a few players. Besides a healthy Lavelle, also Swanson, Macario, Sauerbrunn (for leadership if nothing else - and to push Ertz into the ), Sam Mewis, Davidson. Some of them would probably be starters. At least giving the team more depth.

I don't expect them to win the WC. Winning 3 in a row is crazy anyway. But it's fairly wide open this year, sooo anything could happen. But it would surprise me if they even made it to the final.
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Agree with all of this. Vlatko probably saw what he was working with and realized he needed to just go directly over teams to let Sophia Smith and Rodman drive into the box.
 
upstater said:
Agree with all of this. Vlatko probably saw what he was working with and realized he needed to just go directly over teams to let Sophia Smith and Rodman drive into the box.
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Hard to get excited about a team with 6 players not standing or participating in national anthem. Not the place or they time.
 
Fan1978 said:
Hard to get excited about a team with 6 players not standing or participating in national anthem. Not the place or they time.
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It's summer. There's sunshine. Get out there, meet friends, spend less time watching network news in the basement.
 
Fan1978 said:
Hard to get excited about a team with 6 players not standing or participating in national anthem. Not the place or they time.
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They all stood. Some sang, some didn't. Some had their hands over their heart, some didn't. Same thing you see by spectators at any sporting event.
 
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