Everything Soccer

[NorthDakota]

I'm assuming they will either win 4-1 or lose 2-1

 

[Rogue219]

I'm assuming they will either win 4-1 or lose 2-1

 

[Rogue219]

Having watched that match yesterday, even with Horan on the bench, was the midfield really a problem as it was without her? Horan is sitting on a yellow card, though I find that to be a silly reason to sit her in a knockout match. It was a strange choice, but it kind of worked, didn't it?

With the amount of expectations and criticism being thrown at Coach Ellis, I hope our women win this thing and she steps down. Fuck it. Go out on top and let the haters hate on.

 

[IrishFaninTX]

I will admit, I am not a huge fan of womens soccer, but i have watched the last two games of the USWNT. Im going to have to agree with you Lax. She is surely benefiting from clearly having more talent and athleticism.

Aside from that, from what I have seen, Rapinoe has looked AWFUL to me. An absolute mess with the ball at her feet. Yes she works hard, but her decision making is terrible. Alex Morgan, ehhh.... really haven't seen much AT ALL from her either. There are deff some super good athletes on this team, that seem to be covering for others in the line up, as well as covering for some tactical issues

As I said, I havent watched much Womens International (I should, as i Coach girls soccer haha), but i hear France is quite good, and i know they beat US recently. Hope the best for the girls though! If not, im with IrishFaninTX, FORZA AZZURRI !!!!!!!!

France hasn't looked all that good this tournament, though. Brazil gave them a game and Brazil is not what they used to be. Norway and Italy have impressed me more than the expected favorites.

This is definitely not the best US team I've seen but they still have better players than 99% of the teams in the tournament. My daughter is a goalkeeper and been playing since she was 3 (over 12 years) so I have become pretty knowledgeable about the game and LAX is 100% correct. She didn't make good use of her subs yesterday which I think might bite them on Friday. Rapinoe is very good with the ball at her feet and serving the ball but she is not a great striker. She has no finesse. I actually expected her to sky the ball during that first PK. Lloyd usually takes them so I was nervous when she did. I would have rather seen Tobin or Rose take it. But to her credit, she struck both perfectly. Now if she could do that in the run of play, I'd feel better about our chances Friday.

 

[IrishFaninTX]

Having watched that match yesterday, even with Horan on the bench, was the midfield really a problem as it was without her? Horan is sitting on a yellow card, though I find that to be a silly reason to sit her in a knockout match. It was a strange choice, but it kind of worked, didn't it?

With the amount of expectations and criticism being thrown at Coach Ellis, I hope our women win this thing and she steps down. Fuck it. Go out on top and let the haters hate on.

That's what I'm saying. The US has almost an embarrassment of riches in their 1st and 2nd team for both forward and MF. You have Mewis who played probably her best game in a long time, Ertz who will not sit unless injured, Horan, Levell, and Bryan. Not really a weak player in that group. And Rose can play out wide, too, and Ertz can drop back on defense. Then you have Morgan, Rapinoe, Heath, Press, Pugh, and Lloyd. What team has that kind of fire power to sub in? The subs would be starters on most teams if not all teams. To lose the WC, to me, will come down to poor coaching because no team is stacked from top to bottom. Goalkeeper might be the only weak link and I cannot imagine they can't find someone better than Naehger.

 

[Old Man Mike]

USWNT: we have four superior midfielders for three positions. I have been vocal that I believe that Ellis is a VERY slow learner(almost a trial-and-error player selector), but no one can easily fit these four onto the field comfortably.

Rose Lavelle is far and away the best attacking play-maker --- our "10". Julie Ertz is the best defensive midfielder in the world and almost our only really physical tough bash-around-bravely person --- our "6". That leaves Horan and Mewis (two fairly similar players) for the other midfielder. Horan was the starter, got dinged, Mewis came in and starred.

The only way that I can see getting all four on the field would be to ask Julie to go back to centerback and pair with her old buddy Becky Sauerbrunn or the new phenom long-distance passer, Abby Dahlkamper. ... or tinker at the last minute with the dreaded three-in-the-back formation, sacrificing either OHara or Dunn. Ellis' catastrophic experiment with that resulted in horror shows due to her being so stupid that she wouldn't put Sauerbrunn in the middle to direct things using the incredibly incompetent Ally Long in that role --- commentators were stunned at this coaching stupidity), and didn't yet have a clue that Ertz even should start (double-incredible.) Now this option is WAY too late. So either Horan or Mewis must sit, unless Lavelle or Ertz are dinged. Neither Horan nor Mewis is a true replacement for either Ertz (especially) or Lavelle (we might get away with Mewis there, but ....)

Our front three are the best trio around and every commentator knows it. They didn't function for multi-goals vs Spain because:

A. This is soccer. There are plenty of games where you just can't get many goals (even if you're Liverpool.)

B. Spain is good; even rather thuggish on the back line. Their captain was thugging Alex all day and only finally got called near the end. Ally Wagner was stunned that the ref took so long. Both wingbacks for Spain were fast and dedicated to being physical and almost entirely focused on Rapinoe and Heath. The ref was also messed up there. Rapinoe once turned to the opponent and laughed at her for her faking being knocked down, but the ref went with the opponent so that "European" style of thug and cry worked. (by the way, anyone griping about Rapinoe hasn't watched her much. She has been probably the best player in the world this year. She hustled over 8kilometers in that match I believe. It is VERY difficult to decide not to have her on the pitch as long as she can walk.)

This team's problems are entirely deep defense. Sauerbrunn and Dahlkamper are pretty good as long as you don't ask ridiculous things out of them. Becky is just too old in the legs to sprint back with every blazer the opponents have and Abby needs Becky's wisdom to help guide her. But they are not the problem. The problems are:

A. Ellis wants to score score score. So she puts two wings back there who are asked to act almost like forwards every play. Both OHara and Dunn have great motors, but the insistence that they go all out line to line AND be offensive players by nature, means that they will sometimes get caught out which puts more pressure on Becky and Abby. Crystal gets caught out less than Kelly because Crystal is both blazing fast and stronger. Kelly is a good offensive player, without doubt, but a mediocre (I'm being generous) defensive player.

B. Even with what is almost planned mediocrity at wingback defense, we would still be shutting out everyone due to really good centerback play and great Ertzian defensive mid play. BUT then there's goalie. Yow ... just yow. The indecisiveness which occurs there, maybe HALF the time or more, is just ... yow. And athleticism ... yow. I feel like I'm watching Brad Guzan on a slow day ... and without physical bravery.

This is a really really good team. Unfortunately, there are about seven other teams in the world which are really good too. This is going to be painful if they don't win through. Ellis IS a real problem, but the great players mainly rose to the top despite her (McCall Zerboni and Kasey Short should be on this team as defensive subs --- McCall is the only true number 6 play destroyer we have to back up Julie, and Kasey would give us a strong and fast defender on the back wing if we had to ice a game or take out a wide threat.) We have NO competent goal-keeper that I have seen --- rather astonishing given the wealth of players playing here. If we have an off day by referee or by luck scoring, then this mediocrity at the back will beat us, despite Julie, Becky, and Abby.

 

[IrishFaninTX]

USWNT: we have four superior midfielders for three positions. I have been vocal that I believe that Ellis is a VERY slow learner(almost a trial-and-error player selector), but no one can easily fit these four onto the field comfortably.

Rose Lavelle is far and away the best attacking play-maker --- our "10". Julie Ertz is the best defensive midfielder in the world and almost our only really physical tough bash-around-bravely person --- our "6". That leaves Horan and Mewis (two fairly similar players) for the other midfielder. Horan was the starter, got dinged, Mewis came in and starred.

The only way that I can see getting all four on the field would be to ask Julie to go back to centerback and pair with her old buddy Becky Sauerbrunn or the new phenom long-distance passer, Abby Dahlkamper. ... or tinker at the last minute with the dreaded three-in-the-back formation, sacrificing either OHara or Dunn. Ellis' catastrophic experiment with that resulted in horror shows due to her being so stupid that she wouldn't put Sauerbrunn in the middle to direct things using the incredibly incompetent Ally Long in that role --- commentators were stunned at this coaching stupidity), and didn't yet have a clue that Ertz even should start (double-incredible.) Now this option is WAY too late. So either Horan or Mewis must sit, unless Lavelle or Ertz are dinged. Neither Horan nor Mewis is a true replacement for either Ertz (especially) or Lavelle (we might get away with Mewis there, but ....)

Our front three are the best trio around and every commentator knows it. They didn't function for multi-goals vs Spain because:

A. This is soccer. There are plenty of games where you just can't get many goals (even if you're Liverpool.)

B. Spain is good; even rather thuggish on the back line. Their captain was thugging Alex all day and only finally got called near the end. Ally Wagner was stunned that the ref took so long. Both wingbacks for Spain were fast and dedicated to being physical and almost entirely focused on Rapinoe and Heath. The ref was also messed up there. Rapinoe once turned to the opponent and laughed at her for her faking being knocked down, but the ref went with the opponent so that "European" style of thug and cry worked. (by the way, anyone griping about Rapinoe hasn't watched her much. She has been probably the best player in the world this year. She hustled over 8kilometers in that match I believe. It is VERY difficult to decide not to have her on the pitch as long as she can walk.)

This team's problems are entirely deep defense. Sauerbrunn and Dahlkamper are pretty good as long as you don't ask ridiculous things out of them. Becky is just too old in the legs to sprint back with every blazer the opponents have and Abby needs Becky's wisdom to help guide her. But they are not the problem. The problems are:

A. Ellis wants to score score score. So she puts two wings back there who are asked to act almost like forwards every play. Both OHara and Dunn have great motors, but the insistence that they go all out line to line AND be offensive players by nature, means that they will sometimes get caught out which puts more pressure on Becky and Abby. Crystal gets caught out less than Kelly because Crystal is both blazing fast and stronger. Kelly is a good offensive player, without doubt, but a mediocre (I'm being generous) defensive player.

B. Even with what is almost planned mediocrity at wingback defense, we would still be shutting out everyone due to really good centerback play and great Ertzian defensive mid play. BUT then there's goalie. Yow ... just yow. The indecisiveness which occurs there, maybe HALF the time or more, is just ... yow. And athleticism ... yow. I feel like I'm watching Brad Guzan on a slow day ... and without physical bravery.

This is a really really good team. Unfortunately, there are about seven other teams in the world which are really good too. This is going to be painful if they don't win through. Ellis IS a real problem, but the great players mainly rose to the top despite her (McCall Zerboni and Kasey Short should be on this team as defensive subs --- McCall is the only true number 6 play destroyer we have to back up Julie, and Kasey would give us a strong and fast defender on the back wing if we had to ice a game or take out a wide threat.) We have NO competent goal-keeper that I have seen --- rather astonishing given the wealth of players playing here. If we have an off day by referee or by luck scoring, then this mediocrity at the back will beat us, despite Julie, Becky, and Abby.

I actually would love to move Ertz back to defense. She plays very well as a MF so it's not her play that I don't like but it's like you said, you can't get all the great players on the pitch at the same time. If take Dunn of that back line, don't like her on defense, and rotate her in on offense again. I like Ohara so I wouldn't take her out.

I don't think Rapinoe has played bad but her shooting is the problem. She used to be a great striker but she has lost that finesse. But I think she's been possessing and serving just as good as she always has so you leave her on the pitch for those reasons alone

 

[Old Man Mike]

Simply moving Julie to defense isn't a plan. Her expertise back there is as a centerback not a wing. Abby and Becky are also centerbacks not wings. So one of them would have to go, not Crystal or Kelly. ... unless some very unwise late three in the back tinkering (without practicing it) would be risked.

 

[IrishFaninTX]

Simply moving Julie to defense isn't a plan. Her expertise back there is as a centerback not a wing. Abby and Becky are also centerbacks not wings. So one of them would have to go, not Crystal or Kelly. ... unless some very unwise late three in the back tinkering (without practicing it) would be risked.

But do you think Abby provides more to the team than getting all 4 of Horan, Ertz, Leavell, and Mewis on the field at the same time? Do we know that Abby couldn't play an outside back role? I never thought Dunn would be on defense and it hasn't been terrible so I'm sure there are other positions Abby could play.

I think Becky will likely retire after this WC or the Olympics so they may ebbs up moving Ertz down the road.

 

[Rogue219]

If they get rid of Ellis, who is the best viable replacement?

 

[ACamp1900]

If they get rid of Ellis, who is the best viable replacement?

Klinsmann

 

[GowerND11]

Klinsmann

You know... That isn't bad at all. Maybe this is romanticizing the past a bit, but I always did like what he did with the USMNT. I think the team was screwed in general for the last cycle due to what has been discussed here and that lack of talent in the next wave of players. He would add something for the women possibly.

 

[GowerND11]

Relevant:

https://www.sbnation.com/soccer/201...-france-2019-fifa-womens-world-cup-jill-ellis

 

[ACamp1900]

You know... That isn't bad at all. Maybe this is romanticizing the past a bit, but I always did like what he did with the USMNT. I think the team was screwed in general for the last cycle due to what has been discussed here and that lack of talent in the next wave of players. He would add something for the women possibly.

We seem to have either a preference for internationals for the sake of, or a domestic heavy approach... for me, a nice mix of the best players regardless of where they play would be good. That was one thing I took from Klinsmann's time more than anything, feels like we are sliding the opposite way now a bit but it may be too early to judge that fairly.

 

[GowerND11]

We seem to have either a preference for international players for the sake of or a domestic heavy approach... for me, a nice mix of the best players regardless of where they play would be good. That was one thing I took from Klinsmann's time more than anything, feels like we are sliding the opposite way now a bit but it may be too early to judge that fairly.

I can agree with that. I do also remember players making moves to European clubs during that time, only to see no or little playing time stunting development for the national team.

 

[fightingirish26]

We seem to have either a preference for internationals for the sake of, or a domestic heavy approach... for me, a nice mix of the best players regardless of where they play would be good. That was one thing I took from Klinsmann's time more than anything, feels like we are sliding the opposite way now a bit but it may be too early to judge that fairly.

So you liked Klinsmann's approach of playing half the roster out of position?

 

[Rogue219]

Klinsmann said a lot of things that needed to be said that most didn't want to hear. Especially as it relates to how expensive playing club soccer in the United States is for kids and development thereof.

That said, I don't know that's the direction I'd want the USWNT to take next.

Getting Erica Dambach out of Penn State would be a win win. She has top level experience and she'd get to leave Happy Valley. Happy Valley...gross.

 

[ACamp1900]

So you liked Klinsmann's approach of playing half the roster out of position?

haha, that was not what I meant by "regardless of where they play..." but nicely done....

 

[fightingirish26]

haha, that was not what I meant by "regardless of where they play..." but nicely done....

haha i've been staring at the post for like 10 minutes and i finally got what you meant. whoooosh.

 

[ACamp1900]

haha i've been staring at the post for like 10 minutes and i finally got what you meant. whoooosh.

I'm a graduate from the ACamp school for acamps who don't post good... the real one, not the one for ants.

 

[notredomer23]

So you liked Klinsmann's approach of playing half the roster out of position?

You can insert Berhalter there for Klinsmann and this statement would still be true.

 

[NDMIA]

You can insert Berhalter there for Klinsmann and this statement would still be true.

At a certain point, talent demands that. There are 4-5 players usually on the US team who have a huge talent gap with the other guys in the player pool. In some instances you have to find ways to get them on the field even if they play out of position because the player out of position is still better than the 2nd best guy at his main position. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and seems to be a silly move but I think that it’s a thing that has to happen sometimes for the USMNT. Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Christian Pulisic, DeAndre Yedlin, John Anthony Brooks, and Zack Steffen have to play if they’re healthy. Right now with Michael Bradley still playing solid they had too many MF for 3 spots so Tyler Adams was pushed to his second best position of RB. However, when healthy they should have Yedlin at RB as long as he’s a premier league RB. Adams and McKennie should have the keys to midfield and the discussion shouldn’t be about Berhalter trying to find guys to fit his system but instead finding a system that best fits his top 5-6 guys. The bottom line is the US should play something like this

GK Zack Steffen (27)
LB
CB John Anthony Brooks (29)
CB Walker Zimmerman (27)/Matt Miazga (27)
RB DeAndre Yedlin (29)
CM Weston Mckennie (24)
CM Tyler Adams (23)
CM Christian Pulisic (24)
LW Paul Arriola (27)
ST Timothy Weah (22)/Josh Sargent (22)/Jozy Altidore (33)
RW Tyler Boyd (28)

In this lineup, the only guy playing out of position would be Christian Pulisic but once again that’s out of necessity. Probably the 3 best midfielders in the player pool might be McKennie, Adams and Roldan (once Bradley ages out) but their all more defensive and not enough attacking. If USA can get an attacking minded midfielder to develop into a legit star or is good enough then they could move Pulisic to his proper right wing position. Until then though, they’ve got no attack in their midfield without Pulisic there. For striker I am confident that one of the two European youngsters will develop overseas over the next 3.5 years. Altidore may still have legs for the 2022 World Cup but he’ll be 33 and that’s difficult to maintain. LB remains wide open and that’s where you’ve got a bunch of potential MLS guys (Lovitz, Garza, Sweat) and one young European (Antonee Robinson) who needs to keep developing. In an ideal world, you’ve got a European starter in Robinson who’s played 4+ years of European soccer at LB, but he’s not there yet and he’s gotta make the right selections as far as teams over the next season or two in order to properly develop.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Actually, I believe that Pulisic wants to play "10". I heard an awkward interview wherein he tried to spin around that but it seemed to me ended saying that he liked that spot with the USMNT.

 

[NDMIA]

Actually, I believe that Pulisic wants to play "10". I heard an awkward interview wherein he tried to spin around that but it seemed to me ended saying that he liked that spot with the USMNT.

I think especially against CONCACAF, Pulisic is better served when he’s touching the ball as much as possible. One of his best qualities, taking on defenders, is diminished slightly but he could still overlap with a RW or something in the tactics so that he could split out wide when needed.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Whole-heartedly agree to all of that. Pulisic needs to be "central" to whatever we're doing and on a rather loose creative-enhancing leash.

 

[NorthDakota]

Pulisic is our David Alaba. When you have a guy like that you make it work.

 

[Irish YJ]

Finally on the board at 67..
Altidore says "I'm back" with a bicycle kick goal.

 

[ACamp1900]

Locomotive were on national television tonight but were eh,... still unbeaten on the road tho. Great TV night between that, GC and Angels baseball,... needed three TVs

 

[Irish YJ]

Not an impressive win, but a win. I think we'll see Panama again before it's all over.
Staring to think we might be able to win this thing.

 

[notredomer23]

No one really impressed me outside of Reggie Cannon who was excellent, it’s a shame he can’t play LB.

Djordie M. was excellent in flashes and in other moments looked out of place.

Jonathan Lewis is excellent until he has to deliver the final ball.

ACamp’s boy Omar doesn’t have the pace or quickness for the international game anymore.