I would have liked to see Girma push the ball through the middle more like she did at Stanford, but I'm not sure there was anyone showing for her up the field. I think having to keep Ertz in the back so much didn't help.
WWC 2023
- Thread starter espola
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I would have liked to see Girma push the ball through the middle more like she did at Stanford, but I'm not sure there was anyone showing for her up the field. I think having to keep Ertz in the back so much didn't help.
Did you scold the others, too? I'll bet not. Thanks for the lecture, though, mommy.
Yes I have. This site went through a whole episode during Covid where every thread became political. That’s why Dominic permanently banned posters and created a different section to talk politics. The rest of us were here for soccer. So, if I stepped on your toes to explain that we (those who have been here prior to Covid) we are over it then okay…
No, you only step on toes of people you disagree with. That's my issue.
I get the rules... I acknowledged as much earlier.
I think the red flags were pretty obvious the last couple of years to anyone that was paying attention. The abysmal showing at the last U20 World Cup stands out in my mind as foreshadowing the future (although IDK that any of those women played in this WC) but the general lack of soccer IQ and tactics was reflective of the whole program.
A number of reasons why this years team failed that have already mentioned, I believe it is mostly programatic, but also issues specific to this team like lack of cohesiveness and focus (reasons for that are subject to debate, I have my own opinions which probably wouldn't be popular). Let's be honest, our US development program is a disaster, again mostly for reasons already stated by others. US Soccer couldn't work its way out of a wet paper bag. Seriously, two world-wide searches for a mens coach and we end up with NepoBro both times? All ask again, what happened to Double Pass revolutionizing US soccer development?
I can't speak for the girls side, but my son played DA and MLS Next for 5 years and the coaching was nothing special, the same old coaches mostly recycled between the clubs. Most can run soccer drills just fine but don't know how to coach youth and couldn't identify talent if Messi landed on top of them. To claim the women would do better with the boys system seems comical to me. Maybe emulate Real Salt Lake or Philly Union, but LAFC and LAG are nothing to write home about, other than attracting some of the best players through affiliation with the MLS. In SoCal, I'd take Strikers over both MLS teams.
It's ultimately a cultural issue, and until the US soccer community understands that soccer is primarily a decision making we're not going anywhere, despite having the most youth playing the sport than any other country. Soccer is not a game that you're taught, so much as it's a game that you learn. Yet you still see most coaches joysticking kids during games, force U8's to play out the back and having kids waiting around in lines or running laps in practice.
A number of reasons why this years team failed that have already mentioned, I believe it is mostly programatic, but also issues specific to this team like lack of cohesiveness and focus (reasons for that are subject to debate, I have my own opinions which probably wouldn't be popular). Let's be honest, our US development program is a disaster, again mostly for reasons already stated by others. US Soccer couldn't work its way out of a wet paper bag. Seriously, two world-wide searches for a mens coach and we end up with NepoBro both times? All ask again, what happened to Double Pass revolutionizing US soccer development?
I can't speak for the girls side, but my son played DA and MLS Next for 5 years and the coaching was nothing special, the same old coaches mostly recycled between the clubs. Most can run soccer drills just fine but don't know how to coach youth and couldn't identify talent if Messi landed on top of them. To claim the women would do better with the boys system seems comical to me. Maybe emulate Real Salt Lake or Philly Union, but LAFC and LAG are nothing to write home about, other than attracting some of the best players through affiliation with the MLS. In SoCal, I'd take Strikers over both MLS teams.
It's ultimately a cultural issue, and until the US soccer community understands that soccer is primarily a decision making we're not going anywhere, despite having the most youth playing the sport than any other country. Soccer is not a game that you're taught, so much as it's a game that you learn. Yet you still see most coaches joysticking kids during games, force U8's to play out the back and having kids waiting around in lines or running laps in practice.
Yup..she's taking a lot of heat online for that. I don't know what she's happy about. She was the last person I expected to miss a KFTM.
She went in to replace Morgan. My guess is to send her off for her last game on the field instead of the bench. Did them no good.
I wonder if the US was winning if she would've still been subbed in.
A lesser keeper would've lead to goals given up and the US winning. Look at the actual shootout. She didn't save one. But then again the US did the work for her by not converting. Naeher saved 1 plus almost saved a second. She had a few saves in the game but nothing like Sweden's keeper as far as performance during the game. And the GK can try and direct the team all they want..the field players listening and performing doesn't always go as planned.
As far as them missing 3x because they felt the keeper knew where their shots were going..they said Sweden's GK had the info on her water bottle, and Naeher had her info on her towel.
**It sounded like there were a lot of people booing every time it was the US's turn to take a kick.
The main benefit of the academies is the amount of practice time and touches on the ball players get. School becomes secondary which you can’t say with run of the mill mls next teams certain ones like strikers and img excepted
I agree the main issue is cultural. As I mentioned our u20 boys academy teams are hanging in and beating the European academies. The European teams though don’t go to pieces because they lost. I remember watching a u12 game where Manchester United was beaten by tfa: tfa played very directly and did counteroffensives and breakaways off the Manchester mistakes. The Manchester team made mistakes because they were told to develop the possession game even when they were losing
you can only learn if you are allowed to make mistakes. But because soccer is such a tight game where a victory can be the difference of 1 goal allowing players to make mistakes means losing. And losing has serious consequences especially if the system has pro/rel at stake: it’s real money on the table as all the letter league drama shows: it can make the difference in the club being included in mls next or being locked out. it’s why coaches joystick: players have to be told what to do or they’ll make a mistake and lose. If winning isn’t what’s important then there is absolutely zero excuse for example of not having your goalkeepers take their goalkicks when they are young: they need to learn to do it.
europe isn’t all everyone gets an ayso trophy either. The academies are ruthless to players and absolutely ruthlessly cut them leaving them with few prospects except going to colleges in the us to play soccer because they are off the academic track. The difference is they evaluate the development (technical, tactical, physical, mental) of the individual player instead of the wins/losses of the teams. The staff is evaluated not by the record of the teams they coach but the number of players they develop for transfer and sale.
Dom did good by permanently banning asshats during Covid and adding "The Kitchen." The last three+ years has been insane and very, very political. I had no idea how political soccer can be. I must say I have been guilty of playing politics on these threads at times over the years and for that I sorry. Look what Trump just said. Trump, who is running for a White House return in the 2024 election if you didn't know, wrote on his own TruthSocial website that the loss was "fully emblematic of what is happening to our once great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden. Many of our players were openly hostile to America - No other country behaved in such a manner, or even close. Woke equals failure," DJT
I watched all the highlights of all the games and one thing I saw with the USA was tiredness, fatigue and lack of excitement or as I used to say, "no ganas." I would have started Thompson one of the games to see what she could muster.
Oh…look who’s back yet again…….
I like Ellejustus avatar the best. EJ is the real deal. Crush was 100% my alter ego and the Chip on my shoulder. I'm just happy to be alive and I mean that. I promise EJ will just be visiting from time to time. Peace to you and Lastman
Yep the keeper's job is to be where shots will go cutting off angles etc. Sweden's keeper was in the center of the box or side bar for most saves. Position 1 and 2 taught to goalkeepers very early on and positioning taught to field players to learn to work around.
Sweden's goalkeeper has awesome reflex but there were no grounders that required her to use that reflex because there was no power behind them. PKs are another beast that I wasn't referring to.
I woke up early enough to watch the England-Nigeria game to see the tail end of the replay of the USA-Sweden game. I started counting USA shots at the keeper or within a step of her position. I got to 6 and stopped counting in disgust. Espola's coaching rule #3 -- play as if you have a teammate at the far post.
Right?! One of the worst is the one save the keeper was out of the box and dove to save there was no US player to slam it in the empty net while the keeper was on the ground.
England 0-0 (4-2) Nigeria
Nigeria played a pretty even game with England until the post-game kicks started. England lost arguably their best player when James was red-carded because of a violent retaliation, stomping on her prone opponent.
www.foxsports.com
Nigeria played a pretty even game with England until the post-game kicks started. England lost arguably their best player when James was red-carded because of a violent retaliation, stomping on her prone opponent.
England vs. Nigeria Highlights | 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup | Round of 16 | FOX Sports
England and Nigeria played in the Round of 16 as both teams look to continue its 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup campaign. Check out the top moments and highlights here!
www.foxsports.com
Australia 2-0 Denmark
Denmark played even with Australia except on the goal-scoring line.
www.foxsports.com
Denmark played even with Australia except on the goal-scoring line.
Australia vs. Denmark Highlights | 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup | Round of 16 | FOX Sports
Australia and Denmark faced off looking to keep its 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup hopes alive. Check out the top moments and highlights here!
www.foxsports.com
Saw this just now. Especially the portion about the future of US Soccer.
USWNT World Cup post-mortem: Examining the reasons the defending champs fell short
The end of the U.S. team's World Cup dominance came as a shock, but in other ways this early exit has been a long time coming. Here are the many factors that contributed to their demise in 2023.
Unless you are going to employ an army of scouts across a country as large as the US (think of how many scouts you would need just to cover the best of the best surf cup games), it's awfully hard to identify talent without having politics (such as what goes into identifying all star teams) infect it. The academy system is thus a useful proxy. Those interested in putting soccer before school (as in Europe) self-select so you don't have to sift through the entirety of ECNL (not to mention the other ran letter league). Yes, academy selection can also be subject to politics and corruption but given the constant competition year over year, it's very hard for the marginal players to hide and the goats rise to the top. Finance becomes less of a concern so you don't discriminate by resources and because of the practice schedule, the private training advantage is levelled. The top athletes are there easily pooled for national team scouts to review. Since there's no rel and since the instructors are judged on player development, the distortions that come from a win at all costs system are lessened. Top talent forged by playing top talent.Saw this just now. Especially the portion about the future of US Soccer.
USWNT World Cup post-mortem: Examining the reasons the defending champs fell short
The end of the U.S. team's World Cup dominance came as a shock, but in other ways this early exit has been a long time coming. Here are the many factors that contributed to their demise in 2023.www.espn.com
whatithink
GOLD
My take on the article, fwiwSaw this just now. Especially the portion about the future of US Soccer.
USWNT World Cup post-mortem: Examining the reasons the defending champs fell short
The end of the U.S. team's World Cup dominance came as a shock, but in other ways this early exit has been a long time coming. Here are the many factors that contributed to their demise in 2023.
The USWNT had too many injuries
Every team did. It's the coach's job to plan for these eventualities and to use the time preparing for tournaments to build and practice for them. Its a coach fail for me on this.
Andonovski picked the wrong roster and lineups
I read somewhere recently that in the run up to the 2019 world cup, everything was planned meticulously, and ready to be implemented 3-4 months prior to the tournament. Even then, changes were enforced, but alternatives stepped up. That clearly didn't happen here. Nigeria just ran England all the way to PKs, based on a plan and player execution - coach fail again for me on this, but players on the USWNT need to step up too.
Poor in-game management from Andonovski
Sure, again no strategy, pathetic really.
The youth pipeline isn't producing the right players
The USWNT age is spread from late teens through early thirties. The youth teams need to be producing 2-3 players a year, on average. They don't need replace the team wholesale, they never have or will. This is a lazy excuse to me. US soccer runs those teams, can identify the talent and should nurture it. I do agree with the comment in the article which, to me, shows that its probably not a player problem, its a scouting/coaching problem.
"You also have to question the role of scouting when it comes to which players break through. Injured forward Swanson, a player known for her pace and athleticism, first caught the attention of the youth national team at 13. Rose Lavelle -- arguably the most creative player the USWNT has other than the injured Macario -- didn't earn her first youth call-up until she was almost 18."
USWNT lacked chemistry and couldn't finish
Sure, they couldn't finish. They have become over reliant on one player and when not available lack alternatives. Slightly better finishing and they would still be in the tournament and be among the favs to win it.
The USWNT was too overconfident
BS to an extent I'm sure, but the ad they made pre-tournament was pretty cringe I thought and definitely came across as super arrogant.
The team was caught between two generations
BS, every team is between generations with a spread of players. It's the coach's job to manage transitions and be ruthless in bringing players in and out.
The global gap has closed
Doh!
A general comment, and I have no knowledge on this, but does the central contracting for players on USWNT have an impact on the coach's ability to be ruthless in adding / dropping players? Say a coach decides to remove 50% of the players and replace them, how does that impact on their contracts / pay?
All in all, I'd say a better coach and the USWNT is right in the mix. They also need to clear out a large number of players and transition in new ones. This should start now with a view to a run at the Olympics (experience mostly), but as a build for the next WC.
I think you are right. The issue is the "win at all costs" attitude that permeates the pay to play system. Need to be ranked higher so we get the best players so we keep making the money. Especially at ECNL what is prized? Size, Speed, Athleticism and if you lose you are on the bench. The line "The young players who made this World Cup roster -- the likes of Smith and Rodman -- are potent, but one-dimensional, forwards." This is ECNL in a nutshell. We create clones that play only one way and have holes in their game if taken out of their given context. Creativity takes time and failure to be developed. In the cutthroat world of Pay to Play soccer not many players aren't willing to take the risks associated for it to take hold. You try things and they don't work your risk your spot but to be creative you will fail repeatedly until you master it. When you get players at 12 or 13 and pressure them to win, and make them feel infinitely replaceable that does not fuel development. I know the DA program was deemed a failure but... what we have now isn't working either.