Purp
Active Member
No doubt. That girl is an impressive athlete. It was fun watching them battle it out. You could tell the French girl hadn't faced anybody who could keep up with her athletically.
2023-2024 European Football Thread
- Thread starter Portland Frog
- Start date
Moose Stuff
Active Member
Welp, that men’s game tonight was abysmal. Better than losing, but still abysmal.
Purp
Active Member
Very ugly. I thought it was even more boring than the last meaningless outing against Panama. Honestly, Curacao surprised the hell out of me. They were excellent in every phase tonight except one. Fortunately, that phase was finishing. They don't have anybody to punish you for bad turnovers.
I thought our back line played well. They probably could have done more to beat the high pressure Curacao brought, but I put that more on the midfield than the back line.
I thought Bradley and Boyd were liabilities tonight. Really poor performances from both guys and they stood out over other blah performances from most of the side. Zardes was a ghost and blew his only chance.
The only guys to look good more than they looked bad were McKennie and Pulisic. Naturally they're the ones who connected on the goal. Steffen also needs mention here. He made a couple key stops. Pretty bad when you're talking about Steffen being one of the best players of the game against Curacao.
Hopefully this is the kick in the rear needed to get focused for Jamaica.
Moose Stuff
Active Member
Agree with everything. Boyd was a big disappointment after the earlier performances. Pulisic/McKennie/Steffen were the only guys that did anything for me. And yes, Curaçao was WAY better than I thought they would be.
TAINTed frog
Active Member
A few things stick out to me about this current squad (I realize it's a pretty young group). To me, guys are way too often looking down at the ball when it comes in to them. They take way too many touches. They are not consistent with keeping their heads up, seeing the field, making runs in to space, and providing competent passing. Obviously this is not all the time, but it's more frequent than it should be.
It's frustrating to watch. It's sloppy, with glimpses here and there of promise.
It's frustrating to watch. It's sloppy, with glimpses here and there of promise.
Purp
Active Member
Agreed. Too many touches can be the right decision sometimes, but too often for these guys it gives time for the defense to get back into position and stifles an opportunity to build an attack. It was a key problem in breaking the high pressure last night, though the lack of a midfielder dropping into a good lane as an outlet was a more egregious problem IMO. That's why I'm so harsh on Bradley last night. He just looked lazy most of the night.
The competent passing was another big issue last night. It seemed like they turned over as many passes as they completed. No way to build an attack when you can't complete passes and it's really difficult to get great chances at goal if your passes are slightly in front of of behind the target causing him to take too much time to get a shot away. I feel like enough guys are making the right runs into the right spaces, but the quality is lacking to get them the ball in stride.
All that said, last night was unusually awful in all of these areas. We've seen much better ability from all of them and I don't think it was driven by the opponent. Most looked lethargic and uninspired. That's different than incapable.
Eight
Member
said it before and will say it again, but i don't see what zardes brings to this squad (other than having played for the coach at columbus) that the us could not be getting from either sargent or weah and at 27 zardes isn't going to get better before the next world cup qualifiers and tournament.
a 19-year old not giving you much, but gaining international experience and exposure is a great deal more acceptable than a 27-year old who struggles with his first touch and really doesn't have any great offensive skills.
bradley really looked old last night and i felt the squad got exposed with no real creative force in the center mid. pulisic was most dangerous out wide when he created space for the cross to the header and he was missing for long stretches duing the game while the ball was out wide and ended up in a horrible pass to no one all too often.
the goal for whatever reason is to try to win a tournament that means exactly what? is the coach trying to prove he is the man for the job getting this team ready to qualify for the wc?
i would be happy with using the time to get some younger players exposure and prepared for the next few years and beyond, but maybe i am out of touch.
a 19-year old not giving you much, but gaining international experience and exposure is a great deal more acceptable than a 27-year old who struggles with his first touch and really doesn't have any great offensive skills.
bradley really looked old last night and i felt the squad got exposed with no real creative force in the center mid. pulisic was most dangerous out wide when he created space for the cross to the header and he was missing for long stretches duing the game while the ball was out wide and ended up in a horrible pass to no one all too often.
the goal for whatever reason is to try to win a tournament that means exactly what? is the coach trying to prove he is the man for the job getting this team ready to qualify for the wc?
i would be happy with using the time to get some younger players exposure and prepared for the next few years and beyond, but maybe i am out of touch.
Moose Stuff
Active Member
2-1 USA over England in 80th minute. Been an interesting one.... no Rapinoe (hurt) and Lavelle left game injured. England had a tying goal disallowed due to offside in the second half. Should be a good finish.
Moose Stuff
Active Member
And England is gifted a very questionable penalty (maybe the right call, real tough to tell).......aaaaand ....saved. Remains 2-1. Wow.
Moose Stuff
Active Member
Not a well taken penalty.
Moose Stuff
Active Member
The US depth is absurd. Lose Rapinoe... Press, lose LaVelle... Mewis, sub out Heath... Lloyd, sub out O’Hara... Krieger.
Moose Stuff
Active Member
US survives.... arguably outplayed but these girls are a gutsy clutch group.
Moose Stuff
Active Member
We need our men to PLAY more like women, not so much coach like one.
Purp
Active Member
Finally watched the game. Great game both ways. Both teams deserved to win and that's what you want to see this deep in a tournament. I thought the US had more quality chances throughout the game, but England had more than enough.
That penalty was brutal, but the correct call. same with the offsides call to negate the goal, though I truly hate that such a play isn't considered even and on. I don't like splitting hairs (actual hairs on a head) to rule a striker offside.
Lavell was terrific and so was Press. O'Hara was also excellent. I thought Heath had an off night and Ertz wasn't as prominent as you'd expect, but that may have more to do with our shape rather than her performance.
Hope the final is just as entertaining.
That penalty was brutal, but the correct call. same with the offsides call to negate the goal, though I truly hate that such a play isn't considered even and on. I don't like splitting hairs (actual hairs on a head) to rule a striker offside.
Lavell was terrific and so was Press. O'Hara was also excellent. I thought Heath had an off night and Ertz wasn't as prominent as you'd expect, but that may have more to do with our shape rather than her performance.
Hope the final is just as entertaining.
Purp
Active Member
Nats off to a great start against Jamaic . Jozy looking fantastic holding the ball up and creating space and opportunity for runners off of him. Pulisic is also outstanding again. McKennie scored early. Everyone is moving well and the ball is moving quickly. Reggae Boys looked shell shocked.
Now they've halted the game for lightning. Bummer bc Jamaica will benefit from this. they were looking at a 3 or 4 nil deficit at half the way things were going.
ETA: Only about 15 minutes in right now and we're a couple inches away from a 3-nil score line. This has been really fun to watch.
Now they've halted the game for lightning. Bummer bc Jamaica will benefit from this. they were looking at a 3 or 4 nil deficit at half the way things were going.
ETA: Only about 15 minutes in right now and we're a couple inches away from a 3-nil score line. This has been really fun to watch.
Moose Stuff
Active Member
And then they restarted the game and we look like hammered [ Finebaum ]. With the exception of Pulisic pretty much every Jamaican is a better athlete than every American and they know it.
Moose Stuff
Active Member
They keep saying Jordan Morris is on the field but I haven’t seen him all night.
Moose Stuff
Active Member
And on cue Jordan Morris creates goal #2.
Moose Stuff
Active Member
Zardes just missed the goal by a solid 20 feet high and 30 feet right from point blank. SMFH that we can’t find guys better than this.
He may be kicking for us next fall.
He may be kicking for us next fall.
