US Women’s National Team… Back?

patdog

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They've had an easy draw so far. Germany still ranked in top 5, but didn't even get out of group stage in the World Cup last year and lost their best player to ACL a month ago. They looked awful against Japan, and sounds like today wasn't much better. Spain will beat them 2-0. Still, much improved over anything we've seen from them the last 5 years. On the road back with a good coach. But still inexperienced young talent and a few older players who need to be phased out (quickly).
 
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Dawgg

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They've had an easy draw so far. Germany still ranked in top 5, but didn't even get out of group stage in the World Cup last year and lost their best player to ACL a month ago. They looked awful against Japan, and sounds like today wasn't much better. Spain will beat them 2-0. Still, much improved over anything we've seen from them the last 5 years. On the road back with a good coach. But still inexperienced young talent and a few older players who need to be phased out (quickly).
I dunno… Spain still has to beat Brazil today and they were extremely lucky to beat Colombia a few days ago.
 

patdog

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I dunno… Spain still has to beat Brazil today and they were extremely lucky to beat Colombia a few days ago.
They were lucky to be Colombia, which is actually a legitimately strong team the our midfielder Ilana Izquierdo gets playing time for. But Spain is indisputably the best women's team in the world. Won the World Cup last year and Barcelona has won 3 of the last 4 Champions Leagues. In FIFA womens rankings, the gap between #1 Spain and #2 France is bigger than the gap between #2 and #7.

And, Brazil scores first. May be a charmed path to a gold medal for USA.
 
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Dawgg

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They were lucky to be Colombia, which is actually a legitimately strong team the our midfielder Ilana Izquierdo gets playing time for. But Spain is indisputably the best women's team in the world. Won the World Cup last year and Barcelona has won 3 of the last 4 Champions Leagues. In FIFA womens rankings, the gap between #1 Spain and #2 France is bigger than the gap between #2 and #7.

And, Brazil scores first. May be a charmed path to a gold medal for USA.
4-1 Brazil and time is expiring. Germany gets a garbage time goal to make it 4-2.

The "indisputably best women's team in the world" will be playing Germany for Bronze.
 
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patdog

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4-1 Brazil and time is expiring. Germany gets a garbage time goal to make it 4-2.

The "indisputably best women's team in the world" will be playing Germany for Bronze.
Apparently a pretty crazy game. Brazil scored 4 goals on only 23% possession. We got a real good draw for the finals. And a much needed 3 days off. I think USA wins the gold. And the future is looking a lot better than it was just 6 months ago.
 

BulldogBlitz

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Apparently a pretty crazy game. Brazil scored 4 goals on only 23% possession. We got a real good draw for the finals. And a much needed 3 days off. I think USA wins the gold. And the future is looking a lot better than it was just 6 months ago.
Would you go out on a limb and suggest that this team would beat the 92 dream team by 30?**
 

patdog

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A good coach and good players make a difference. Now pick a good coach for the men's team.
Hard to convince good coaches to work with the train wreck that the US Soccer federation is. I’m still shocked Emma Hayes took the job. At this point, I’m hoping for Herve Reynard (although France women have somewhat underperformed under him, but that history goes way back before he was hired) or Steve Churundelo.
 

Dawgg

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A good coach and good players make a difference. Now pick a good coach for the men's team.
To me, this looks like a totally different team than the Women’s World Cup. Swanson has made a world of difference. The only real issue I’ve seen is when teams really lock down on defense like Japan and Germany, they struggle some. That being said, Rodman, Smith, & Swanson had their chances throughout both games. I think Korbin Albert (no, I don’t give a sнit about her politics) has been a good addition too.
 

mcdawg22

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Hard to convince good coaches to work with the train wreck that the US Soccer federation is. I’m still shocked Emma Hayes took the job. At this point, I’m hoping for Herve Reynard (although France women have somewhat underperformed under him, but that history goes way back before he was hired) or Steve Churundelo.
Probably because coaches care mostly about players and there are a lot of talented young players.
 
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Irondawg

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Remember they are playing a lot more games in a shorten time than usual so seeing a lot of dead legs from a lot of teams. Brazil subs more than most and looked a step faster all game.

For the US, Horan isn’t playing well right now and the whole middle is struggling but finding ways to win and that’s all that matters
 
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patdog

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Remember they are playing a lot more games in a shorten time than usual so seeing a lot of dead legs from a lot of teams. Brazil subs more than most and looked a step faster all game.

For the US, Horan isn’t playing well right now and the whole middle is struggling but finding ways to win and that’s all that matters
The schedule is ridiculous. They're squeezing a month-long tournament into 2-1/2 weeks. Horan has just never been a particularly good player. She's way too slow for the pace of the game. Only thing she really brings is a strong presence in the box with headers. But with the 3 young forwards, we don't play that style anymore, so she's basically useless. Need to start both Coffey and Albert and leave her on the bench.
 

patdog

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To me, this looks like a totally different team than the Women’s World Cup. Swanson has made a world of difference. The only real issue I’ve seen is when teams really lock down on defense like Japan and Germany, they struggle some. That being said, Rodman, Smith, & Swanson had their chances throughout both games. I think Korbin Albert (no, I don’t give a sнit about her politics) has been a good addition too.
It is a very different team. Swanson would have made a big difference at the World Cup last year if she wasn't injured. And if Catarina Macario can ever get back to 100% (huge question if she ever will), she'll be the best player the USA has ever had. And you're right, Albert needs to start.
 

Irondawg

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The schedule is ridiculous. They're squeezing a month-long tournament into 2-1/2 weeks. Horan has just never been a particularly good player. She's way too slow for the pace of the game. Only thing she really brings is a strong presence in the box with headers. But with the 3 young forwards, we don't play that style anymore, so she's basically useless. Need to start both Coffey and Albert and leave her on the bench.
I love Shaw - unfortunate small injury the last session before Olympic Games but if she can play the final it’s a huge boost. She’s going to be a star
 
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Dawgg

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The schedule is ridiculous. They're squeezing a month-long tournament into 2-1/2 weeks. Horan has just never been a particularly good player. She's way too slow for the pace of the game. Only thing she really brings is a strong presence in the box with headers. But with the 3 young forwards, we don't play that style anymore, so she's basically useless. Need to start both Coffey and Albert and leave her on the bench.
Julie Foudy ranted about it pretty strongly during the US-Germany game today. Her point was that the games being so close together was a health & safety issue, as well as the travel between locations. The USWNT played 5 games in 4 different locations over the past 13 days. It’s 124 miles from Nice to Marseilles, 500 miles from Marseilles to Paris, and 300 miles from Paris to Lyon. The team made all of those trips and will travel 300 miles from Lyon back to Paris for the gold medal game.
 
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patdog

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so a single narcissist cancer cant affect a teams performance?
Give it a rest. The resurgence has nothing to do with that and everything to do with a new younger generation of players maturing and hiring one of the best coaches in the world. Strange thing about the tournament, we'll probably see more about how far along this team is when it plays a friendly at England this fall that we'll see from any of the Olympic games.
 

Podgy

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Hard to convince good coaches to work with the train wreck that the US Soccer federation is. I’m still shocked Emma Hayes took the job. At this point, I’m hoping for Herve Reynard (although France women have somewhat underperformed under him, but that history goes way back before he was hired) or Steve Churundelo.
I would not be surprised if it's some MLS guy. Make either Henry or Reynard say no first.
 

patdog

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I would not be surprised if it's some MLS guy. Make either Henry or Reynard say no first.
Not sure I get the fascination with Henry. Legendary player but his managerial record is pretty bad. Not really a fan of his, but Gareth Southgate is unemployed. He's failed to live up to England's expectations, but he's done as well or better than any manager they've had in the last 50 years. Probably worth checking to see if he's interested. He'd be as good as or better then any candidate we're likely to get to take the job.
 
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Dawgg

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Interesting about the winning goal. The pass was intended for Sophia Smith, who was offside. Swanson knew it & yelled for Smith to get outside & leave the ball for her. BTW, the Canadian announcers are 1,000 times better than Julie freaking Foudy. She’s an idiot.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/mon...in-olympic-womens-gold-medal-game/vi-AA1ozXhb
Sometimes I like the Telemundo feed. It’s a lot more exciting. I actually watched most of the Women’s World Cup that way since I didn’t have FS1 for the English broadcast.
 
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