one thing that is concerning is Lavelle's body language at about 90+5. She looked pissed at her teammates. Sign of bad overall chemistry when a vet does that
Agree the Ertz Girma CB pairing was fun to watch. I don’t love the effect on the midfield, I just don’t get it with Sullivan. Horan has to my eye been noticeably more effective with Ertz at the 6. With the various injuries what can ya do, I guess.
We’ll see how Vlatko rolls against the Dutch. Ertz at CB is great when the US expects to dominate the ball and can use a less defenses minded player at the base of the midfield.
Except, apparently, if you're Japan. They've honestly looked the sharpest of any team I've watched.
Netherlands doesn't even play til what? 30 hours after the US? Why aren't the groups playing the same days?
Yeah, the US playing at the same time of day (9pm ET), and NL having to play 6 1/2 hours earlier than their first game will be (3:30am ET), is a nice little thumb on the scale in favor of the US.
yeah that's not even remotely a yellow for Shaw. Wendie Renard, with basically nothing to gain by doing so at 90'+2, made an entire hollywood production out of a light grazing by the top of shaw's trailing boot. F her and the extra-tall horse she rode in on.
Yes, she's a bit like Trinity Rodman in that regard and her role on the team, except that Beerensteyn is 26 while Trin is 21.
She didn't make the squad today, which is probably for the best. Borges would have worn her like a coat.
I didn’t watch it, but my wife did. She said the commentary was unbearable, talking about the teenager on the field the entire time until she was subbed off, then talking about how the match had changed since she went out.
Fun question. I've got Akers as the American GOAT just above Hamm. Akers actually had a better goals per international match record than Hamm (.69 to .58) while playing a deeper role. Plus, Akers invested so much of her life in personally building support for the woman's game (I may be giving her extra credit for the off-field work).
FWIW, my uncle coached both as part of US Soccer and although I haven’t spoken to him about this recently I have almost no doubt he’d say Hamm. He was always so complimentary about her as a player and person. I don’t really call him up about this stuff out of the blue but should see him over the holidays and will ask him directly then
Akers obviously played deeper but she played more central. Akers also was taller so header goals were a much bigger part of her game and Mia should be given credit for setting up Lilly for basically tapins so often. Mia had the speed so was wide very often
Wow. Please do. Any insider views and stories would be amazing.
All good points. Hamm is credited with an absurd 144 assists in international play. That’s an otherworldly 1.09 goal contributions per match.
Morgan ahead of Donovan
I hadn’t seen figures about Caicedo’s deal at Madrid. I figured they splashed the cash at her since she came over on a free. There’s got to be more for Caicedo than is estimated there. There’s a slew of clubs in the NWSL and Europe with better track records than could have topped those numbers.
