2015 Women's World Cup

[Titans Bastard]

Was it lucky for:

a.) the keeper to get a hand on it, or

b.) Morgan to get it in the net, despite the keeper's deflection?

I was thinking b, but I could be persuaded otherwise.

 
c.) the keeper made a goalkeeping 101 positioning mistake
 
 
It was fortunate for Morgan in that sense.  I think the US was going to wear down the Colombians and get a goal anyway, though.

 

[Van Everyman]

My wife commented that Colombia looks like they know they have no chance so are just diving and committing penalties in the hopes that the refs will look the other way.

 

[soxfan121]

Wambach looked gassed at 55 minutes; she has yet to make it 90 and I doubt she can...why is she starting?! 

 

[Cellar-Door]

Wambach looked gassed at 55 minutes; she has yet to make it 90 and I doubt she can...why is she starting?! 

Because their offense is terrible and built around her. When she didn't play they were even worse. They have nobody to hold up the ball and their best offense is corners.
 
Edit- the strategy seems to be, hope to score on a corner before she runs out of gas, then sub her out, park the bus and kick it long and hope Morgan outruns everyone.

 

[JayMags71]

 
c.) the keeper made a goalkeeping 101 positioning mistake.

So, if she made a positioning mistake, is it fair to characterize her as "lucky" to get a hand on it?

 

[DLew On Roids]

My wife commented that Colombia looks like they know they have no chance so are just diving and committing penalties in the hopes that the refs will look the other way.

You wife nailed it. It's hardly unusual, though, especially in knockout tournaments. Red Star Belgrade once rode it to a European club championship.

 

[Cellar-Door]

So, if she made a positioning mistake, is it fair to characterize her as "lucky" to get a hand on it?

There wasn't really anything lucky either way. She was positioned too poorly to get enough of her body in front of it to stop a shot from that distance. So she wasn't lucky to get a piece, but neither was she unlucky to not stop it. It is what one would expect from the misplay. Like a Corner back overpursuing on a tackle and reaching out with one hand to try and make a tackle, he isn't unlucky when the guy runs through it, nor is the runner lucky to not be tackled with one hand.

 

[Infield Infidel]

This really is like Tony Pulis managing Real Madrid. The best talent in the world hoofing it long and hacking ankles all day.
The Colombians may exaggerate a lot, but the US is also committing an insane amount of fouls.

So is she Dunga-ing this team? Picking a less creative squad, overfocusing on having an organized defense, and having too simple a offense?

 

[soxhop411]

“@darrenrovell: Brandy Chastain turned down hundreds of thousands of $ for her famous sports bra. Told me she’d give it to son, who turned 9 this month.”

 

[Cellar-Door]

So is she Dunga-ing this team? Picking a less creative squad, overfocusing on having an organized defense, and having too simple a offense?

Not precisely.
To me it looks like she is using incredibly outdated tactics and ceding posession. However she really also for some reason has no #6 on the field. So the offense isn't keeping possession or being all that threatening, but the back 4 are doing all the work on defense because nobody is slowing the attackers down by pressing in the midfield. It just makes no sense. When the midfielders do try and defend they are committing tons of fouls because they are almost all attacking first players and half the time she has them playing well out of their normal positions.

 

[teddykgb]

Not precisely.
To me it looks like she is using incredibly outdated tactics and ceding posession. However she really also for some reason has no #6 on the field. So the offense isn't keeping possession or being all that threatening, but the back 4 are doing all the work on defense because nobody is slowing the attackers down by pressing in the midfield. It just makes no sense. When the midfielders do try and defend they are committing tons of fouls because they are almost all attacking first players and half the time she has them playing well out of their normal positions.

To be honest she seems to have a team full of wannabe number 6s. I've been critical of these announcers but they're absolutely right about the lack of support play. The #10 is coming so deep for the ball and then they're just launching long balls because there are no triangles to be seen. A creative player or even an 8 knows how to pass and move. Those diagonal runs are useless when 5 players make the same damn run

 

[SocrManiac]

Guys... As a keeper and a fan, I need to interject.

NBC did a fantastic piece on EPL goalkeepers. Covered was about how the near post commentary is pure myth created by analysts. A keeper doesn't want to allow a goal anywhere. The near post is just another part of the goal.

The keeper was positioned more or less correctly. She closed her eyes, got under the ball, and it went in. Simple as that. If she follows the ball to her glove she parries it away. If her strength and coordination are better it would have taken a perfect shot to get beyond her reach and still inside the post.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

One thing that was annoying me the whole game was the insistence on saying "Lady Andrade" absolutely every time her name was mentioned.  It was OK to call every other player on the field by just her last name, but not Andrade.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Guys... As a keeper and a fan, I need to interject.

NBC did a fantastic piece on EPL goalkeepers. Covered was about how the near post commentary is pure myth created by analysts. A keeper doesn't want to allow a goal anywhere. The near post is just another part of the goal.

The keeper was positioned more or less correctly. She closed her eyes, got under the ball, and it went in. Simple as that. If she follows the ball to her glove she parries it away. If her strength and coordination are better it would have taken a perfect shot to get beyond her reach and still inside the post.

As someone who played also played keeper, my coach would have killed me for playing it the way she did.
She kind of took a middle ground then didn't cut off any angle.
Part of it was she jumped a bit the wrong way on the shot so she must have read in wrong, but if she was going to try and cut the angle for a cross she needed to move more toward the sideline and less up the field.
If she was just playing to stop the shot and be ready to shift back into the center of the net on a cross she was too far up field. Instead she leaves a very inviting gap near post, without any real benefit in cross prevention. She got to the ball, but only with her arms, because she was a step or two upfield beyond the ideal spot. That's a bad place to be trying to make a save with just an arm, the best case scenario is surrendering a corner, the more likely is that it either goes in as it did, or bounces into the box with you on the ground.
 
EDIT- rewatching the gif on the last page, a lot of it is the bad jump the wrong way. she's really only 1 step or so (maybe 1 too far up field and 1 too far in-field depending on preference) from ideal position, but then she does that stupid jumping thing before the shot taking her a bit farther out, and wrongfooting her. She could have made a better play on it from her original positon.
 
TLR- her positioning was actually decent if not ideal, then she broke wrong for some reason and botched it.

 

[jon abbey]

538 has the US with an 88 percent chance of beating China, that seems 20-30 percent high to me given the US suspensions and the two fewer days rest. What do you guys think?

 

[Dummy Hoy]

Agreed...Colombian keeper was in a solid position but got caught leaning the wrong way and then botched the stop. She certainly seemed surprised that Morgan put it on net. And to Morgan's credit, it was a bomb. No rotation. No doubt she should have made the stop, but not the gimmie it seemed.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

One thing that was annoying me the whole game was the insistence on saying "Lady Andrade" absolutely every time her name was mentioned.  It was OK to call every other player on the field by just her last name, but not Andrade.

Jackie Bradley Jr. disapproves of this message.

The US, except Rapinoe, seems to play like the field is only 40 yards wide. Why not use the flanks and create space?

 

[Infield Infidel]

I would say that Klingenberg also made a couple nice runs, and made a very sick move to get in a cross in the first half. For all the effort Rapinoe gives, she takes on two defenders way too often, especially in midfield when there is a teammate nearby waiting for a pass. That's been part of the team not holding possession.
 
At least those two are making runs though, the right side of the squad, I don't know what they are doing.

 

[DLew On Roids]

One thing that was annoying me the whole game was the insistence on saying "Lady Andrade" absolutely every time her name was mentioned.  It was OK to call every other player on the field by just her last name, but not Andrade.

Hey, at least they didn't just call her by her first name the way they do with the U.S. players half the time. Between that and the non-stop references to the players' confidence and feelings, it's like they're talking about a U9 team. It should be insulting to a bunch of world-class athletes, but for some reason even the team seems to buy into it.

There was no reason for the Colombian keeper to leave the near post open. By cheating to her right she wasn't going to save a shot off a cross that found an American foot or head. She needed to maximize her chances of stopping a shot from Morgan. It's like when the keeper makes a choice to come out--you either do or you don't, getting caught in the middle is the worst mistake possible--but in this case cheating enough to save off a cross leaves the goal wide open. She needed to stop the angle, period, and let her defense worry about the cross.

 

[ninjacornelius]

I would say that Klingenberg also made a couple nice runs, and made a very sick move to get in a cross in the first half. For all the effort Rapinoe gives, she takes on two defenders way too often, especially in midfield when there is a teammate nearby waiting for a pass. That's been part of the team not holding possession.
 
At least those two are making runs though, the right side of the squad, I don't know what they are doing.

Agreed. Overlapping runs by the fullbacks was something that the U.S. hasn't really shown so far this tournament, and I think it adds a dangerous element to their game. Klingenberg has looked more confident every match, and I think that she could be a genuine offensive catalyst with Rapinoe out. Especially since the CMs seem incapable of maintaining possession or playing balls forward.

 

[DLew On Roids]

I'm interested in seeing whether the absence of Rapinoe and Holiday will convince the U.S. that its front six don't all have to be forward. If the midfield thinks it has to be a little conservative, it may wind up acting more tactically astute almost by force.

I'm not suggesting that this would be addition by subtraction, since Rapinoe is the best American outfield player AFAIC. But the combination of talent and tactics may be equal or almost equal.

 

[DJnVa]

Okay, was Leroux THAT bad the other day that she didn't get a minute?
 
I would think that Morgan and Leroux running against 10 would have created some chances.

 

[soxfan121]

If we get Boxx...we get the #6 who will satisfy Cellar Door & teddykgb. I've been very critical of Lloyd but if Boxx performs better in place of Holliday, I think Ellis has to consider making that switch permanently. 
 
Morgan Brian looked shaky and inexperienced in her first game - does Heather O'Reilly find her way off the bench to provide width in Rapinoe's absence? 

 

[cromulence]

Shouldn't have been a red. Defender had it covered.

 
Obviously I'm way late on this but I have to disagree. If Perez doesn't catch Morgan's feet, she has a wide open goal to score on. Yeah, the defender would've been there to possibly block it if another second had passed, but that was only the case due to the foul in the first place. Try to picture the same play, except Perez doesn't make contact with Morgan after she slips past her - she would've had a clear chance to score. A brief one, but an extremely good one. That has to be a red.

 

[DJnVa]

If we get Boxx...we get the #6 who will satisfy Cellar Door & teddykgb. I've been very critical of Lloyd but if Boxx performs better in place of Holliday, I think Ellis has to consider making that switch permanently. 

 

Didn't they say last night that Boxx was banged up?

 

[crystalline]

I'm interested in seeing whether the absence of Rapinoe and Holiday will convince the U.S. that its front six don't all have to be forward. If the midfield thinks it has to be a little conservative, it may wind up acting more tactically astute almost by force.

I'm not suggesting that this would be addition by subtraction, since Rapinoe is the best American outfield player AFAIC. But the combination of talent and tactics may be equal or almost equal.

But then do you think the Americans have the talent to play a high-posession game? Their failure to hold the ball, and the frequency they pass the ball to no one, the other team, or out of bounds makes me wonder.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Okay, was Leroux THAT bad the other day that she didn't get a minute?
 
I would think that Morgan and Leroux running against 10 would have created some chances.

It's a roster construction issue more than anything. They have something like 8 or 9 players who play best in the same position. Leroux probably isn't one of the best of those so to get her in Ellis has to do the kind of dumb shit she did against Sweden of playing 5 forwards 3 of them out of position.
 

If we get Boxx...we get the #6 who will satisfy Cellar Door & teddykgb. I've been very critical of Lloyd but if Boxx performs better in place of Holliday, I think Ellis has to consider making that switch permanently. 
 
Morgan Brian looked shaky and inexperienced in her first game - does Heather O'Reilly find her way off the bench to provide width in Rapinoe's absence? 

Boxx was a really good #6 once upon a time, too bad she's 38, played about 5 games in the last 2 years after pregnancy and injuries and has both lupus and Sjogran's syndrome.
She hasn't gone 90 minutes for the USWNT since 2009 and has only played a handful of club games not even going 90 in those. I don't think she's going to play much if at all, and I don't know that she has the legs anymore to be the primary holding MF on a team that has no structure in the midfield.
 
This really all comes down to not only bad tactics, but also bad roster construction.

 

[SocrManiac]

http://screamer.deadspin.com/abby-wambach-wonders-if-the-ref-was-out-to-get-the-uswn-1713341121
 
Please stop talking, Abby.
 
The first half was rather abhorrently officiated, but I'd say a couple of PKs (one of which Abby doesn't seem to discuss here...) and a red card blow up that theory.

 

[teddykgb]

I want a #10.  Someone has to take the responsibility of playmaker on the pitch and show short for teammates, turn and run at people, and form short outlets when the ball is played wide.  This team uses their width relatively well, at least down the left, and created the late penalty with a beautiful move where there actually was teammate support for a run.  They even did a little more passing late in the match (70 min+) with some success.  These women have been coached at every level by some very strong coaches, they know the basics of pass and move and certainly can play that way if they are instructed to do so.  It's such a basic failure that it's hard to understand why it is happening so consistently.  I think you could literally screengrab over 40 or 50 instances last night where the ball is played to someone at the edge of the final third or the end of the midfield and none of her teammates come to support.  Everyone turns and runs away like a BSSC team.

 

[Cellar-Door]

I want a #10.  Someone has to take the responsibility of playmaker on the pitch and show short for teammates, turn and run at people, and form short outlets when the ball is played wide.  This team uses their width relatively well, at least down the left, and created the late penalty with a beautiful move where there actually was teammate support for a run.  They even did a little more passing late in the match (70 min+) with some success.  These women have been coached at every level by some very strong coaches, they know the basics of pass and move and certainly can play that way if they are instructed to do so.  It's such a basic failure that it's hard to understand why it is happening so consistently.  I think you could literally screengrab over 40 or 50 instances last night where the ball is played to someone at the edge of the final third or the end of the midfield and none of her teammates come to support.  Everyone turns and runs away like a BSSC team.

You don't like they system of having a 7 an 8 and 4 9s on the field at the same time? You clearly don't understand the brilliance of Jill Ellis's Drunken Kung Fu tactics. How can your opponent predict ball movement when there are no facilitators, how can they shut down your dribblers when nobody dribbles? How can they break up triangles when there are no triangles. How can they steal possession when you give it away. GENIUS!

 

[Tony C]

http://screamer.deadspin.com/abby-wambach-wonders-if-the-ref-was-out-to-get-the-uswn-1713341121
 
Please stop talking, Abby.
 
The first half was rather abhorrently officiated, but I'd say a couple of PKs (one of which Abby doesn't seem to discuss here...) and a red card blow up that theory.

 
Yep...that and her quote about how it would have been on her shoulders if she'd missed the PK with the game on the line -- as if it didn't matter otherwise -- she's getting hard to root for. But, as in all sports, just ignore all stupid things those in your laundry say/do and all is good.

 

[DLew On Roids]

On the bright side, Wing Commander Charles Reep would have loved this team.

 

[teddykgb]

You don't like they system of having a 7 an 8 and 4 9s on the field at the same time? You clearly don't understand the brilliance of Jill Ellis's Drunken Kung Fu tactics. How can your opponent predict ball movement when there are no facilitators, how can they shut down your dribblers when nobody dribbles? How can they break up triangles when there are no triangles. How can they steal possession when you give it away. GENIUS!

 
I think it's fair to ask if they have a true #10 in the system.  I can't say I follow closely enough to know.  It seems like we've bred a stable of speed merchants but few technical, creative players, which will happen when you build a team around speed.  As much as Ellis is driving me crazy, I can't point to a single player on her bench that I know would provide some creative spark in the manner I feel they need -- there's just a bunch of similar striker/winger types and grafting midfielders.  They're an orchestra without a maestro, Rapinoe basically conducts everything from the wing.

 

[Dummy Hoy]

On the bright side, Wing Commander Charles Reep would have loved this team.

 
This is one of those times I wish the board had a favorite button.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

This Japan team is very likeable. They are very organized and seemingly refuse to dive. They could repeat.

 

[Cellar-Door]

This Japan team is very likeable. They are very organized and seemingly refuse to dive. They could repeat.

That second goal was nasty.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Oh Jill Ellis..
tells reporters that most women's world cup goals are scored on set pieces.
Turns out less than 20% are.

 

[DLew On Roids]

 

[Dummy Hoy]

Oh Jill Ellis..
tells reporters that most women's world cup goals are scored on set pieces.
Turns out less than 20% are.

 
Jesus. Either she is getting horrible information from her stats people or she's just spouting off and doesn't look at the stats. Either way, ugh. 
 
I'm not an expert on this but she is not covering herself in glory this year.

 

[DJnVa]

Any word on lineup yet?
 
Saw a stat last night about "chances created" for USA.  Rapinoe and Holiday were first and second (which doesn't bode well for tonight), then came Leroux. And that was with her not even playing last game.
 
About China:

China play a defense that's rarely seen anywhere in the world, in women's or men's soccer. They use an extremely narrow back four that regularly looks like they have four central defenders and no fullbacks.
 

 
 

 
It would seem that there will be lots of space to run into tonight, and room to get some crosses into the box.
 
 
 http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2015/6/25/8845741/usa-china-2015-womens-world-cup-quarterfinal-preview-analysis

 

[Infield Infidel]

That China setup is out there. Because of their roster, Belgium men actually played four CB last year, two at FB, but the two at FB weren't aggressive running up the flanks. They were at least set up more wide though.

 

[DJnVa]

With that much space down the flanks, I'm guessing the offense might be lots of free crosses to Wambach.
 
But you'd also think that Morgan and Leroux would have lots of room to run.

 

[Spacemans Bong]

 
Jesus. Either she is getting horrible information from her stats people or she's just spouting off and doesn't look at the stats. Either way, ugh. 
 
I'm not an expert on this but she is not covering herself in glory this year.

 
I have to say, I'm kinda hopin' the US eventually gets their comeuppance. The men are slowly getting the Charles Reep beaten out of them, it's high time the women did the same. I'd prefer they just evolve into a ball playing team of technical specialists, but they seem too stubborn to see the forest for the trees. 
 
Change is coming (I think Holland getting to the last 16 is big - a country that will have no problem finding big, fast women but has the best technical coaching on planet earth - watch out) and it might have to be the hard way. 

 

[jon abbey]

France decidedly outplaying Germany so far, but they haven't been able to quite finish. Still scoreless, nearing halftime.

 

[jon abbey]

Anyone else watching this one? There's a real chance these are the two best teams, right? I guess the underwhelming-thus-far US team and Japan would also be candidates, but this is easily the highest level of play I've seen thus far, France especially looks very impressive. 

 

[Ed Hillel]

Wow, this game is a diving clinic.
 
JA - I agree, France has looked like the class of the tournament.

 

[jon abbey]

France finally breaks through in the 63rd minute!

 

[Ed Hillel]

A yellow has to come out eventually for one of these dives. That last one by Germany in the box was hideous.

 

[Ed Hillel]

France finally breaks through in the 63rd minute!

 
That shot was going right towards the goalie, brutal deflection.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Anyone else watching this one? There's a real chance these are the two best teams, right? I guess the underwhelming-thus-far US team and Japan would also be candidates, but this is easily the highest level of play I've seen thus far, France especially looks very impressive. 

Coming in a lot of people said it definitely is the two best teams and complained about how FIFA screwed around with the seeding and format to force this matchup in this round (mostly to keep Canada alive and pray for a Canada/US matchup they desperately want).