Women's World Cup 2019

OurF'ingCity

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What intel would they even hope to gain from poking around the other team’s hotel rooms? Correct me if I’m wrong as I’m not particularly knowledgeable about soccer, but it’s not like American football where you might be able to page through a player’s playbook, right?
 

InstaFace

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That's a whole 'nother discussion. The team's out there giving tactical instructions in front of 80,000 people, okay? So we filmed them out giving tactical instructions in front of 80,000 people like there were a lot of teams doing at the time, okay? But forget about that. If we were wrong, then we've been disciplined for that.
 

SoxFanInCali

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What intel would they even hope to gain from poking around the other team’s hotel rooms? Correct me if I’m wrong as I’m not particularly knowledgeable about soccer, but it’s not like American football where you might be able to page through a player’s playbook, right?
I mean, you could potentially find out some info about the starting lineup, formation, set plays, portions of your defense they might be trying to attack, etc. But yeah, the likelihood of finding much written down in a format you could use is pretty unlikely. It's not like they would have found video of their training sessions they could have used.


Nah .. I actually have no idea ..

Go England!
Hopefully the fix isn't in and you don't have to witness the most outrageous referee decision in international soccer history again. At least you don't have to watch Abby Wambach anymore.
 

Mighty Joe Young

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I mean, you could potentially find out some info about the starting lineup, formation, set plays, portions of your defense they might be trying to attack, etc. But yeah, the likelihood of finding much written down in a format you could use is pretty unlikely. It's not like they would have found video of their training sessions they could have used.



Hopefully the fix isn't in and you don't have to witness the most outrageous referee decision in international soccer history again. At least you don't have to watch Abby Wambach anymore.
Small mercies

You have a long memory !
 

BaseballJones

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Pretty amped for this game. Let's go USWNT!!! I'd love to see Sue Bird's girlfriend score a couple more today.
 

InstaFace

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Hopefully the fix isn't in and you don't have to witness the most outrageous referee decision in international soccer history again.
I was surprised the handball at ~85' wasn't called, but as the announcers pointed out in real time, her hands were at the side of her body not making her any bigger - in no way was it close to your description. You want consistency, and I can't blame you, but that was well within the error bars of what is sometimes-but-not-always called.
 

Zososoxfan

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What intel would they even hope to gain from poking around the other team’s hotel rooms? Correct me if I’m wrong as I’m not particularly knowledgeable about soccer, but it’s not like American football where you might be able to page through a player’s playbook, right?
There's a metric fuckton of information a manager and staff will give to players. Yes, in written form.
 

SoxFanInCali

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I was surprised the handball at ~85' wasn't called, but as the announcers pointed out in real time, her hands were at the side of her body not making her any bigger - in no way was it close to your description. You want consistency, and I can't blame you, but that was well within the error bars of what is sometimes-but-not-always called.
The "most outrageous referee decision in international soccer history" line was a joke referring back to a pretty epic anti-USWNT/Wambach rant by BCMJY during the last Women's World Cup. Let's just say he was not pleased with the refereeing in the 2012 Olympics semifinal between the USA and Canada.
 

Seven Costanza

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My wife attended the England-USA match in the 2010 World Cup and (wrongly) rooted for England.

Big conflicts in the Costanza household today. American citizen by birth, British citizen by parentage. Which one technically comes first? I maintain the country where she was born should hold first rights.
 

coremiller

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My wife attended the England-USA match in the 2010 World Cup and (wrongly) rooted for England.

Big conflicts in the Costanza household today. American citizen by birth, British citizen by parentage. Which one technically comes first? I maintain the country where she was born should hold first rights.
The bigger surprise here is that she hans't gotten you to switch to rooting for England.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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I know she's got all four of the US goals in the last two games, but I think Rapinoe really needs to play a lot better for the US though she was better France than Spain or Sweden. Particularly, when she receives the ball out on the wing the US often has numbers up top ready to make a break and every time she slows everything down and allows the opponents defense and midfielders to get back and mitigate any numbers advantage the US might have had. None of her four goals were impressive: the two PKs (neither drawn by her), a cross off a set piece into the box that miraculously no one touched misplayed by the defense and keeper and a sitter that was set up fantastically by Heath. I think she was part of the reason why the US offense completely disappeared for a long stretch vs France and allowed them to get back into the game. Morgan needs to be better as well though she did draw the foul that led to the first goal vs. France.

I think Tobin Heath has really been the star of the offense so far for USA, and I look forward to her continuing to push the pace against England. I think that Ertz has been the other key US player, making up for a lot of really bad mistakes by the US defense.
 

prizminferno

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Heath is a black hole if she can't beat her defender one on one.. she might be the direct opposite of star for the way they want to play.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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Heath is a black hole if she can't beat her defender one on one.. she might be the direct opposite of star for the way they want to play.
Generally agree with the assessment on her, but I think she's actually done a much better job this tournament of crossing it into the box.
 

Mighty Joe Young

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The "most outrageous referee decision in international soccer history" line was a joke referring back to a pretty epic anti-USWNT/Wambach rant by BCMJY during the last Women's World Cup. Let's just say he was not pleased with the refereeing in the 2012 Olympics semifinal between the USA and Canada.
Ah .. memories .. memories ..

Cheering for the Lionesses because
- they are underdogs
- the USWNT behaviour against Thailand
- they have a cool nickname
- Commonwealth ties

Edit - mind you Phil Neville is their coach - so I may rethink things

Edit #2 - Trump doesn’t like the USWNT either - starting to come around.
 
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coremiller

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The "most outrageous referee decision in international soccer history" line was a joke referring back to a pretty epic anti-USWNT/Wambach rant by BCMJY during the last Women's World Cup. Let's just say he was not pleased with the refereeing in the 2012 Olympics semifinal between the USA and Canada.
https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/2015-womens-world-cup.8876/page-13#post-1179942https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/2015-womens-world-cup.8876/page-13#post-1179945https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/2015-womens-world-cup.8876/page-13#post-1179955
 

SocrManiac

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Heath is a black hole if she can't beat her defender one on one.. she might be the direct opposite of star for the way they want to play.
Thank you. She's infuriating to watch. I feel like the best use of her teammates' time when she receives the ball would be to reset defensively.
 

InstaFace

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I know she's got all four of the US goals in the last two games, but I think Rapinoe really needs to play a lot better for the US though she was better France than Spain or Sweden. Particularly, when she receives the ball out on the wing the US often has numbers up top ready to make a break and every time she slows everything down and allows the opponents defense and midfielders to get back and mitigate any numbers advantage the US might have had. None of her four goals were impressive: the two PKs (neither drawn by her), a cross off a set piece into the box that miraculously no one touched misplayed by the defense and keeper and a sitter that was set up fantastically by Heath. I think she was part of the reason why the US offense completely disappeared for a long stretch vs France and allowed them to get back into the game. Morgan needs to be better as well though she did draw the foul that led to the first goal vs. France.

I think Tobin Heath has really been the star of the offense so far for USA, and I look forward to her continuing to push the pace against England. I think that Ertz has been the other key US player, making up for a lot of really bad mistakes by the US defense.
Rapinoe was absolutely not the problem for the US in either of the last two matches, even leaving aside the goals. Yeah, she was beaten for speed by one of the best fullbacks in the game, but that's also not her game. She seemed to take productive dribbles, win one-on-ones, and pick out good passes, some of them even ambitious. I think she's the most aggressive attacking mindset we've got, possibly excepting Lloyd, and we saw that on full display.

Heath is the one I most want to see dropped from the starters. She made that run which ultimately created the cut-back pass for Rapinoe for our 2nd goal vs France, but (A) the key for that play was the through-ball by Morgan, and (B) she's been the most wasteful in possession, creating almost no quality chances for herself or others despite using a whole lot of possessions.

I'd like to see Ertz dropped back to CB alongside Sauerbrunn - I've never felt more comfortable defensively than when the two of them played together last time around - but I know that's not going to happen, and Ertz's talents do fit DM fairly well. But what I'm hoping for is Horan starting at RW and a midfield of Ertz, Mewis and Lavelle. If they want to put Lloyd in to start in Morgan's place, and have her play a classic #10 in a 4-3-1-2, I'd be psyched. But England isn't as strong over the top as France is, and might be faster in central defense, so you probably want Morgan's skillset in there for crosses and breakaways rather than Lloyd's passing and midrange shooting.
 

InstaFace

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Well what do we think of our midfield? I've seen a group that's been very good at winning the ball, and very poor (against top sides, the last 3 games) at figuring out what to do with it immediately afterwards to make a possession dangerous. Lavelle has touch and precision but her typical field vision hasn't been as good. Mewis hasn't stood out to me one way or the other in her passing. Ertz has been doing her job and linking up well with the midfield, so she's not the problem. How are we going to solve that against an England team that is a peer of ours in athleticism and chemistry?
 

SoxFanInCali

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England GK Karen Bardsley has a hamstring injury and is out of the starting lineup.

Apparently Rapinoe is on the bench, with Press starting.
 

coremiller

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Whoa: Rapinoe and Mewis dropped for Press and Horan. I guess Ellis wanted some more pace and running at left wing to help deal with Lucy Bronze? Rapinoe doesn't offer much defensive cover.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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Rapinoe was absolutely not the problem for the US in either of the last two matches, even leaving aside the goals. Yeah, she was beaten for speed by one of the best fullbacks in the game, but that's also not her game. She seemed to take productive dribbles, win one-on-ones, and pick out good passes, some of them even ambitious. I think she's the most aggressive attacking mindset we've got, possibly excepting Lloyd, and we saw that on full display.

Heath is the one I most want to see dropped from the starters. She made that run which ultimately created the cut-back pass for Rapinoe for our 2nd goal vs France, but (A) the key for that play was the through-ball by Morgan, and (B) she's been the most wasteful in possession, creating almost no quality chances for herself or others despite using a whole lot of possessions.

I'd like to see Ertz dropped back to CB alongside Sauerbrunn - I've never felt more comfortable defensively than when the two of them played together last time around - but I know that's not going to happen, and Ertz's talents do fit DM fairly well. But what I'm hoping for is Horan starting at RW and a midfield of Ertz, Mewis and Lavelle. If they want to put Lloyd in to start in Morgan's place, and have her play a classic #10 in a 4-3-1-2, I'd be psyched. But England isn't as strong over the top as France is, and might be faster in central defense, so you probably want Morgan's skillset in there for crosses and breakaways rather than Lloyd's passing and midrange shooting.
I think your assessments of Rapinoe and Heath are purely a projection of their historic selves rather than how they're playing this tournament. I don't disagree with that as their typical scouting reports, but I think you've got some pink (haired) colored glasses for your favorite player.
 

Titans Bastard

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Reporters are saying that the USSF is tight-lipped about Rapinoe's status. They're only saying it's not a disciplinary issue.

Is there a minor injury?
 

SoxFanInCali

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Carly Telford was on the England team in the 2007 and 2015 World Cups, but never got in a game. She played in England's group game against Argentina this time around, but now gets the start in goal today against the US.
 

InstaFace

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I think your assessments of Rapinoe and Heath are purely a projection of their historic selves rather than how they're playing this tournament. I don't disagree with that as their typical scouting reports, but I think you've got some pink (haired) colored glasses for your favorite player.
Heath vs Horan is surely a much closer question than Rapinoe vs "whoever would be our 2nd-best LW".
 

DJnVa

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Reporters are saying that the USSF is tight-lipped about Rapinoe's status. They're only saying it's not a disciplinary issue.

Is there a minor injury?
Because they don't want England to know. You know England spent a lot time on the expected US lineup.

Risky though---because if it doesn't work, it's going to be very easy for a lot of casual voices that can get really loud are going to say that benching her is the reason.
 
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Jimy Hendrix

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I’d feel better about the move if Ellis had shown any knack for how to use subs, but it’s a pretty defensible move for how to best work against Bronze.

Gonna send the take machine into frenzy, but that’s just 2019 and there’s nothing that can be done about that.
 

coremiller

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It'd be ironic if Rapinoe for Press -- which has a legitimate tactical rationale -- is the decision that ultimately sinks Ellis, after she survived all of her other inexplicable choices.
 
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SoxFanInCali

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Rapinoe is standing around during warmups while everyone else is getting ready, making it appear there may be an injury issue.
 

ifmanis5

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Wetzel:
Rapinoe is standing on the sideline during team warm up. She is not participating, would suggest she won’t play at all today.

I saw somewhere that this was not a disciplinary action. Her right leg was taped yesterday.