1-0 Lavelle in 4th minute
Jimena Lopez ugly/smart foul on Tobin Heath for a yellow

Wow, I really thought Mexico would come out stronger and keep things tight for at least 20-30 minutes. Not so much.

Press has been a beast

Press needs to get the start on Sunday. I know we have an embarrassment of riches but she's just too good right now.

Very interesting.

Jimena and Watt were our most dangerous players last season.

Jimena is entrenched as a starter for Mexico and Ally is a U23 US player.

Just goes to show how far ahead of Mexico our women's program is. Or how far behind Mexico is.

I'd almost go as far to say that Watt may never play meaningful minutes for the USWNT with as deep as the US attack is

wangus12 said:

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I'd almost go as far to say that Watt may never play meaningful minutes for the USWNT with as deep as the US attack is

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Yeah. I didn't want to go that far yet.

That deep attack is actually getting pretty old (Lloyd, Morgan, Pinoe), but I'm more curious to see the tactics that Vltako wants to employ. Last night was interesting in his attempt to go with 2 wides (McDonald & Williams) that want to out run defenses and get in on the backside vs taking defenders 1v1 to slot the inside (a la Heath). In the first half, that tactic failed miserably as Canada surprised with a 5 back set.
Regardless, I think tactics as much as depth is going to play into whether Ally is ever able to break in. Hopefully she can continue to develop at NC...versatility is going to be huge.

As for Jimena, I know the Mexican team lacks depth but having watched all of their matches the 2nd half of this year, she's definitely earned her spot and been one of the most consistent pieces of the team. Her 1v1 defending has looked really good as of late and her ability to get up into the attack is a bonus. She still has a tendency to get beat by speed but all of this international experience is huge going into her senior year...and hopefully leads a professional contract somewhere if that's what she wants to pursue.

I think Mexico has one more tournament during the March FIFA break so I'm assuming we won't see her much during the A&M spring schedule, but I have no idea.