KCup17 said:

---

Honestly don't think Vlatko is cut out for the job. Team tries to do the same thing over and over again. The quality has been below the standard we are used to from this team. And unless things change I expect an early knockout round exit.

---

Its weird because there is no real pattern of play, except try to out-athlete the other team.
I"m not sure if that's because of coaching/tactics or a lack of quality from the players. Or both.

I missed today's game but during the Netherlands game, even my teenage daughter (an ex-club player that got burnt out by the egos and BS) noticed how slow the US played and poor their first touch was. Even the best tactical coach has a hard time dealing with poor technique and slow decision-making by players.

Agthatbuilds said:

---

The usa always had an advantage because we gave females a serious chance to be a professional athlete.

Our youth and college programs gave women a huge head start relative to most of their peers from other countries. Further, unlike most of its peer countries, it has not been a crazy idea for a woman to pursue athletics as a lifestyle choice.

The world is changing as other countries now invest in the concept of women being professional athletes. Essentially, we've been the standard and other countries are now approaching that same standard and there's less room for us to be successful based on system alone.

---

All great points. There was also an aspect to the whole "equal pay" debacle that isnt really brought up a lot.
The women were essentially incentivized to be selected to the national team to actually make their salaries, so you would see the same people brought in well past their prime. If I were the young guns on this team, I would not have a lot of love for the 30+ year old players essentially blocking them for a payday. This team should have had talent turnover years ago, or at the very least been finding out who is ready and who isnt.

More damning than Rapinoe getting minutes or being on the roster or whatever is that she's currently one of like two players on the squad who can actually change the game (even in a small way!) when brought on as a sub. You aren't going to go far in tournament play when that's the case.

jeffk said:

---

More damning than Rapinoe getting minutes or being on the roster or whatever is that she's currently one of like two players on the squad who can actually change the game (even in a small way!) when brought on as a sub. You aren't going to go far in tournament play when that's the case.

---

Her "change the game" today was to make us vulnerable on the left side and to provide great service to Portuguese players.

Vlatko clearly selected a team he didn't trust, and he has not found a way to use the talents this squad does have. If he gets on the plane home still as the head coach I will be disappointed.

jeffk said:

---

More damning than Rapinoe getting minutes or being on the roster or whatever is that she's currently one of like two players on the squad who can actually change the game (even in a small way!) when brought on as a sub. You aren't going to go far in tournament play when that's the case.

---

I would actually argue that Rapinoe does NOT change the game at this point in her career. She didn't show much in the match against Vietnam and didn't see the pitch against Netherlands. I see she got PT in the last match but didn't watch so can't comment on her performance this morning. But, based on what I DID see in the first match, she shouldn't see the pitch again (said that after that match and haven't changed my opinion there).

Morgan is an odd player. She may have prevented a goal last night, lol. She's offsides A LOT.

It was good to see Williams start but she missed several opportunities which was frustrating. Rodman came in with good energy.

I think Rose might be the best player on the team but she was neutralized. Could have been playing safer with a yellow although she managed another one and we won't see her next game.

This team just isn't connecting. Positioning is weird, they used to always have someone to pass to but we can't even win possession %

Portugal played very well but also got away with a lot of stuff we used to get away with

My one positive is how we attack the ball when the other team has possession but we cooled way off on that in the 2nd half. Don't give them time to make a move or feel comfortable.

Odd team that hasn't gelled yet. I've never heard anything good about our coach. Wonder how long he'll last if we drop out here pretty quick.

tysker said:

---

jeffk said:

---

More damning than Rapinoe getting minutes or being on the roster or whatever is that she's currently one of like two players on the squad who can actually change the game (even in a small way!) when brought on as a sub. You aren't going to go far in tournament play when that's the case.

---

Her skillset has a place because she still crosses a great ball and the US has great athletes to attack those crosses. However, other countries are getting better at defending that style of play.

Didn't Beckham make a WC squad when he was past his prime for a similar skillset (crosses + free kicks)?

---

Yep, she should really only come in if we are desperate to score a goal in the last 15 minutes or so. That way you limit your exposure to the deficincies in her game, and at that point in the game you are often just crossing the ball into the box hoping for someone to get onto the end of it. That and you also have her on the field for any set pieces you may earn near the box too.
A lot of aspects of her game are very overrated due to her 'brand/image', but she is definitely elite in her sport at that.

chizadbot said:

---

Morgan is an odd player. She may have prevented a goal last night, lol. She's offsides A LOT.

It was good to see Williams start but she missed several opportunities which was frustrating. Rodman came in with good energy.

I think Rose might be the best player on the team but she was neutralized. Could have been playing safer with a yellow although she managed another one and we won't see her next game.

This team just isn't connecting. Positioning is weird, they used to always have someone to pass to but we can't even win possession %

Portugal played very well but also got away with a lot of stuff we used to get away with

My one positive is how we attack the ball when the other team has possession but we cooled way off on that in the 2nd half. Don't give them time to make a move or feel comfortable.

Odd team that hasn't gelled yet. I've never heard anything good about our coach. Wonder how long he'll last if we drop out here pretty quick.

---

I got the vibe that the team had no faith in playing through Williams down the right side at all, which seems odd.

jeffk said:

---

More damning than Rapinoe getting minutes or being on the roster or whatever is that she's currently one of like two players on the squad who can actually change the game (even in a small way!) when brought on as a sub. You aren't going to go far in tournament play when that's the case.

---

Devastated for Swanson and Macario. I don't know that Macario's career will ever get back on track

Rapinoe had a good tournament in 2019. Penalties are part of the game. Gotta step up and convert and she did. Someone on the team has to take them, and IIRC she converted all of them. Hard to say it was a bad decision for her to take them if she didn't miss. Also got both goals against France (both during the run of play).

I thought Rose Lavelle was the best player of the tournament by a wide margin.

Its been wild that its taken her so long to recover from the ACL deal.

What is interesting about your statement of Morgan being offsides a lot...

I did not watch the game, but when I woke up I immediately looked at the stat sheet. Lots of shots on ggoal with none finding the net. Seems like we were getting opportunities, but one stat I look at that tells you how aggressive the play is, is the offsides. None last night!

Aston94 said:

---

jeffk said:

---

More damning than Rapinoe getting minutes or being on the roster or whatever is that she's currently one of like two players on the squad who can actually change the game (even in a small way!) when brought on as a sub. You aren't going to go far in tournament play when that's the case.

---

Her "change the game" today was to make us vulnerable on the left side and to provide great service to Portuguese players.

Vlatko clearly selected a team he didn't trust, and he has not found a way to use the talents this squad does have. If he gets on the plane home still as the head coach I will be disappointed.

---

I don't disagree about her play today. It was pretty clear Vlat was out of ideas and she's the only sub he values.

PatAg said:

---

I got the vibe that the team had no faith in playing through Williams down the right side at all, which seems odd.

---

Yeah, they seemed very one sided, all on the left. Even more than the first two games and they were one sided before. All of that helped Portugal squeeze the middle even more by taking their left side and pinch it in to the middle.

Title IX was huge for America becoming a women's soccer powerhouse. We were just too slow to pivot towards improving our domestic pro league to capitalize on our dominance. And the Euros finally figured out they could and should use their existing club infrastructure for women's teams hurt too.

PatAg said:

---

jeffk said:

---

More damning than Rapinoe getting minutes or being on the roster or whatever is that she's currently one of like two players on the squad who can actually change the game (even in a small way!) when brought on as a sub. You aren't going to go far in tournament play when that's the case.

---

maybe I am crazy, but I would consider starting Rodman up top and having Morgan come in off the bench.

---

I'd start Smith up top and have Rodman and Williams start on the wings, with Morgan as a sub.

I slept through the game live and then slept through the recording.

I thought Girma and Fox were the only players worth a damn in the game. Ertz looks lost and Dunn just runs around a lot doing nothing. When she has the ball, she loses it. Sullivan and Horan were both bad. Rose Lavelle has turned from a dangerous player that the team never passed the ball (2019) into a total ball hog now. Morgan tries hard, but she's really just not that good anymore. She finds open space but then just waits and waits until she can shoot it wide. Smith, Rodman, and Williams are too deferential to the "big" players for my liking.

I do agree that missing Swanson makes a huge difference. She'd be starting and Rodman or Williams coming off the bench running at tired defenders would help. I think this team is missing a player like Carson Pickett also. And don't get started on Naeher. There are 5 GKs in NWSL better than her right now. No way she should be starting on this team and her mistakes are showing.

This team is gonna lose to Sweden. If they find a way to beat them, Japan is gonna demolish the USWNT.

FWIW, I think we should have all seen this coming. The state of youth soccer in this country is all about money and nothing about making players better. most of the players on this roster come from the ECNL-era. ECNL has always been about how to make the league better, or the club better, or the team better, or the coach better. It's never been about making the player better. ECNL started in 2009 I think so any player born after 94 or so would've come from that culture. The selfishness is showing on the field in AU/NZ

wangus12 said:

---

She's getting ripped on Reddit right now for basically saying this team has too big an ego and focuses too much on stuff outside of the actual game (like activism and such).

She isn't wrong though

---

i take her opinion with a grain of salt, I mean she is one of the ones responsible for creating for whatever ego the team might have. She gets paid to give her opinion and I'm sure she'd be singing a different tune if she was a part of this team.

Quote:

---

The good news is that we have a lot of youth on the field, and maybe with a change at the top we can find our way back to a place of prominence. Not having your best two attackers has hurt, Mallory and Micario would have made a difference for sure, but those are the breaks and we are a country that should be able to handle the loss of two players better than this.

---

And I think the lack of chemistry is due to having a lot of youth or inexperienced players playing together. But, I mean you gotta look at the big picture and no team has ever won 3 world cup titles in a row. These ladies are going for history but we're good enough that all they really need is one goal to change the whole narrative around.

They know they have to play better, but really the international competition has gotten so much better so we have to give credit where credit is due,

Girma's been awesome.

All of my posts from today were deleted too. Not sure I have ever seen that

[Your posts were part of the reply string to the posts that received direct moderation. They were auto-deleted, it was not action taken because of what you posted per se. - Staff]

I don't think many are surprised. Or at least not completely surprised. Doesn't make it any less weird to watch it happen. Kind of like when Brazil's men's team became incredibly beatable.

So what is your dream 11 for Sweden:

Goalie - Naeher

Formation:
3 - Fox, Girma, O'Hara (maybe Dunn but she's been bad.O'Hara always gives 100% and I just personally love her.)
2 - Ertz, Horan (move them into holding mids to focus on physicality and some distribution)
3 - Rodman, Demelo, Smith
2 - Williams, Morgan (despite offside, the best shots and getting around people moments today were Morgan for me)

Edited because Rose is out.

Lavelle is out on cards.

Dre_00 said:

---

I don't think many are surprised. Or at least not completely surprised. Doesn't make it any less weird to watch it happen. Kind of like when Brazil's men's team became incredibly beatable.

---

Agreed. Its jarring, but if you've followed the team the last few years, you could see it coming a mile away. I think it was last fall that they lost to Germany, England & Spain in the span of a month and none of those games were very competitive.

Morgan needs to find the back of the net. This squad just doesn't have enough goals in them.

Completely agree. Earning a yellow each game just means you're playing hard but still within the rules. Why are we punishing people at the highest level for that?

Jim01 said:

---

So what is your dream 11 for Sweden:

Goalie - Naeher

Formation:
3 - Fox, Girma, O'Hara (maybe Dunn but she's been bad.O'Hara always gives 100% and I just personally love her.)
2 - Ertz, Horan (move them into holding mids to focus on physicality and some distribution)
3 - Rodman, Lavelle, Demelo
2 - Smith, Morgan (despite offside, the best shots and getting around people moments today were Morgan for me)

---

I don't think we'll go 3 in the back. I'd like to see O'Hara and Fox as fullbacks, with Girma and Cook as CB's. We need Ertz in the MF to keep us from getting over run. Think Lavelle is out due to YC accumulation so we're going to have to go with Demelo, Horan as the other MF's.

I'd start Smith up top with Williams and Rodman out wide.

The "foul" Lavelle earned her yellow on was a joke. She got pushed from behind and fell into the player making it look like a hard tackle. She was right to be upset with the ref.

Made worse by the fact that it's carried from the group to the knockout stage. If I'm not mistake, you can pick up a yellow in the 1st group match, a second in the qtrs, and then miss the semis.

Hand Of God said:

---

The "foul" Lavelle earned her yellow on was a joke. She got pushed from behind and fell into the player making it look like a hard tackle. She was right to be upset with the ref.

---

Meh. she earned both her yellow cards in this tournament. 1st caution against Holland was easy. She had other fouls in the Holland game and today that could've been cautions as well. She plays with an attitude and that can be good and bad at times.