This is where all those missed chances in the Vietnam match could bite us. Currently leading on goal differential but we'll likely need to put a few away against Portugal to secure top of the group. Hopefully Vietnam can limit Netherlands.

Until we wore them down (and props to the team for taking up the challenge after half) the Dutch were just much more skilled. Need our young players to be better.

gougler08 said:

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Why will we never switch the ball in to open space? Once we go down a wing it's forward or bust

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This! In the first half there was a point where Horan was wide open in the middle but we seemed to have tunnel vision going down the side. Even the announcers said something like "Horan's been open for a minute".

Numerous times a switch would have resulted in miles of space.

amercer said:

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Smith plays with it too much. We didn't bring enough scorers to sit her, but she could use some maturity.

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Agreed, needs to find the trigger sooner

Jim01 said:

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I told my family "Van De Donk needs to grow a pair!" She was on the ground with the slightest touch! Very annoying

Rose is coming back from injury. They said before the match she isn't in 90 minute shape yet. Still, it's hard to watch the team without her seeing what a difference she makes when she's in there.

I found Rodman very erratic this game. Some good and then some wild plays.

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You saying she needs to grow a van de donk a donk?

Would be nice if Vietnam could pull off the shocker tonight

DuncanField91 said:

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Isn't Lovell recovering from an injury?

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She is, but she, Dunn, and Horan are our best players.

Another game, another clearly in over their head ref.

Girma and Ertz had a really good night

Kept waiting for us to take advantage of Fox's pace but we kept feeding it down the left side.

Horan went full Hulk smash rage for a bit there

It was mentioned Ertz was here on name only earlier in the thread, but Ertz the CB absolutely has a place here. Ertz the holding midfielder maybe a different story.

Knucklesammich said:

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Another game, another clearly in over their head ref.

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Yama****a is a solid referee. She's done some men's games in Japan and was picked for the men's WC. She was never going to get a game there but still.

I think she came into this match with a game plan to manage everything and to keep her cards in her pocket. Give her credit. She did that the whole time. Did she ignore obvious SPA? Yep. She certainly ignored the hair pull at 15'. That could have been VC and should have been an automatic YC. It was both a pull and SPA. And DeMelo's blatant reckless foul at 45+3".

She called the fouls. She just didn't punish them. This is one of the few places and matches you can get away with calling it this way. If I try this in a contested U17 ECNL match it goes to **** fast because everyone will figure out they can get away with it and escalate and retaliate. Never try this in an adult game.

I suspect the players and coaches are happy to have gotten out without what could have been 3-4 cards on each team.

Van de donk was simultaneously thugging it up and flopping all game. Mischievous little warrior.

I was pissed at the refereeing while watching the game, but, in hindsight, at least she was consistent. She was consistent in the fouls she called and did not call which is really all you can ask for. She was consistent in refusing to bring out a card which was extremely frustrating but it would have been worse to apply that philosophy and then change course mid work. Overall, I think the way she called the game was a detriment to the US and to the flow of the game. It highly encouraged repeated or even cynical fouls.

Clearly the Netherlands outplayed the US in the 1st half but also worth pointing out that they mustered exactly 4 shots all game. All of that possession and midfield dominance didn't lead to an abundance of opportunities in the final third. They really miss Miedema.

Australia vs Nigeria has been a fun one to watch. Very entertaining.

Dre_00 said:

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I was pissed at the refereeing while watching the game, but, in hindsight, at least she was consistent. She was consistent in the fouls she called and did not call which is really all you can ask for. She was consistent in refusing to bring out a card which was extremely frustrating but it would have been worse to apply that philosophy and then change course mid work. Overall, I think the way she called the game was a detriment to the US and to the flow of the game. It highly encouraged repeated or even cynical fouls.

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I completely agree. She was consistent but it did allow the Dutch to muscle up and prevent our athleticism from exploiting them.

South Africa up 2-nil. Outplaying Argentina. If Argentina doesn't comeback and at least get a draw, they are effectively out of the World Cup at the group stage.

Argentina gets 1 back.

Argentina equalize. South Africa in shambles.

England wins. I'm glad Ellen white is gone tho. Seemed like she always killed the US.

England has zero luck this year with the knee injuries. I think their missing 4-5 starters now if Walsh is done all with knee injuries

China down a player, up a goal

VAR is a coinflip these last twenty minutes.

France-Brazil was a fun match. This Panama-Jamaica game has been pretty slow so far.

Starting overnight tonight we get the two pairs of simultaneous matches as all the groups finish out play.

Start times are mostly awful for viewers here in the States, but thems the breaks.

So why were Panama and Jamaica in the same group? I thought other than UEFA they avoided countries from same region being in the same group?

They formed the groups before they knew who would win the inter-federation playoff. Panama beat someone for that last spot.

Looks like Haiti, Portugal, and Panama got into the WC by winning their playoff matches.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_FIFA_Women%27s_World_Cup_qualification_(inter-confederation_play-offs)#Group_C

So basically FIFA couldn't figure out the "what ifs", shocking.

Colombia beat Germany at the death. 96th minute winner!

I say that not sure how long the ref is going to let this match go.

First group stage loss for Germany since 95.

Switzerland and Norway through from Group A

Woke up and watched the Ger/Col game. What a match! Columbia absolutely deserved those 3 points. Controlled and creative. Germanys only real chances were off the odd foul and then the penalty. I was so pissed at the PK because Germany just didn't deserve a point. Justice was deserved with that header. Such a great finish!