Second round of play began today with Group A and *ouch* - co-host New Zealand loses 1-0 on debutante Philippines' first goal in WC history. Virtually all of the stats, including possession (59% to 24%) were in the Kiwis' favor but they could not find the back of the net... https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/ar...pines-match-report-australia-new-zealand-2023 Ugh - the Kiwi goaltender will be seeing that header in her nightmares for the rest of her life. USA vs. Netherlands tomorrow (Weds.) night at 9pm ET on Fox (1pm Thursday Kiwi Time). Two hours of pregame hype before the rematch of the 2019 WC final begins at 7pm ET.
Tale of two halves. First half, a disaster for the USA. The Dutch's calm and efficient backline completely neutralized our offense and they dominated the midfield. Smith and Morgan were not being fed the ball. Our team looked apathetic and unable to press high and recover the ball, resulting in lopsided possession for the Dutch. Second half, Lavelle comes in and changes the game. What an impact! She takes great corner kicks. Their midfield is no longer dominant once Lavelle works through it. We start to press. Horan gets pissed off with her club teammate after a harsh challenge, and scores the equalizer. We keep pressing, Smith comes alive with great passes (unfortunately one of them results in a goal by Morgan called off due to clear offside) and Smith should have scored but the Dutch defender cleared the ball with her head, on the goal line. We made 18 attempts against only 5 from the Dutch. We should have won due to our dominant second half and many more attempts, corner kicks (11 for us, 1 for them), etc. But it didn't happen. Ultimately 1-1 was a relatively fair result given that each team dominated one half of play (although our dominance in second half was more dangerous than their dominance in first half). My one complaint is that two of Smith's best breakthroughs were negated by fouls that the ref didn't call. In one of them, she was pushed from behind while having a clear path to the goal, down the center of the box. The other one, there was a clear handball by the Dutch defender that stopped Smith's burst. Maybe she would have scored if not for these fouls by the defense that were missed by the ref. This ref was too complacent. She showed 1 yellow card the entire game although this was a physical game with many violent fouls.
Andonovski's decision not to start Julie Ertz in the midfield was the root of all evil, in my estimation, and that mistake manifested itself through the entire first half. The midfield was awful in Ertz's absence and it negatively impacted every aspect of the U.S. game, including the mental part. It wasn't until the kerfuffle involving Horan that the team started to play with the aggression and toughness one expects from a champion. Lavelle was cleared to start, so here again Andonovski's decision-making came up short in a big way. All in all, I think his management is the biggest problem the team faces right now, and I seriously doubt that this is a liability the players can overcome. He set the team up to fail yesterday and they were extremely fortunate to get out of the game with a draw. Unless he pulls his head out of his glutes the USWNT's prospects of winning the Cup this year don't look very good.
Yes, it's hard to understand why he got our midfield to fall short instead of starting our excellent midfielders. Without a functioning midfield you lose possession and your forwards don't receive the ball. I'm not as desperate yet. I think our second half reaction against a very good and organized team bodes well for the continuation of the tournament. The Dutch were finalists last time and their team looks better now than last time. So 1-1 was fair. I think we outplayed them enough in second half to deserve to win the game (oh my God, that gorgeous shot by Smith should have been a goal if not for the Dutch defender deflecting it from the goal line; the goalie was completely beaten). But yes, our coach made bizarre decisions. We had only one sub the entire game. People get tired and fresh legs are needed. Anyway, we still showed a lot of energy in second half and we pressed them relentlessly in the last 15 minutes. Meanwhile Portugal beat Vietnam 2-0. This means we can't lose to Portugal or we'll be bumped out (the Dutch should handle Vietnam easily). A draw with Portugal does see us through.
Another issue I had with Ertz starting in the backfield was that Andonovski was clearly playing not to lose instead of playing to win. Julie's been a rock for us in the midfield and we got exposed badly there last night. Unfortunately, the coach's timidity seemed to have rubbed off on the players, too. Not only did they look apathetic in the first half, they looked and played rattled. I think the mistakes Andonovski made with the opening lineup had a lot to do with that but I'm not seeing the warrior spirit and killer instincts on this team the way I did with past teams. I think that's why their play looked apathetic to you for part of the game - too many players weren't playing with an edge. We finally saw a flash of that after the hard foul on Horan when the team started playing angry and aggressive, and then lo and behold they scored. All I can hope is that the Netherlands woke something up in the coaches and many of the players last night. Fortunately, it's still early in the competition and the team has time to learn from last night and build a fire in its gut, but my confidence in Andonovski is shot right now. He's not showing me that he has what it takes to lead the greatest women's soccer program in the world.
Ye, no fire. Even in the second half, the Dutch could afford to drop back and depend on their super defense and on their aggressive tackling, which took the wind out of the US, again and again
Indeed, the Dutch played well last night and they must be kicking themselves for not blowing the game open in the first half when our midfield was in total disarray and the offense and defense were falling apart all around it. The next time that happens our girls will be catching a flight back home.
Argentina vs South Africa. I think this is interesting, because of the mens world cup win. How does that spark will transfer to the women. Some great match ups the coming weekend
Sorry to hear my second team Ireland are knocked out after only two games. I didn't see either match. England up again tomorrow against Denmark. Hopefully the shock of only narrowly beating Haiti will stir them into improvement.
I was rooting for a last minute SA goal. We can't have the Argies holding both World Cups at the same time.
Bugger, I missed the England game. I haven't got my head around the game times yet. Another 1-0 win. It's coming home.
That was a costly win for England. Walsh had to be carried of the field. I hope it aint that serious. Germany has a important injury, too. Left defender Rauch is out with a knee injury
The French put a damper, or better header on Brazil, 2:1 Sweden wiped out Italy and Jamaika got its first win
