|
Post by Admin on May 16, 2019 18:17:12 GMT
After all, a far inferior South African team bunkered with two blocks of four on Sunday, and the USWNT looked stymied for long stretches. It was a friendly, and the USWNT did eventually win 3-0, but there were many moments where the Americans did not look up to the task of unlocking South Africa's defense.
A better bunkering team could surely still succeed like Sweden did. And given how that loss to Sweden has guided the USWNT's tactics over the past three years – not to mention the fact the two countries will face each other in the final group game at this summer’s World Cup – it's worth revisiting that match.
The first thing to understand about what happened in 2016 is that Sweden's game plan was not a surprise to Ellis or her team.
"They will park the bus," Ellis said the day before the game. "They will sit as low as they possibly can and then look to transition, and they’re going to try to kill the game off that way and not give up space. I imagine they’ll play a 4-5-1 and be very compact.”
That's exactly what Sweden did, and yet the USWNT still couldn’t take a lead at any point. The score ended in a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes, and the U.S. lost in penalty kicks.
But the Americans’ performance in Brasília has been colored – tainted, even – by the fact that they ultimately lost. In truth, they found plenty of chances and were simply unlucky to not put more of them away. If the U.S. had won the penalty kick shootout, the Sweden match would've been a forgettable affair.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on May 20, 2019 18:29:07 GMT
She was in goal four years ago when the United States won the Women’s World Cup in Canada. She will be a spectator when the team seeks to defend its title starting June 7 in France. Solo was dismissed following the 2016 Olympics in Brazil after calling the Swedish team “cowards” for taking a defensive stance against the defending gold medalists — ending a laudable playing career that was also marred by controversy. Solo’s name will still be bandied about this summer, drawing both comparisons and questions: Would the United States be a stronger contender if it had the 37-year-old Solo, who was arguably still at the top of her game when she had her nasty breakup with U.S. Soccer? And her story will again be told.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on May 22, 2019 18:23:10 GMT
MAL PUGH WILL cringe when she sees the headline of this story. I know this because in the hour and a half we've been chatting at her apartment, she's already cringed at least half a dozen times. She squirms when I point out that she's been anointed the savior/prodigy/future of soccer ever since the U.S. women's national team discovered her at the age of 12. She shudders when I mention that I heard she was so good as a teenager, she had to practice with boys (a relatable response for anyone who's ever been around high school boys). To be sure, Pugh is proud of what she's accomplished -- at 21, she's notched 50 caps with the USWNT and will play a key role in the upcoming World Cup -- but she's never really liked being called a wunderkind, an ephemeral and cliché description for an athlete who has no intention of being either. "I feel like it's starting to go away, which I'm very thankful about -- the age part," she says, sitting up a little straighter on her kitchen stool. And then I too cringe, because I know she's probably wrong. It isn't going away. Come June, when the USWNT begins its campaign in France, we're going to see a lot of Mallory Pugh, and when we do, we'll hear a lot about her age. It's hard to ignore. Sitting across from her in the apartment she shares with two of her Washington Spirit teammates, I'm struck by how young she looks, perched at her kitchen island in a tracksuit and Uggs, face free of makeup, hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. Even her apartment, which is sparsely decorated -- the most distinctive item, aside from a cluster of suitcases with U.S. Soccer stickers, is a beanbag chair -- feels like a dorm room. Which makes sense, given that she'd probably be in college today if she hadn't gone pro at the age of 18. The future-of-the-sport stuff will likely stick for a while, and it's not just because Pugh was called up to the U20 national team at the age of 16 and went on to become the youngest player for the USWNT to score an Olympic goal, or because she scored 15 of them by the time she was old enough to drink. Rather, it's because amid all of that, she blazed her own path. After briefly enrolling at UCLA, Pugh decided to forgo NCAA soccer and enter the National Women's Soccer League, and she was later drafted by the Spirit. Going pro early is the norm for American men; not long ago, Pennsylvania whiz kid Christian Pulisic decamped for Germany's Borussia Dortmund at the age of 16. But women in the U.S. rarely make the leap. "I think it's fantastic," USWNT head coach Jill Ellis says. "We have to get to a point in this country where our top players are seeking out the most challenging environments."
|
|
|
Post by Admin on May 24, 2019 18:09:48 GMT
GOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLL!!! Sorry, Mom and Dad, for nutmegging you, constantly, and without warning, when you were just trying to relax.
I say sorry, of course, but my mom and dad understood. My older sister, Brianna, too. I didn’t even like the color pink or Hello Kitty (no offense to the color pink or Hello Kitty), but I was just so desperate to watch soccer that I didn’t care what TV it was on, or what language the call was in, when I did it. And I was just so desperate to get out and PLAY soccer — to run around and play anything, really — that I didn’t care what sort of damage I left behind.
The scar on my forehead? I got it from — guess what — running around too much. I think I was four or five, and I was at my sister’s softball practice, playing on the monkey bars off to the side. And I’m sure I was challenging myself to try some fancy new jump or trick on the bars. Surprise, I slipped and busted my head open. Apparently I didn’t even cry or scream when it happened. I was just this…… wild kid, and getting hurt was part of the deal.
And that probably should’ve been the end of it — the hospital, the stitches, hugs from Mom and Dad — but literally a week after I got my stitches out, I was back outside: dribbling a soccer ball around by myself at our neighbor’s house.
And then suddenly their dog just started CHASING me.
So I started booking it. I’m talking top speed. Down my street, back to my house, and eventually I made it to the garage. Double-checked to see if the dog (which apparently was a nice, harmless golden retriever) had followed me and BOY HOWDY was it still behind me. I shot off again and started running and — BOOM. Smacked my head on the side-mirror of my parents’ car. Split it all the way open again.
They took me back to the hospital, and the staff there got really concerned about how I had split my head twice in such a short period of time — you know, questioning my mom and dad to see if they were doing anything suspicious at home or whatever. And my parents (sorry, guys) were just like, “Umm…… no….. we just have a reckless child on our hands, who can’t stop playing.”
The reckless child who can’t stop playing. That’s me!
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jul 28, 2019 18:04:43 GMT
The U.S. Soccer Federation and the 28 past and present U.S. Women’s National Team members suing their governing body over their compensation can agree on one legal point at least: they don’t want Hope Solo as part of their mediation. In legal motions filed Friday in U.S. District Court for Northern California, the USWNT through forward Alex Morgan, and the USSF, each rebuffed Solo’s July 22 legal pitch to join the “equal-pay” mediation that they agreed to last month. Solo, who individually sued the USSF over equal pay issues last year, charged in her motion the USWNT would not withstand the federation’s pressure without her intervention. Morgan and her peers do not appear to have taken kindly to that suggestion. “It is regrettable that Solo has chosen to challenge the fortitude of the Morgan Case Plaintiffs to adequately represent the class,” her motion said. “The Morgan Plaintiffs are all World Champions who have proven that they bow down...
|
|