It was pretty obvious in 2019 that the Euro teams were catching up both tactically and technically. It should have been a little bit of a wake up call, but we still won it all so who cares. The 2021 Olympics was a total **** show and they looked awful. I guess they decided that was simply a fluke and didn't change anything yet again.

They look uninspired and tactically unaware this year. Vlatko's tactics have been terrible, but the US players also look flat. Totally out of ideas going forward. Obviously losing your best goal scorer (currently) in Macario doesn't help, but we aren't even creating decent chances to score anyways. When are best option off the bench is an aged out player who can barely keep up with the game, its lights out. Even a USMNT coached by GGG looks better tactically than this.

Maybe we should have spent more time on the practice field instead making cocky videos about how great we are. Far more embarrassing for the #1 ranked women to go out in the Quarters than the men. It'll be tight in the end, but Sweden is definitely the favorite in the next match

mirose said:

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Also when Rapino is your best option off the bench we are in trouble. The game has passed her by.

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And yet the most dangerous we looked all game was when she was trying to curl passes behind the defensive line for Morgan to run on to. Not a good look when your 38 year old winger who can't play more than 30 minutes is your most effective attacking option.

How much are the European pro leagues to credit for such improvements?

Does it already or will it soon mirror the MLS vs European situation, where our best talent must go overseas to be properly developed and challenged?

The only excuse I can muster for this team are the injuries which have left us without the enormous depth we are used to seeing on the bench.

Many countries experienced the losses of key players coming into the tournament (Netherlands, England, and France to name a few) but our situation over the last couple of years has been worse.

We are currently without the services of:
Sauerbrunn
Pugh
Sam Mewis
Macario
Press
Heath
Dahlkemper
Davidson

At minimum, 5 of the players listed above would have made the WC squad had they been at full strength. Several of them would have easily been in starting roles or seeing significant minutes.

Garbage effort all the way around.

The play it up the left side over and over, hoping for smith to out athlete the other team is tired.

Every team is now clogging the midfield and just countering against our often out of sorts midfield.

No intensity or grit at all to challenge the middle of the field. I'm not sure they even tried to switch the point of
Attack.

Honestly the tactics looked like every tournament my girls play in. Who is the Uber athlete, ok feed her the ball because athlete. The stat above about strung together passes is telling.

It's a team made up of two good cb's (one of whom isn't even a cb anymore) and a bunch of outside attacking mids plugged in because athletes.

Horan looked lost, Rose has played reckless and now sits out. Sullivan looks in over her head.

I think this team is a representation of the soccer I see every weekend. Direct, individual brilliance over any kind of team play.

I think anyone with the ability to critically analyze can see the best player and team is not necessarily the number 1 priority. The priority is getting enough name brands on the field and hope we still have enough to win. Which works until it doesn't.

As the game gets better, that's going to work less and less.

Alexi started posting on here now?

I think its already getting close to that situation and the it'll continue to grow. Average salary in the NWSL is ~54k/yr. Its around 47k/yr in England, but the investment in everything is far greater. The womens teams over there are mostly attached to mens teams. Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United/City etc. Most of them use the same training facilities and staffs. The women's game has grown massively over there and quite quickly to where they are drawing big crowds for big games. I'm not sure what the average or highest attendance in the NWSL is, but in Europe, they are drawing some big numbers. Barcelona had 2 90K+ attended matches. The big PL rivalries are filling stadiums to capacity.

We know soccer in general has a long way to go for popularity in the USA, but if you're a player, male or female, you definitely want to be playing overseas right now

England is arguably missing their 3 best players in Mead, Williamson and Kirby and yet after an off couple of games that they still won, they are dick stomping China right now.

Let's avoid the political rabbit hole and just stick to the team on this thread.

I look at this team and I don't really see any identity. Are we a possession team? Not really. Are we a counterattack team? No. Are we a pressing team trying to capitalize on mistakes? I guess that is what we are if we are anything. But the European teams have gotten better and can beat a press now. We have little creativity if a press doesn't cause a turnover, and I am not sure we are fielding the best squad for a press.

Morgan is a good holding forward, but we are not playing a style that utilizes her skill. Rapinoe was lost out there, Ertz is playing out of position. Rose needs someone to be a strong holding mid for her so she can find pockets to create in. Horan looks lost.

Our wings don't overlap much and our outside forwards can't finish. We are a bunch of misplaced parts without any since of direction.

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.

Carly Lloyd called the team out post game, saying "You're only through thanks to the post".

She's not wrong. And this team is, as stated earlier, lifeless.

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

The loss of Sam Mewis (for a couple years now) in the central midfield has probably been our biggest blow. We now have to rely on Lindsey Horan who just isn't a box to box midfielder and lacks consistency.

That was just bad. We didn't really deserve to advance. No way we make it very far.

It's a combo of coaching and players.

From the players end there were a lot of bad touches and bad passes.

From the coaching we had no identity. What were we trying to do? Some bad passes were caused by the fact that no one seemed to know where people were supposed to be or where they wanted to go. It was all up the left to Smith who did the same move EVERY time she got a pass with her no touch turn outside. And from a coaching perspective there was no adjustment. We looked just as aimless in the second half.

I'm not sure how we beat Sweden when we can't score.

Knucklesammich said:

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Garbage effort all the way around.

The play it up the left side over and over, hoping for smith to out athlete the other team is tired.

Every team is now clogging the midfield and just countering against our often out of sorts midfield.

No intensity or grit at all to challenge the middle of the field. I'm not sure they even tried to switch the point of Attack.

Honestly the tactics looked like every tournament my girls play in. Who is the Uber athlete, ok feed her the ball because athlete. The stat above about strung together passes is telling.

It's a team made up of two good cb's (one of whom isn't even a cb anymore) and a bunch of outside attacking mids plugged in because athletes.

Horan looked lost, Rose has played reckless and now sits out. Sullivan looks in over her head.

I think this team is a representation of the soccer I see every weekend. Direct, individual brilliance over any kind of team play.

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The Netherlands game had a wide open wing for a switch about 1239812 times (I haven't watched the Portugal game and doubt I will now, but I assume it was the same). A simple switch would unlock that midfield/defense block to at least get us moving up the field and we just won't/can't do it

Truly the problem is the program kept these old players past their prime and their is a huge gap of old vs young
Missing about 6to 8 years of player development
The US national team became their career-

Hand Of God said:

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The loss of Sam Mewis (for a couple years now) in the central midfield has probably been our biggest blow. We now have to rely on Lindsey Horan who just isn't a box to box midfielder and lacks consistency.

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Our midfield is a mess and Mewis and Macario would bolster the midfield play immensely. Horan's been slowed down by past injuries but there is no one else. Sullivan just isn't a quality 6 for international games and we have no one else.

I don't really see consistent patterns of play or maybe players aren't executing. I'm wondering what do they do during training?

It's a combination of things. Injuries are huge, as they've created a shallow pool of experienced and talented players and even led to the inclusion of some players who would have been home otherwise. But also I think the team lacks direction and a clearly defined tactical approach. And that's a shared responsibility of the professional players and the professional coaching staff at this point.

The rest of the world (Europe and even Latin America) has taken huge steps forward in the women's game over the last decade, and unfortunately we've taken some steps backwards. I would have much preferred to see us continue to stretch our lead.

akm91 said:

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Hand Of God said:

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The loss of Sam Mewis (for a couple years now) in the central midfield has probably been our biggest blow. We now have to rely on Lindsey Horan who just isn't a box to box midfielder and lacks consistency.

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Our midfield is a mess and Mewis and Macario would bolster the midfield play immensely. Horan's been slowed down by past injuries but there is no one else. Sullivan just isn't a quality 6 for international games and we have no one else.

I don't really see consistent patterns of play or maybe players aren't executing. I'm wondering what do they do during training?

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I doubt they will, but I'd move Ertz into the 6 and play O'Hara as CB. At least I can trust Kelly to give 1000%

Agree on Ertz but I'd slot her into to midfield for Sullivan and replace her on the back line with Cook.

I'd take that

The US has always relied on having the best athletes. We either beat you with speed or with bully ball. It's been clear for decades, on the outside, that this strategy would eventually fail, but from the inside you don't really change when you keep winning the World Cup. I can't imagine what would have happened if we had switched to a finesse style and bowed out of the last two world cups.

It's somewhat like the men's basketball program. They had to be embarrassed in multiple cycles before they really changed it up, and we still don't win every tournament. And that's in a sport where we have 90% of the best talent and the best professional league.

The problem for US women's soccer is basically the same as the men's. We don't do development in this country. So only rich kids make the best travel/elite teams, which gets them college scholarships, where they are poorly trained for 4 years, and then are the best we have. Unless that changes our best option is probably trying to out run and out muscle teams. And in the years where our best athletes are healthy we will have a shot to win.

Also all the political talk is a dumb distraction. No one plays better because they hold the same views as you…

that might happen in knock out stage and next year in the Olympics

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.

wangus12 said:

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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

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I think that is a cop out, and making too much of an excuse for the coach. He seems to have no real game plan in place, or system in place, and thats embarassing. The lineups dont really make sense, and the tactics dont really put the players in a position to succeed.
They've "had a focus on off the field activities" in the past and still looked like an excellent team on the field.
We'll see if the has the guts to make hard decisions and leave some known names out of the starting lineup. Put a cohesive lineup on the field that can connect and play as a team.

At least with Gregg, you knew exactly what he was trying to accomplish and the players all played to that purpose.

Carli Lloyd once skipped a game with her club team so she could attend a 98 degrees concert. The only difference between Carli Lloyd and the players on the field today is that her play (when she was bothered) often backed up her insane ego and sense of entitlement. And credit to her for doing so. The players today most definitely did not.

But forgive me if I laugh my ass off when Carli talks about dedication for the cause and for the shirt. She was selectively dedicated when it suited her and that's not dedication.

I agree. Every athlete has off the field things (family, business, charity, etc.).

I think one reason Lloyd is disliked in some circles is that she comes off as a hypocrite. I know a former Dash player from when Lloyd played here and she says NO ONE was more focused on herself and her brand than Lloyd, so it doesn't sit well when she critiques others for focusing on their things.

But trying to stick to on field.

I think the first 10-15 of the second half were VERY damning for Vlatko. No subs, no formation change, and we came right back out appearing lost and with no plan. That's straight coaching to me.

As for development it relates to another thread on this board about the dissolution of the DA and the fracturing into GA and ECNL and money taking over development.

I will say that I think recent trend of the best young talent going straight to the NWSL is a positive step. College is great but not for international development. I think the more we filter young talent into a club like development system the better.

Hand Of God said:

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The loss of Sam Mewis (for a couple years now) in the central midfield has probably been our biggest blow. We now have to rely on Lindsey Horan who just isn't a box to box midfielder and lacks consistency.

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I'm out of the lope. Why is Sam not playing? Thanks in advance.

Injuries

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.

And yeah, Lloyd can be both right about this team but also a hilarious mouthpiece considering her own history of doing the exact same thing when she wore the shirt.

Jim01 said:

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I agree. Every athlete has off the field things (family, business, charity, etc.).

I think one reason Lloyd is disliked in some circles is that she comes off as a hypocrite. I know a former Dash player from when Lloyd played here and she says NO ONE was more focused on herself and her brand than Lloyd, so it doesn't sit well when she critiques others for focusing on their things.

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Ding ding ding. Propping up Carli Lloyd as some kind of beacon of truth for "telling it like it is" shows either an abundance of a lack of awareness into who Carl Lloyd has proven herself to be or it's just a thinly veiled excuse to align against current players "external" activities even if it comes from a massive hypocrite. She is/was absolutely just as focused on things as the players she criticizes. They just happened to be different things then she was focused on...like 98 Degrees concerts.

Amazing player...and when she gave a ****, she GAVE a ***** But she was far from the person she now admonishes these players for not being.

Carli was the star of the 2015 WC but got butthurt when Jill benched her for most of the tournament in 2019. She still felt that she should have been in the lineup while Jill's decisions proved she wasn't a necessity. She's held a grudge ever since.

The European teams are leveraging their well established club/cultural structures to quickly accelerate the growth of their national teams. Tactically they are much more advanced than we are (both players and coaching).

Jim01 said:

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Injuries

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Thanks

I thought it might be another reason such as having a kid since the poster above said she has not played in two years.