Back to the important stuff....

True. The loss of Sauerbrunn started an unfortunate chain reaction: Ertz had to move to center defender, vacating the holding midfielder position, where she is best suited, and then forcing the insertion of Sullivan as a starter. Ertz is okay as a center fullback, but she is missed in the midfield, greatly weakening it. Vlatko is clueless, agreed, else he would know how weak our midfield is and switch out of this U14 formation of 4-3-3 and at least go to a 4-4-2.

Have to mention that Morgan deserves credit for her "midfield" play in the Netherlands game. In the 2nd half, especially, (some in the 1st half too) Morgan dropped into the midfield to help out. We would have lost that match if not for Morgan's added presence in the midfield. The Dutch played 5 midfielders and crushed us in TOP 57-43% and would have scored again, maybe twice more, if Morgan hadn't dropped back. That's why we saw a lot of the two rookies, Smith and Rodman, operating up top by themselves on breaks. But, there was no rhyme to it, so they failed to properly play as a two-striker alignment sticking to both being wings and couldn't support each other. A good coach would have recognized all of this and made adjustments. Alas, Vlatko is a mere spectator.

Sweden, Japan, and my favorite to win it all, England, have been the most impressive so far. And we have our old nemesis Sweden next. Earliest exit from the World Cup in history is looming.

This is why sports are played on the field, not in a computer or "on paper." 72nd ranked Morocco advances to the Round of 16, and both Germany and Brazil are out! Morocco joins South Africa and Jamaica as debutants, low-ranked sides that have defied the odds. Funny thing, all three nations accomplished the exact same thing that the USWNT has, yet there is gloom & doom here and national holidays of celebrations in those countries. All depends on expectations and experience.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dawg80

This is why sports are played on the field, not in a computer or "on paper." 72nd ranked Morocco advances to the Round of 16, and both Germany and Brazil are out! Morocco joins South Africa and Jamaica as debutants, low-ranked sides that have defied the odds. Funny thing, all three nations accomplished the exact same thing that the USWNT has, yet there is gloom & doom here and national holidays of celebrations in those countries. All depends on expectations and experience.

---

Good stuff. It is one of the great things about sports.....underdogs defying the odds, or the possibility of it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LEEDAWG

Good stuff. It is one of the great things about sports.....underdogs defying the odds, or the possibility of it.

---

But this group isn't exactly a "lovable" underdog....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dwayne From Minden

But this group isn't exactly a "lovable" underdog....

---

You got that right. They are still second favorites at +400. England is at +300.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LEEDAWG

Good stuff. It is one of the great things about sports.....underdogs defying the odds, or the possibility of it.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dwayne From Minden

But this group isn't exactly a "lovable" underdog....

---

Don't think LEEDAWG was referring to the US side.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bulldog Tom

You got that right. They are still second favorites at +400. England is at +300.

---

No frickin way! Japan waits for the winner of US-Sweden and either (probably Sweden) will have their hands full. Japan is so technical, one of the best teams I have seen at fundamentals. Their first touches are perfect. The ball sticks to their feet like a giant magnet. The Japs are short, in height, and the aerial game is not their forte, as Norway showed this morning scoring on a header, but they awesome in all other aspects. Japan 3 Norway 1

Spain looked really good dispatching a decent Swiss side 5-1. The Swiss goal was scored by Spain, the 8th own-goal, tying a WWCF record with plenty games left.

So, at this moment there are 14 sides left. I rank the USWNT's chances at no better than 10th.

Now, all the negativity aside, the US has played solid defense so far. They have given up exactly ONE shot on goal, and unfortunately it went in. But Vietnam took no shots at all, the Netherlands managed to get off 5 shots, and Portugal wasn't much better. BTW off the post is not counted as a shot on goal. Word is Vlatko will move Ertz up to the #6 and I guess insert Cook in the back line. Cook has not seen the field so far. Vlatko really sucks as coach, and he will be fired after the pending early exit. Anyway, this team needs to go through some kind of miracle metamorphosis before tomorrow, like a caterpillar to a butterfly, and emerge looking like a true USWNT, or it's adios.

Were we not developing talent to replace all those who have retired? Or is there a lack of talent? Or both?

US 0 Sweden 0 US loses on PKs 5-4.

Earliest exit in history for the USWNT.

Best match we played, by far. Yet, we're out. Biggest issue today is the exact same crap we've seen under Vlatko, a U14 scheme offense so easily defended that it's a joke. True the Swedish GK enjoyed a great game making 11 saves, but only one of those was truly spectacular. For the most part our attack was too predictable, pedestrian, amateurish. We have talent, athleticism, speed! that we should be able to exploit and toast opposing defenses. But, again, the scheme is a bad joke.

Sweden did not win this match, the US lost it and have only themselves to blame.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dawg80

US 0 Sweden 0 US loses on PKs 5-4.

Earliest exit in history for the USWNT.

Best match we played, by far. Yet, we're out. Biggest issue today is the exact same crap we've seen under Vlatko, a U14 scheme offense so easily defended that it's a joke. True the Swedish GK enjoyed a great game making 11 saves, but only one of those was truly spectacular. For the most part our attack was too predictable, pedestrian, amateurish. We have talent, athleticism, speed! that we should be able to exploit and toast opposing defenses. But, again, the scheme is a bad joke.

Sweden did not win this match, the US lost it and have only themselves to blame.

---

I’m starting to thing that, while we have some of the best athletes in the world, we don’t have great soccer players.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by johnnylightnin

I’m starting to thing that, while we have some of the best athletes in the world, we don’t have great soccer players.

---

This is all on the coaching, or the lack thereof. Just an observation but it might be that Vlatko knows he had superior athletes and devised a simple scheme HOPING the individual players would create shots and goals! on their own ability. That works at the lower levels, rec soccer into high school, maybe a little at the college level, but not at the highest level, especially the World Cup. I don't know if that is what he thought, I can say that is what it looked like.

The pay has been announced now that the WC is over for the USWNT. Each player gets $298K for the tournament, on top of their regular US Federation salary and perks. The US men's team players also get $298K each because the equal pay agreement between the teams/players. The US Soccer Federation "earned" $16.7 million from FIFA. Of that amount the men's team generated $13.5 million, the women $3.2 million as both teams advanced to and then were eliminated in the Round of 16 at the WC.

The Men's World Cup is the most watched sporting event in the world and it's not even close. The men's final last year, that classic France vs. Argentina game, drew 1.7 billion TV viewers, while the last women's final in 2019, the US vs. The Netherlands, had 800 million TV viewers worldwide. That is the record for the women's final, we'll see how this 2023 final goes on August 20. Of course, this is why the men's WC generates so much more revenue, advertisers pay more for commercial time given the huge the viewing audience.

Well, in addition to equal pay, the USWNT have also achieved equality in level of play, they are now equally mediocre as the men's team.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dawg80

Don't think LEEDAWG was referring to the US side.

---

Correct! I was referring to the Morocco, RSA, and Jamaica types. The US team are underachievers and foolishly under-the-influence (negatively) of someone/something, not underdogs.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LEEDAWG

Correct! I was referring to the Morocco, RSA, and Jamaica types. The US team are underachievers and foolishly under-the-influence (negatively) of someone/something, not underdogs.

---

All four Cinderellas have been bounced from the tournament, the latest being Morocco, 4-0 loser to France today. But, there is a huge celebration planned in Morocco to welcome home the team. All depends on your experiences and expectations, eh. The USWNT had better quietly slip back in...

The Elite 8 is set, and interestingly, only Japan is an association champion. The other seven teams finished 2nd or worse in WC qualifying in their respective leagues. With England's on-going problems, I am off of them, and now predict France vs. Japan for all the marbles.

Vlatko did the right thing by resigning. He was probably going to be fired anyway. Now, the search is on for a good USWNT coach. Names are being mentioned and they are who you would immediately think would be on the short list, Tony Gustavson Australia's coach is considered a leading contender and he should be on the short list. England's coach Sarina Weigman has all the credentials, and some say she is the best coach in the world. I really, really, really (3 reallys) like both Japan's and Spain's coaches, but not sure if they would even be interested. Money talks, of course.

Spain's coach, Jorge Vilda, is very interesting. For those of you who don't know, and that is probably most of you, Vilda was embroiled in a huge controversy last year. Spain was knocked out of the European Cup, by England, ironically, and the players wanted him fired. There was also some "woke" involved with him being an old school type person and not being well liked by the players. 15 of Spain's top players, including the entire starting lineup, signed a petition demanding his replacement prior to the World Cup. Well, the Spanish Soccer Federation obviously has gonads and refused, so all 15 players quit the national team. After a while 3 of the players apologized and returned to the team with Vilda as coach. And now less than a year later Vilda has the VERY young Spanish team in the WC Final opposite England. If this were a movie people would say it is farfetched, couldn't happen.

Two things, Vilda is a very good coach, and secondly, I love how the Spanish Federation stood their ground saying the players don't control the organization. Players come and go but the federation endures for years and years and has to adhere to its policies and standards. The US Soccer Federation should take a page from the Spaniards' playbook.

Spain vs. England on Sunday. England is the better side, but I am rooting for the youngsters from Spain.

I was wrong, Spain is the better team and very deserving of lifting the cup. Spain 1 England 0

Possession, possession, possession.....period. That is how you win in this sport.

Spain is the second youngest team at this tournament, Japan is the youngest, and those two sides will be favorites for the next two cycles, 2027 and 2031. The other two teams I think will be prominent in 2027 are the US and Sweden.