USWNT U20 team pulled out an incredible comeback in the U20 World Cup to advance to the semifinals. The US trailed Germany 2-0 entering added time (7 minutes) and scored twice equalizing, and then won the PK shootout to advance. Good stuff.
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USWNT U20 team pulled out an incredible comeback in the U20 World Cup to advance to the semifinals. The US trailed Germany 2-0 entering added time (7 minutes) and scored twice equalizing, and then won the PK shootout to advance. Good stuff.
There is talent in the youth ranks and has been for a while, but we have seemed to let a lot of it die on vine over the years.
Originally Posted by dawg80
The only thing I find curious is the U20 team captain crediting Emma Hayes with their success. She said Hayes has served as an inspiration and a confidence-builder for them, making them realize they can accomplish anything...like a late comeback win. Well...if Hayes is so awesome, why did our U20 team fall behind 2-0 in the first place?
I'm not knocking Hayes, I think she's a good coach, and obviously is the "shot in the arm" the whole USWNT program needed. But, she is being cast as some supernatural savior or something. Which, really, is not fair to Hayes. This is leading to unrealistic expectations like the USWNT will never lose a tournament ever again. Hayes herself, in a long interview with an Australian network, said that the success in France, the gold medal, is due because of what was already in place, the previous coaches, the US Soccer Federation, and of course those players themselves who were already good enough to win gold in the Olympics. I agree. In truth, Hayes has done NOTHING (thus far) that any good coach couldn't have done. Her true value will be tested going forward. It's not like the USWNT was an awful program, a history of losing and Bam! Hayes comes in and they win gold.
I suppose now if the U20 team fails to win the World Cup we can blame Hayes for the failure...really?
I think the younger girls see her as an inspiration on a global coaching level, with women's leagues being less frequent and usually coached by men until very recently. They see her as a successful professional coach (especially her time at Chelsea). I think it does put unfair pressure on her right now, but them the breaks if you want the money.
The thing is she has pushed the right buttons so far, and I have found there are fewer and fewer good coaches that are out there. The pros love to recycle coaches instead of promote up. Now that could all go into reverse by the next tournament of course.. just not enough sample size at the national level yet.
USWNT U20 lost its semifinal match to Korea, 1-0. Guess Hayes is not so inspiring after all... (of course I'm being facetious)
No, she was just more inspiring to the Korean team than our ladies. She transcends all.
Saw the highlights (or the lowlights, I suppose). Two great saves by the Korean keeper and twice we smashed one off the woodwork. Usually the case in a 1-0 match, there's always those "almosts."
Sophia Smith says her body still hurts from the "grueling" rigors of the Olympics. Really? How soft has the USWNT gotten? Take a look at video of Alex Morgan playing for the USWNT and the literally HUNDREDS of cheap shots she took. When watching those matches often you would see Morgan picking herself up off the pitch as she was just knocked down, away from the ball, by another cheap shot. Never complained, just kept going. And, don't get me started on the toughness of Carli Lloyd!
Sophia Smith is another victim of the ultimately pampered generations of "participation trophies" etc. Smith and any others "still hurting" would not have lasted 5 minutes "back in the day." Hell, I played for Tech's Men's Soccer Club and played all 90 minutes of 5 matches in less than 48 hours, at a Florida tournament, in late May, 95F heat every match. I wasn't the only one. Last match ended after 5PM on Sunday, and I was in my 8:00 class Monday morning. We were a different breed.
People unfamiliar with the sport of soccer have no clue how grueling it can be. Some of the beat athletes in the world, play soccer.
Toughen up Sophia...
I think toughening will come under Hayes one way or the other.
USMNT vs. Pamana tomorrow night, Poch's debut as coach.
US 2 Panama 0
Poch is the 8th straight USMNT coach to get a result in his debut game. Next up, at Mexico on Tuesday. Much tougher test. Poch has had only 4 days of practice and one match with the team so, of course, there has been no time for any changes/development. Both goals last night were good goals, sharp passing and finishing in traffic.
Pulisic, McKennie, and Pepi amongst 5 players who won't be on the roster for Mexico game. Citing "load management" and minor injuries Coach Poch made the announcement ahead of the friendly (which are never truly "friendly") Tuesday. Geo Reyna is out for the same reasons. Poch plans to throw some youngsters into the fire.
Ugh! 0-2 loss to Mexico. Had nothing under the hood.
Reyna is never going to be healthy long enough to make a huge impact I'm afraid. He is always either straight up injured or nursing some nick from match.
I thought we were on the front foot against Panama more than we have been at almost any time under Berhalter. We scored goals under B. but a lot of the time they were against the run of play if it was a good team, or a great individual effort. While those are needed sometimes, I rarely felt like we had an organized attack. We were looking to get forward as a squad most of the night, and the pace was brisk and the passes on target for the most part.
I didn't expect a win last night, I would have been thrilled with a draw. I am fine introducing some young ones to the national team. In an ideal world we would have been doing that in the early part of this cycle, but we wasted it on Berhalter. So, this was probably one of the toughest tests to see new blood in going forward, so it's fine as long as he learned something useful about his squad depth etc.
Hayes has her crew back on the pitch tonite, friendly vs. Iceland.
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