Back to the important stuff....

[dawg80]

That was one of my and lots of others disappointment with the WWC roster. We left, some good young players that were in form for their clubs etc. at home to give Rapinoe et al. a WWC farewell lap. I am not specifically talking about Nighswonger or Moultrie, but more like Sam Coffey and Ashley Hatch. They kept saying Rapinoe was there for veteran leadership.. what the hell!! Thats why you have Morgan, Etz, Horan, Dunn, O'Hara and they could still perform on the field.

I hope we move forward with the youth and develop the tactical sense of our ladies ahead of the next Cup. We are still better athletes than most countries, but part of the difference this last cup was the tactical development of several of the other nations. I am happy to spend some of these games playing the youngsters against good teams and developing for the future.

What do you know about the USWNT new coach, Emma Hayes? I mean her coaching philosophy/tactics. I know she's been manager at Chelsea for 10+ years and been successful. She also coached briefly in the US for a professional team. That's all great but what about her style of play? Says she is thrilled (should be, this will make her the highest paid women's coach in history) to be able to coach "the best women's soccer side in history," but I hope she'll not try to constrain our athletes with a stale European style of play. We have the athletes and the talent...organize them, yes, all be on the same page, yes, but TURN 'EM LOOSE and let them create chances!

I don't like the fact she's locked in her gig with Chelsea until May and will only join US Soccer with one camp window left before the Olympics. Kilgore is doing a good job handling the team, but we need our next manager to have time to get to know the players and make, what will be, some tough decisions in putting together the roster. Some good players will be left at home...again. I'll say it again, in my book, DeMelo has earned a spot in the starting 11. Does all those little things that go unnoticed, unless you're a student of the game and look for such things.

[dawg80]

USWNT 2 China 1

Lackluster effort. China played a bunker defense 5-4-1 and did a good job defending. China led 1-0 off a set piece in the 1st half. But, we lacked energy and creativeness.

[DallasDog]

I know that she prefers a back 4 but the few times I have been able to watch Chelsea's women, mainly because of Kerr, it seems her teams get the ball wide a lot and play quick balls back into the center. I don't think she will ever park the bus, but its hard to tell how much of her success is her tactics or the fact that Chelsea's women are loaded with talent. I did ask a friend who is still working for US Soccer, albeit on the men's side, and he said she has a reputation for using a ton for formations. So I took that to mean she will build the shape around her talent. If she is strong in midfield and upfront the formation will favor that.

[DallasDog]

I was proud of how well some of our really younger players responded in that second half. Once they found their timing together they started to click from around 60th minute on. They realized when they finally got china on their back foot and kept them pinned the last 20 or so minutes.

[dawg80]

I know that she prefers a back 4 but the few times I have been able to watch Chelsea's women, mainly because of Kerr, it seems her teams get the ball wide a lot and play quick balls back into the center. I don't think she will ever park the bus, but its hard to tell how much of her success is her tactics or the fact that Chelsea's women are loaded with talent. I did ask a friend who is still working for US Soccer, albeit on the men's side, and he said she has a reputation for using a ton for formations. So I took that to mean she will build the shape around her talent. If she is strong in midfield and upfront the formation will favor that.

Not many coaches, in any sport, seem to get the concept of developing a scheme around the players you have. I know I learned that for myself when I began coaching soccer way back in 1985. At first, with a U12 team, I tried to get the kids to learn and adopt a good European style of soccer, building from the back, possession, etc. It's not that there is anything wrong with that concept, just that these American kids who did not grow up in the sport could not grasp the finer details and we got beat. The first "season" was an abbreviated one and we went 0-0-6. Yes, we lost all 6 matches. I kept about 90% of those kids into the next season and we went 3-2-5 in 10 matches. All five defeats were by exactly one goal, scores like 2-1 and 3-2. We were getting closer...Got a compliment from a visiting British soccer instructor, whose firm put on clinics in the US, he said to me, your team is one of the best coached sides I have seen in my travels across the US. The following year I took that group of kids into U14 and we started playing in statewide tournaments. Still had about 90% of the players from that first 0-0-6 squad. It was then that I became a "great coach" even if I do say so myself! One day at practice I was allowing the kids to play a scrimmage, it was most of my 1st string vs. some of my benchers together with some U16 and U19 players. They were all out there just enjoying the "beautiful game," having fun. I watched my starters, two strikers and four midfielders, trying to deal with those older kids, who were faster/bigger and more experienced. Slowly during the match my youngsters learned what worked and what didn't. They were LEARNING each other, getting creative. I learned too.

At the very next practice I changed our scheme. It was simple...let the players create, don't be so rigid. It worked. I took those same kids all the way to the Pelican Cup final, where we fell in golden goal OT 3-2 to a team from Lake Charles. Our record that season was 21-2-1. Yes, our only loss was that state final. I had SPEED to burn in my two strikers and both outside midfielders and I simply turned them loose and allowed them to wreak havoc on the opposing sides. My two center mids were awesome athletes with good heads on their shoulders, smart kids, VERY coachable. My back 4 I coached hard turning them into a solid defensive wall, in front of a very good keeper. I coached the defense way more than I did the offense, emphasizing maintaining their shape and supporting each other. In those 24 matches we had 19 clean sheets.

But we won because I allowed the talent I had up top to just be themselves.

All of that to say, that is the USWNT too. Turn 'em loose!

[DallasDog]

I think she has a lot of players to look at in the next year or so, the team going forward isn’t going to have the same amount of veteran experience bridging the transition lie, most teams do or have… we held on to few players a little to long into the cycle and haven’t been developing the younger ladies as well. I think that will change and I think Hayes will play to the strength of the younger squad going forward once she sifts through the pool.

[dawg80]

Berhalter named an entire MLS-based roster for the friendly vs. Slovenia on January 20. I have no problem with any roster experimentation during these off-season (for the national team) periods. Now is the time in friendlies to give some guys a chance to earn a cap for the USMNT. Fine and dandy. I just hope Berhalter is not placing too much faith in that he can build a USMNT roster from these MLS try outs.

Granted these uses of MLS players in camp and in these off-season friendlies has paid dividends for the national team, Walker Zimmerman is a good example as he earned his spurs in this manner. But, overall, the MLS does not prepare players to compete at the international level when it matters, like in the World Cup.

[dawg80]

Berhalter named an entire MLS-based roster for the friendly vs. Slovenia on January 20. I have no problem with any roster experimentation during these off-season (for the national team) periods. Now is the time in friendlies to give some guys a chance to earn a cap for the USMNT. Fine and dandy. I just hope Berhalter is not placing too much faith in that he can build a USMNT roster from these MLS try outs.

Granted these uses of MLS players in camp and in these off-season friendlies has paid dividends for the national team, Walker Zimmerman is a good example as he earned his spurs in this manner. But, overall, the MLS does not prepare players to compete at the international level when it matters, like in the World Cup.

USMNT 0 Slovenia 1

11 of our guys got their first caps. Not much you can say about the match. Pretty much what I expected. It was a friendly friendly. Not much intensity, which is what is expected in an early season friendly match. Couple of our guys looked promising.

[DallasDog]

I was listening to grumpy pundits on sirius/xm and they said there were 20 players capped between the two teams. Both squads were young. They said Slovenia's most capped player on the roster had 24 total caps.

Cobi Jones used to get that many in a week and a half under Bruce Arena it seemed

[dawg80]

Problem is, it's Berhalter who is coaching the youngsters, and they will never learn the skills/field-awareness it takes to be successful at the international level.

[dawg80]

Emma Hayes may wish to reconsider...Nah! they're making the highest paid women's soccer coach in the world and in all of history. She'll collect the fat checks and stick it out for a while.

The world has caught up to US women's soccer. Much like the early days of women's college hoops, those who started first had a head start, like Tech and the others, dominated until the rest of the country got serious and the big dollars prevailed. The US has the big dollars, but we don't have soccer as the premier sport, even for women. The USWNT is no longer the best program in the world and in fact, we may have slipped to third in CONCACAF behind Mexico and Canada.

[dawg80]

USWNT vs. Columbia in CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals. The program is at a crossroads...we shall see which fork they take.

Match is Sunday night.

[dawg80]

USWNT vs. Columbia in CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals. The program is at a crossroads...we shall see which fork they take.

Match is Sunday night.

USWNT 3 Columbia 0

Much better effort tonight. Now, vs. Canada in the semifinals on Wednesday.

Mexico vs. Brazil in other semi.

[DallasDog]

I think they will improve with better coaching this cycle, but I do think it will take a little time to identify some of the younger players that were getting left out because of holding on to the older guard at some positions. There were a few glaring omissions at the WC that are easy to bring in, but there are some that are right on the edge and need camp time and USWNT training to see if they are really ready. So I am ok with not rolling everyone right now, but in another year, I will be much more critical of the group.

That was a good win, and I think they probably take Canada, the final would be a toss-up for me if we make it there.

[dawg80]

That ref sucked! Never even tried to control the Columbian players, and then popped Rodman and Morgan with yellow cards, for asking for a little help from the ref keeping those South American thugs (thugettes) from abusing them. Worst officiated game I have seen in a long time.

Still, we won, and did so with an aggressive offensive attack. Naeher came up big! Two great saves.