Back to the important stuff....

[DallasDog]

Our B-Team for the most part always plays harder and is more aggressive offensively than our "starters" (Like we have a clue where we are going to be playing most people, outside of a few). That said at the same time against the top teams both lineups will get shredded, but our B-Team would probably get clobbered worse.

Heart and effort go a long way against anyone, and honestly our "A" team has shown very little of both in the last couple of years.

A win is a win and momentum is good.

I look for forward to watching these teams that are qualifying like Haiti, Ireland, Scotland, Ukraine. I am not a big fan of increasing the size of tournaments NCAA MBB, World Cup etc. in general because it's a cash grab not about truly improving a product. That said, it will give us some neat story lines to watch.

[dawg80]

USWNT vs. Italy this weekend, two matches.

Latest FIFA rankings have the US #2 mere fractions of rating points behind Spain. Italy is ranked #12. Such rankings are meaningless, especially in an in-between World Cup year. US was a clear #1 prior to the loss to Portugal.

Some more veterans are returning to the squad in this window. Two matches vs. Italy and one vs. Paraguay, which is ranked #41, out of 196 nations. This will more closely resemble the next World Cup roster.

[dawg80]

USW 3 Italy 0

Solid performance against a quality side. Play again Monday, I think Italy will be a tougher nut to crack a second time around. I was lukewarm on Olivia Moultrie, but she showed me more last night...defense.

Two more players earned their first caps last night. That makes 27 since Hayes took over, 16 in 2025. In 14 matches this calendar year, Hayes has used 44 different starters! Not just players, but starters. Over half of which still have fewer than 10 caps.

[dawg80]

USW 2 Italy 0

Had two shots hit the woodwork, one denied because Yohannes doesn't know the offside rule, and one denied by one of the worst calls in the history of soccer officiating. US Keeper Dickey had only one save because Italy mostly never challenged our defense and when they had shots, they couldn't keep it on frame.

15 matches played in 2025, 10 clean sheets.

[DallasDog]

I have always had confidence in Hayes figuring out what she has in the pipeline and instilling somewhat of a culture change in the program. I don't think we will steamroll the world like we have historically because the women's game has improved and other countries are actively working to improve their programs, but we should still be a favorite for a long time.

[dawg80]

Just think, most of this 2025 success has been done without Les Tres, the three strikers who tore up good competition at the Olympics. To say that USWNT is LOADED with talent, is an understatement. And to further drive home the point the USW U23 has been ripping through European competition, beat England yesterday 4-2.

[DallasDog]

We should still be #1 in the world way more often than not, but I won't be surprised to see more consistency from some of the European programs (England, Spain, perhaps Germany and Italy as well). They can dump consistent money into their programs and can control the player development and selection due to their smaller country size and tighter club systems. Which means they will be able to field comparable talent probably for players 1-15ish then depth would start to lack in comparison.

Just think of the talent we have in this country.. men and women, that because of the pay to play structure of youth and club soccer in the U.S. and just our geographic size, that goes unnoticed. Well and to top that off that I don't think US Soccer has been well run.

[dawg80]

World Cup draw

US gets Group D, considered the 4th toughest of the 12 groups. US is the highest ranked team, currently 14th in the world. Australia is 26th, Paraguay is 39th, and the likely play-in winner will probably be Turkey, ranked 25th.

The "group of death" is Group F headlined by the Netherlands and Japan.

But, who knows how each team's fortunes will change between now and next summer, and the FIFA rankings are bound to change too.

[OLDBLUE]

Praying all you blue-hearts have a special Christmas with your loved ones, especially with the One whose birth we celebrate. After all, He is the greatest Gift we can receive .
MERRY CHRISTMAS This IS the important stuff