Oso planning to go pro
Rare to see a nation play so free and loose in the late rounds. Germany did it to an amazing level last year against Brasil and the US women were right on the heels of that performance with their first 16 minutes last night.I thought it was interesting that everyone assumed the US would use their physicality to an advantage on set pieces and bomb it in the air but they reversed the psychology on that and Japan was caught well off guard by the worm burning corner and free kick that led to the first two goals. Once those went in, the Japanese keeper was rattled to the point of being useless the rest of the match.Holiday's goal was just as technically brilliant as Lloyd's third. And Brian was outstanding last night and against Germany but that will be overshadowed by Lloyd's emergence. Brian is the future.
The third goal, was an amazing strike by Holiday, but IMO was also lazy defense by the Japanese. The cross was headed sky high and not one defender seemed to attempt to track back to it to contest.
I have to say that the championship trophy is a little underwhelming, especially on the heels of all the Stanley-Cup-parading they have done around here recently.
My 12-year old daughter's reaction: "That's all they win?" Sometimes it's hard to explain to a child of the "participation trophy generation" that it's the honor of winning and not the size of the trophy that matters.
It looked like the defender who initially headed the ball had no idea where it went. One other defender was ball watching and Holiday's marker was just torched cause Holiday made an amazing read on the ball and was full sprint past her and she just couldn't keep up.I think that first goal was my favorite, other than the obviously incredible mid field strike, because Lloyd's run was absolutely incredible and came from FAR. Just dazzling execution.
It looked like the defender who initially headed the ball had no idea where it went. One other defender was ball watching and Holiday's marker was just torched cause Holiday made an amazing read on the ball and was full sprint past her and she just couldn't keep up.
After reading this, I remembered that was in the sunny end, so I wonder if several of the Japanese defenders had trouble finding the ball with the weird sun and shadows that was going on in that end.They noted that the US won the toss and elected to defend the shady side. 5/7 total goals from the game were scored on the sunny end.
Wouldn't it actually have been 6 of 7 goals (all except USA's 2nd half goal)?
USA opened their Gold Cup defense with a lackluster and wholly undeserved win against Honduras tonight. Dempsey scored twice (both resulting from set pieces against the run of play).Honduras controlled most of the game. They won possession with 51%, deceptively low because the USA spent much of the second sitting on the ball bleeding clock. Honduras outshot us 16-6, with Andy Najar coming close on a few occasions. Also dominated corners 9-5.Quite a few American players were poor. Timmy Chandler was ran all over the pitch by Najar and had a very forgettable game. Ventura Alvarado was uninspiring, losing his mark on the Honduran goal and making a few lackluster clearances. Kyle Beckerman looked old and out of sync. And Gyasi Zardes is definitely miscast as a winger. He is good with the close touch, but has neither the pace nor the crossing to be effective out wide.I was stunned by how poor the USA looked. Spent much of the first half trying to play long ball against a team packing 9 behind the ball. When they did attack they couldn't string together meaningful possession. And numerous times Yedlin would make a wide run, opening space on the right wing, only for the passer too play the ball into the middle of the pitch (and the defense).In my mind, a terrible performance. If they want to lift the Cup, they need to be much better than this.
In my mind, a terrible performance. If they want to lift the Cup, they need to be much better than this.
USA opened their Gold Cup defense with a lackluster and wholly undeserved win against Honduras tonight. Dempsey scored twice (both resulting from set pieces against the run of play).Honduras controlled most of the game. They won possession with 51%, deceptively low because the USA spent much of the second sitting on the ball bleeding clock. Honduras outshot us 16-6, with Andy Najar coming close on a few occasions. Also dominated corners 9-5.
Possession is uncorrelated with results. It is mostly an indicator of style. Despite losing on overall shots, the US put 83% of their shots on target, as opposed to 33% for Honduras. And they finished 40% of their shots, compared to 33% for Honduras. (I've been playing around with soccer analytics lately)
Disclaimer...I don't pay that much attention to soccer...but why wasn't Tim Howard in net last night?