I don't think the score line was completely indicative of the actual game...France certainly was better able to finish their good chances whereas the US simply could not and the French GK played outstanding. As I said, it's a rough opening match for the US but they should be able to win the next 2 and advance to the knockouts.
Japan's Sr. team ain't chopped liver either after whacking the US in that friendly prior to the WC. They will no doubt make some noise in '26.
Same conversation is now ongoing on the girls side. Especially since Spain, a side full of “undersized” women (at least compared to the Americans) won the World Cup. Clubs place the biggest and fastest girls on the top team at a young age over smaller players who might have more natural soccer ability.
And I think you're seeing that shift. Japan has won a World Cup this century...how? They had a team of very good technical players and who were superior tactically. They could pass the crap out of the ball. Brazil has been good by being technically superior. Spain was both technical and tactical in their win last year. The US is running the best athletes up top hoping they can out athlete the defenders from their opponents. That used to work in the women's game...it won't moving forward. The goal Trinity Rodman scored was one of those great team goals. Will it be that easy against an opponent better than Zambia? Probably not, but it showed some great tactical movement off the ball and good in tight passing. I think under Emma Hayes you'll see the US shifting to being a more technical team with better tactical awareness in the attack. This is where the great technical abilities of Lindsey Horan and Rose Lavelle will shine for the US. Plus as the athletic gap between the US and other nations begins to narrow, the US will need to be better tactically and technically if they are to keep pace.
New Zealand beat Guinea 2-1. Unless we just fall apart, I think we will beat Guinea. A draw should be the worst we could do.
Women were very clinical in their attack and they just overwhelmed the German midfield and they really brought in an attack that was really balanced and used both sides of the field.
Josy altidore was a lazy, lazy player. I hated watching him. I can't blame him for taking the money in Toronto. He never wanted to work. It was appalling to watch him play in person because you got to see just how little he worked.
Mallory Swanson seems to really be excelling with the new gaffer.
Before her knee injury (last year?) she was by far the best scorer on the team. She’s just now getting back into form. Dynamic player who covers the whole field.
All about matchups. I haven't seen any of the other U23 teams at the Olympics where I would worry that we were way overmatched. Even in the initial game vs France, if the US finished just 1 of the early chances they had that game might have played out differently. Argentina and Morocco are both decent but they have some holes.
Agree 100%. My hope is MLS-Next will provide better develop going forward on the male side. Doesn’t help the lack of development at the academy level but I do believe the training at the MLS-Next level is an improvement over ECNL.
Someone posted a meme of this about this being his time to put his Tinder profile out there.
Both the announcers have just been complaining about everything. "This is not the replay I wanted.", "Did they really have to show that graphic, we know she was offsides" Then Julie Fowdy going off on a few things....its ugh..
This is what happens when you're relying on the international broadcast center and you're announcers aren't actually there and you don't have your own cameras and production crew controlling the feeds and views.
