her second goal today was sick!
her second goal today was sick!
Too bad that there are not more posts on this thread!! GREAT job!
Although soccer players get a reputation for dramatizing injuries, In the first game against North Korea (Asia's best team), Wambach received a bloody hit to her head. She came off a bit bloody, received a couple of temporary stitches, came back in, and remained a solid player for the remainder of the game. After the game, the temporaries came out, and she received ten or so stitches. She also has a bum toe. Gritty player! Here's the AP/ESPN description:
The whole team looked shaky against North Korea, but they more than rebounded against Sweden. The 2-0 win over Sweden featured a couple of Wambach goals. SlimSlowSlider was right ... that second goal was just sick. Goalkeeping and defense was a lot steadier amid pressure from Sweden.Wambach is nearly indispensable to the Americans. She put her team ahead 1-0 against North Korea, her 78th goal in 97 games for the national team. Minutes later, with blood spurting from her head, she was taken off for 10 minutes to close the wound. In her absence, North Korea scored twice.
North Korea and USA are tied with identical records and goal tallies. USA should advance, but I would love to see more scoring from the others on the team. They take on Nigeria (African winners).
As an aside, former Duke captain Rebecca Smith's New Zealand team lost 5-0 in its opening game against Brazil. Here's to hoping they have a good game today against Denmark!
Cheers,
Lavabe
Last edited by Lavabe; 09-15-2007 at 04:44 AM. Reason: Link
I haven't seen the US team yet, but Brazil looks really good to me. I love the precision of their passing and their team speed.
Anyone know what the matchups are after you exit the groups? I too see Brazil as one of the elite teams that could really threaten the US in a one-and-done matchup. Is there a chance we might face them at the start of the next round (we still could easily finish 2nd in Group B, Brazil is almost a lock to finish first in Group D)?
By the way, how did the US end up in a group with the #1, #3 (Sweden) and #5 (NK) teams in the world?!?!? Compare that to the ridiculous Group C with Norway (#4), Australia (#15), Canada (#9), and Ghana (#47).
--Jason "by the way, sucks to be France-- #7 in the world and not even in the World Cup" Evans
Duuuuh-- about ten seconds after I posted this, I found my answer. We are in Group B and (assuming we do not gaaack against Nigeria) will play either the #1 or #2 team in Group A in the Quarterfinals. Finishing first in our group would be huge though, so we could avoid the #2 ranked Germans in the Quarters and would get what should be a much easier match against either England or Japan instead (probably England).
--Jason "of course, no one wants to be in our bracket... we are the bad boys that no one can knock off in women's futball" Evans
Wambach is extraordinary and you'd have to be more than nuts to want to go for the big prize, or any prize without her. However, I did not see a lost anything, much less a lost USA squad out there, without her. They did score the tying goal, if I recall right, without her.
This group is terrific. No one will ever eclipse the 91ers in sports law, second only than the USA hockey guys and maybe not even them. (I was at the semis in the World Cup, and, a lifelong Knicks fan, was in the Garden for the Willis Reed Championship game; for sheer drama, it is a pick em in my book).
That said, on the field, take Mia and Wambach off, and have Lilly playing for both (she is much more valuable on this squad, imo), and I ain't sure who wins. These kids are good!!!
We'll take a 1-0 win over Nigeria any day of the week. Lots of rain from an approaching typhoon, but the women played fairly well and steady. Chalupny scored an early goal, and the team seemed to open up the field. All in all, a good performance; not a great game, but it definitely looked encouraging.
In winning the game, the USA beat North Korea (who lost to Sweden) for the right to avoid Germany. That means the US plays England next. After drawing Japan 2-2 and the powerful German team 0-0, they stomped on a poorly defended and shorthanded Argentine team 6-1.
Canada vs Australia should be an interesting game today for Group C. Group D, except for Brazil, is the strangest group. Denmark's coach is suspended, and the team should lose big to Brazil. China SHOULD beat NZ and advance as a home team. Then again, if NZ scores a win with about a five-goal margin, they may advance. That seems unlikely as they have yet to score one goal.
The weather has been awful, and the time difference makes for difficult viewing. Makes me wonder about the Olympics!
Cheers,
Lavabe
I for one have not been impressed with the way the U.S. women have been playing. This can be blamed on the conditions (wet for two games) and the style of international play (physical in all three matches) as negating to a degree the technical strength of the U.S. side. Regardless, we haven't seen much of the beautiful passing / possession game that the U.S. does so well with -- indeed, against North Korea I felt the team was repeatedly panicking and sending the ball rather than bringing it down and building from the bank through the midfield with a passing game. It was North Korea that was possessing, passing, changing the point of attack, and so on. During the Nigerian game at one point the announcers flashed a graphic showing that Nigeria had a majority of possession.
The thing is, of course, given the level of individual skills and athleticism on the team the U.S. does not need to play its best to win. Survive and advance.
Oh, Abby has been my favorite U.S. player for a long time. I loved her quote about the second goal against Sweden: ""It's one of those goals as a forward where you say: 'Yeah I meant to put it exactly where it went in.' But in this type of situation I just hit as hard as I could and it went in." Her facial expression after the game was priceless: a combination of astonishment and joy.
Kai should have played more against N. Korea. She brings an outright mean tone that we needed against the physical play faced in that game. She only got 3 minutes or so.
Well that was a fun second half against England. Glad to see a potent balanced offensive game with everyone getting involved.
GO USA!
Cheers,
Lavabe
Yeah, the second half against England was soooo fine. BUT the USA needs to control more minutes and not have to do so much chasing.
A couple of days of rest will be good for USA. Going for the Gold.
Up next: Brazil and then probably Germany. The road gets a lot tougher from now on.
--Jason "good to see Lilly get another goal" Evans
Brazil survives Australia, setting up a dramatic matchup with the US in the semis. The US is winning ugly. Brazil is playing pretty on offense - well, at times awesome on offense -- but a couple of outright ugly moments on defense, a place where experience and discipline may mean more than raw talent. In game with high stakes and pressure, I would give the edge to the US: dogged professionalism, solid defense, grind-it-out.