July 3 - Friendly - USA vs. Canada [R]

[jordan]

quote:Originally posted by red card

Why is it seems like when the player isn't playing on the national team (men's or women's), they become all of sudden soccer gods?

When Kiss was on the team, she had flashes of creativity but rarely enough to warrant blubbering over about her decision not to play anymore. Just as I saw flashes of creativity, there was as many times where she was easily bundled off the ball and didn't seem to give 100% effort.

I believe Veronique Miranda from the u19 team has shown the most mid field generalship of any Canadian female player + her corner kicks during the u19 qualifying were consistently spectacular - why do you think Zurrer kept on scoring on headers?

Growing up in Kanata allowed me to see her at the highschool level the local level and for the fury, The womans team played kick and run no wonder you only saw flashes, the ball completly bypasses the midfield

[The Ref]

I have really enjoyed reading this thread. It has some extraordinary assessments of the women team and players. Good opinions and reasoning coupled with knowledgeable historical data. There is a lot of truths written in this thread. I can't really add much as all has been said and said well. So I will limit myself to just a few lines.

Skills-left-at-the-door. Maybe, but why when the girls do pass the ball, their accuracy is many teams not good. Surely it would not be on purpose.

Swiatek, I think she is the best woman keeper I have seen in my whole life, and that is a long time. I think she would have stopped that U.S. header had not been by two of our players getting on her way trying to "defend" the goal line.

Funding. I understand that the funding is not bad, I.E. grant from CIBC. The things is that it just goes to offset previous deficits and there is little leftover at the end. We need to stop sending some much "staff" alongside with the team everytime they travel.

K. Kiss. This is the first time I read from Elaine and admission that she quit because she "had differences with the Canadian system/coaching". I think we all suspected that, but it was never publicly said before.

[Elaine]

quote:Originally posted by The Ref

This is the first time I read from Elaine and admission that she quit because she "had differences with the Canadian system/coaching". I think we all suspected that, but it was never publicly said before.

It wasn't an admission on anything we didn't already know ... there was an article that came out in the Ottawa newspaper a few months back that pretty much spelt that out etc. It had quotes from Kristina that pretty much eluded to that. (IIRC)

[Guest Ed]

quote:Originally posted by CAFAN

Sour grapes with no substance. But your post was excellent in all other respects Now, would you like some cheese with that whine?

Are you vying for a spot on the next CSA trip abroad?? I'm saying Pellerud blew it against Mexico. That's not whining. Whining is blaming field conditions, the wind or the ref. I had already posted my unwavering faith in Swiatek. It's a mystery how anyone could pick LeBlanc over her, hence my comment on your judgement. The team did not play enough games going into Costa Rica, hence the comment on preparation. That was a common complaint apres the game against Mexico. He played 4 forwards, with Sinclair, the all-world finisher, out on the wing for God's sakes. Jamani had a nice debut in a friendly and the early games but he should have put two veterans up front in this do or die match vs Mexico. Also, kept Lang (granted coming off injury) off for the first hour, and Timko and Moscato on the bench the entire game. Hence the questions about player selection and tactics.

We had never lost to Mexico prior to that game. It was an even more deplorable loss than the Men's team loss in the Gold Cup to Cuba (as we were missing half the squad), which cost Holger his job. The women had pretty much their WCQ team on the roster, and blew it big time. You can blame the players to a degree, but the coach has to be accountable in the end.

[The Ref]

quote:Originally posted by Elaine

It wasn't an admission on anything we didn't already know ... there was an article that came out in the Ottawa newspaper a few months back that pretty much spelt that out etc. It had quotes from Kristina that pretty much eluded to that. (IIRC)

OK then, I never knew about that newspaper article and Kristina's quotes eluding to the matter. Hope she is doing well.

[Elaine]

quote:Originally posted by The Ref

OK then, I never knew about that newspaper article and Kristina's quotes eluding to the matter. Hope she is doing well.

I'll have to dig it up then and send it to you ... it was a short article, but a good one, nonetheless ... and last i've heard from Kristina, she is doing well.

Elaine

[DJT]

No need to dig up the article Elaine, because it's already posted on this forum in this thread (post by El Hombre, 19th post from the top).

Ref, since you posted to that thread after the article was posted you probably did read the article but must have forgotten about it.

[The Ref]

quote:Originally posted by DJT

No need to dig up the article Elaine, because it's already posted on this forum in this thread (post by El Hombre, 19th post from the top).

Ref, since you posted to that thread after the article was posted you probably did read the article but must have forgotten about it.

I am losing it man.

[CAFAN]

quote:Originally posted by Ed

Are you vying for a spot on the next CSA trip abroad?? I'm saying Pellerud blew it against Mexico. That's not whining. Whining is blaming field conditions, the wind or the ref. I had already posted my unwavering faith in Swiatek. It's a mystery how anyone could pick LeBlanc over her, hence my comment on your judgement. The team did not play enough games going into Costa Rica, hence the comment on preparation. That was a common complaint apres the game against Mexico. He played 4 forwards, with Sinclair, the all-world finisher, out on the wing for God's sakes. Jamani had a nice debut in a friendly and the early games but he should have put two veterans up front in this do or die match vs Mexico. Also, kept Lang (granted coming off injury) off for the first hour, and Timko and Moscato on the bench the entire game. Hence the questions about player selection and tactics.

We had never lost to Mexico prior to that game. It was an even more deplorable loss than the Men's team loss in the Gold Cup to Cuba (as we were missing half the squad), which cost Holger his job. The women had pretty much their WCQ team on the roster, and blew it big time. You can blame the players to a degree, but the coach has to be accountable in the end.

That's much better.

Re: CSA comment. No, but I'd love to work with this team on things like positioning yourself to receive a pass, receiving a pass in control, optional moves after you receive a pass, dribbling skills, heading skills, placing a longball so your striker can get possession, anticipating and intercepting opponent's passes etc, etc, etc. There is so much room for improvement. One can only imagine what this team could do with 6 months of targetted drills.

Swiatek is sure looking more and more like a #1 keeper but she wouldn't have made a difference on Mexico's goals. Dominguez placed the ball too well. The problem was with the defense, not the keeper.

Canada had 3 high quality games in the 4NT (USA, Sweden, China) prior to Costa Rica plus the 3 games in Costa Rica. It was exactly the same amount of preparation as the USA had. Also tough for our young team to take more time than that away from school.

We had all our healthy big guns on the field for the entire game. Maybe another formation would have worked out better but Sinclair wasn't our hottest goal scorer going into that game, Jamani was. And true to form, Jamani scored our only goal. Of the remaining 3 (Hooper, Sinclair and Latham), Hooper looked the least capable of impacting the game from a m/f position, so Pellerud put her up front instead of Sinclair. It's not like Hooper hadn't scored big goals for Canada in the past. I have a hard time calling any of that a huge error in tactics.

Lang was not only recovering from an injury, she wasn't game-fit. Her speed was off and there's no way she could have lasted 90 minutes. Saving her for the second half, when Mexico had tired legs wasn't a bad move. Most people were puzzled about Timko. What they didn't know was that Timko was suffering from burn-out. Similar to chronic fatigue syndrome in that she had no energy reserves and she couldn't recover from even a modest amount of energy output. She wouldn't have been an asset on the field and playing might have endangered her health. Moscato played a great game against Panama and then played like crap against Costa Rica. The difference was dramatic but I have no idea what caused it.

I've watched the USWNT fans and media as they slowly came to terms with the changing landscape in women's soccer. At first Canada was a joke and then almost overnight they were a very real threat. Many thought the difference had everything to do with what the USA was doing wrong and nothing to do with what Canada was doing right. They were wrong of course, but it took a couple of years for the truth to sink in. The last time Canada played the real Mexico in earnest was the 2002 Gold Cup. Canada won on 2 own goals by Mexico, the defense Pellerud had been developing for two years was able to shut down Dominguez and got a bit lucky on a couple of Mexican shots that went just wide of the post. It was a small margin of victory. Following the win over Canada, Mexico took an unprecedented 2-0 lead over the USA before losing 3-2. I don't think you're giving Mexico their due.

[The Ref]

Splendid analysis CAFAN. There are still two things that I have not been able to explain. One being that Pellerud was quoted as saying after the loss to Mexico that he didn't know what happened. A bit strange for a coach of his caliber to say. The other is that Hooper gave them fair warning of Dominguez capabilities, but the coach chose to put her up-front when she would have been ideal for marking Dominguez as she knew her very well. Can you comment further?

[CAFAN]

quote:Originally posted by The Ref

Splendid analysis CAFAN. There are still two things that I have not been able to explain. One being that Pellerud was quoted as saying after the loss to Mexico that he didn't know what happened. A bit strange for a coach of his caliber to say. The other is that Hooper gave them fair warning of Dominguez capabilities, but the coach chose to put her up-front when she would have been ideal for marking Dominguez as she knew her very well. Can you comment further?

I remember the context of Pellerud's statement. He had said prior to the match if Mexico played their BEST soccer, they were capable of beating Canada. His comments following the game were based on his view that Mexico didn't play all that well, so he was a bit lost for words.

The question of whether Pellerud should have played Hooper in the back is a good one and I'm pretty sure he's had some sleepless nights wondering what-if... Putting Hooper up-front didn't produce a goal (she was close but no cigar), so the question is would she have made THE difference on defense? Canada doesn't (as far as I know) man-mark because it takes a defender out of zone coverage and creates a whole new set of problems. If they did, Nonen would have been my choice to mark Dominguez. Nonen better matches Mirabel's speed and she knows her tricks just as well as Hooper does (all 3 played for Atlanta in WUSA). Man-marking or not, if Hooper had played defense and disrupted even one of Mirabel's 2 goals, things might have turned out very different. By the end of the match Mexico was pretty much used up and Canada was in control in every way except on the scoreboard. If the game had been tied 1-1 and gone to OT, Canada would have been in the driver's seat. So, would Hooper have been in the right place at the right time to foil even one of Mirabel's goals? Definitely maybe.

[The Ref]

Thank you CAFAN. Very interesting your observation about Nonen and man marking. The reason I mentioned Hooper is because she was the most vocal (not out of character) and was p.o. with the loss and the freedom that Dominguez had. So in summary, there were two competent players aware of Dominguez speed and ability, but we chose to ignore it. I think Mexico studied our tactics and paid us back with the same money.

[CAFAN]

Most of the team knew about Dominguez but knowing isn't always enough. In the 2002 Gold Cup Canada had 3 defenders with the speed and agility to match her, and she was still a handfull. In Costa Rica there was only Nonen and Mirabel was on fire. She burned the US for 2 goals in the final after they SAW what she did against Canada. I'll be interested to see what she does in the Oly's.