Women's World Cup - June 15th 2019 - Canada vs New Zealand

[lamptern 43]

A testing match for Canadian attacking force.

Hopefully we could figure out what to do at end 1/3 of the pitch.

[Lofty 2,880]

New Zealand are a good team and will provide a stiff test. Looking forward to this one. It is a chance to show we are contenders.

I think in the first match, Canada were trying too hard to set up Sinclair. They need to get over that or it will be their achilles heel. They have lots of other players who are very capable of scoring goals (although not chasing the record!).

Edited June 15 by Lofty

[narduch 700]

Less then an hour til the match. 

 

[SthMelbRed 100]

We carried so much possession in that first half, but I feel that our left side is flattering to deceive, thus far. Beckie and Lawrence have failed to turn any of their many openings into properly dangerous balls into the box. Off the right, we're not taking any risks with penetrating forward passes, choosing to recycle possession, instead. The Kiwis should tire in the 2nd half if the same patterns of play continue in the second half.

[SthMelbRed 100]

We need one more to carry an advantage into the last group game against the Dutch.

[SthMelbRed 100]

I'm a bit annoyed by the lack of urgency to go get a third. We're in tough to top the group without it. 

[Greatest Cockney Rip Off 637]

I only got to watch off and on but I did really enjoy the football. Really looking forward to the round of 16. 

[xabuep2 158]

Canada and The Netherlands play next week. What is best for Canada ? winning the group or being runner up ? 

As a winner Canada could face Japan/ England 

As a runner up : most likey Sweden

[RJB 40]

54 minutes ago, xabuep2 said:

Canada and The Netherlands play next week. What is best for Canada ? winning the group or being runner up ? 

As a winner Canada could face Japan/ England 

As a runner up : most likey Sweden

The only option that is acceptable is going out and playing our best.  If finishing second means we were to play Vatican City, you still can't try to lose.  That's putting the cart before the horse.  Luckily, this is a moot conversation because I don't think either of the above options is a clearly better option. 

The only factor would be the US somehow losing which if we lose the group pits us against them.  I don't see them losing to Chile, so fortunately that could only come to fruition after our last group game which puts that out of the players head. 

Play our best against the Netherlands, try to win, and stay sharp.

[Unnamed Trialist 4,370]

I thought we were amazing, the decision making is on a very high level, way higher than ever before for our women. The starters are very well organised and really in tune with each other.

We also have some great talent at a young age. Sinclair had a rough start, first half, then really got into a groove and was unlucky not to score.

You have to take more risks up high, but that is normal, and we still need to mix up our attack a bit, but as is, we are quite powerful. I think we can beat Holland, but they have a diversified attack, which I think we can close down if we help each other out. Do we have the tie-breaker in our favour in case of drawing Netherlands?

[rkomar 132]

I think we have the same goal differential, but they have scored more goals than us.  So, I think the tie-breaker is in favour of the Netherlands.

And I was also pretty impressed with how well we handled the Ferns today.  They didn't look nearly as good as they did against the Dutch, which I assume is all down to us.

[Lofty 2,880]

Solid performance all around but fire power is lacking.

My POTM: Sophie Schmidt. I really like what she brought today, rock solid and also often setting attacks in motion with incisive forward passes. Honourable mention to Nichelle Prince and there were a few other candidates.

Excellent match from Jayde Riviere although she did drift out of it a bit in the second half.

Sinclair looks as though the record chase is getting to her. First touch let her down today but she is still effective.

We have still not seen the best of Jesse Fleming. Not even close. But lovely goal today.

A couple of scary moments for Canada at the back. Will need to be better against the stronger teams.

Looking forward to seeing Jordyn Huitema on the pitch. She is a natural goal scorer.

Edited June 16 by Lofty

[Lofty 2,880]

10 hours ago, xabuep2 said:

Canada and The Netherlands play next week. What is best for Canada ? winning the group or being runner up ? 

As a winner Canada could face Japan/ England 

As a runner up : most likey Sweden

Looking further ahead, to QF:

As winner: Italy/Brazil/Australia

As Runner Up: Germany!

The good news: No USA or France!

 

Edited June 16 by Lofty

[mtlfan 14]

59 minutes ago, Lofty said:

Looking further ahead, to QF:

As winner: Italy/Brazil/Australia

As Runner Up: Germany!

The good news: No USA or France!

 

Either way they can beat any of these teams. 

[An Observer 290]

I was at the match.  We completely dominated in every way but the ability to score in the final 3rd. Schmidt was an absolute stud. Prince is a real talent.  The ability to possess the ball and win it back was something I have never seen from a Canadian side (men or women)

The problem for me is Sinclair is passed it. She just doesn’t have the legs anymore to run 90 minutes. She was completely gassed in the second half. Definitely has also lost a step or two even though pace was never her thing. 

She should be on maximum 60 minutes and Huitema who is young and very technical can come in for her and create space with her movement. 

If we stick with playing Sinclair 90 mins, we are dead. I would say semis would be our upper limit but more likely out at quarters as once we go behind (and we will at some point), we won’t be able to close the gap. 

Getting her off with fresh legs for the last 30 or more, we got a chance to go all the way 

[Unnamed Trialist 4,370]

Just about Sinclair @An Observer, when you say she was gassed is when: 

-she left the CF position and moved about the pitch to do more playmaking, coming back into the midfield even, defending more behind the ball. 

-out of the high striker spot, put in a great cross for a Prince header, brilliantly stopped

-hit the post with a killer header leading to a tap in for the 2nd. 

-missed a sitter at the penalty spot, going high

For me she was better 2nd half than first. They don't take her off because she is the captain, and give the whole team a psychological balance.

But I do agree that she could need help, and perhaps combining with another pure striker, with her playing behind and around Huitema, for example.

[Greatest Cockney Rip Off 637]

3 hours ago, An Observer said:

I was at the match.  We completely dominated in every way but the ability to score in the final 3rd. Schmidt was an absolute stud. Prince is a real talent.  The ability to possess the ball and win it back was something I have never seen from a Canadian side (men or women)

From what I saw, this also really stuck out for me but I couldn’t tell if it was because NZ were poor or we were that much better. I suspect a bit of both but really enjoyable to watch. 

[An Observer 290]

3 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Just about Sinclair @An Observer, when you say she was gassed is when: 

-she left the CF position and moved about the pitch to do more playmaking, coming back into the midfield even, defending more behind the ball. 

-out of the high striker spot, put in a great cross for a Prince header, brilliantly stopped

-hit the post with a killer header leading to a tap in for the 2nd. 

-missed a sitter at the penalty spot, going high

For me she was better 2nd half than first. They don't take her off because she is the captain, and give the whole team a psychological balance.

But I do agree that she could need help, and perhaps combining with another pure striker, with her playing behind and around Huitema, for example.

It seems I am not the only one who thought this:  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/article-imperious-canada-wins-again-at-womens-world-cup-but-needs-a-dash-of/

[nstarsfan 14]

I think people are misreading on Sinclair. If you think she's not still one of your best players then I don't understand. The game is more than sprinting.

Ideally because games are so close together, they'd be subbing her off or she'd get a game off.  That's what they did at the Olympics.  I think her body doesn't recover as quickly for games this close together.  Unfortunately, this lineup doesn't score so she's playing the full 90.  They can't take her out because of those they have up top, she's the most likely to score.

I wished they had tinkered with other lineups more.  On paper and in many ways this 11 seems like the best bet.  But they've established for over a year now how much difficulty they have scoring.  I suspect a different mix would finish better.  Beckie and Prince seem to have a hard time hitting the broad side of a barn.  They do a lot of good things but their lack of finish really hurts.  Also as was stated on the US broadcast, the best cross Sinclair had played to her came from Labbe.  I'm not sure how much improvement to expect in this regards as we've seen this all year.

They also need some purpose to their possession.  It's not clear anyone wants to go for a goal and the pace is sometimes too slow to create gaps to exploit.

I think Beckie will be the key player deciding how far we go.  If she can start putting her shots on net and scoring, it will make the difference. Otherwise every game is a nail-biter hoping we're the team that wins 1-0.

I think if others score, Sinc won't be getting tight because of the record.  She gets tight when that pressure is intensified by needing to be 'it'. 

[Lofty 2,880]

17 hours ago, An Observer said:

I was at the match.  We completely dominated in every way but the ability to score in the final 3rd. Schmidt was an absolute stud. Prince is a real talent.  The ability to possess the ball and win it back was something I have never seen from a Canadian side (men or women)

The problem for me is Sinclair is passed it. She just doesn’t have the legs anymore to run 90 minutes. She was completely gassed in the second half. Definitely has also lost a step or two even though pace was never her thing. 

She should be on maximum 60 minutes and Huitema who is young and very technical can come in for her and create space with her movement. 

If we stick with playing Sinclair 90 mins, we are dead. I would say semis would be our upper limit but more likely out at quarters as once we go behind (and we will at some point), we won’t be able to close the gap. 

Getting her off with fresh legs for the last 30 or more, we got a chance to go all the way 

The thing with Sinclair is that she is SUCH a good footballer. The little things she does all over the pitch, winning tackles that seem lost, laying off clever passes that set a team mate off on a run, make her a valuable player regardless, and her goals are a bonus. She is still one of Canada's best players, even at her age and even though speed is not one of her assets.

But I do think Canada need to start using the whole squad a bit more. The US made 7 changes for their match today. Now almost all of their players have tasted battle and are also fresh and ready for more. There is no way a 36 year old won't be at least a little bit tired for the game against the Dutch, after playing 180 mins in 5 days or whatever it was.

[damaaster 39]

I felt a lot more confident with our team after this game (compared to Cameroon).  Much more solid game all around - felt like more controlled possession, no real scary moments at the back.

 

When I heard Chapman wasn't playing, I was upset, because I thought she was great in the first game - but Riviere came on and did a great job.  Chapman also looked good again when she came back on.

Was nice to see Fleming have a better game.  I thought she could have been much better in the first game, but looked REAL good in the 2nd.  

Sinclair - First touch let her down a bunch  - but still had 2 chances to score (one ended up as a goal for Prince anyway).

 

Would have liked to see Huitema get some minutes, but we got the win and are going thru - that's what matters.  Looking forward to the next one - should be a REAL good game.  Midiema(sp?) looks scary good.

[rkomar 132]

New Zealand, although good defensively, didn't really press the ball carrier very hard in either of their two games.  So, both Canada and the Netherlands looked pretty comfortable on the ball in those games.  Cameroon actually put more pressure on us when we had the ball, making us hurry the play more.  So, although we looked to be playing better against New Zealand, I'm not going to be more confident until I see us play that well against the Dutch.