El Floppo
Footballguy
I agree about that last touch before the shot- definitely took her the wrong/unintended way, and forced her to take that nice chip rather than try to drive it.And yeah- the US has most definitely gotten through with some off GK play from their opposition.I tend to agree with you, although I do think Morgan could've taken 1 less touch on it. I'm not sure I'd put it on the GK though.
GK definitely should've gotten a hand on the header, though, just as Brazil's GK should've gotten a hand on Wambach's goal last game. US has certainly benefited from less-than-stellar opposing goalkeeping in the last two games.
IMO, the US was the lesser team by a bunch today (also for the regulation time part of the game vs Brazil). Tons of mistakes in the MF on the ball- I lost count how many easy short passes went straight to France in dangerous situations. Tactically and technically, France was a much better team. The US spacing was pretty grim, particularly in the MF- it was like they were playing the anti-Men's MF, with 2-3 attacking central MFs but no holding/defensive ones at all. France found a ton of space between the back 4 and the MFs over and over but shot the ball to early/eagerly and from too far out too often. They needed to take the extra pass or touch and get at least to the box to really put Hope under pressure.
But the US was pretty ruthless with their chances where France wasn't and there's the game. Well, that along with superior conditioning which allowed the US to close out the game and shut France down in the last minutes. BTW- I'm pretty sick about hearing how this shows US spirit and determination or anything else particular to being a citizen here. It shows the US players are more fit, and can finish their chances and that's about it. Yeah, they showed a lot of heart in the game vs Brazil, but again- it was more about fitness than anything else, as the Brazilians were clearly tiring. It's not a call to patriotism, people.
I finished watching this one and the old cliche went through my mind about it being a funny old game.
jesus.
Toni, Gilardino, Cassano (who got a raw deal as it is, but still)...about damn time for some new blood. I haven't been this excited about the Azzurri in awhile...since, say, 2006...