🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Just to get my mind off the KU loss today...

Speaking of losses, the USWNT lost yesterday for the first time in a long time. England, a top 5 team, took em down. 2-1. England looked pretty good, as i've been thinking for awhile now.

One main theme continues when i watch women's soccer: THE REFEREEING IS TRULY HORRENDOUS. i mean really bad. So many wrong calls. obviously wrong.

I watched the game late last night. The US did play a very young squad. I do think the game was a bit controversial. The first England goal was legit. 1-0. A pretty bad clearance/slide that was flubbed led to an England tap in.

The US was robbed of a corner after that. Pretty obvious after a scrum near the England goal that the ball was knocked out by England.

Sophia Smith with a very nice finish to tie it up 1-1. I'm still not sold with her and Pugh being the next generation. Not that there are a ton of other options, but they seem second class compared to previous players.

IMO a pretty bad PK call put England up 2-1 for good. Corner cleared to top of US box, a US player had her foot waist high for a clearance, and an England player put her head down waist high and contact was made. Bad call.

Rodman had a fantastic goal that was called off for a mystery offsides. The goal was called a goal on the field, then VAR pulled something out of their arsses and disallowed it. A giant mystery. So bad.

Game over.

So, my two cents: the US is on the decline, and other world teams are on the rise. The US doesn't seem like they will/can win the World Cup next year. Hope i'm wrong.

Dang, the women lost again today.

The announcers seem to be blaming the week leading up to the two games — the stresses of the women's soccer scandal.

Seems like it’s more than that.

Stayed up late to watch some of the draw for next year's Women's World Cup in Australia & New Zealand.

USWNT is in the same group with The Netherlands, who they beat for the title in 2019.

The US opens against Vietnam. The final spot in the group goes to the winner of a playoff among Cameroon, Thailand and Portugal.

Me too! No wonder i'm tired today...

I'm liking our draw, even after the group stage.

So much for the post-draw buzz. USWNT loses again, this time to Germany, 2-1.

Midfielders/defense not looking too good tonight. Gave up both goals on German counterattacks, including a late one that gave them the win, right after we'd equalized on a Morgan-to-Rapinoe goal.

@nwhawkfan said in USWNT:

So much for the post-draw buzz. USWNT loses again, this time to Germany, 2-1.

Midfielders/defense not looking too good tonight. Gave up both goals on German counterattacks, including a late one that gave them the win, right after we'd equalized on a Morgan-to-Rapinoe goal.

Bummer. Lots of good, some bad.

I’m on repeat here i know, but the officiating in the women’s game continues to be absolutely shoddy. Embarrassingly bad.

Rapinoe’s finish was great. Don’t see that often these days.

I thought the first German goal was offsides. But, they never showed a replay angle so who knows.

The second German goal was an absolute lazy ass breakdown on defense.

Lots of possession. Lots of good things otherwise though.

Mixed in with some pretty bad passing, finishing and decision making in the final third for the US.

Germany is a decent squad, but The US players simply aren’t as good these days,

Unlike mens soccer, nearly universally played, and thus very competitive teams from all continents, womens soccer (and I'm not an expert here) has not been played by all that many countries for a long time. The world is catching on to womens sports and so the US is starting to feel more competition from more places than they're used to. This is starting to be the case in hockey as well.

When the USWNT beat Thailand 13 nil in the opener during the last tournament I recall thinking this result proves that it's impossible to find 32 competent soccer teams in the world. I'm really hoping that gap closes.

The women played Germany again yesterday.

Totally got smoked and looked two steps behind in the first half. Totally overwhelmed.

Oddly, with the same team on the pitch, they had some nice individual effort to take the lead in the second half.

Still some issues with decision making and finishing in the final third.

I don't watch the women's game other than the USWNT. So, not sure how the teeny tiny Pugh and Smith do in their leagues. But, apparently they are stars? Both had goals, with nice individual efforts. Both also with some curious decisions in the 1st half. young, i guess.

Been reading a lot about how their midfield is just not cutting it, or at least within the 4-3-3 formation. I will say i used to LOVE Rose Lavelle. She's really not done anything of note in the last few games i've watched. disappointing. Horan is a beast. i like her. Not sure about Sullivan. she was bloodied yesterday, just like Zach was the other day.

After watching the USWNT play yesterday (and recently), had a few thoughts...

-- Alex Morgan needs to touch the ball more often. She didn't even sniff it yesterday vs Wales. I wonder if she should move back out to the left wing so she can get on the ball, make some plays. She still have some speed? that way you can put Trinity Rodman in the middle, and Sophia Smith on the right wing. That's a pretty nice lineup of forwards. She can always slide back into the middle if a sub is brought in.

-- We need more out of Lindsey Horan. At times she just seems like she doesn't give a crap out there. sleep walks. I've seen her be dominant, aggressive and fluid (see my praise in the above post from 2022). Need way more of that. Hopefully the World Cup motivates her.

-- Fingers crossed that Rose Lavelle is back from injury, and brings some individual brilliance to the midfield. After seeing how teams now pack it in on defense against the US, we need players to make some plays.

Well, never thought I’d say this as she’s one of my favorite US players ever…but it may be time for Alex Morgan to call it a career.

She just doesn’t produce any more. She didn’t have much set up help tonight for sure, but I can’t even remember the last time she scored. Poor Alex.

The US team looked pretty plain tonight vs Colombia.

Looks like the women are about to hire a new coach. Dunno a thing about her, but she'll have some pretty significant issues to contend with.

To me the most glaring fix is in the midfield. When my girl Rose isn't on the pitch, it's just stale. The midfield lack of creativity is hurting overall play. And of course that means the forwards (Alex in particular) are not being fed the ball in positions to succeed. I liked her better as a winger anyway, but maybe she doesn't have that speed anymore. I did kinda like Savannah Demelo's game last time she played. she was enthusiastic at least.

Anyway, times are a changing.