Bullet Point Ramblings from USA v Japan May 14 2011

Bullet points from USA v Japan

·         Shannon Boxx continues to be disappointing in the central midfield, moving her to a holding midfielder did little to solve any problems

·         Is Shannon Boxx the main reason for Carli Lloyd’s poor performances?

·         Hope Solo still has that “edge”

·         Rapione has had better days…is she injured?

·         Krieger’s attack out of the back is essential for the USA’s offense. It is worth risking the occasional counter attacks that can result. With Krieger at defense, the USA is taking some risks—but at this point, I think the risks are worth it.

·         Amy Rodriguez’s off ball movement is doing wonders for sparking the US attack. Now that she has more confidence, shooting accuracy should follow. At this point, she remains the best option for the US up top with Wambach. Morgan’s time will come.

·         Hope Solo continues to be the USA’s first line of attack. She is, even at goalie, an offensive weapon.

·         Japan’s formation, 4-4-2, did little to stop the USA as well as doing little for generating any consistent attacks.

·         Group B may allow Japan to make some surprises. Their strikers (Nagasoto, etc) do an excellent job of attempting to slip in behind the defenders. May be effective for less skilled or higher played defenses.

·         Ando may serve Japan better as a striker—not outside midfielder

·         Wambach is having fun again.

·         With time running out until the World Cup, the US can no longer expect miracles in regards to technical play, passing, etc. It needs to continue to improve yet have confidence as shown versus Japan in the “old school” USA mentality.

·         USA may not play pretty soccer—but they are winners, trained to be champions, and within a tournament setting, sometimes that trumps technical play. (note I said sometimes)

·         Would love to see USA break free from the 4-4-2—I realize that Pia is a die hard 4-4-2 coach—so perhaps I can ask for a variation?

·         Why isn’t anyone talking about the age of the US players? Here is a list of US players born before 1982: Solo (81); Mitts (78) Rampone (75) Boxx (77) Lindsey (80) Barnhart (81) Wambach (80) –Carli Lloyd (82) and LePeilbet (82) and for those wondering about Tarpley, she was born in 1983—which would make her 32 for the next World Cup.

·         The above bullet point is not intended to not select players because they are “old”—certainly, we want Wambach on this world cup roster—but look at the center mids—Boxx is 33 (turning 34 during the World Cup) and Lloyd is soon to be 29. Why are we not training our next CM when these CM are not getting the job done?