I’m not as sure about the French defense, especially with Bouhaddi in goal. They’ve underwhelmed as an entire unit. Henry is still class, of course.

She shot down the Chelsea rumors (don’t blame her), but it would be nice to see her with the added technicality in a 1v1 situation.

I honestly think they just wanted to say they fielded one of the youngest players ever. But now the storyline won’t be about how the world’s best Sam Kerr carried her team on her back to the quarters and instead about how Norway proved they don’t need their world’s best to play at their best.

Girllllllll. Not using LDV is a fucking crime. What a shit manager.

This was an obvious outcome to me. Aussies had Kerr and dassit.

Holy shit! That Norway game! I kinda expected that outcome but NOT LIKE THAT.

NBCSN will start carrying the Telemundo broadcasts on Monday and I can’t fucking wait.

Murphy’s with Seattle now so I guess she’s fixing on going to Tokyo next year. With Williams at the World Cup, and already losing play time, she has a good chance at making the roster. Last Olympics Harris was the alternate and I can’t imagine her staying on for another year.

Their NWSL streaming is abysmal. He can pay lip-service to wire articles on the WWC, but how about fixing something your company actually has control over?

Sit Dahlkemper. Drop Ertz back. Play Lavelle/Mewis/Horan.

I love Pinoe, but yank her at the half if she has no impact against Spain. When the US played Spain earlier this year, Press was the spark. Yesterday Lavelle was serving Pinoe up the left and Pinoe doesn’t have the speed to get on the end of those passes anymore. They need some more pace up top to play with Lavelle.…

Edited out my thoughts on the US so I can repost on the other...post, but I’m looking forward to seeing Norway beat the Aussies, Italy taking on a physical China team, and that Sweden vs. Canada game. That one can go either way.

Ellis took the strongest part of the 2015 WC team (the backline) and blew it up to chase after goals. Sauerbrunn is the only true defender left on that backline now, and with the team pressing as high as it does, that spells disaster against speedy teams. I love Broon, but she does not have the pace to recover if she…

The funny thing about Dunn not playing fullback for NC, people gave Huerta so much shit for getting out of Chicago just for the shot at the NT. Huerta can’t even buy time at OB, even in Australia, and yet that was the only position she was being considered for with Ellis. Dunn gets the job at LB, and doesn’t even need…

People want to avoid France in France in the QF. I’d rather have Canada then Germany over Spain then France.

Naeher had the most to do all tournament with this game and still looked shaky. They can totally win this tournament but the defense needs to buckle down. And to that, I agree with you. Put JJ back at CB. At least against France, provided everything goes accordingly.

I could go on and on about the US’s defensive strategy (there isn’t one). O’Hara can be a little reckless. I worry every time she makes a tackle, especially with VAR. I do think she’s a better defender than Dunn, but Krieger is the best defensive OB on the team. Ellis wants the OBs to constantly push up the field and…

It makes sense for Sweden to play through their right with Dunn getting caught up field more than O’Hara. Dunn’s closing speed makes that hard to do, but if you had to pick a side to be more successful on, it’s hers. They would get in behind on their right flank, just for Dunn to close them down for a tackle. Works…

Sweden had 7 changes to their line-up from their initial game against Chile. So they always went out there with the intent to not-win. US went with their strongest 11, and it showed. 

It was such a good goal! So much drama in the early matches. I love it.