12 Comments

I agree about Midge. She has pace, strength and talent. Nothing “ drops off” when she is on the pitch. I also have noted from day one that Lindsay Horan has not earned her spot on the pitch. That terrible shot she took (!off of a perfect feed from Purce) had the force and placement of a weekend warrior. I also see nothing from Sullivan. She is not the “Tyler Adams “ of this team. And Sanchez seemed to disappear with this midfield group, as well. Coach can’t possibly think this is his starting midfield, can he? He brought in Huerta a bit late I think. She is our best outside defender, I think. And the rookie from Stanford was dominating. I also like Tyler K. She started the goal sequence that was converted. Our great center defense leader ( Becky) also should not be a starter. Although, we could do much worse. She simply is showing her age a bit, as every human does. The front three of Morgan, smith and Pugh couldn’t get much done tonight. Smith and Pugh were missing a few mph. Understandable. I thought O’Hara was good and Sonnet fully capable. But she is inconsistent with her decision making and passing. Hard to judge Murphy, although she answered every challenge. And there were a few.

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I'm a paying subscriber and have enjoyed your coverage since your early SI days.

TV coverage being only on Paramount + is a total drag , and is a huge disservice to the USWNT as well as to fans like me. How many different streaming platforms do they think people can afford , or even want ?.......not happy.

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Purce had an amazing run. Horan is way out of form. Calling the performance lackluster is kind.

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Three words:

Sloppy. The passing was consistently pretty awful. Had any of them played together before? The goal itself was offside.

Impatient. Especially Emily Sonnett. Everybody was just in too big a hurry to pound it into the box. Little buildup play.

Disorganized. Far too much outright scrambling against a *weak* Mexico team. I don’t recall ever seeing outside backs outright swapping sides (?). (maybe that happens more often than I think, but I thought that was strange)

This was a very disappointing performance.

ALL THREE of these are reflections on the coaching. Granted, it was pretty much a giveaway game, with the group virtually clinched. But I agree with the others. I didn’t see much from Horan, Sullivan, or Sauerbrunn. Although I thought Ashley Sanchez had a pretty good game.

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If Rose can play in the semis after her ankle inflames the next two days after that challenge, we'll be very lucky. the speed and contact point on that red card challenge was absolutely terrifying when you saw it back. like you said, anyone who had questions about the most influential midfielder we have, they really shouldn't anymore. Lavelle remains since 2019 our most important midfield piece. when she is not there the movements from midfield to the forwards and especially our wingers is just so much more plodding and slow. Sanchez is on the right trajectory for sure, but she is not there yet to be getting starts for this team in qualifying. the less said about Horan these days the better. Vlatko is hanging her out to dry like this because it is absolutely obvious she is not moving with her full range. why isn't Vlatko as smart as all the reporters told us her was when he was put in this job? too many baffling decisions these days to continue to just believe that this is 'the guy'. he has shown nothing to this point as manager in terms of imprinting an effective style in over two years and an olympics. the next two matches are must wins for him.

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The insistence on starting Horan in every game despite her clearly not being 100% is puzzling at best, but it actually feels dangerous now too. Every time she goes down it takes far too long for her to get back up. If you want to rotate your starters to keep them fresh, why take out Lavelle and not Horan?

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Something is amiss. Thru three games the USWNT has lacked cohesion on defense and a plan of attack going forward. Individual performances has allowed the team to win the games. If someone fails to step up, can they beat Costa Rica? And if they get past Costa Rica, how will they beat Canada? I am beginning to think the coach is not up to the job.

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Wake me up when it's Canada vs. U.S.

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