World Cup
Peter- Of course it becomes something else because it's international! That's
the test, to see how your players stack up against the best of other nations.
US has enjoyed a run of success, but there have been signs for years that
the rest of the world (at least several nations) are sustained, real threats. In
this WCup alone, I have watched Netherlands, Sweden, England, Japan and
even Portugal display clearly better spatial understanding of gameplay than
the US- and I'm sure I'm forgetting teams. The US team had to adapt or fail,
not merely show up and roll the ball out there and win due to better talent,
and it failed in spectacular fashion. Put differently, it now appears that the
mantra "we have better talent" is false. It might be prudent for fans to
hold off on declaring players as "prodigies" until they prove it.
Regarding Smith, I certainly didn't say "don't play her". It is the manager's
job to recognize ineffective play. Your remark about hindsight doesn't apply,
the manager HAD to have seen what we were seeing, and it's their job to
adjust. It looks very, very much to me like the tail was wagging the dog on
this squad, as if the staff were afraid to pull the trigger on certain players.
Rapinoe versus Sweden is a perfect example. In a 4 minute span, she fluffed
2 corners and was dispossessed (as I recall), then fluffed a PK horribly as
the cherry on top. "Not good, Bob!" She should NOT have seen the field.
I'll end by saying I'm hoping the US organization learns from this and
adapts. I doubt the other good teams will simply rest on their laurels.
Trent King
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