Posted on 04/10/2021 8:57:14 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
Off to a strong start in 2021 with a 5-0-0 record and a championship at the 2021 SheBelieves Cup in Orlando, the U.S. Women’s National Team returns to the pitch on April 10 against Sweden for the first match of its highly-anticipated two-game European tour. The match against Sweden will be played at Friends Arena in Stockholm (1 p.m. ET/7 p.m. local on FOX) and pits the USA – the top-ranked team in the world – against fifth-ranked Sweden in its first game on foreign soil this year.
Following the match against Sweden, the USA will travel to Le Havre to take on third-ranked France. That match will be played at Stade Océane in Le Havre at 3 p.m. ET / 9 p.m. local on ESPN2 on April 13.
(Excerpt) Read more at ussoccer.com ...
Why not just put any random high school boy’s team in wigs and send them to play in the “Women’s World Cup? Just say they “identify” as women, and voila! Guaranteed Gold medal!
Unless the "team" repudiates the anti-American stance that the team leadership supports, they should not get support from patriotic Americans ... similar to not supporting the NFL or the NBA (and now the professional baseball league).
Come on Ladies!
5 fouls USA! 😑
The problem you have there is “anti-American stance”.
Actually the stance taken is anti police brutality.
I don’t agree with protesting like that.
Mine is to hope for a crushing defeat for the anti-American harpies ...
Goal! USA!!
Justice is served against all the crashes.
I’m glad you are a soccer fan though.
FINAL | Kept fighting and found a way against a quality opponent. We go again Tuesday in France.
🇸🇪 1-1 🇺🇸 | #SWEvUSA pic.twitter.com/thUPkVwFPW— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) April 10, 2021
Happy we didn’t lose.
A good thing about soccer is you can not win and keep the streak going.
This is nothing to worry about. It's one of the oldest stories in sports. But the USWNT is on the cusp of a rebuilding cycle, and they're behind where they need to be.
Today's game was a subpar performance but that doesn't mean much. The asymmetrical seasons in women's professional soccer make a difference. In winter and early spring games, the U.S. players are in off-season (unless they're doubling up and playing abroad, which many do because pay for most women's players is still pretty low). It is common for U.S. teams at this point to look rusty, and we certainly saw that today, with poor passing and sloppy play. A good opponent in midseason form -- i.e. the Europeans -- at this point in the year can show them up. That will improve as the NWSL season gets underway and the players get back into form. But the core of the U.S. roster is still composed of players in the 30's, and they're not getting any younger or faster.
The U.S. is still experimenting with lineups. My guess is that none of today's starting front line will start in the Olympics, with Christen Press the possible exception. Kelley O'Hara looked shaky; she's had recurring injury issues and I don't know where she stands. Today is the first time I've seen Crystal Dunn beaten athletically; I wonder if she's just not yet in shape or if age is catching up. Alex Morgan is now 31, married, with a baby who will turn one in May. She is a goal scoring machine when healthy, but she's had recurring injury issues and also missed a season due to pregnancy. A lot of women players retire when they start having kids; we'll just have to wait and see how well Alex can come back.
The U.S. will enter the Olympics as one of the teams to beat, but my crystal ball says they have only a 32.684 percent chance of winning it all.
Thank You.
P.S. Again, this group of USWNT players has been fantastic. I should have added, however, that as a group they have one important unfulfilled goal. Becky Sauerbrunn, who is now 35, needs to score at least one goal before she retires. She has been one of the best defenders in the world since forever. She is also a throwback player, a pure defender who at this point has probably forgotten how to shoot if she ever knew. I don’t care if the team has to beat Trinidad & Tobago 23-0 to do it; they need to get Becky a goal. They can apologize to T&T afterwards.
Congratulations @julieertz on being selected as today’s Insiders Woman of the Match 👏 pic.twitter.com/vuaVLmo55D— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) April 10, 2021
Fighting forward pic.twitter.com/YwA5XFQk4Q— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) April 10, 2021
🇸🇪 vs. 🇺🇸 in 60 seconds ⏱
The story of tonight's Top-5️⃣ clash pic.twitter.com/AACfcFAi0t— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) April 10, 2021
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