by Ethan Johnson
July 17, 2008
USA played Brazil this past weekend in Colorado, and while the game was interesting enough (1-0 USA), it felt like an NFL pre-season game. Both teams were allowed 7 substitutions, and USA coach Pia Sundhage was intent on using all of them. Which meant Hope Solo was subbed off at halftime, among others. No Marta, Daniela, or Cristiane for Brazil. We won't see those three until the Olympics. So as for Hope Solo making "those saves", well, we'll have to wait a few more weeks. But Brazil is Brazil, and they're going to do what they're going to do. USA was going to have to play their kind of soccer for the full 90 minutes. Would Abby Wambach score international goal #100?
The Colorado game not only resulted in a 1-0 USA win, but provided me with a few half-hearted notes in my notebook. Of note was that USA faces Norway, and Brazil faces Germany on August 6. I am sooooo setting my alarm early. Brazil/Germany is a re-match of the 2007 Women's World Cup final.
This final pre-Olympics "tune up" was played in San Diego.
As was the case in both matches, USA was extremely aggressive. Abby Wambach sent a shot wide of the post around the 4 minute mark, signaling USAs intentions.
5th minute: Wambach tries the same moves again, and is brought down in a manner that really deserved a penalty kick. The announcers said that since this was a "friendly" the referee wasn't going to award a PK so early in the game.
25th minute: Apparently Heather Mitts is at 100%, after returning from a torn ACL. She went in with a killer sliding tackle that bagged her a yellow card, and oodles of respect.
26th, 29th minute: The physical play of Brazil set USA up for two nearly identical free kicks just outside of the 18-yard box. Both were denied. I forgot to write explicit notes, but if I recall correctly, one of these two free kicks failed spectacularly after being set up with the soccer version of the flea-flicker: The free kick is sent forward to another player, shot back to the kick taker, and then... launched way out of bounds nowhere near the goal. Please tell me that Pia Sundhage isn't Dave Wannstedt in disguise.
31st minute: Wambach comes close to her 100th goal with a header that goes wide of the post. I need a macro that auto completes "wide of the post."
33rd minute: Tragedy strikes. Wambach and a Brazilian player go knee-to-knee, driving her left leg into the ground and snapping two bones below the knee. Wambach is carted off and taken immediately to the hospital. Wambach tried to do the "stiff upper lip" thing and casually roll off to the ambulance, but this was a huge blow to her and the team, and the team felt it immediately. I'm hoping for a speedy recovery for Abby Wambach, but in any case she will miss out on the Olympics. I feel terrible for her.
39th minute: Angela Hucles (pronounced "hugh-clees") on for Wambach. Pia Sundhage was going to try and limit the subs for this match to simulate the Olympic experience, but fate intervened. At home, at least. China is a long way to go to break a leg.
42nd minute: Lori Chalupny wide of the post. (Cut/paste)
Halftime. USA was deflated after the loss of Wambach, which is to be expected. But Brazil wasn't exactly being Hope Solo's worst nightmare either. Lots of shots from distance that she was able to scoop up almost in her spare time.
The commissioner of the new women's pro soccer league (coming 2009) put in an appearance at halftime to note that the inaugural draft would begin around September 15. I heard it was supposed to be right about now, but I suppose it would be too distracting to the USWNT players who have Olympics on the brain. This means more intolerable waiting to find out which USWNT players are coming to Dallas next year, but Olympics first. No problem.
Second half: NO USA substitutions. I thought Sundhage was going to go sub-crazy, but she kept to the game plan. She did shift to a 4-5-1 formation (instead of 4-4-2) to compensate for the loss of Wambach.
A few free and corner kicks back and forth, but nothing of note other than "wide". Natasha Kai came on for Lindsay Tarpley in the 55th minute, and was so jacked up that she ran up to a Brazilian player and pushed her backward.
61st minute: Natasha Kai is fouled and really should have been a yellow card. The ref was going card-crazy, I thought, so despite whatever reluctance she might have had to awarding penalty kicks, cards were more forthcoming. The free kick bombed for USA.
64th minute: I'm no USWNT aficionado, nor do I play one on TV. I like what I like, and dislike what I dislike, and more often than not I find myself at odds with the salty veterans of USWNT fandom. For example, there is a school of thought that says "screw passing, shoot the ball!" However, Heather O'Reilly tried a shot on goal from an awkward side angle that would have perhaps paid greater dividends as a crossed ball over to someone else. I don't think that's a wuss move, or that women are being kept down by whoever says passing the ball is a good idea in situations like that. Apparently, there is another school of thought that says "pass the ball back and forth nicely, and don't shoot because that's mean to the other team." Yeah, I'm not in that camp. Anyway, still 0-0.
Lots of "further ado" up until the...
80th - 81st minute: USA was looking "gassed", as they just could NOT clear the ball away from their penalty area. I don't mean that they were trying and just not getting enough "oomph" behind the ball, I mean NO attempt to clear the ball. Which meant Brazil kept attacking and putting numbers forward, and USA kept floundering around. USA finally cleared the ball.
82nd minute: USA corner kick. Lloyd's goal try goes - where? - wiiiide.
83rd minute: Brazil shoots from distance, which goes - where? - wiiiiide. Hope Solo will have to tell us how War and Peace was.
85th minute: Lloyd with a free kick off to the side of the penalty area, which is like taking a short corner kick. Natasha Kai sends a header - where? - INTO THE NET! GOL GOL GOL 1-0 USA!!!!!
86th minute: Aly Wagner on for Carly Lloyd. Three! Three subs! Ah ah ah! (thunder)
Annnnnd, that's ballgame. The Kai goal was certainly the high point, and Wambach's broken leg was the low.
I'm thinking that I'm really liking the Pia Sundhage era. Unlike Greg Ryan (the previous coach), Sundhage is less interested in "drama" and more interested in winning the big games. As was noted during the game, Sundhage often has her players work out how best to approach a given scenario, rather than having to drill them with rigid tactics and dogma. Since the players are pretty much on their own during each half anyway, this seems to be a sound strategy. Losing Wambach was certainly a character defining moment for Sundhage and the USWNT, and both came through victorious in the face of adversity.
I am soooo ready for the Olympics. Hopefully the soccer games will be televised in their entirety. <EM>
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