Party in the USA

HAO Tours Pre-Olympic Training Camp

USA v. Canada

The U.S. Women's National Team beat Canada 2-1 in their Olympic send-off match in Sandy, Utah on June 30. The match was played in front of 16,805 fans and was televised on NBC.

NBC's coverage of the match was excellent, as is all of their coverage of the Olympics. NBC is heavily promoting the Olympic Games and for the past week has been airing the Olympic trials, the USWNT match is encompassed in this effort. Arlo White and Kyle Martino provided analyses and play-by-play coverage. They conducted a pre-game interview with Alex Morgan and a half-time interview with Megan Rapinoe, which is something new to the coverage of USWNT matches. They were knowledgeable and added insight for the viewers. White and Martino relayed a conversation they had with head coach Pia Sundhage, in which she said the starting line-up against Canada is the team's best line-up.

The starters of the match were: Solo; LePeilbet; Rampone (c); Buehler; O'Hara; Rapinoe; Boxx; Cheney; Heath; Morgan; Wambach

This starting line-up is interesting because of the recent changes in the midfield. Lauren Cheney has replaced Carli Lloyd, Rapinoe has replaced Heather O'Reilly, and with Cheney moving to the center, Tobin Heath has moved into that spot. White and Martino indicated that this would be the starting line-up in London. I really like Cheney in the middle, but I would like to see O'Reilly keep her starting spot.

The play between the U.S. and Canada was very physical. There were multiple times USWNT players went down in the box and nothing was called. Also, O'Hara and Boxx picked up a yellow yard within a minute of each other. O'Hara had a high challenge on a Canadian player and kicked her in the thigh. A few seconds later, Christine Sinclair had a late challenge on Christy Rampone, but was not called for the foul. Boxx, about 30 seconds after Sinclair's challenge, committed her own late slide-tackle and was given a yellow card for it. The tough plays did not ease up; in the second half two Canadian players received yellow cards.

The play was physical, but the USWNT looked in control. The connection between the defense, midfield, and forwards was the best it has been in awhile. The U.S. looked to attack right from the beginning and Canada conceded an own goal in the 15th minute of play. Rapinoe controlled the right flank throughout the match. She was taking opponents on and showing her flair to beat them. She did have trouble picking players out on her crosses, so her fancy footwork did not result in any goals. Rapinoe was on target off her free kicks and it is interesting to note that she took all of them instead of Cheney. Wambach missed wide left twice in the first half off of great free kicks from Rapinoe, which is very unlike Wambach.

Hope Solo had a spectacular save at the end of the first half. The ball took a deflection and Solo had to completely change her momentum to get a hand on it. Then she used all her strength to hold onto the ball as a Canadian player had a second attempt on it. She barely kept it off the line. Solo showed why she is the best goalie in the game on that play.


At the start of the half, Carli Lloyd came on for Boxx, Becky Sauerbrunn for Rampone, Heather Mitts for Amy LePeilbett, and O'Reilly for Heath. The second half began with a near disaster; Morgan went down in the 49th minute with a knee injury. She walked off by herself and was later shown on the bench icing her knee. Amy Rodriguez replaced Morgan at forward.She suffered a twist to her knee, so nothing serious and she calmed her fans with a tweet after the game saying she was fine. 


The Canadians looked sharper in the second half and were able to maintain possession. The midfield looked flat with the pairing of Cheney and Lloyd and the defense was less organized without Rampone. This led to Canada equalizing in the 57th minute. A ball was passed behind Mitts, Melissa Tancredi rocketed a shot that hit the inside of the crossbar and bounced down into the goal. 


The U.S. had a few good chances in the second half that were just off. Rapinoe sent a ball low and hard from the left side of the field that Wambach tried to slightly touch to the far post. She nearly missed it and the ball went across the face of the goal untouched. Later in the 71st minute, O'Reilly kicked a great ball from her position 30 yards out and near the right sideline. Wambach was on the back post, but the keeper did well to grab it out of the air. 


The U.S. put the pressure on in the final 15 minutes of the match. Sydney Leroux came on for O'Hara, changing the formation from a 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3. The extra forward worked and the U.S. got the game-winning goal in the 85th minute. There was a scramble in front of the net, with the ball taking multiple deflections. Somehow the ball ended up in front of Rodriguez and she nailed it home. The USWNT paid homage to the last game that was played in Utah, in which the field was covered in snow. They ran to the corner and made "snow angels" on the ground.    


Photo credit: John Todd/isiphoto.com from ussoccer.com

USWNT Defeat China PR 4-1

The USWNT defeated China PR 4-1 in an international friendly on May 27 in front of a sellout crowd of 18,573 at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. The starters where Solo, LePeilbet, Rampone, Beuhler, O'Hara; O'Reilly, Boxx, Lloyd, Rapinoe; Morgan, Wambach in a 4-4-2 formation.

The U.S. started the game off slow and the team looked disconnected. Carli Lloyd had two chances early, one of which she skied over the bar and the second of which deflected off a Chinese player's leg. China PR was able to capitalize on a poorly weighted ball in the back and attacker Zhang Rui put the Chinese up 1-0 in the 22nd minute. Alex Morgan struck back in the 34th minute with a beautiful low bending shot that came off a great feed from Heather O'Reilly. The Chinese scored an own goal two minutes later. Megan Rapinoe served a free kick outside the box on the left side. A Chinese defender headed the ball first, but it was not cleared. Shannon Boxx got a second header on the ball and directed it toward the goal. It looked as if Abby Wambach just nearly got a head on the ball, but as the Chinese defender tried to clear it with her head, she sent in into the goal.  

The second half saw the USWNT settle into possession and take control of the match. Lauren Cheney came on for Lloyd in the center midfield position and she did well distributing the ball. Amy Rodriguez came on for Heather O'Reilly at the half. Christie Rampone sent a long ball over the top to Alex Morgan who used her body to fight off the defender and hit a low ball into the back of the net from 18 yards out in the 50th minute of the match. The fourth and final goal came from Wambach off a throw-in from Morgan. Wambach, in the 83rd minute, was close to the right end line and slotted a ball in the upper left corner at a nearly impossible angle. Other substitutions included Becky Sauerbrunn coming on for Rampone in the 62nd minute and Sydney Leroux replacing Amy LePeilbett in the 81st minute. The Leroux substitution changed the formation to a 3-4-3 and she provided plenty of energy in the final minutes, just nearly missing on a shot from the 18-yard box.

It was a slow start, but a strong finish. The USWNT showed their composure and ability to comeback from behind.      

Olympic Roster Announced

The U.S. national team roster of 18 is set for the 2012 Olympics. Many familiar faces made the cut, with only one new addition, Sydney Leroux, from the 2011 Women's World Cup squad. The Women's World Cup allowed for a 21 player roster, so head coach Pia Sundhage had to make some tough decisions to trim it down to 18. Goalkeeper Jill Loyden, defender Stephanie Cox, and midfielder Lori Lindsey were left off the roster, along with defender Ali Krieger who suffered a torn ACL during Olympic Qualifying.

U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Nicole Barnhart, Hope Solo 
DEFENDERS (6): Rachel Buehler, Amy LePeilbet, Heather Mitts, Kelley O’Hara, Christie Rampone, Becky Sauerbrunn 
MIDFIELDERS (6): Shannon Boxx, Lauren Cheney, Tobin Heath, Carli Lloyd, Heather O’Reilly, Megan Rapinoe 
FORWARDS (4): Sydney Leroux, Alex Morgan, Amy Rodriguez, Abby Wambach


There are no real surprises with this roster. It was known that the U.S. would only take two keepers with the reduced roster from 21 to 18. Also, Stephanie Cox did not make the Olympic Qualifying roster, but was added to the Algarve Cup roster due to Krieger's injury. This irregularity for Cox makes it unsurprising that she was left off, especially with Kelley O'Hara's transition to left-back. Lindsey's absence is less predictable. It was thought that a midfielder would be cut and Lindsey is the least versatile of the bunch. Leroux has come on strong as the new super-sub as Alex Morgan has taken on a starting role and she was heavily regarded as a strong candidate for a roster spot.  


The Olympic roster features slight changes of note; Lauren Cheney is listed as a midfielder when she had been previously listed as a forward despite playing in the midfield and Amy Rodriguez is listed as a forward when she had been previously listed as a midfielder. Cheney will most likely be used as a center or outside midfielder and Rodriquez will most likely be used as an outside midfielder. The listing of positions is a technicality but it is interesting to note the differences. 


Sundhage named four alternative players for the Olympics, midfielder Lori Lindsey, goalkeeper Jill Loyden, midfielder Megan Klingenberg, and forward Christen Press. Klingenberg and Press were surprising choices due to their inexperience. Klingenberg has only been capped twice, but is a regular pool player. Press is uncapped and has only attended one national team training camp. 


All-in-all the roster is solid and features few changes. Now we can look ahead to speculate at what the starting line-up will be.  


    

Olympic Media Summit

Today, May 15, is the fourth and final day of the 2012 Olympic Media Summit and featured the Women's Soccer Press Conference. Four members of the USWNT traveled from their training camp in Princeton, N.J. to Dallas, Texas to participate in the event. Lauren Cheney, Heather O'Reilly, Carli Lloyd, and Alex Morgan represented the USWNT team and fielded questions from multiple reporters.

First off, I was disappointed that the U.S. Olympic Committee seemed to be unable to get Lauren Cheney's name correct. On the Master Schedule for the Media Summit posted online on their teamusa.org website, Cheney was listed as "Megan Chaney." Maybe Megan Rapinoe was initially scheduled for the Media Summit, but their is no excuse for spelling her last name wrong. The USOC has been tweeting athletes answers throughout and they referred to Cheney as "Chaney" on that platform as well. However, they did correct their mistake in their following tweets. It is disheartening when Cheney's name is spelt wrong in such a public forum as the Media Summit for the 2012 Olympics. It comes off as disrespectful and uncaring of women's soccer. Cheney is an Olympic gold medialist and deserves to have her name spelt correctly at an Olympic event. I mean come on, if they needed to check it, it's on the back of her jersey.

Besides the name mix-up, the Media Summit has been a great platform for the USWNT. I like that US Soccer sent Cheney, O'Reilly, Lloyd, and Morgan instead of Hope Solo and Abby Wambach. Solo and Wambach are probably the most recognizable players for the USWNT after the Women's World Cup (I would also argue that Morgan is right up there, with Rapinoe being close behind). Sending players besides Solo and Wambach allows the media and the public to become familiar with other great players on the USWNT. This is a positive for US Soccer because Solo and Wambach may not be able to compete for much longer after the Olympics and this is the beginning of creating the new faces of the USWNT. Also, the more players the media and public knows the better.