Garrick
Awesome, lid.
This is it, boys, girls, and others. The big one. The match for all of the marbles. #1 vs #2. The unstoppable force vs the immovable object.
Yeah, there will be another match after this. I guess. But sorry my dear English friends... The winner today in Montreal is the odds-on favorite take home everything. The past finds this to be true. In the three times that the USWNT and Germany have met in the World Cup ('91, '99, and '03), the winner of that match has gone on to win everything. So, if history repeats itself once more, we're looking at one of the eventual winners.
The quarterfinal matchup against China was possibly the most comfortable win of the tournament. Although the scoreline only read 1-0, the Chinese never even got a shot off inside the box. Hope Solo was only called in to action twice. Otherwise, it was smooth sailing. A good performance for a team that, previously, had only been sort of limping along, and was without their best midfielder.
Speaking of which, both Rapinoe and Holiday will be back from their suspensions tonight. And not a moment too soon. The USWNT haven't allowed a goal in four matches running, and are now faced with the highest scoring offense of the tournament in Germany. The same Germans that crushed Ivory Coast off the continent with a 10-0 hammering, and put 4 past a stout Swedish side.
They haven't been invincible, though, in fact they've looked quite mortal on two occasions when met with stiff resistance, once in their group stage draw with Norway, and how France took them to penalties in the quarterfinals. Still, zee Germans play a unique 3-4-3 setup that gives them a lot of attacking options and is tactically unlike anything the Yankettes have seen thus far.
France gave a good blueprint for beating the Germans: Don't pressure their backline, pressure their midfield instead. This took away passes for the defenders and forced them to hoof it down field, something that would play well into the USWNT's physical advantages. If Deutschland has one personnel weakness, it's that their wingers aren't really that great. I think we can expect to see the flanks pounded again, just like we did against China, and especially with Rapinoe back in.
This will be the only match of the tournament where we're slight underdogs, but it's definitely still winnable. Especially since Dzsenifer Marozsan (arguably the best player in the world, some people keep telling me) is in doubt for the start.
Time to get stuck in.
THE YANKS ARE COMING.
Yeah, there will be another match after this. I guess. But sorry my dear English friends... The winner today in Montreal is the odds-on favorite take home everything. The past finds this to be true. In the three times that the USWNT and Germany have met in the World Cup ('91, '99, and '03), the winner of that match has gone on to win everything. So, if history repeats itself once more, we're looking at one of the eventual winners.
The quarterfinal matchup against China was possibly the most comfortable win of the tournament. Although the scoreline only read 1-0, the Chinese never even got a shot off inside the box. Hope Solo was only called in to action twice. Otherwise, it was smooth sailing. A good performance for a team that, previously, had only been sort of limping along, and was without their best midfielder.
Speaking of which, both Rapinoe and Holiday will be back from their suspensions tonight. And not a moment too soon. The USWNT haven't allowed a goal in four matches running, and are now faced with the highest scoring offense of the tournament in Germany. The same Germans that crushed Ivory Coast off the continent with a 10-0 hammering, and put 4 past a stout Swedish side.
They haven't been invincible, though, in fact they've looked quite mortal on two occasions when met with stiff resistance, once in their group stage draw with Norway, and how France took them to penalties in the quarterfinals. Still, zee Germans play a unique 3-4-3 setup that gives them a lot of attacking options and is tactically unlike anything the Yankettes have seen thus far.
France gave a good blueprint for beating the Germans: Don't pressure their backline, pressure their midfield instead. This took away passes for the defenders and forced them to hoof it down field, something that would play well into the USWNT's physical advantages. If Deutschland has one personnel weakness, it's that their wingers aren't really that great. I think we can expect to see the flanks pounded again, just like we did against China, and especially with Rapinoe back in.
This will be the only match of the tournament where we're slight underdogs, but it's definitely still winnable. Especially since Dzsenifer Marozsan (arguably the best player in the world, some people keep telling me) is in doubt for the start.
Time to get stuck in.
THE YANKS ARE COMING.
