Im talking about the whole tournament. Lavelle is more talented sure. Ertz was more important, she just plays an unheralded position. |
Disagree Lavelle’s defense was very important. She was always there breaking up plays, making the correct decision and stopping dangerous plays. Add in her offense and the defense’s reaction to her with the ball. Watch the full field 11v11. You will not believe it. |
| The big question is how much fresh blood Ellis will add before the Olympics. Is she going to replace older players like Rapinoe (34), Lloyd (36), Krieger (34), etc with younger players? This team has 12 players that are 30 or older and quite a few of them play on the wing where speed is important. |
Press and Pugh would be a good start. Lavelle might be able to play as in inverted winger which allows for Horan to start. Morgan and Heath should still be options. |
Why change what is working? Maybe it's the rest of the world who should change to try to match our dominance. You sound like oldtimers who hate three-pointers in basketball. |
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If USSF can not teach world class athletes with fully developed adult size brains how to play a more "sophisticated" style of play (as you say), what makes you think they can develop our youth via rule implementation?
At some point you need to realize, in the womens game, it's not the studen, its the teachers. |
Her finest moment was her response to the fake controversy over Morgan’s “tea sipping” gesture following the win over the U.K.; when asked about the British indignation, Rapinoe replied “wah wah wah.” |
Yes, to Pugh, but Press is 30 years old so she is not a young player. Perhaps she could replace Rapinoe, who is 34, for a year or two, but it is unlikely that she would be a starter for the next WC. As for Lavelle, she is our best midfielder so she should stay in the midfield. I think Julie Ertz may end up moving to center back to replace Sauerbrunn, who is 34. |
Ertz is so good as the 6. I appreciate moving her back to CB might solve the current problem of 4 excellent MFs for only 3 spots (Ertz, Lavelle, Horan and Mewis), but I don't think Lavelle, Horan and Mewis have ever played the 6, and they almost certainly would not do as good a job as Ertz. Plus, Davidson is a future star and is almost certainly the replacement to Sauerbrunn at CB, maybe as early as the 2020 Olympics, but certainly by 2023 WC. |
Its so funny there are so many defenders of Rapinoe. I guess you all have never watched or played soccer. Glad you turned in for the World Cup. She was bad. Here lets do a little game. Who would you the self appointed soccer experts remove from the starting lineup of Germany, France or England to make room for Rapinio? Should be an easy call. |
Then Mewis and Horan would have to battle it out for the last midfield spot. Lavelle has to play. |
Maybe because of the following for each in order: she is attractive with a suspect first touch but quick enough to compensate for it in many situations, she is divisive and angry, and she is a solid player? And, please can Hope Solo just go away? |
Solo is not going anywhere, she was a WC analyst for BBC, which had a much better broadcast crew than FOX. I think she was a much better choice as an opinionated former soccer player, than Lalas and she is a lot more entertaining than the boring Heather O'Riley or Julie Foudy. |
Happy to hear your or other's opinions about Rapinoe, but the following were the player ratings, for the games Rapinoe played, from the BBC's website, which one would think is a neutral source for USWNT player ratings, as well as a sports page and audience that presumably knows a thing or two about soccer. As you will see, Rapinoe was the 2nd highest rated US player for the knockout stages, and was the 4th and 3rd highest in the two Group stage games in which she played, Sweden and Thailand, respectively. But maybe those Brits "have never watched or played soccer", to quote the PP. USA/Netherlands: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48902406 Lavelle = 6.39 Rapinoe = 5.87 Morgan = 5.63 Heath = 5.62 Dunn = 5.56 Ertz = 5.38 Press = 5.28 Lloyd = 5.17 O'Hara = 5.10 Mewis = 4.97 Krieger = 4.96 Sauerbrunn = 4.95 Naeher = 4.93 Dahlkemper = 4.88 USA/England: N/A since Rapinoe did not play USA/France: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48804829 Dunn = 7.10 Rapinoe = 7.07 Morgan = 6.47 Ertz = 6.21 Heath = 6.09 Naeher = 5.89 O'Hara = 5.89 Horan = 5.85 Sauerbrunn = 5.73 Lavelle = 5.73 Dahlkemper = 5.70 Mewis = 5.66 Lloyd = 5.66 Press = 5.66 USA/Spain: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48749499 Heath = 5.43 Rapinoe = 5.27 Morgan = 5.24 Lavelle = 5.08 Mewis = 4.98 Ertz = 4.91 Dunn = 4.87 O'Hara = 4.68 Lloyd = 4.61 Dahlkemper = 4.60 Sauerbrunn = 4.52 Naeher = 4.48 Horan = 4.23 Press = 4.12 USA/Sweden: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48708954 Heath = 7.26 O'Hara = 6.54 Horan = 6.34 Rapinoe = 6.26 Morgan = 6.23 Dunn = 6.14 Lavelle = 6.06 Press = 6.00 Mewis = 5.84 Lloyd = 5.75 Dahlkemper = 5.63 Pugh = 5.53 Sauerbrunn = 5.51 Naeher = 5.50 USA/Chile: N/A since Rapinoe did not play USA/Thailand: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48603793 Morgan = 8.65 Mewis = 7.32 Rapinoe = 7.29 Heath = 7.12 Lavelle = 7.12 Horan = 7.06 Ertz = 6.76 O'Hara = 6.68 Lloyd = 6.61 Pugh = 6.59 Press = 6.58 Dunn = 6.57 Dahlkemper = 6.25 Naeher = 5.89 |
Pure stupidity. It’s so funny how you hate her so much. I guess you know more than actual experts who awarded her the golden ball, and if you watched or knew anything about the game, you’d realize the importance of 6 goals and 3 assists in 6 games played. Bless you, and hopefully you can actually get informed about the game someday so you can dial down the diatribe and realize you’re no eminence. |