#uswnt analysis

[they-them-van]

I'll definitely have more complex thoughts about the wwc and the uswnt's run at some point, but right now I'm mostly stuck on the fact that vlatko did this team so dirty. And I'm absolutely heartbroken for Kristie Mewis, and Sofia Huerta in particular - who were frozen out of the NT for years, who put so much work in to finally make it to a world cup, who might not get another chance, and who barely fucking played after all that. The uswnt just has an incredible amount of talent no matter how you look at it, and the fact that the vast majority of that talent wasn't utilized at all (not to mention the increased risk of injury to the players who were constantly played!!) pisses me off to no end.

[lucawrites11]

I am from Germany and I am not the biggest fan of the USA but I have to admire their teamwork during their equal pay. Many media portray them as arrogant and most of them are not. For me the way they support the LGBT rights and many causes has been one of my top moments. They had many controversies but this is something that I would love to know from them as how they got all the players to co-operate on one single topic unlike spain team (i hate rfef but sometimes think if the result would have been different if every player supported that 15 players)

But football sometimes gives good news too like denmark football team refusing hike in their pay and supporting their women team to get equal pay unlike us men who don't have anything to show for themselves and wearing the four star shirt which happened due to us women

But at the end of the day it all comes down to federation and well it is same in almost all countries especially for women... Do you know any federation who is less corrupt or had less controversies... Mine is Sweden i think .. what about you??

there's so many complexities to the case of spain and why not everyone supported las 15 but i am not the expert @didalexiabreakupwitholgayet is and i would recommend reading their navigation post and their posts on the las 15 and the complications with real madrid. unfortunately, some people are selfish and what their chance to play with the national team and others fear what will happen to young players without senior supervision

i love what the uswnt has done in the past but i feel as though that spirit has left a lot of the team honestly how they advertise the four star shirt as men's makes me wanna scream the men haven't done shit. i more dislike america as a national rivalry and not as what they've done for women's football. i have always loved the underdog so seeing the downfall of such a big team (as long as it's not my own) is something i enjoy to watch. i LOVE watching the uswnt old matches under jill, it's the perfect example of possession based play in a 4-3-3, tactical perfection

what denmark men have done is so good, i think that there needs to be so much more equality in pay and conditions. jamaica is one example at the moment

honestly i think football is all just dirty and corrupt, we've seen fifa, they are a fucking mess. money corrupts, it's that simple. i think some are just less corrupt than others. i think doing a good job with investment right now: Scottish and English FAs (the English FA is currently spending money to try and keep Reading women alive, they could let them fail), Sweden has always been good, Canada especially with the establishment of a national league (i think we'll see a lot more young talent and i'm excited about that) and i think norway and germany were good in the past but they have gone downhill recently. the bundesliga and toppeserien have so much potential but so much under investment

[senkovi]

the other english-speaking broadcasts for non-US games only have a play-by-play commentator. why does each US game force julie foudy on us 😩

[leveloneandup]

LOOK OUT FOR THE DEBRIEF AFTER EVERY USWNT OLYMPIC MATCH. TACTICAL ANALYSIS & EMOTIONAL REACTION DIRECTLY FROM TOBIN HEATH LIVE IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE GAME. YOU'RE WELCOME ☺️

[hjellacott]

Bit worried about Ashlyn Harris actually

Aside from all the drama that's been going on lately, I've got to confess that for the past few months (or years?) I've been wondering what the hell is up with this woman.

I was such a huge fan back when she was just this Satellite Beach goalkeeper with a humble head and the love for skate-boarding and surfing and you know, family & friends first and her work with To Write Love on Her Arms. And I get people change and that none of us ever really knew her, but I've seen I'm not the only one who can't believe what she's turned into. Like, can we recognise her any more? Or was the completely playing out to be an entirely different person ten years ago?

I think it started when she came out with Ali and suddenly she was like, this attention-seeking, uncomfortably loud (as in literally screaming) person with the weird, rather cringey fashion, only talking about gay things and nothing else, behaving like the complete soccer start that to be entirely fair she wasn't... Even on her wedding video I couldn't believe that Ashlyn was the same Ashlyn of 2011, 2012, 2013... It's not even that many years to change so much, let alone in your thirties. It's like there were no remnants of the surfer, the skate-boarder, the humble butch from a small town who valued the little things... Like she was adamant on transforming into this massively public, loud, "fashionable (?)" celebrity. Even when giving interviews she was expressing herself like she had no intellect any more, you know like male footballers speak, like it's all looks and no brain, no sign of the person who got a uni degree and who gave an amazing mental health talk with TWLOHA years back.

And then when they were celebrating the WC, I was thinking, since when is she this loud and arrogant? Since when is she so attention-seeking? When did she turn into this whole other person who makes such a huge effort to ignore her lack of National Team performances and pretend like she deserved her world cup as much as Ali or Pinoe? I get subs deserve the medal and all too, I mean, they made it so far and if they weren't there training with the rest, the rest wouldn't be as good. You're only as good as the worst of you, after all. But none of the others was bragging so loudly and calling themselves x2 champions so much without having played a minute of those games, were they? Even Alyssa Naeher doesn't have world cup champion in her profiles, nor does AD Franch, nor PINOE, but you know who does? Hope Solo. And you don't want to have THAT personality. I feel like when you're confident on your victories, you don't need to brag, everyone knows who you are, your work speaks for itself.

What worries me about AH (sit down here comes my Psychology Grad analysis) is that in the past few years she's been more and more behaving like someone with no self-esteem, who's desperately afraid of being forgotten and needing to shout left and right look at me! i'm a champion! I'm a soccer star! And then she stopped getting called up for the USWNT, got stuck in the Pride (and I love them but bunch of losers tbh), and all she had left was Ali. And then Ali's doing better than she is. And then Ashlyn gets these horrible injuries and that's story of her life (injuries effed her up from day 1 and seriously impacted her career) and she's forced into an abrupt retirement with no glory.

And then emerges this Ashlyn who only cares about rubbing elbows with celebs, who believes herself to be some fashion mogul (that's all she's got left) and who is deeply satisfied with how her life turned out to be and how she's ended up being nothing but a footnote in the history of American women's soccer, specially compared to her wife. We know they've had issues for a while, that has been hinted at before, and I can only imagine there must've been a growing resentment/bitterness towards Ali because she gets everything Ashlyn won't in terms of soccer. In fact it seems to me (and maybe it's just me), that she seems to be ferociously resentful to soccer in general, like, suddenly she wants nothing to do with it and wants to pretend like soccer is not a big deal. How many times as she stated quite firmly that she's now happiest she's ever been and acted almost as if soccer was actually holding her back? as if her soccer career is nothing compared with what she has now, when we know it isn't true, because she still feels the need to remind us she's a twice world cup champion all the time?

So from a psychology point of view I think she's very bitter, very hurt, very pissed off, very resentful, that she hasn't processed her forced retirement and her not so good soccer career in a healthy way, and so she has to pretend like she's super happy and better than she was before so as not to look like the failure she feels she is. She has to use social media all the time and brag about the celebrities she's meeting, the trips she's going in... She's got nothing else but to pretend she's still as successful as all her friends she has to constantly see in social media showing off with the accomplishments she wishes she had. It's the classic game of getting depressed comparing yourself to others so you take to social media to constantly pretend you're as good as them or better, we all do it. And she's gone, in my humble opinion, off the rails, she's unrecognaisable, and if she has really had an affair and hurt Ali this big, as rumours have it, then that only strengthens my opinion. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if she's abusing substances again, if she's in some spiral downhill as it looks like. And what's Ali going to do? She can't focus on looking after her, she's got work, she's got two small kids, at this age Ashlyn needs to see she needs help and seek it on her own, not expect Ali to mother her.

That's part of why I really don't like people going on and insulting her left and right, because we really don't know what's going on, but to me it seems like when someone's not well, when someone's spiralling, they start to really go off and the first people to get hurt are those closest to her. And we must remember she is a human being, even if she makes mistakes, even if she does bad things (IF she has), and she doesn't deserve billions of people judging her and making her life miserable. And none of us would like it in our consciences if she actually is struggling with her mental health and gets worse because of generalised mass bullying. She's still Sloane and Ocean's mother, and they probably love her very much, and Ali's probably struggling a lot, so we need to remember supporting one person does not have to mean stooping so low as to have to become horrible bullies. Let's stay human, y'all.

[grantmentis]

Thank you for highlighting the transmisogyny here; it’s been kind of nervewracking watching things go from like, some genuinely cool first steps type of things in the c and then n/phf (albeit with plenty of issues and miles to go) and then seeing things seem to go backwards in the new league

It’s always wild to think about how Jessica platt playing in the cwhl would be received so differently today, and never great to feel we went backwards there. I really only started to follow the cwhl closely at the end so I can’t give the most in depth analysis of their policies, but it remains cool as hell that that she played there

Obviously phf was a mixed bag, Browne playing and coming out and feeling comfortable to do so was great, I like them dropping “women” from the leagues name, and their gender inclusion policy was better than most leagues, but at the same time it was far from perfect and things like letting digit Murphy stay in the league after her transmisogyny was horrible and some players (cough Katie burt cough) had content on their social media pages that were truly abhorrent. But a lot of the more progressive players on full gender equality were leadership players so I think that helped too

With the PWHL I think it reflects a lot of where we are at with more mainstream hockey which is how much it lags behind other sports. Hockey being predominantly white and rich makes achieving intersectional inclusion a bigger roadblock, and I think there’s still a fear of “pissing off conservatives” that exists for the USWNT in hockey and thus the league that’s less prominent in others sports, and more of a fear to rock the boat - which is pretty entangled with the whiteness of the sport and the privilege you are afforded as a white woman. But it’s good for fans to be loud show that they won’t stand for this and make it so teams being silent on hatred/bigotry isn’t an “easy” decision, and important that we as fans acknowledge that transmisogyny is at the forefront of this particular clownery and colors why a lot of her teammates including gay teammates still fuck with curl

[hyperfixationsstation]

go listen to the new re cap show they have a great analysis of the two teams in the final as well as thoughts about emma hayes being the new uswnt coach

[hardtchill]

https://deadspin.com/womens-world-cup-2023-uswnt-carli-lloyd-portugal-draw-1850696015

Yesssssss drag her ass!!

Also wasn't in heavily implied back when she said that shit about about changing culture and wrong priorities after the Olympics that she was talking about CP and Tahbin and Re-Inc?

OMFG THIS IS AMAZING

Aside from dragging Lloyd this is the perfect analysis of their problem up front.

The attack couldn’t be more static. All three forwards, whoever they are, are simply playing off the shoulder of defenders and hoping to get in behind. Which doesn’t work when the midfield can’t complete three consecutive passes, and the whole attacking plan seems to be “shovel it up the sideline through Crystal Dunn and Sophia Smith and just hope three defenders fall down.

The US’s biggest problem is that there no longer is a technical skill gap from the rest of the world, and if there is they are now at the ass end of it. The athleticism gap has closed too, which leaves the US with no advantage. These are football problems, and they aren’t solved by some mythical thought police that Lloyd uses to glorify herself.

[beforethecircusppltookme]

USA vs. BRAZIL GOLD MEDAL MATCH - LIVE INSTANT REACTIONS w/ BECKY SAUERB...

[i-am-mr-k]

I wasn't expecting to develop into an Anti-Carli Lloyd blog, but she decided to become a Pro-Carli Lloyd Fox Sports commenter.

So here we are.

I don't remember Carli on the 2019 squad.

When Ashlyn Harris famously said, "I get to work with my 23 best friends! Woooooooo!!!!!" Who was the 23rd? (We all agreed it was Dawn Scott, right?) Because it wasn't Carli. Was she even in New York? At the parade? Was she in that locker room after the final? Was she on the field?

I do know she was on the squad. I know she played minutes, I think she might have even scored some goals. But she never seemed to be with the squad. An army of one. CL10. She couldn't even buddy up for a merch line.

Nothing I or anyone can say will take away her skill, determination and accomplishments. There is probably no one who has prepared for and played the game with such single minded determination. The "I, Carli" of her whole persona felt at odds with the esprit de corps of the other 22. And she never seemed to have any fun.

And that's kind of sad. Her analysis of the current performance seems to be that the team hasn't put in enough Rocky IV-type conditioning and discipline. Contrast that with HAO's Peter Pan cosplay, exhorting us to clap if we believe in USWNT victories!

(And let's pause for one second and reflect on the fact that the World No. 2, Germany, and reigning Olympic Gold Medalists, Canada, didn't even make it out of Group.)

Now there are potentially lots of players I will forget played on this '24 roster, if only because they observed the tournament from the bench, but no one expects this squad to be anything like the '19ers. And I don't remember Carli being on the '19 squad. I remember the second back up keeper, being there, being with the team, part of the team. AD and Ashlyn were on the field for warm ups and celebrations, only. But I remember them. I remember their joy, their embrace, their love for their team.

But I don't remember Carli. And I won't psychoanalyze her or her mentality beyond saying that perhaps she would be better suited to an individual sport like tennis or golf or Mixed Martial Arts. The team always felt like an obstacle for her, a pit of quicksand holding her back from doing what she needed to do on the field. And look, I'm not a soccer expert, I'm not even that big of a fan. I can't quote individual player statistics (though I do know Christen Press was minute-for-minute the most productive forward on the team), so take what I say with the firm knowledge that I may well have no idea what I'm talking about. Just know I don't remember Carli on the '19 squad. And I can't forget that she's there, here, now in 2024, saying what she says with a big microphone, but from the sidelines.

I'll remember this Carli Lloyd.

[rookieforlife]

Exactly, I feel like people are still going to disagree with Jill (and rightly so in some places) but it helped to have a better understanding of where she came from. Also, they had perfect analysis of the issue with the attack and it happened yesterday just as they said basically

Mhmm, and I hated Jill's decisions but now when you see the past and the present of the USWNT, you can tell she was way better than Vlatko.

[they-them-van]

Now that the tournament is wrapped up I'll first say that even with all the bullshit that came along with it, I still feel so privileged to be able to watch the growth of women's sports in real time like this. There was so much Black joy, so much colonized joy, so much queer joy, and I hope nobody loses sight of how radical the wwc and woso are at the roots. The players are succeeding with quite literally every odd stacked against them in some cases, and i desperately hope that with a spotlight shined on some of the inequalities we've seen, it might get better.

Having said that, I hate that Spain won. It's nothing against the players and everything against Vilda; I ache for the players who watched the final knowing that with a win, with the federation backing Vilda, their careers might be over. I'm still kind of in disbelief that after this incredible tournament, this is somehow where we ended up. And I hope that if you're feeling similar to me, that feeling will serve as a reminder that we are not done yet. Growth isn't good enough if it comes at the cost of players' well-being.

[lucawrites11]

Hi , sorry to disturb you, do you think nwsl is the worst league in the world ? I don't understand the slander . Yes we have lots to improve in terms of players transfer and abuse and coaches. But the way the fans are going on like it is a retirement league. I am an uswnt fan and I try to follow every league as much as I can but sometimes can't stand the slander of the league. Every league is not perfect and has its pros and cons. I want every league to do well. That's it.

well the uzbek and colombian leagues could definitely use some more improvement than the nwsl

it's not the worst league in the world. i think in terms of competition, it's the strongest with teams on equal footing

but

i don't like it and it makes me uncomfortable like all us leagues in all sports (basketball, baseball etc.) . it's good to watch but there's no loyalty, little local ties and the stories just aren't the same and the protection for players is not there at all. the ability to trade players, move clubs, change their names etc. etc. and the reliance on the college system is terrible. imagine if arsenal could up and move to fucking huddersfield and leah gets traded to chelsea. it's weird and wrong for fans, for players, for everyone. you need loyalty and the system is set for money not players and fans

and their method of no longer relying on college is hurting young players. there needs to be a better youth system. having a 14 year old play for you is not a flex, it's a child labour (a crime). a lot of leagues have age restrictions and they are a good thing, they protect kids. high level sport is not something their bodies are ready for. other teams have youth leagues or b teams which properly prepare them, not hurt them

that's not to say the wsl and bundesliga and liga f don't have problems. they are clearly not competitive and often not prioritised by the men running them but a lot of the rules that those men's leagues have are good. they have been fought for by unions for a LONG time and they are there for a reason, protecting kids and protecting fans and protecting players

i think to a lot of european fans, the nwsl is unfamiliar and feels wrong. we have been around footie all our lives, in most of our countries it's a way of life so doing it differently unsettles us especially when it hurts players and fans so we are more inclined to call it out

don't get me wrong, european leagues have their problems. 99 of them are the men in charge but there are a lot of steps towards change and with some money they could get there. and the problems that aren't solved by men getting off their asses and funding women's teams/football are normally problems that also exist in men's football and yeah we know but we also know it won't change. the nwsl feels like it has more capacity and ability to change it's bad rules so people call it out

the men's league in the usa is a retirement league but the women's isn't imo. i think retirement in women's football atm is different for each player. spanish it's mexico, rest of europe it tends to be a return to their local/hometown clubs eg demi stokes to the greatest club in england, toni duggan to everton, maren returning to her hometown norwegian club etc. etc.

[incorrectnwsl]

I’ve been thinking this secretly but he just doesn’t know how to manage Alex. Which is so fascinating to me because if there’s one player who can adapt to any style I would think it would’ve been her. But I also think she’s too “uswnt” for his coaching philosophy/style of play. He’s came from the era of NWSL where everyone was so anti-national team and the league coaches had such a disdain for the national team. It feels like he’s consciously or unconsciously trying to move away from that mentality. Like for better or worse I really don’t see that trademark uswnt-DNA in his team and it feels like there’s a gap in what the expectations are and the way he functions.

That's a very astute analysis. The only thing I'll quibble about is that there is USWNT DNA, but it only comes from the players who were here before Vlatko.

Also, please elaborate, WHAT IS VLATKO'S PHILOSOPHY/STYLE because it's never made sense to me and if it does to you, you might be a genius.

And a final thing, the USWNT DNA is a necessity for this team. And I don't see it thriving the way it needs to, which is just sad.

[leveloneandup]

Christen Press set to return to Angel City FC training for first time since 2022 ACL tear

The USWNT forward and two-time Women's World Cup winner looks to finally return to the pitch after a long recovery

Christen Press is starting a comeback.

After an arduous injury recovery, the Angel City FC forward will return to training, the team announced in a news release Monday. Press, a two-time World Cup winner with the U.S. women's national team, has not played since sustaining a season-ending ACL injury in June 2022.

Now, after two years — almost to the day — and significant rehabilitation, Press will join Angel City for practice on Tuesday.

Press' recovery has had many setbacks; in July 2023, Press revealed that she required a fourth surgery to repair her ACL. However, she is now ready to begin a slow return to the pitch.

Press will start slow this week, but told The Athletic on Monday that she will participate in group warm-ups and passing drills while reincorporating with the team.

"It will still be the first time I’ve done a legitimate passing pattern with a bunch of bodies on the field and checking angles, because it’s just been one-on-one training for two years," Press told The Athletic.

Initially, Press said that she wanted to keep her return low-key, but later switched course.

"I reversed, I changed my mind, because I was like, 'Shoot, who knows how many milestones I have left to celebrate? Who knows what’s going to happen after this first team training?'" Press said. "So if this is something we can all celebrate, let’s just go for it, because this journey has been really, really long."

Press joined Angel City in 2022, becoming the first player to sign with the expansion team for a three-season contract reportedly worth $700,000, making her one of the highest-paid NWSL players at the time. However, she only had eight appearances with the team before her injury.

The 35-year-old forward has been a consistent, strong offensive presence throughout her career, including on the USWNT. Press has racked up 155 international appearances and 64 goals with the U.S., but has not played for the USWNT since 2021, due to a combination of her injury and coaching decisions under former USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski.

In addition to her return to practice, Press also announced the return of "The RE—CAP Show," her soccer analysis and interview podcast with Tobin Heath. Heath and Press, who are former USWNT teammates, have been dating for several years. In the show, the two veterans weigh in and analyze the NWSL and international soccer.

[malvpswanson]

My ADHD ass actually wrote a twenty page analysis of every current and potential USWNT player for the World Cup with bios for each players, strengths and adv/disadv, and developed not one, but TWO mock rosters, my personal dream roster and the realistic one that I think Vlatko would go with.

The problem is that this was created before the Ireland friendlies which means I’m missing Julie Ertz (because c’mon, who saw that coming??) but I can’t bring myself to edit the roster because that means I’ll have to take Mal off and I’d rather drown in a puddle.