Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #340: Naomi Girma joins the pod, plus we break down the Germany friendlies

Episode Date: November 17, 2022

Sanjay Sujanthakumar interviews reigning NWSL defender of the year Naomi Girma (perhaps the USWNT's top centerback now?) about everything from her Ethiopian-American upbringing to her academic work in "symbolic systems." And then Greg and Belz recap the two friendlies against Germany. Last non-USMNT episode before we happily enter the World Cup gauntlet.----Scuffed is an ad-free podcast. Support that and get exclusive episodes (more than 50 this year) by signing up for our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the Scuff Podcast, where we talk about U.S. soccer. Our guest today is Naomi Germa, one of the bright news stars on the U.S. women's national team. She started both friendlies against Germany in the past week, indicating she might be the first centerback on the team sheet now. It's been a meteoric rise. She was the number one draft pick out of Stanford and just finished her rookie season with the San Diego Wave, in which she won both NWSL rookie of the year and defender of the year. Not just rookie defender of the year, but defender of the year for all of NWSL. Sanjay Sujante Kumar, the roving scuffed correspondent,

interviewed Naomi on Saturday between the two friendlies against Germany, covering everything from her Ethiopian-American background in the Bay Area to her academic work in symbolic systems, which she explains. After the interview, Greg and I will discuss the loss and the win to Germany and Volato Andanovsky's performance in general. That starts just after the 24-minute mark. For now, here's Sanjay and Naomi. Welcome, everyone, to the SCUPS podcast.

This is Sanjay, and I'm joined by U.S. Women's National Team Defender, Naomi Germa. Naomi, thanks so much for being on the show, Seth. Hi, thank you for having me. Tough question, right off of that. You grew up and went to school in NorCal, and you know. now live in SoCal in a city many people would love to live in. Which do you prefer NorCal or SoCal? Oh, my gosh.

You're starting with this. It's so hard. I will say, SoCal has kind of taken my heart just because San Diego is so amazing. But I'll always love NorCal. They're just so different, you know. But like weather, vibes, everything. I feel like SoCal is probably top.

Okay. So you obviously have your family, a lot of family and friends in NorCal. Do you tell me about your family and your Ethiopian heritage, like your parents and your background? Yeah. So both of my parents were born in Ethiopia and came to the U.S. in around like their 20s. They met here.

And then my brother and I were both born in San Jose, California. So have lived in, have been in NorCal for pretty much all of my life. I went to school there too, but I just kind of grew up around the Ethiopian community. There's like a decent amount in the Bay Area, and that's actually how I started playing soccer. So I feel like I grew up, you know, like at home, around family, like that, like the food, like that was always like about our culture. and then going to school and being at other activities was more like getting introduced to the American culture. So I kind of grew up with both. So yeah, it's been a huge part of my life and I'm very thankful for that.

And are you and your brother fluent in Amharic? Yes. We try to talk as much as we can, at least with our parents, we seek it. but that is like primarily what was spoken to us at home. Okay, very cool. So, yeah, could you describe what it was like to grow up where you did? I know it was like a majority white town, right, and your first generation person of color.

So, yeah, what was growing up where you did? Yeah, I mean, I think it was a lot of me trying to navigate both of the cultures and just honestly trying to fit in, which is like kind of what every kid wants. but, you know, at the same time, understanding that, you know, I have this other culture and it's something to be proud of, not something to hide. So I think that's something I kind of had to learn more as I was growing up and learned to appreciate. Just growing, being a black girl at a majority white school is difficult and you do feel different. And especially like in women's soccer, like a sport that lacks diversity a lot because of accessibility and affordability.

So I think just both of those things, both in school and soccer, kind of understanding that it's okay to be different and I should be proud of who I am, even if it doesn't necessarily look like everyone around me. Definitely. And yeah, I can definitely relate to that as well. So you mentioned earlier, just how you started playing, so it was through the open community. How did you start playing organized soccer as well? So, yeah, I started playing. It was called Malta soccer, and it's like all the Ethiopians in San Jose would get together on Saturday and play. And then we'd play at the playground after. So that was really fun. And then I think when I got to like third grade, I was kind of like, oh, I want to try playing like on a real team. And my best friend in elementary school,

we used to go to the YMCA together and one day she was just like you should just come with me and like just try out like just come to my team so I went to Central Valley Crossfire and actually ended up I started on like the lowest team

and then moved up to the top team the next season I ended up playing for them until I was like 16 years old so that was pretty much my club team my whole life like yeah and I Oh, sorry, keep going, sorry.

No, that was true. Yeah, it was like I played for them for a really long time, had, like, pretty much the same coach, and, like, then kind of started doing, like, ODP and national team, like, through that. But, yeah. Yes, that touched on my next question. So a lot of kids tend to jump around different teams in youth soccer because they and or their parents want to be a part of what is supposedly the best team, right?

Or the most trendy team. Could you discuss your decision? to stay with that club for as long as you did for like seven years, right? Yeah. I mean, I feel like it was like that I didn't even think of, you know, jumping around teams. Like it was like one of those things where this is, that was what I knew and like that was what my parents knew.

And we thought like this is kind of how you go along. Like without even like having like college soccer like national team in mind. It was just kind of like, well, I was playing because I thought it was fun. And I liked my team. and I thought I was good at it. So, yeah, I mean, I feel like we kind of formed a community there. And just I had a girl who lived around the corner from me whose parents would drive me to practice every day. And we had this whole carpool.

And I literally wouldn't still be playing soccer if it wasn't for those rides that I got growing up. So I feel like it was just like the community and being loyal to the team. So I like, I just wanted to stay. and I wanted to keep winning with them, even if, like, we weren't playing in ECNL or, you know, like, any of the top leagues that those started to develop. But, yeah, it worked out, and I'm thankful for that.

But I totally know all that was out there. See, you did start guessing, right, in training in games for Deont de Forest. Yeah. Was there anything else you did to make sure you were challenging yourself as much as you could a while with Crossfire? Yeah, so our coach was, like, really adamant about all of us trying out for ODP.

And I had no idea what it was. And he was, like, he pretty much had everyone sign up. And I was like, this was kind of like the first time I had ever, like, been compared to people outside of, like, my little bubble of players that I knew. So, like, I didn't know how I would compete against them or, like, how I would compare. And if I was, like, good enough. So I was definitely, like, very nervous and, like, didn't, I guess I didn't know how I'd measure up. But I ended up making that the first ODP team and then went on to make the regional team and then got scouted for youth national team from there. And I feel like it just kind of, that was kind of how I progressed.

And every time I would move up or, like, go into a bigger pool, I was always like, okay, how am I going to be able to compare here? just because I knew, like, I came, I wasn't playing for, you know, the best club, but I, like, you know, had to believe in myself and just show up and play my game the way I know how to. So, yeah, that was, like, kind of my journey alongside Crossfire, which I'm very thankful for because I wouldn't have even known about, you know, ODP or any of these other programs that I could get involved in. Right. So, yeah, looking ahead to your future as a player, like, when did you realize becoming, a pro was a real possibility. Was there a specific game or tournament or conversation you had with someone? Was it that U-14 national team call up or was it something else before or after?

I think it wasn't until I got to college and like established myself in college and I don't know if I was talking to my coach or someone and they were just like, oh, so you're going pro after? I was like, oh, like, yeah, I guess that's like I had an option. and yeah, I didn't. I feel like I was always thinking of the next, you know, step with, like, the national team always being, like, this big goal and, like, something I had looked up to. But, yeah, I feel like when I was in high school, until I got scouted,

I wasn't sure that I didn't know, like, college soccer would be an option for me. So, yeah, I think it was just, like, I think getting confidence at, like, each level and establishing myself there and then believing I could make it to the next step was really key for me. Did you think about leaving NorCalphor College or was Stanford always the goal? So I think I thought about leaving NorCal but I didn't think about leaving California, which I guess I still technically haven't. But yeah, I looked around California and then I saw Stanford and just academics,

it was just taught for me and location was prime so yeah um you were the captain of Stanford as a sophomore how would you describe yourself as a leader like are you someone who leads by example are you a motivator to like how would you describe your leadership style um yeah i feel like i lead by example and um i feel like i'm like pretty personable and approachable um as a leader and and yeah, just try to put myself and my teammates in the best position so that we can succeed, whether that's being vocal or, you know, just leading by what I'm doing, just trying to do whatever the team needs. Do you want to be the national team captain one day? Is that something you think about it? I mean, right now I feel like I'm thinking about making rosters in the World Cup and stuff like that, but yeah, that would be a...

like a huge honor and I think every player would dream to be the captain of the national team. So your rookie NWSL seasons in the book, the wave were the first expenses to make the playoffs and also to win a playoff game. And the wave smashed the NWSL single game attendance record. After being the number one pick, you were the rookie of the year, the defensive player of the year, and an MVP finalist. Not bad. How would you describe, how would you describe, how would you describe this season, both individually and for the wave as a whole? I mean, the season was incredible. I think individually it was just, I mean, exciting to play as a professional,

especially with how far the league has come now. And now to be a part of it is something I'm really proud of and excited about. And as far as our team, like, I mean, I just love San Diego. and we just have a good group from the coaches to like our support staff to the players. It's just a good group of people who I feel like were all kind of locked in and understood, at least like for us, like, yeah, we're an expansion team, but we're going to, you know, we want to compete for the championship and we're like, we want to go as far as we can. And I think, you know, it was unfortunate to get knocked out in the semis, but I'm proud we made it,

you know, to the playoff, to be the first expansion team in the playoffs. and get, I think, the first exchange of team to get a win in the playoffs. So, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of good things. And I think I'm just really excited because I feel like there's still so much more to come for us. Yeah, yeah, pretty perfect for the year for you and first season for the team. For you, like, you've also dealt with adversity in your career and life. Could you tell me about the ACL-care at Stanford, obviously very difficult timing? What that recovery was like physically and mentally?

Yeah, I was like heartbroken when I tore my ACL. Yeah, it was just the timing was hard. It was in the middle of COVID and, you know, we were finally getting to the point where we could almost play and then it happened. So it was just disappointing. But I do think it was like in the end ended up being positive for me. Just like having to build back up. mentally and physically and I don't know just kind of proving my proving to myself like I could face

adversity and I could come back stronger and it wasn't something to kind of like shy away from so yeah I think in the end it was positive for me but in the moment it was heartbreaking so we're speaking the day before the second germany friendly the team has lost three straight games for the first time since 1993. What are your thoughts on the last three games and how do you think the team is progressing as we get closer to the World Cup? What have you seen from these top European teams and how do you think you guys are progressing?

Yeah. I mean, I think we're definitely disappointed with the losses. I think our performances have definitely progressed like from England, Spain to this last Germany game. I think that was definitely a positive for us. Now it's just like closing out games, making sure we're putting teams away when we can and then also obviously keeping the ball out of our net. But yeah, I think everyone's excited to just kind of go out tomorrow and compete, honestly,

and play our game and get a win. Who are you closest to you on the national team? I'm probably closest to Sophia Smith. We were in the same class at Stanford, and we've played, like, youth national teams together since we were, like, 14. Gotcha. Okay. So what does it mean to you to be a part of a very diverse group of young players in the rise

with the national team? And what do you think it could mean for soccer status in the African-American community? I think it's really exciting. And I hope, you know, a lot of diversity rising through and now playing at the highest level will kind of reflect and trickle down into youth soccer and hopefully inspire young kids to kind of see us and be excited and motivated to play too and like kind of feel like they have space to, you know, be in the soccer world and they feel like they're represented there. And I hope, you know, more like structurally there's more accessibility for them to be able to

join and, yeah. Yeah, is that something y'all are really conscious of? Like, you and Sof and Mal and the others talk about that, like the opportunity you have to really push the game in the black community? Yeah, we've talked about it. We did a, we talked with Frye, Scurry, with me, Alana and Midge during qualifiers. It's kind of about representation and how it's been lacking and like, probably still, honestly, still is lacking, but it's starting to get better, at least.

in women's soccer and it's something we're excited about and proud to be part of. And we just hope it's a trend that keeps kind of going this way. And, yeah, it's exciting to be a part of it, especially after growing up and not having many people that look like us to look up to in soccer. So, yeah, it's exciting. What do you hope to accomplish in your career? First, we'll start with the national team. I mean, on the field, just continue the legacy that, you know, has been paved and win World

Cubs and Olympics and I think off the field just continue, like, the fight that they've set out and, like, the standard that they've, I think this, the U.S. women's national team has kind of set the standard across all sports and kind of shown, like, you can stand up for things that are not sports related or yeah you can just be a voice for so many people and I think that's something that our generation really want to continue as we rise to the national team and then in terms of club soccer what are you hoping to accomplish moving forward your career is obviously an amazing start on WSL but what else you want to accomplish and do you want to play in Europe one day oh in my club career yeah well I want to win an NWSL championship um

And, yeah, I mean, I'm not, I think if an opportunity comes up, I'm definitely not closed off to playing overseas. But right now I'm really happy in San Diego, and I'm just focused on that and wanting to come in our second year and, you know, make it further and break more records and get more wins than we did this year. So, yeah. You've an interesting academic background. You did a bachelor's degree in symbolic systems. Well, first of all, can you tell us what exactly that means, symbolic system? Yes. So symbolic systems, so it's interdisciplinary and it has its computer science, psychology, philosophy, and linguistics. So you kind of take classes throughout those, like those spaces. And it's like kind of like real like to apply to the real world, it's like kind of like AI, human computer interaction. It's kind of like the focus and like ethics around technology and things like that. But yeah, that symbolic system, simsys, as we call it.

That sounds really cool. And thank you for translating that into terms we can understand. Yeah. You were one of 12 people selected for the Mayfield Fellows program at Stanford, and you're now doing a master's, right, in managing science and engineering. So how is that program going? And how are you able to balance that with club and international soccer? Yeah.

the program's going good. It was going better when I was at school, but I'm just kind of taking it. Like I'm taking one course right now. I knew like this quarter it'd be like playoffs and camps in England and Spain and camp here. So I just want to make sure, you know, now, like I'm a professional now and that's my focus.

And I love still being able to get my education. But I want to make sure I'm balanced to get well and I'm still able to rest and recover as much as I need. So I'm in one class right now. It's really interesting. So that's good. That makes it easier. But yeah, I mean, I've always been, like, really into school.

And my parents have always told me, like, your academics have to be good first, and then you can do soccer and all those things. So I've always prioritized that. So I think it's awesome that I still kind of have the opportunity to do both. Yeah, do you have a good idea of what you want to do after soccer with everything you study? Like, tell me about that, what you're thinking long term, if you're even thinking about that. Not really, honestly. That's kind of why I did some ball existence because it was a lot of different things that I was interested in.

And I was never like, oh, I want to major in this one thing. But what I'm doing with the master's is kind of more like business-like. And then you mentioned the Mayfield Fellowship that I did, which is like pretty much all about entrepreneurship, like VC and like that whole ecosystem. So something in there. As you could see, I haven't really narrowed it down. But I feel like at some point all during my career, I'll get inspired to, you know, go down one path. Yeah, yeah, you've got time to figure that out, I think. So what advice would you give to first generation American kids and their families who don't know much about navigating the youth sports scene?

I think I would just say, like, don't be afraid to ask. And I think I literally got into so many places, especially where I am right now, like, because I would ask and my mom would, like, my mom wasn't, like, my mom would ask someone for a ride or she'd ask, like, what's this? Like, how do I sign her up for? this or whatever it may be. And I think like that really helped me just kind of expand what was like expand my understanding of what was out there for me. And like just having people in my corner like my club coach who was like, you're getting recruited by teams like for college and all these things and like explain to me what the process is like and made sure I was like going on visits and like seeing what school I really wanted to go to. I think like without

the community and those people around me. Like, I, you know, I just wouldn't have, wouldn't be playing for the national team or playing for San Diego Wave or maybe even have gone to Stanford. So, yeah, I'm just, like, so thankful for that. And I'm thankful my parents were willing to, you know, like, go out of their comfort zone and drive me three hours to a tournament and lose their weekends. But, yeah, I think just asking for help and being receptive. to what those are what people around you are kind of telling you is really helpful for me.

Anything else we didn't cover that you like to mention or that you want the fans to know about yourself? I don't know, like a fun fact? Or just like something. Yeah, sure, sure, sure. I don't know. Something random or fun. Go for it.

I feel like Google already know this, but I feel like the main shockers is that I don't like chocolate. That usually gets people, but I've said that on all my fun fact things now. Thank you so much for taking us on Naomi. It's been great to speak with you today. And good luck in the front of the morning tomorrow night. And good luck next year as we get close to the World Cup. Thank you.

And thanks for having me. All right. Bell's here with Greg. We're going to go deeper into the problems with the U.S. women's national team after the World Cup is over, the men's World Cup, that is, of course. But for now, we're just going to briefly recap the two friendlies against Germany. Well, let me just jump in and say problems and strengths with the U.S. women's national team, right?

Because we saw some nice things from them in these two games against a very good Germany side. Yeah. We certainly weren't toothless. I mean, you couldn't say that about us. Unfortunately, though, we've been outpossessed and out ex-gied in our last four matches, and we went one and three in them. We did beat Germany right at the end. People take comfort from that, the end of that losing streak.

right? I think so, yes. And I think the key here is that that last Germany game especially still shows something we've talked about before. And that is our program still has an incredibly high floor. Like even when we aren't clearly the best team on the field, we are in it with a shout and we can win games even if we're not the best team on the field because of how dangerous some individual players are. and because of how quickly we can pounce on mistakes that even our best opponents will make. Well, let's talk about the two games.

The first one was a loss, a two-one loss to Germany in Miami or Fort Lauderdale, I guess. Yep, coming on the heels of losses to England and Spain in the window prior. So this became our third straight loss, which hasn't happened since 1991, I think, was what I was seeing. So this is unprecedented territory. Also, you know, it's not usually the case that we play three straight games against teams as good as England, Spain, and Germany. Yeah, credit to the program for getting these games scheduled. That was, that's great because that's been a criticism of the women's national team that they haven't played against, aren't able to play against top level competition.

So to get England, Spain, and Germany in the span of, you know, a month and a half is great. Yeah, this is what we want to see. This is definitely what we want to see. No one of sleepwalking through these games. These felt like big games for both teams playing pretty much from whistle to whistle. Flacco Andanovsky trotted out a U.S. lineup of Casey Murphy and goal, Sophia Huerta, Alana Cook, Naomi Germa, and Emily Fox across the back line. The midfield was in both games, actually, Rose Lavelle, well, Andy Sullivan as the six,

and then Rose Lavelle and Lindsay Horan as the more advanced midfielder's. and then Sophia Smith, Alex Morgan, and Mallory Pugh across the front line. Yeah, that front six seems more or less set in stone at this point. It's hard to imagine. I mean, the fact that we ran it out after the two losses last window shows that Flotco doesn't see that front six as the thing that needs to be changed, I don't think.

Does he see that anything needs to be changed? I was going to say the back line is also pretty well set with Querta and Fox on the outsides. and then some two of three of Germa, Sauerbrun and Cook at centerbacks, the question remains what happens when Crystal Dunn gets back to health because I don't think she's in any way fit to be running 60 or 70 minutes yet. So obviously she's not really a candidate to be starting. Wasn't in this window.

So that's a big question for me once she's back where she fits in to an 11, where Vlocco's going to see her fitting in to an 11. Yeah. And I mean, Cook ended up not starting the second. game, maybe because she struggled in this first game? Is that kind of how you read it? Because she did struggle a little bit. Yeah, it's kind of interesting. Cook had been the sort of, of those three centerbacks, Cook, Germa and Sauerbrun. Cook had been the constant, right? They kind of wrote, Vodcote rotated Germa and Sauerbrun as almost a way to be like, okay, if Sauerbrun's ready to

pass the torch, if Germa's ready to take it, that's where it'll be and it'll be Germa and Cook. and so I don't know if the signals that that he's now thinking maybe Cook is the one who could be dropped or become the rotational centerback choice because she did she did she was culpable for Germany's winning goal in the first match she made a couple of mistakes in the in the last window that cost us so I don't know I'm not sure if he's having second thoughts about Cook's standing in the centerback depth chart and now Germa is the one of the one of the last window that cost us so I don't know I'm not sure if he's having second thoughts about Cook's standing in the centerback depth chart and now Germa is the one who starts both games. Yeah, it wasn't just being culpable on the game winning goal. She also lost her marker on a header that drew a good save from Casey Murphy in this game. Let's talk about the game. We're not going to do like a full breakdown of both games, but we'll talk about each one a little bit. I thought early on the press was working pretty well in this game.

We got some big chances. you know, Pew and Smith both pulled the trigger from a tight angle and drew a decent, well, I think Smith drew a decent save and Pew drew a decent save and Smith kicked it over. And then there was that moment of brilliance from Rose Lavelle in the first half when she, she Megda defender on the end line and then kind of tried to play it to Horan. Horan, it did fall to Horan. and then Haran's shot deflected off the crossbar and then went straight down and hit the goal line.

It's very close to going in. And then Pew, Pew was 1V1 with the keeper and just didn't finish. So lots of chances for the U.S. early on. Yeah, and like we've seen, almost all of those chances came from transition moments. Like there were almost no chances that involved long buildups from the U.S. And I think that has been our, that has been our biggest issue is we don't do a great job when we are sort of in control of the ball creating, creating high percentage looks from our buildup.

We are excellent at creating high percentage chances from opponent's mistakes where we can very quickly run at them. Yeah, which is good. I just, I want us to, I'm greedy, right? I want us to keep doing that. It doesn't have to be a choice. We don't have to just choose one or the other that we can be good at. I want us to keep doing this incredibly ruthless punishing of mistakes. And I want to add a ton of danger because we have it.

We have it in us. I want to add more danger in our buildup. And what we're going to get into is right now, I think the best way to do that is to literally just steal the game film of what Germany do when they're attacking in possession and see if we can just do what they do. We joked after the last window that we need to hire a final third coach to manage our patterns. I didn't think that was a joke.

I didn't think that was a joke. We don't need to anymore because we now have the tape and we can just say, hey, you see what Germany are doing here? This is what we need to do. And we can get into that more later or we can talk about it right now. Let's talk about it right now. Yeah. Okay.

So here's what Germany do so much better than the U.S. And that is, I mean, it's going to sound really basic, but it's triangles and rotations around the ball once they get into the final third. and it's something that the U.S. almost never do. We saw a little bit more of it in this window, and that, for me, is really promising and encouraging because I don't think it necessarily happened by accident because we'd seen so little of it in the last windows

that any evidence of it is a positive. But what we've seen from the U.S. and what we've been harping on is this tendency to get the ball into the final third, just wide of the box, and then everyone will run away from the ball carrier, and she'll just deliver a super low percentage cross in and we'll hope to score a miracle goal on the first ball or outmussel people in the scramble and create something from that.

And for me, not just aesthetically, but I think mathematically, I think those are way too low percentage given the talent that we have at our disposal to do more sophisticated things. And even though I was just talking about sophisticated things, I'm going to dispense with like the fancy soccer jargon here coaching jargon and I'm just going to get really like simple to things that any player at any level can understand

for these moments for these moments in the final third and what I'm going to say is we need more players to show their belly button to the ball like you can tell any player at any age any level that and I think they can kind of understand what you're saying right now when the ball gets up into that final third where or even our wingers when they have it uh towards the edge of the field every single other attacking player turns their belly button to the goal and just like runs it the goal for the inevitable cross. And when you get this feedback loop because we cross it so much, of course that's what players are going to do. And of course, since that's what the teammates are doing, there's no one to pass to. So of course, we're going to cross the ball in. And so it just builds on itself and spirals. And that's our attack in possession, almost inevitably.

You watch Germany play and you break their tape down. And it is phenomenal. Like they get the ball wide and you'll have one player turn her body, belly button to the ball. She's checking in to come play soccer with her teammate. When the U.S. player gets dragged out with that player, that player will veer into new space, like abandon it. Her mark will chase her, and then a new Germany player will turn her belly button to the ball, and she's coming out to play soccer. And you create these little rotations and patterns that anyone who's familiar with the men's team will recognize this, that disorganize the opponent while you have the ball. And it's exactly what I want

to see the U.S. do more of. And we finally saw a taste of it. in game number two. Did we? That's how we got our goal, right? We connected a pass into the box to a player's feet rather than just being like, I'm just going to lump it in in the air, chest high, see what happens. That's true. It was Smith to Lavelle.

Lavelle kind of dribbled around a little bit, played it back to Smith, who's, if I remember correctly, whose belly button was facing Lavelle's. There you go. So I'm introducing a new analytic. I don't know if this one exists yet in the in the popular domain, but I'm calling it sky aft. So it's a very easy to remember. Yeah, that's super catchy. Sky aft.

And all I'm looking for when I watch the U.S. women play now for the possession side is successful, consecutive, intentional actions in the final third. Skyaft. Ooh. And I get there because you watch what Germany are. doing and it's like yes this is what they're doing they've connected five straight passes intentionally to a you know person doing something intentional to create a space for their teammate or themselves um and the u.s so infrequently does that um if you go through the tape even against the oh yeah almost never Nigeria like our our attacking possessions once you get to the

final third are like one action it's like one pass out to the wide player low percentage cross like that's it bang bang done and you're not even giving a defense a chance to make a mistake. You're not giving the defense a chance to to have somebody make the wrong switch to a different player or defend the wrong space. You're playing it before you even have a chance for that defense to do that. And instead, what I want to see is I want to see our good players holding the ball, poking and prodding, giving that defense a chance to screw up and then punishing it ruthlessly. Here's the thing. No, I love that. I love that because I think that's right. You don't, you don't see hardly any successful consecutive actions.

Intentional actions. You got to have the whole sky aft. It's SCI-A-F-T, Sky-A-Fed. Like even the goal we... No, I like it. I like it a lot, actually. And even the goal we scored in this game to equalize in the 85th minute was it involved, I guess, two successful consecutive intentional actions.

In the final third. It's a big deal. Like, and that's progress. And we, uh, the actually built the buildup, uh,

to that buildup was similar. Like it was also good. We, we got down the wing. There was nothing on. So we reset in the final third, reset intentionally. And then hit a ball into Lindsay Haran's feet,

um, in, on the left side of the box, right? Oh, yeah. And Horan is now holding the ball on the left side of the box. And rather than just lumping a ball in,

she doesn't have a lot of option. but she holds it and again, pokes and prods herself with the ball at her feet. And Germany didn't break. Germany didn't make a mistake. And so she reset it out to Huerta on the right side. So she switches it all the way over. And then you get the old U.S.,

what I hope is the old U.S., and Huerta just gets it there and lumps it into the box and Germany easily clear it. But then on the ensuing throw-in, that's when we do the good sky-afting and get our shot. But, I mean, it wasn't really that, it wasn't that good of sky-afting.

It was, I mean, it was excellent play by Morgan to win the ball off of them. Are we talking about the same play? No, no, no. I'm sorry. I'm in game two now. Oh, okay. I'm all over the place. So game two, game two, the winning goal.

Sorry if I jumped around on you. Yeah. So you're saying that the intentional actions were, you're talking about the goal that Smith scored in combination with Lavelle, right? Yeah, that's the tying goal in game two. Okay. How do you think, how do you think Vlako thinks about all this? Because it's been month after month of, you know, winning, but winning with almost zero sky afts. Is he, is he a good coach? Does he know what he's doing? I'm not convinced. And something that actually worried me was,

and I just, I haven't dug into his full comments. But after the game, after the second game, I, I think I read something that said one of his issues was our lack of creativity in the final third. And I couldn't tell if that means he's trying to create, you know, increase our sky afts or if he's actually like, we finally did it a couple of times. And he's like, oh, we got to, we're not, that's not creative enough. And he wants to go back to the, everyone run at the goal and we cross it in. I'm hoping that that can't possibly be the case. Yeah.

I'm choosing to interpret Rose Lavelle's karaoke performance as her, you know, sort of release. frustration over Antonovsky's coaching. Again, we can fix this. This is fixable and it's fairly fixable even in a short time frame. That tying goal that Sophia Smith scored in combination with Lavelle, it wasn't like the cleanest thing, right? I think Smith, even after the ball comes back to Smith from a nice little flick from Lavelle, like it still, I think, hits off a couple of German player shins off Smith's feet, right? Yeah, it's just pinballs through there.

Yeah. But you're just, you're putting Smith in a slightly better position to get a little bit lucky than if, then if it's just like, okay, put your head down, bulldoze through a set defense. The defense isn't set because they had to go over to Rose Lavelle and sort of converge on her, which gives Smith just the tiniest glimmer of opening to do really cool Sophia Smith things. Well, that's the thing is we, you know, we had so, we had so many good chances, even in the first game off of the, off of the transition moment. that you mentioned earlier. It's where we have absolute freedom to work on sky afts, you know. I mean, we should be working on sky afts. And we have,

we have freedom to do that because we can still beat really good teams even without them. And the fact that we haven't done it yet is, I don't know, there's a sort of, is it like intellectual laziness from Vlako or complacency? I don't know. I don't know. But it's pretty, it's pretty frustrating. Yeah, it's for sure going down for me is the biggest like regret or wasted opportunity of the cycle because we played all of these weak teams last year before we got this awesome four game stretch.

We played so many weak teams. And that is exactly when we could have been hammering, hammering this stuff because we got we got so many final third reps. But they all kind of went to waste and now we're going to try to fix it late. Again, I'm still hoping that we're trying to fix it. And that wasn't just accidental good soccer in those moments in this last window. but it definitely feels like we lost ourselves a lot of time. Just to recap quickly, you know,

in the second half, Lindsay Horan had a great scissor kick attempt off a... We're back in the first game. Sorry. Back to the first game. I apologize and I jumped a game too, but yes, let's get into the recap of game one.

Just quick, quickly, that scissor kick was very, very nice. Hit the post. Germany scored in transition on a shot off the post that bounced off of Casey Murphy's back. So Murphy made a save on a shot and then it fell to somebody else.

That's in the immediate aftermath of Horan's bicycle kick. Oh, is that right? The ball comes off the post in Germany are right back at us running the other way. And then they were kind of, Germany was kind of toying with us with those, you know, lots of sky afts in the late in the second half and just kind of pelting the goal. Cook loses her marker, as I mentioned, for a header that Murphy palms over. And then Rapino got that goal on some hard work from Alex Morgan in the press and a good pass across the box. A sky aft total of two, I think, in that case. Yeah, we got to start getting the three.

We got to start getting the three. Three is a great number. Germany came right back at us and scored when Alonica got beat again and allowed Yulia Brand to get in behind and square it for Kati Krumbeagle to thump it into an empty net. And yeah, so the irony there is Germany get that second goal off a not particularly like elegant buildup. Just sort of a, it was a quick restart. Huerta had come into the middle and I think committed the foul. And then we were just a little bit slow then to defend the restart with Huerta in the centerback zone. We didn't quite get out to their wide player. So Germany, again, Germany were very good at finding those open spaces.

They get a goal in game two in a similar fashion where they can hit that open. They recognize where the openings are and then attack them quickly and aggressively. So we still should have had that situation covered with Alana Cook. She's there as a centerback. That's a centerback's bread and butter to deal with that kind of issue and eliminate the danger. She didn't. And then obviously Crystal Dunn, who had come into the game in the 60th minute or so, lost her player on the weak side. Just to, I mean, to an extent just kind of outworked or Crystal Dunn maybe thought Elana Cook.

had the situation under control. But yeah, we left that weak side open and credit to Germany for hitting square ball, which we love, instead of taking the low angle shot, played on the floor across goal for the tap-in. Yeah, I don't know how many of our attackers would play that square ball across. We hit more square balls, too, in these two games. And I saw, I actually saw it come out in the comments of people following.

We're like, just shoot it there. Just shoot it there. Like, there was a lot of people just saying, just shoot it there. which again, I'm taking that as a sign that we're actually improving our decision-making a little bit. Who's saying that? I'm swimming against the shooting there. Haven't we done enough just shooting it there? Okay, game two was a two-one win.

So we end the sort of window on a high note. The only lineup changes were Alyssa Neer in goal for Casey Murphy. I don't know if Casey Murphy was dinged for having that own goal go off her back. I kind of doubt it. No, Flatsko's been rotating goalkeepers almost every game going back the whole year between Neher and Murphy.

So I think it's very much still up in the air who his goalkeeper is here. Neer made some nice saves in this game too. Sauerbrun and then of course Sauerbren came in for Alana Cook pushing Germa over to the right side of the centerback pairing. U.S. didn't get its first shot. shot until 35 minutes into the game in this one?

No, in this second game, the first half I actually thought was pretty brutal for the U.S. in a pretty much kind of a clinic for Germany. Like, Germany would possess it for like a minute, minute and a half, get a shot off, or at least, you know, have the ball go into the box in a dangerous, threatening way. The U.S. would pretty well, like, eliminate the danger and then immediately, like, lump it forward and lose it. And Germany would come back at us for another. minute and a half. And it was just that sort of alternating, uh, danger from Germany, like survival

mode for the U.S. for almost the entire first half. And then, uh, we got our back to back goals in the, in the, right around the hour mark, right before the hour mark, um, from Smith and Pew. I thought Pew was a live wire in this game. Man, she was, she's very dangerous. Um, so we, we've discussed that Smith goal. kind of a lot already. But it was a bit of a solo effort after that combination

with Lavelle. And she slalomed through and wrote some challenges and then lifted it past the German goalkeeper who got a finger to it, I think, but not enough. And then Pew ran onto

an Andy Sullivan long ball and was just quicker and more ruthless than everyone else. And again, the keeper got, made contact with it, but it wasn't enough.

Germany's goal had come in the first half on a scramble. Just nobody cleared it. I think it was a corner kick, right? No, so this was another one where they caught our fullback upfield. Emily Fox had kind of come up to try to deal with something and just had a little bit of a loose touch on the defensive side of the ball.

And because she was upfield, again, Germany, very good recognition of open spaces, took Fox's loose touch and immediately clipped into the left back space that Fox had vacated to come play the ball. They get the ball down deep into the final third. initial cross is blocked. Second cross comes into a wide open German player on the far side. She gets her volley off, but that gets blocked into the middle of the field, and then it's a

tidy finish. I don't remember who scored it, to be honest, but just a clever finish sort of through all the traffic as we were scrambling to defend. Okay. So we came back from 100 down and did the business. And I mean, there were a lot of other

chances for the U.S. in this game and Germany. I mean, it was a good soccer game. the neutral probably got their money's worth. Oh, I thought it was a fantastic game. And again, what it kind of looked like was sort of old school, I'm calling them like old school games where one team is the dominant possessor of the ball and the other team is just very dangerous on the counterattack. We were just the counter attacking team here.

In the second half, you know, after the first half where we kind of slogged through it, the second half, we were dangerous over and over and over again, mainly off, Germany turnovers. And we really were, you know, lightning quick to get behind them. I thought their Germany's back line made a lot of mistakes with their discipline to keep their line level. So we actually could find sort of those home run balls in behind them because, you know, we could take advantage of their poor spacing. And then again, on the goal where Malpue just absolutely bullies two very good German centerbacks to get herself in on goal and finish. again, that right there for me

shows how high the floor is for our team because we can do this kind of stuff even against a German team that I'm at this point putting as like clear top two, top four favorites for the World Cup in Australia, New Zealand. Yeah, they outplayed England.

Isn't it fair to say in the, or at least outplayed them for big stretches of that Euro final, European championship final? So I like, I basically just like, almost everything that Germany were doing other than that backline discipline and some a couple of weak moments

for their centerbacks who were otherwise very good, very good on the ball, very good attacking. They'll even get some rangey runs from their centerbacks, which I appreciate. I promise I'm not just a new fan of Germany. But I thought again, there was more to take from what they were. Did you steal Skyft? Did you steal Skyft from the German Federation? There was a lot more positives to take from their play,

I thought, then even England. I thought England had the same sort of, when we played them in the last window. I thought they had similar like control of the ball, similar ideas of ways to control the ball, but I don't think they were anywhere near as effective getting it into the final third. And then I didn't think England's movement in the final third

was anywhere close to as good as Germany's was. So I also want to put this out there as a compliment to our defense because we had to defend this team and we defended them pretty well, I thought. Germany got their looks. but never like almost never to like the full full on like tap in situations outside of their tapins that they scored goals on the one the main one being the winner and that one didn't actually that one didn't actually come from the from a long drawn out German buildup so on their buildup even though they thought they were moving really well I do think the US handled that pretty well which is good when when this is sort of we have a couple of I'm calling them internationally inexperienced These aren't a bunch of World Cup winners, minus Sauerbrun, on our backline. You know, the German centerback is struggling a little bit is understandable,

given how much pressure Sophia Smith and Mallory Pugh will put on a backline over the course of a game. So much talent. So much talent for the U.S. The women play New Zealand twice in January, mid-January. So we'll be looking forward to those games. and we'll be going deeper after, like we said, after this World Cup is over

into what's going on with the women's national team. Thanks, everybody for listening. We'll see you.