Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #519: Olympics — USWNT v Australia recap

Episode Date: August 1, 2024

Belz, Vince and Tara recap the 2-1 win over Australia. Not as cathartic as the win over Germany, but still lots to celebrate, plenty to nitpick. The WNT and Emma Hayes have given us a nine-point window! So we had to dust off an old number for the intro to this episode. 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.

A nine point window. It's time to lock this down. Oh, we want a nine point window, a nine point window. Sing with me now. Oh, we want a nine point window. A nine point window. Oh, we want a nine point window. Oh, we want a nine point window.

All right, all right. The U.S. Women's National Team gave us a nine point window. point window with a 2-1 win over Australia on Wednesday. Greg can't do this recap because he's traveling. He plans to be back on Monday to recap Saturday's quarterfinal against Japan, which should be a great game. But tonight, I am honored by the presence of Tara and Vince to Wosso Wednesday crew. And we're going to do our best to talk through the win.

How are y'all? I'm great. I'm wired. I'm proud. I just feel, I just feel awake, alive. I'm happy. How are you guys? Yeah, I'm doing great. It couldn't have been... We needed this. We needed this end to this crazy period of USM&T, W&T ball.

Women flying, men doing better than some expected. No complaints, really. There's a couple quibbles we'll get into, but I'm feeling great. And we learned in the recently released behind the Crest video, Emma Hayes scheduled a manicurist to come in tomorrow for the girls. They're getting their nails done as a reward for getting out of the group. They're going to be feeling good and looking good. So I'm really excited.

Speaking of feeling good and looking good, I want to play the, you mean, Terry, you suggest this, but I think we definitely should play the clip. And why not right now? This is Trinity's recap of the game. It's elegant and concise. Getting the dub, got my big toe on that goal. That was awesome. A little header from Sof, who would have thought?

And then Corbin scored a banger. But it was a great team game, team goals, nine goals, nine points. Fire. Give himself a little trouble for finally getting her head on a ball. Who would have thought? Who would have thought? Those front three got to stay on each other. I mean, they're in a race, you know, can't ease up or who knows what will happen.

So I'm all for it. Yeah, because there's another clip which I don't have loaded of SOF being asked yesterday. You know, the way the question was phrased was, I think, a little bit, well, it was basically how does playing with Mal affect you as a player with Mal Swanson? But the way the question was phrased was kind of like with a player who can do all these things that you can't do What's it like to be playing with her when the question started to formulate like that? She kind of cocked her head a little bit and smiled like whoa whoa whoa buddy Mal's great, but so there you know there's some rivalry going on there it seems like a little bit Which is good

That's that's what this that's what this camp needs and I think I think we're seeing it in the front three I mean you have you have the men's basketball team even like in these posts of the front three. The Olympic camp is watching. USA's behind each other. We're feeling good. That's right. Let's go.

So I'll just go ahead and do the lineups and we'll let the conversation unfold. So no rotation in the lineup from Emma. A bit of a shocker, wasn't it? Not really. I mean, everybody's up in arms, rightfully so. but she's been telling us this entire time. This team doesn't have enough reps together. She said it every single game.

Every question in the press conferences have been asking about Jaden, about subs, about so on and so forth. And her answers have been consistently, the front three have not played enough with each other. This team has not played enough with me as their coach. They need more reps together for this tournament. And I mean, we saw what happened in the Zambia game when they started to sub in the second half. We got significantly less threatening. I didn't expect a lot of subs. I wanted subs. Don't get me wrong. I wanted to rest them, but I did not expect them.

I mean, I sympathize with both few points, you know, the pro-rotation folks and the we need chemistry folks. So anyway, the lineup was Alyssa Elyneux, Naomi Germa, Emily Sonnet, and Crystal Dunn, and then midfield of Sam Coffey, Lindsay Horan, and Rose LaVelle. And then, of course, Robbins, Swanson Smith across the front line. I'll give the Australia lineup in their defensive 532 shape since that's a lot of what we saw from them in the first half was just them. I'm not 532, 523. So it's McKenzie Arnold and goal, now a Portland Thorns player, right? Yeah, we haven't seen her at Portland yet. She won't be there until after the Olympics, but recently signed.

Ellie Carpenter, Alana Kennedy, Claire Hunt, Steph Catley, and Caitlin Torpe across the back five. And then the two central midfielders, Katrina Gorey and Kira Cooney Cross. And then front line of Mary Fowler, number 11, Caitlin Ford, number nine, and Haley Rassau, number 16. One of those three was involved in most of the danger that they created,

well, at least until the last 10 minutes when they were just lumping the ball into the box. Yeah, very, very talented group. very attacking group, even if you looked at the screen and saw 10 players in the box in the first half. They're still a very threatening team. Yeah. Also, just to comment on that shape a little bit, it's just probably something that I would, I mean, I'm not a, I'm not a coach. But, but, you know, if you're watching the U.S. Women's National Team, right?

And you're seeing all of the havoc that Trinity has been able to cause from wide right, you know, my first thought would be we need to be, we need to extend that back line, you know, add a person to it so that somebody is able to be there. To make sure that Trinity Robman is unable to get ahead of steam when she receives the ball or is able to just eliminate somebody by combining, with Roosevelt and receiving the ball and pushing it past them and nobody being there, you know, by adding the body to that back line, you know, you make one of our, one of our most profitable revenue streams, you know, you kind of cut that off a little bit. And they still, with the three up top and the two in the middle, you know, they still have enough bodies to prevent any true, like, vertical carve-ups coming from our two

Sam and Lindsay. So, yeah, it seems like a sensible reaction to the way we've been cutting these other two teams up. And it had some effect, right? I mean, it wasn't, I mean, Trinity didn't play poorly or anything. There just was nowhere for her to operate for at least most of the first half.

And yet she still scored. How about that? In Australia, for them, the math was they just needed a draw would have probably a draw would have guaranteed them advancement. So they could have, they would have been happy with a zero zero draw.

And that's how they played in the first half, you know. Yeah. And of course they didn't get that. They're not advancing. I think they still had a chance to, depending on other results, but it didn't work. Work out. Yeah, they're not advancing Columbia,

got the third place spot. So they're going home. And I'm glad. I'm glad. Bye. Get them out of here. Get them out of you. That's right.

Yeah. Tilly's. Who needs them? So our side of, right. Our side of the bracket is, you know, obviously we play Japan on Saturday. Also on our side of the bracket is Canada and Germany. Canada found a way. Unbelievable. Yeah.

And, um. The other side of the bracket is where you have Spain, France. So if we play Spain, it won't be until the final. Yeah, and I'll be prepared with the audio of Emma saying, eventually she'll need to beat the effing Spanish when that day comes. But, I mean, Terry, you made this point on the call-in show after the Germany match. But if we get us a light little she believes, quarter-final, semi-final, man, just just, just, just,

wake me up when the final starts. You know what I'm saying? If we get Japan, Canada, light work. Now, obviously, this can age poorly. We're taking it one game at a time, like our coach taught us, too. I'm not. Canada, Canada seems like lighter

work than Japan to me, but... Canada is, Canada has all of the spirit of cheating behind them. We're acting like they're not cheaters, and only their coaches are? Come on. As Waki said, throw the book at them. I don't go with crap.

Yeah. All right. To the timeline. I think we got a lot of fun stuff to talk about. So first thing is coffee's yellow. For everybody who criticized Sam Coffee for not being enough like Julie Earts, not being the wrecking ball, not being the destroyer in the midfield, here she comes. She's the destroyer and she's getting yellow cards.

It's horrible. It's horrible. I mean, I didn't think it was a yellow card at all. I thought she's, I just think she's late to stuff a lot. Correct. I thought it was. I mean, this one wasn't, this one seemed harsh. It was a crazy.

The second one? The second one, she should have got a second yellow. She could have gotten sent off for that second one. Yeah. But this one, this one I thought was crazy. The second one was incredibly wild. But, yeah. The call was crazy.

But, you know, Sam being late to stuff, hey. That's Sam coffee for you, baby. I mean. Yeah. Yeah. It's a reality. But hold on for a second. Just to stay on.

It truly was crazy. Because, I mean, who'd she step on? Was it Kennedy? I can't remember. But back to the play. I think I was rascal. Back to the play, not going forward at all. No, like, danger from Australia that was averted by a cynical foul from, I mean, come on.

We three minutes into the match. You could have kept that car in your pocket. And you didn't even show it immediately. It was extremely annoying of Sam Coffee. And, I mean, everybody's up in arms. This is why you rotate. This is why you rotate. This is 100% on Sam Coffee, I think.

Yeah. I think. I mean, definitely the second one. Which maybe, I don't know, what's the rule if you get sent, if you're already facing a one game suspension for a yellow card and then you get sent off, do you have, do they tack on an extra game of suspension? So maybe she's just thinking, look, man, I got it. I'm already facing my punishment. I'm just going to get in a few more wax here because that second file late in the second half was just. It was insane.

Yeah, way, way, way bad. I'm with you, Tara. I'm with you. And like you said, we'll get to it. But come on, Bill. We brought on the six minute, Marco whipped cross from Swanson after getting played in by Horan. It's, uh,

so it's like, I don't know if Swanson's shooting here or crossing, kind of a shawse, fumbled by Arnold. And there's some excitement as it skips around in the box, but no clear cut chance emerges. Yeah, this comes from our first,

uh, actual vertical carve up through Australia's amoeba. And maybe like our only one. They're really, we're not many. There were not many. And it comes from a shifting the ball from side to side. And we didn't do this enough.

It's like we got this example here. And then we kind of stopped being patient in our probing of the shape. So it goes... We did. It goes from our right side with Emily Fox. We do some stuff over there. Swing it around to our left side. I think there's a, yeah, there's a...

ball from Emily Sondon up to, up to Mal Swanson, who's kind of found a pocket of space, like in front of the back line, but isn't covered by the two yet in the, in the five three, two, because they're, they're shifting over from all the way wide, right. So they come over to the left over there, because Swanson receives a ball, then plays at the crystal done. By the time everybody shifts over, Crystal plays it back to Naomi. Lindsay shows up in a pocket right behind the three. and then Naomi's able to play it to Lindsay because the two that have now went that have covered the entire width of the field

they are slow getting back as the ball is played to Naomi in the middle and then Lindsay does a nice one too with Sof and then swings that thing out to mound and it comes from there. But that was, it really might have been our best possession sequence of the game to be honest with you. There were a couple others

where German would like shove to pass in there and somebody received it on the half term, but nothing that sort of came from as much flow and resulted in something that flowed even further. Ninth minute. Smith gets it from Sonnet, you know, through the lines, finds Rodman's feet out wide, right? I mean, she kind of, she just swings it out to her. Rodman cuts in, rips one with her left foot, draws a decent save, parried in Smith's direction as she's arriving in the box, she takes it on the volley and sends it into the seats. But, you know, we're definitely, we're having a little trouble breaking down the low block,

but we're still getting chances, I guess. Lavelle's dispossessed casually by Caitlin Ford in the 11th minute, just like taking candy from a baby there. She hustles back and pokes it to coffee in our half, and I'm just clocking it because hustle is Roosevelt's new calling card. Love to see it, man. Somebody got doing this midfield. And if you watch us back, like Sam is a...

Sam's kind of chilling. Doing the same thing, Rose gets back and makes a play. And yeah, her doing this makes everything work a little bit better. Like, you know, this is found money for us. It's something we weren't necessarily counting for out of Rose coming into this tournament necessarily. But may along continue, please, because we need it. Yeah. At the end, at the end, I have some Buffy contingency plans listed out.

And all of them, it's important to remember the Rose Lavelle calling card can be plugged in at any stage. No real updates on Jaden? Like, she's, she can. I mean, for the first time we've seen her training in cleats. So she's been training this entire time, but not in cleats. So cleats is a big sign. Okay. We keep, it's a, it's a bit of sloppy, a bit of a sloppy game, I think, from the U.S.

We keep losing it and counterpressing in their defensive third, getting it back, and then kind of asking tame questions of the Australia defense with largely not very good crosses or, you know, like attempted through balls and stuff. I'm summarizing a lot there. To me, we're playing like we know we're through, and it's kind of annoying. Because I want to punish them. Yeah, it's a sleepy affair. You want to punish Australia?

I want to punish them. And if the whole purpose of not subbing is to get reps, we need to use. We need to get the reps. Like purposefully. Yeah, we need to exterminate the opposition. That's fair. That's fair for sure. Okay.

Well, okay, 25th minute of decent chance for Australia. They work it up to the left side. Back around to the top of the box. Mary Fowler takes a touch and rips one through Germa's legs, just wide of the goal. But, you know, decent look for them. So I'm a big Mary Fowler fan any other day of the year. I think she's got the shot in her bag at Man City. She scored plenty of these goals for Australia.

At the World Cup last year, they made a deep, deep run. I think we did a good job shutting her down today, but this one got me a little bit. I thought it could have gone the other way. Yeah, and this is just an example of how easy it can be at times that kind of cut through our midfield. you know, this this whole chance comes from a throw-in on their left side, their left touchline,

are right, you know, where Emily Fox and Trinity Robin is. So throw-in from Torpey to Gory. Okay, so Gory's open for the throw-in because Lindsay Horan is kind of cutting off making sure Mary Fowler can't get the ball thrown into her. But the distance from Lindsay Huran to Gory

is about maybe five, five yards. So Gory gets a ball thrown into her. Lindsay tries to, Lindsay does a Lindsay effort at closing down. Really unable to close down. Gory passes the ball up to Ford.

Ford takes a touch, plays it back to Mary Fowler, where Sof is in the vicinity, tries to come back and press. Sam is, Sam Coffey is also in the vicinity. But once again, just no bite from these two specifically, where

where plays probably could have been made, not made. So Fowler then plays it up to Gory, who after passing the ball to Fowler, Lindsay kind of falls asleep and starts ball watching, especially while Mary Fowler has the ball, and Gory just runs as Lindsay takes her eyes off of her down the sideline. Fowler plays her down that same left sideline that the throwing came from, and yeah, the chance comes from there.

but you just lack of ability to make plays specifically from those two you know it's just we've mentioned it about sam coffee multiple times uh we all know what lindsay rann's about that's not necessarily her bag at all no bite there and also a lack of awareness from lindsay just to keep track of gory nope does not do that instead ball watches and uh yeah yeah there's a little bit of like you get the sense from lindsay that she's like well i'm not going to catch i'm not going to able to stay with her so somebody else can deal with that runner you know which yeah not great i'm i'm a big coram fan i think she does things like i've said a million times she does things that nobody else can do on our team but you know a spade is a spade yeah yeah i think 10 times out of 10 lindsay's just not going to run with gory there which it's fine it's not like it necessarily cut us all the way open And, you know, we had people back. You know, our back line was still intact and a lot of different type of stuff. It is, it kind of spoils, I feel like it kind of spoils me to watch Germa all the time.

Because she's so basically perfect at her job. I mean. And you're like, well, man, what if she could pass to somebody in our midfield who was both, who was also perfect at their job, you know, like all facets of it? Be crazy, wouldn't it? I don't, I don't think that player exists right now. But it doesn't. But it is crazy. Like every intervention is perfect.

You know, she comes out like, like there are no scuffed clearances for the most part. You know, no, like if she gets a thing with her head, it's leaving the box. You know, like any intervention, man, is just like clean, precise. And in possession too. She's magnificent in possession as well. Okay. Yeah, we're just struggling to fashion a lot of real chances against this low block, and this is just life against the low block.

Australia's taking zero chances, sitting back, and we're trying to figure out what we're going to do. Yep. What's next? In the 26th minute, just wanted to clock this. A very aggressive challenge from Goree on Haran. Kind of just a slide tackle totally takes Lindsay Aran out. She's on the pitch in a heap crying for help, Lindsay is.

And I'm just clocking it because that seemingly, to me, was a worst challenge than what Sam Coffey did in the third minute. No yellow shone. We got an advantage from the situation. I don't think anything crazy came from that chance there. Yeah. I would have liked to see it yellow there. Come on, ref.

30th minute, Soph gets it from. Rodman after a weak Australia clearance. So Rodman collects it maybe 30 yards from goal, kind of dinks it into Smith with her back to goal. She turns under pressure as she does, totally untroubled. And works a little area for herself so she can operate and then plays an enterprising little scoop pass from the top of the box for Swanson, who's in behind.

On the replay, Swanson was on side. when she played the pass. And Swanson gets to it with like a flying kick just out of the goalkeeper, but doesn't get enough on it. I mean, she probably didn't want to put her studs right through the, you know, goalkeeper's solar plexus.

But anyway, she just barely gets any contact and the shot is blocked by Arnold. But that's one way to beat a low block, you know? Sof doing something extremely cheeky. Yeah. And just to highlight Sof a little bit, just all the different things

that she's doing right now to make herself a make herself a threat to fashion chances for us for herself she's been great man like this this dink

that won too earlier with Iran there's stuff later where she's fashion chances for it that shot that hits both posts or whatever like she's she's sharp she's getting shots off she's creating chances for others and

yeah she was well within her right to get that question from the reporter and kind of be taken aback by it because she is she is playing as well as Mao Swanson is right now for sure yeah she's doing it all and like Greg pointed out in the last recap even when she takes a bad touch she gets it back you know like she she wins the ball back 30 fourth minute just clock in a moment where um crystal gets the ball out wide left and loses it to Carpenter. We haven't highlighted any of these moments from earlier in the match, but this is probably the second

or third time it's happened at this point. And I talked about this in the call-and-show after Germany, but we could use some juice from out-wide left. You know, everything else is working for the most part, and it makes sense as to why that has to be the full-back spot, right, because we want Mallory and Sophia close together. working that telepathic relationship that they have. So somebody has to be wide left and, yeah,

just falls to the left back at the moment. And maybe we just don't get juice from out there at all. But that's area for improvement, I would say. Does either of you think we get more juice from Nyswonger in the attack than from Dunn? I mean, Crystal Dunn's starting because where we want her, defense. I think that's without a doubt. Yeah. I mean

I mean Barbara Banda Germany, Australia big goal scoring teams Crystal Dunstress. Yeah, yeah. I don't have any I don't have any issue with the with the call or anything like that and we'll see why that call has been made or later

when we get to Australia's goal. But yeah, not swangler. Even if she couldn't you know beat somebody to the in line or anything like that, I mean, the crosses would just be on a platter, as she's one to do. So wide left, just get that thing, cross it in. That would be much better than what we're getting from out there right now. But it's a given take. Also, Carpenter's probably their most talented player.

I mean, they have a lot of talented players, but Leo and Defender, fast, strong. She and Lindsay had a long embrace. the final whistle I noticed. They must be buddies. Okay, good Australian diagonal in the 37th minute finds Torpey. She works it over to Rassau. She cuts in on Fox, who, you know, is not totally unsusceptible 1V1 in these last couple games.

Rassau cuts in on her and plays it low across, cleaned up by Dunn at the backpost, thank goodness. But a little bit of danger from them. and then 38th minute there's a nice counter keyed by a touch from Rose to Swanson just a one touch kind of dinked pass into a huge runway of space

Swanson's Swanson makes, you know, she's streaming forward This is a situation we kind of love to see the three of them running into the other team's half but we do have to recirculate it it gets laid off for done after a couple of passes and she has a hit from maybe 22 yards

hits it well tipped kind of dangerously over the bar by the goalkeeper didn't get like, didn't palm it with alacrity. Yeah. You know? Just kind of went and just kind of popped it up. And just real quick, because we, you know, kind of went hard on the midfield or whatever.

But this counter starts from a Lindsay Horan defensive intervention at the, on the right side. Okay, Lindsay. On the right side of the top of Australia's box. Yeah, Lindsay basically gets over there. It's kind of a slightly errant pass and a slightly loose touch that basically gives Lindsay the opportunity to just get in there and poke it out. And then it goes to Sam who makes, and I literally counted. I mean, Sam makes maybe her, she makes one of her two vertical passes of the entire match to Rose who then dinks it into.

in the mouth. Yeah, not to be too hard on Sam, because I don't think, I think if she's, once she comes back from her suspension, she's guaranteed to start, and I'm fine with that. And her, and her cards are cleared? Yeah. Sam Coffee. Yeah.

Blank slate. Yeah, she's had the weight on. But, but she, her being, like, her being a beat late to, you know, to close on a threat and to be there to disrupt things is totally not new. Her being, I feel like she has also not been particularly sharp on the ball in this tournament, which is a little bit new.

Like she has been mostly really sharp, both for the national team and for club. I mean, sharper for club than she's been for national team, particularly under, you know, in the interim period. But she hasn't even been that sharp with the ball, I guess, long story short. I feel like she's going to sort it out. I mean, I don't think it's crazy to assume some Olympic jitters in old Sam Coffee.

I think she's going to figure it out. Yeah, I back her to figure it out. I back her to continue starting when she comes back from suspension, all of that. But yes, this group stage has been subpar from Sam Coffee to the point to where I'm, like, like Territ said, I'm not too stressed about what we do against Japan. We will be all right. What we've got to do them. I've written out.

Yes. I've written out some contingency plans. I've got, I've got it ready. Go ahead and do it. Should we go ahead and do it? Yeah, let's do it. Okay. If Tiana Davidson is back, we play Horan and Sonet.

And that's big of me because I am captain of Sonnet is not a midfielder. It's not ideal But I Definitely do not think Corbin should be starting against Japan So that would be my That would be number one If Tirna is not back

I would still go with Herian and Sonnet And I would put Casey Kruger As a centerback Remember she basically made this roster Because she can play fullback and centerback. She does it for club.

It's not new for her. I'd play Casey Krueger or Emily Sams. She made the bench this game against Australia. And you may think that's completely unrealistic because it took Croix Bouthon three whole games to even get a sniff of the field. And I would say, I would say, sure, you can have that opinion.

But Emma has been very upfront that Emily Sams has been one of the best defenders in the league. She's been very upfront about that, whereas she also has been very upfront that Kroybathune needs to show more consistency and practice for the national team before she can play. two different stories for two different players so if tyrann isn't back you would still go with the Haran Sonat midfield yeah for one of the options do you think Emma's going to do that

well listen to this if we want to stay the course and it's sonnet in the back and we go Horan Corbyn we can't be too scared of her getting another yellow, meaning Corbin, because coffee is reset after the next game. And we can be thankful for all of the She Beliefs tournaments where we got to meet Japan.

This Japan team, the roster is not that different. They've had a great plan to stop Barbara Banda, great plan to stop pop in Germany and Australia, was backed into a corner. We got through this group with nine points. If it's Corbyn, I feel confident that our coaches would have a plan for it as well. I guess my thought is if Taryn is not back, I want that Sonnet-Germa partnership prioritized because it's been good.

Yeah. Right? And that's, you don't, you do not want to mess with that. If like, I mean, maybe Krueger would be just as good. Yeah. But maybe not, too. It's possible. I mean, I guess Emma knows whether she thinks Krueger fits in that spot.

So I guess it just feels like that's so, it's such a precious thing to protect in the, in the, that is actually working right now. So we've seen, we've seen Sonnet come in. for Sam before, and she believes, if Tierna's back. That's the only other note. So Tierna has a bone contusion, bone bruise, which really is just like a pain tolerance thing. So, I mean, I was like- Book up, sister.

Yeah, yeah, come on. Tierna, we need, you know, saying it, get out there for Japan, please. You need a Torado shot out, you know, whatever. get it going get out there um and yeah let's go ahead and throw sonnet in that midfield that's because corbin i i can just see it clear as day man like a corbin a bad touch bad pass something that springs a japanese counter and um yeah it's it's it's all she wrote they've posted a picture um this is where we saw jaden and cleats before the australia game of tierna on a stationary

in a leg sleeve writing. So she's doing things with Yeah, okay. So let's pray for Tehrana to come back because That's the key. It really

It really does need to be. I mean, Corbin, you know, like Trinity said, hit a banger and that was awesome. but she's just a little bit clumsy out there in the finer points of the game in the midfield. The thing is, Japan's not going to be coming at us. I mean, they haven't in the past. Corbin's not going to be under a ton of pressure.

Well, and then until she is. Right. And it's like game over, you know. And I don't think she was terrible in this match either. No, of course not. I thought she was actually all right. Yeah. This was our best Olympics performance.

But her yellow card foul is something you just expect at least one or two of those every game, you know? Yeah. Yeah. The giveaway that led to it, I mean. Okay. Food for thought. Let's keep going with the time. Actually, let's take a break.

We haven't got to the goals yet. We're already taking a break. You got to wait until after the advertisements to hear about the goals, guys. We'll be back in a minute. All right, we're back just before the half, 39-minute mark. Horan draws a good save from the goalkeeper with a header on a cross from Fox wide-right. This was kind of a, you know, a Vlako-era cross. I keep saying that, but, you know, just a ball from deep, kind of hopeful.

Horan's running at the back post. It's a good ball, and the goalkeeper, Horan makes really good contact. The goalkeeper just tips it off the bar, goalkeeper being McKenzie Arnold. Yeah. It just comes from a clear corner. That's why Lindsay was in that position to be, you know, she was on the back line, occupying defenders in the first place. So the corner was clear, comes to Germa, and then Germa just waits for a beat or two,

then pass it to Emily, who is also, you know, I mean, they're under no pressure. And, yeah, Emily just lays that thing in. Yeah, almost a goal. Yeah, so it was a 5-2-3. I mean, obviously this was after a set piece, like you said, but it was a 5-2-3 from Australia that, you know, in its most natural position, the three, the front three were not too far in front of their own arc,

you know, their own box. We get in the 43rd minute a nice little done pass into the pocket for Rodman. She turns sweetly. So I'm talking about a pass from the sideline square, you know, five, six yards in towards the corner of the box. Robin has a real nice turn to receive it And then has a shot from a From a part of the field that I think she should shoot a lot from

Trying to curl it in at the far post with her right foot Forces a tip over the bar from Arnold Every single shot is leading to a corner Or getting a ton of corners Just as we are as a nation returning to our set piece glory It's all coming together. And then the ensuing corner kick, we get our goal. It's a Lavelle corner, a good one, headed down and back across to the backpost by Smith.

Can you believe it? Soff Smith heads it back across. And then Robin pounces and stabs it home with her big toe, as she said. And Johnny Vio, baby. That's right. Maybe Sam Coffey was off But the ref said she didn't play a role I mean she was off

They were They were looking if she was interfering With the goalies Line of Vision, right? Right Yeah But aren't there other ways To interfere?

She absolutely wasn't It was ridiculous Tony was losing his mind On the sideline Yeah But vision I mean I'm not a rules expert never claimed to be.

But is interfering with vision, it's not the only way you can interfere, right? With their line of vision? I don't know. I'm very glad that it was ruled to be a goal, which it was after a lot of rigmarole. Yeah. When I was saying that, like, you know,

you've seen these, you've seen these called, right? After they go to VAR, and it's like, even though it's like, okay, the, uh, the header is coming from kind of, it from the left to the right. And like there is a midpoint where the ball crosses Sam while she's in an off-side position.

It's like you've seen those call before for interference or whatever. But I think she was just far enough away from Arnold to where they were just like, okay. And you know, Samantha Grace, petite, young lady. And it's just like, hey, McKenzie, if you wanted to make a play, you could have made a play. Yeah. She's a rule follower, you know. She gets the benefit of the doubt. And then that's the half, basically.

1-0 USA. Oh, Tony got yellow in all of this, too. Tony got yellow. He was losing his mind. I'm just happy he didn't end up being our coach. Remember he was in the final three? Yeah. Thank God.

He was part of that video that broke down the Rose of Vell goal at the 2019 World Cup. too, right? He helped, he explained what they were trying to do. I have a suspicion he's going to be named Jaden Charles' new coach now that he got kicked out of the Olympics. But we'll talk about that later. Okay. Yeah, next close a Wednesday, which, you know, maybe next week. I don't know.

We'll see. We'll figure it out. At the half, Nyeiswanger comes on for Dunn, who I agree with you, Vince, did not. I don't know if you said this explicitly, but it didn't seem like she had a great first half, with the ball. I thought it was a very important sub, though. Get rest on Crystal's legs. Thought it was huge.

I'm glad it happened right away, too, because we didn't see the rest of the subs until 60s something. Yeah, yeah, I was begging for Emma, like, come on, man. Just bring the entire cavalry in Australia don't look. I mean, even after the goal, right, it's like Australia don't look like they're trying to do too much. And, you know, you saw it in the second half. They really were not trying to do too much until, I don't know, the 85th minute hit or something.

Yeah, they looked like wounded animals around the 80-something minute. They were coming at us. Yeah. It was pretty intense, yeah. They, yeah, they kind of opened up. They weren't, you know, they didn't sit back in there really, low block in the second half, but still didn't generate a ton of danger. So, 46-minute mark, loose ball.

There's a loose ball after Smith gets tackled trying to corral a little pass from Horan in the middle of the field. It sprays right to Mal, and she just clips a lovely ball over the back line, which, like I said, is much higher now for Australia for Rose. Rose is in space. She tries to lead Sof to the penalty marker with a little pass, a little diagonal pass on the ground, but the space is just too tight,

and Carpenter reads it well, sweeps it away ahead of Smith. 49th minute coffee's just rumbling and bumbling around, some doing cage match stuff, kind of skating on the edge of another yellow. But, you know, there's plenty of industry here, so I appreciate that, and she pokes it away a few moments.

later down in our half. Yeah, so this is a square ball. I think it's a square ball for me, the trend or self to, we work it down right side of the box. And Sam is in a pocket of space, basically like zone 14-ish. And when she receives the ball, she doesn't receive it cleanly. Like the touch basically leads her into the skirmish where she kind of gets jumped by three Australians.

And she does lose the ball too. Yeah, she was getting pinballed around, but yeah. Well, once I get back to the point of like coffee, just not doing the coffee things well, you know, it was like, I mean, it was a touch under zero pressure, like, bring that thing in, man, now instead you had a bad touch and then led you into an altercation. Yeah, yeah, totally, totally accurate. 50 minute mark, a nice sequence. Germa plays it on the deck to Lavelle in between the lines, tidy turn and another vertical pass to Smith, who's darting in from the left wing at this point.

She's running at Carpenter, loading up that cut in on her right foot. She kind of like half commits to it and doesn't make real good contact on the shot. It's cleared away. And I just want to do like a whole show where we highlight Germa stuff that's cool, but I just, you know, I'm moonlighting right now with that.

The clearance comes all the way out to Germa and she just casually, no, it's not even casual because she has to run to the spot to meet it. She runs to the spot to meet it and then just her first touch is just a side foot out to the, like, to, maybe it was to done. I don't know. But it's just, there's just a quiet efficiency to it that I, that I love. And then she plays a lovely pass into Swanson, between the lines and the 51st minute.

This is just a gorgeous little sequence. Breaks two lines because it leads her into an open pocket between the five and the, I guess it's the three at this point. Swanson surveys her options and then just has a go from like 20 yards. There's really nothing on. That's blocked, recovered to Lavelle. She takes a shot from 20, and it's deflected over the goal for a corner. Ensuing corner.

Germa has one. She's going to Well, okay, I'll just describe the play first It's cleared out to I think Trinity Trinity lays it off for Germa and she just hits it with her left foot Drags it a tad

But it's pretty Is it like a foot and a half from the post? Yeah, it's not too far What fun that would have been Oh my God I mean Yeah I was beaming

It was it just It just was great. I was thrilled. I think she's going to, she's not going to go like however many caps Becky Sauerbrown went without a goal. That's exactly what I thought. I was like, she came this close already.

You know, it'd be nice if she could, if she could develop like a, just a banger from 20, you know? Just be able to lace it. She probably has it. company style. Yeah, maybe she does. I just haven't seen it.

I mean, she doesn't have it. I'm just saying she can do anything else. Work on it. She'll work on it, I'm sure. If she don't have it, she'll get it. Yeah. 53rd minute coffee gets blown up in the middle. Just kind of poor awareness.

Poor awareness as she's trying to receive a pass. She opens up her body. and just yeah, lets it run and she doesn't even see it. She got jacked up. It leads to a

Haley Rassau shot and was just pathetic. Like, they say she's a Real Madrid player. Yeah. She's been everywhere.

She's been at Portland, Spirit, Man City, now she's at Madrid. She wears a bow in her hair so her grandma can pick her out on the field. and I've lost precious memories because I know these rassau facts.

Well, thank you, though. And rich is my experience. It's pathetic. I don't think she's a good player at all. Hey, you know, Tara, why you hate Australia so much? Yeah. I don't know. I don't know.

I thought they played the shitty game out here tonight, too. Okay. So I will say, I don't necessarily hate Australia, but I don't know. Tony, just the look of him, I got some initial, I got some bad readings on the initial gibdard there. You know what I'm saying? He looked grumpy and difficult.

A little disheveled. Well, get used to it, buddy, because he's coming to San Diego for sure. Oh, man. 55th minute, coffee's a beat late on a challenge in the attacking third, gets all of the players ankle. I mean all of it. All of it. If it's a Premier League game, she might get sent off, you know.

She definitely should have gotten a yellow for it. So apparently that whole scandal for the goal, you know, the VAR scandal, where the ref had to come over and use a phone and talk to the VAR people before he actually went and checked the goal and all that stuff. Apparently it was because the referees communication system was messed up

and I'm gonna assume it was still messed up with this foul here because if not he would have got that call man like like hey go to the monitor yeah

yeah no I mean I thought she had that that Trinity Rodman energy which isn't a compliment that she was frustrated she was frustrated

she was getting tackled and she was out for revenge. This one sucked and we got extremely lucky. Yeah, it is funny to imagine the ref just running around listening to white noise the whole time, you know? It's just no idea what's going on.

Yeah. I mean, Sam, I don't know if Sam can, I don't know how she's going to get more fast-twitch quickness. She's probably not. It's a rap. So, yeah. She's got to make it work with what she got, man.

Yeah. She can do it. 59th minute, I'm like, who are you yelling at Tony Gustafsson? He's yelling. It turns out, oh, it turns out it's more evidence against his having been a viable candidate for the USWNT job

because he couldn't even figure out how to tell the officials, subs were going to come on. And so they had the wrong people coming off. And then they had to sort it all out. It was sad to watch, honestly. They do make a couple subs. We don't, at least not immediately.

And that's where it hit me. Like, wait, why are we not bringing somebody on? 63rd minute, Germa blocks a rassow shot cutting in from the right onto her left foot. Takes away, I think, an entire portion of the goal with her positioning and then just blocks it. What is just another quietly comprehensive performance? Can't really say enough good about her.

And then we get Corbyn Albert in for Lavelle. Casey Krueger comes on for Fox. Lynn Williams comes on for Rodman. And it totally makes sense to me for coffee to stay on since she can't play the next game anyway. She should just absolutely play out the game. If she can manage to stay on the field. This is my favorite moment of the entire game.

because it is Trinity Rodman surviving her group stage yellow card, and it's Trinity Rodman getting the first meaningful rest on her legs. It is success. It's going to be, I mean, Trinity's been excellent this tournament. And Sophia's been rested. Our fullbacks have been rested. Trinity's gotten late subs before, but I'm just extremely happy that she subbed at this time.

I'm thrilled. She survived the yellow card. I mean, I'm jumping for joy at this moment. And I mean, I'm thrilled. Kruger's coming on because I know she's a great one-v-one defender. I'm thrilled with these subs. Yep. Yeah.

Job well done from Trinity. Because we all know, despite being mostly in control for this match, she could have, I mean, she's primed for a yellow card at any time. Oh, she was looking a little pissed off at a few of these plays today. Yeah. So she did a thing. Just to wrap up Rodman coming off, I believe the stat line right now for the big three, the trio,

is in the group stage, seven goals. and four assists for the three of them. How about that? Huge. I mean, it's just, the accusation against these three was that they can't score goals. I'm talking about general, general accusation. Who was making that accusation?

That's just like the mainstream. The world, the world. Can they score? Can they score? Disrespected for, you know, the Ballandores and whatnot. You know, they've tried to shut us out. They tried to shut us out, Bills, as Europe has come up in the women's soccer game. And, you know, it's been a little bit disrespectful.

So, yeah, it's been nice to, because the only thing they're going to acknowledge is us doing it on the international stage. They don't care about in WSO as well. So. Yeah. We really got to beat. We really got to win this thing. don't we? To have a shot.

To slap them down. I mean, we're going to get to it, but I just got to say it. I got to say it now. Nine goals, nine points, most goals in the group stage, most goals in our program's history, incredible. It's cool. It is. And then Corbyn's first touch is a yellow card. Is her losing it and getting a yellow card.

And I want to talk about it a little bit. It wasn't her first touch. Okay. Her first touch, she made a nice safe pass out to Lynn. Okay. But it's number two. Second touch. Okay.

Okay. That's my fault then. That's my fault. I thought it was the first touch. The reason for the giveaway is not because of a poor touch. it's because she and Kruger just aren't on quite the same page. They should be able to connect. It's a pretty straightforward forward situation.

But Kruger is playing a pass to sort of gently guide Corbyn into space that she can take. And Corbyn just like, this is the little bit of clumsiness that drives me crazy. She's leaning away from the space that she should be going into toward a defender that she does not know is there. Yes. That is coming closer to her. So she gets wrong-footed by the pass. And then she kind of, she's like, oh, I'll just let it run past her because she doesn't

know that the defender is there. And then she gets dispossessed. And it's like, she got it. She got to sharpen up. Got to sharpen up, Corbyn. Yeah. And, and that goes back to the fact that, you know, she's just not good at midfield and things yet.

You know, but because, like, yeah, once I watch that thing back a few times. I saw the exact same thing. It's like Casey Kruger plays the right pass here. She does. The space is in front of Corbyn, Albert. She could even drive forward with her a little bit. Like there was a decent amount of space there. But instead...

Yeah. She's leaning back towards the oncoming forward. Like, how do you not see this person running towards you with... Why are you leaning back? I mean, she just doesn't know... I think she maybe didn't know where she was supposed to be in that particular moment or something, but she grabs at Ford and it's a very clear, like, tactical yell.

And I think at the point where she fouls her, I don't even mind the foul really that much. It might have even been the right choice because it's still one zero at this point. Don't let them run downhill at us right now. Especially Caitlin Ford. At the time, I thought it was ridiculous. But knowing Caitlin Ford, I mean, she's the one who can score those goals. Yeah, she looked pretty good. Maybe I take that back.

Maybe it's not the right choice because if you zoom the lens out even further, like we don't need to win this game to advance. So maybe don't take it yellow. I don't know. It is what it is. Whatever, yeah. I mean, it was crazy still, but. To be fair, Corbett, like you said earlier, Vince,

she didn't have a bad game. She got her feet under a bit. She dribbles out of some pressure. And she starts putting some competence. together as the game goes on. That was easily her worst moment, that second touch of the game for her. I just got to clock a little bit of Lindsay criticism. We have a budding counterattack in the 72nd minute where it's a throw-in.

I think Fox throws it in, or, you know, Kruger maybe. Who cares who threw it in? Somebody threw it in to Smith. She receives it with a defender. on her back, takes it down easily like she does. And then a clever little back heel that springs Lindsay Horan into space. And Lindsay's running at a naked center, I mean, a, you know, one center back alone in the open field. And Lynn Williams is, you know, the fastest player in global soccer is running straight ahead into just into emptiness, into a void.

and all Lindsay has to do is play it to her like she could play it anywhere she could play the pass anywhere in the field and Lindsay's got and Lynn's got a one-on-one with the goalkeeper

but instead she takes an extra extra touch and I have the screenshot in here for your guys' edification it's uh yep she instead of passing it she takes a touch here

Lynn's offside chance evaporates I expect better I expect better I expect better I expect better from Lindsay Horan. I remember this clearly too because I had no idea what she was doing.

Truly. And, you know, we, Sam has gotten a lot of the flag. But Lindsay, there's another subpar subpar Lindsay match. Subpar for Lindsay's in possession standards. Not as subpar as the Germany game, I didn't think?

Definitely not. That's exactly what I was going to say. This game made it look world's better because it was so bad against Germany, in my opinion. But still, it was not anywhere near the Lindsay that we know. So she's still coming. She's still coming in this tournament. That's right.

Watch out. But, I mean, even if it wasn't Lindsay Horan, this could have been, I mean, this could have been Danny Weatherholt. You know, so anyway. Anybody receiving the pass right here. I mean, first time window, big as day. Lynn Williams just throw that thing up. Lynn Williams is going to get to it.

Ain't nobody else getting to it before Lynn's going to get to it. It doesn't matter what kind of pass you make. The only important thing is that you play the pass before she's offside. Yeah. That's the only thing that matters. Anyway, 76-minute Nice Wonger picks Carbner's pocket at midfield, and we try to put them to the sword. Swanson gathers it from Nicewanger and moves swiftly up the left flank,

whips a ball across to the back post, but the runner on the back post is Lindsay. I mean, I feel, it feels like I'm bullying Lindsay Horan right now, but she was pretty good, and we need her there, just for the record. I was extremely proud of Little Jenna Nysewanger, but, yeah, this was ridiculous. I mean, Lindsay's not making that. She just couldn't get to it. The Lindsay Pitter-patter and then, you know, trying to throw that leg up to... I was watching her knee.

That taped up knee? I was like, oh, geez, don't stretch it out that far. Right, right, right. After she made the stretch, I'm like, all right, is she good? She got up, you know, jogged away. I'm like, all right, all right. I just was proud of Jenna. I was like, that's not a small task.

Ellie Carpenter's a big deal. And then we get the Corbyn goal. It's an Australia goal kick that we don't really see because they're showing replays of the play we were just talking about, the nice wonger ball across to Haran. Sonnet ends up with it, plays it through the lines to Swanson. She shuttles it over to Smith at the top of the ark, who tries to play a through ball to Williams.

It's not really on, or at least it's not really accurate enough. She tries to play it behind a wheeler, who is now playing on the left side of the defense. And Wheeler can't, I mean, she cuts it out by playing essentially a pass straight to Corbyn Albert's feet at the top of the arc. She takes one touch with her left foot and then does what she likes to do, strike from distance. Hits it well, a bit of bobble in the flight of it.

Arnold gets a touch, but not nearly enough. Top bins, 2.0 USA. I am that one for a while. I think, like, good year. She's been trying for that one with the national team. Yeah. There was no other way that Corbyn's debut goal was going to happen. Right.

Long shot, top of the box. She's been doing this. Notre Dame Corbyn's strikes. Yeah. She got a couple for PSG this spring, you know, a couple like that. Yeah, she might be one of the better, I mean, the better long shot takers. I've seen. Because usually if she has a little bit of time and space, that thing's going on frame, like, for the most part.

You know, you see people blast it and they go anywhere. But yeah. Corby hits it. It's going to test the keeper for the most part. Yeah. Yeah, this is not the last one we're going to see. We're going to see a lot more. And she celebrated with venom.

She was psyched. The big goal. Huge goal. Yeah. 79th minute, we have basically a nothing ball from Australia. The ball is just booted from their right touchline basically down. So it's basically to nobody. Only Emily Sonnet's in the picture.

So as Rassau makes a token chase for it, just to make Emily basically box her out before the ball goes out. But basically, Emily Sonet stops before the ball goes completely out. Rassel gets around Emily Sonnet to the right and keeps the ball in and goes down the touchline a little bit, or the inline, the inline a little bit, and plays a driven ball across the goal. Chaos ensues. There's a couple shots in there. There's a crucial defensive intervention from a chaos. Casey Kruger. There's Sam Coffey who ends up getting the ball out of the box.

But yeah, a whole bunch of chaos ensues from Emily Sondit losing a little bit of concentration. Hold it for a half beat, half beat longer, and the things out to touch for a goal kick. We're good. This is that playing like we're through laziness. just stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid. Right? Yeah. I think, yeah, Swanson, Swanson, did she do anything else negative in this game?

I mean, she had a pretty good game overall, but yeah, this was a lapse, for sure. I mean, Sonnet should have stayed with the ball. Yeah, for sure. Croy Bethune comes on for Swanson, which is nice to see. She's got the little princess Leia Buns.

Couldn't have picked a hairstyle to make her look even younger. I know. She looks so young. And she had a nice little pass to after some good scrapping from Corby and coffee to Springer in the middle of the field. She plays a nice little pass out to Lynn and space on the right side. It's actually a pretty dangerous moment because it comes out of a little bit of transition. and I just like the nice

I like the shape and the weight on the past from Bethune one thing I love about her game but Lynn slows down and then just kind of like clips it well over the goal and immediately I thought of you Vince when I saw that because you said in the calling show sometimes watching Lynn play

makes your head hurt this was a little bit of a head hurt kind of moment I mean yeah man I understand Like I said, in the call-in show, she's a NWSL legend. She's delivered from the U.S. W&T when called upon, all that different type of stuff. But to this day, I still have not figured out how she does it. I mean, she does it by just being good at moving and understanding how to move for the most part.

She just shows up. Yeah. Well, I guess it raises a point I want on to make, which is the, the, 11 is the 11 now at this point. You know, the first choice 11. We do have to deal with the yellow card suspensions, but it's coffee, Haran, and Lavelle in the midfield. That's because Shaw's, as far as we know, is still injured.

And then, I mean, really the only debatable part is left back, I guess. Maybe you start nice, longer overdone in certain kind of games. But 11 is what the 11 is. But Corbyn, players like Corbyn and... Sonnet and Williams are really good, like, role players, you know, for this team. Well, I'm not sure Corbyn is a really good role player at this point, but she's, she plays an important role, I think. Fills a need.

Yeah, right. These three are all need fillers, right? Like, we don't have a wide, with Midge being hurt, unfortunately, we don't have another wide person. A true wide, wide woman person. People are coming. Yeah, yeah, people are coming. People are coming, of course.

But yeah, Lynn is needed in this situation because, like I said, yeah, we just don't have a Trinity sub. Right. Okay, we got a couple more things. Bear with us here, everybody. 83rd minute. Tara, you got something? Sophia running down the left wing. She beats Carpenter.

But gets fire, cuts inside and shoots. It takes a deflection somewhere along the way. It hits the left post, pings onto the goal line. Part of it is over the line, but not all of it. So it's not a goal. It hits the right post. And then Arnold collects the ball. So it just pings along.

Just noting. What a journey. What a journey that ball went on. for 1.5 seconds there. Yeah. All the way around. Sof making things happen. Yep.

Yeah, 87th minute. Good work from Lynn and Corbyn to win the ball. Then Corbyn hits a accurate, driven ball to Sof, who carries and plays on rushing Lynn Williams to her right, who is in a decent amount of space. Her first touch kind of fails her, and her shot is weak. Yeah.

And then. Yeah, that's one. this was the real Lynn Williams moment that got me like just throwing my hands up in the air. I don't know, man. She stresses me out. I just can't take it. This is like kind of, it's kind of a similar situation to her goal against Germany, just like on the other side. Like the ball's coming to her.

She's in space. She has time to take whatever touch she wants to set her up. And it's like that's, that's the thing. It's like Lynn can't even look man not too much. I'm not going to do too much. But it's like she takes his first touch and she doesn't even know where it's going. She doesn't set it up to take a shot. The ball just kind of like spins away from her, which once again, shout out to NBC.

The fact that we can just see all these things very clearly that are happening, angles, replays, et cetera. But like, yeah, the touch she takes, the ball ends up spinning away from her. And yeah, by the time she realizes where the ball is, she's like, oh, I guess I kind of got a weakly throw a foot at it because I'm not set up to get power on this shot anymore. Yeah, yes, but I did notice that, I mean, I just said it was a weak shot, but I did notice that when she did throw a foot at it, had it not been blocked, I think it had a decent chance of going in in exactly the same way as the one she hit from the left side. because she hit it pretty good and like kind of sliding across the ground. So yeah, she's an enigma, isn't she?

That's a Lid William's experience, yeah. Smith just dominates Ellie Carpenter at midfield in the 88th minute. I mean, just going strong. Puts her on her back, turns her off to the races. Carpenter does manage to get goalside again, but Smith cuts in on her right foot and the shot is blocked only with the help of helped. defense from the inside.

And then we're getting into stoppage time, and now it's like Australia has sent Alana Kennedy forward. There's a whipped ball from wide left, flicked onto the back post, a little scary. Then the goal from Australia, 91st minute, and it's Alana Kennedy. There's another whipped ball from wide left, this one from Caitlin Ford, knocked down expertly by Michelle Heyman. And it's right into the most dangerous part of the goal. gold mouth. Kennedy pounces first, left footed volley on the bounce.

Actually, a really nice finish through Nehers' legs. I'm not sure who to blame here. I mean, so it's a pretty nice goal, you know, as these kind of goals go. But I am curious who you guys blame because we have to apportion some blame, right? And it was Sanae and Germa who were obviously the centerback sort of bracketing. Kennedy as she scored the goal, what happened? I thought Sonnet did pour here. What did you guys think?

If I had to pick between Germa and Sonnet, I'm picking Emily Sonnet. Just because she is, she's marking a lot of Kennedy. And for some reason, she kind of misjudges the flight of the ball. Like there's somebody beyond Hayman out to Australia's right. That when the ball's in mid-flight, she kind of, Sonnet kind of like drifts over there slightly for a second. And it's like, why? Because it seems like, it seems to me that it should be clear that the ball is going to meet Heyman's head.

And so when Sonet drifts off of Alana, then the knockdown happens. And, you know, now Alana doesn't have to deal with Emily Sonnet in her, on her back or whatever. And, you know, she's able to finish that thing. So, yeah, and I don't think it's necessarily. Naomi's job to be that everywhere, that alert. Yeah, she can't, she's not supposed to be, I mean, Emily should have handled this, handle the situation.

Now, before this, on the knockdown, I mean, Heyman, the reason why the knockdown is so clean or so effective is because it's just extremely clean. You know, like, not swangler, I mean, it's a mouse in the house situation. You know, Heyman got her ball up. She's in the post. She got a, she got a hand up. Like, hey, man. Give me the ball, man.

I got a 5-2 UNC grad on me. Yeah, like, Nasswager basically just sits there, like, on Haman's hip. Doesn't jump, doesn't do anything. It does not affect what Haman wants to do with the knockdown at all. And so, like, if you let somebody just do whatever they want to do with the ball in that situation, then, you know, you're just inviting trouble. And, yeah, I think we saw. point. Right there, why

Nassonker's been on the bench for this group stage, right? Like, especially Germany. Like, that's just trouble waiting to happen. They would have spammed. Balls to whoever she was marking all game. No, Germany would have been a disaster. With their size,

I couldn't believe people wanted Jenna out there. I mean, it's not like Crystal is tall, but I guess she is a lot more. much stronger. Savvy and physical. You got to make a happen. I'm not saying she's going to win the header. Of course not, yeah.

I get what you're saying. Just got muck it up, baby. Yeah, I thought maybe Germa, so I didn't even think about the nice wanger angle, so I'm glad you brought that up. But I guess of the two centerbacks, I would like Germa to, she doesn't have to be everywhere, but I would like her to slide over

to the most dangerous spot in the, in the, see in the moment with a little more maybe urgency but maybe she was just thinking you know Emily's got this but I don't know what she

what was she accomplishing by sliding to her right in that moment I'm not sure because Germa did like as the knockdown happens Germa is like drifting away from the point of contact where the goal where the goal is scored anyway

let's move on Carpenter whips, so now it's 2-1, of course, and it's a little bit nervous. Carpenter whips a ball in from the right again. Another ball in from the right. Sonnet loses Kennedy. Kennedy is in position, so she's marking Kennedy again. Kenny's in position to head this home, like on the six,

ball sailing right across her forehead. And she just pulls out of it, I think, a little bit, because Snair is jumping out at her or jumping out in her general direction. I think she just pulls her head out a tad, which is totally understandable, but it's just enough to whiff. And man,

she's mad at herself for this, because it's sales. This was their chance to move to the next round, you know, and she, she missed it. But, you know,

who cares about Australia anyway? And it looked like Alyssa did a pretty bad job to me. Oh, yeah, she came out. Yeah. Came out and ended up empty-handed. On the brilliant, once again, NBC replay. You can see Sonnet pointing at Alana Kennedy.

I don't know if Sonnet wanted Jenna Nasswanger to come down on Alana Kennedy there. And even after the chance, you see her turn Nasswanger's direction and kind of shout something. So I don't know what's going on there. A little bit of miscommunication. The only other thing I want to mention is we were a little bit slack on the, the restart, and it's Lynn Williams, who isn't accounting for Carpenter and doesn't close very fast when the throw-in goes to her before she hits this ball across. And I mean, this is probably nitpicking, taken to entirely another level, but I want to,

I'm sensitive to our soccer teams, our nation's soccer teams being ready when there's a restart and sort of understanding the moment. And it wasn't like, it's not like Lynn isn't fast enough to get there to close on She is. It just wasn't like, wasn't totally alert there. But the late search, to wrap it up,

the late search from Australia makes it a little bit exciting, but it's too little too late from them. USA deserved winners again. Nine point window. We know who the team is. We're coherent. Extremely dangerous.

I feel great. Yep. And we got reinforcements coming. Later. I mean, not in this tournament. You know, all the stuff that kind of picked apart here. Don't you worry. Yeah.

On to Japan on Saturday, 9 a.m. Okay. I'm happy. I'm happy. 9 a.m. I might have to go to the bar or something. And, you know, I can take this in with some fellow sickos. Much prefer a morning game to watch. Weekday or a weekend.

It's getting us back into the swing. Club season to start. Well, European club season. Yeah. Men's European club season. I think that's it. So like I said at the top, we'll recap the Japan match, which, you know, it's a huge game. We'll recap it on probably Monday.

And then we'll cross the following bridges as we come to them. Anything else from you guys tonight? If you hear a Japan quarterfinal and you want to be scared because that's your mentality, remember we see them often. We meet them often way more than we see these teams in our group. We know them. our players know them we're going to be

more comfortable than we were in the group I think. Yep. It's this is Twyla's moment for her to move up a couple chairs on Emma's bench. She got the whole dossier on deck ready to go. She's going to hand it to Emma and Emma's probably going to throw it away in front of her face.

But Twilah, you can... We were in Atlanta, Georgia. and Japan scored in the very first minute, and we still beat them. That's right. We're okay. We're okay.

And that was with Twilight Kilgore, guys. That was with Twilight Kilgore. Yeah. We even beat them back in under Vladko. Before, it was because Mel Swanson was still healthy, though. We basically had one good moment that whole game. Yep. That was the one in Nashville.

Yep. Mm-hmm. It's a good game to me and the game. Me and Bells were at that match. It was a great match. Well, not. We've beat the multiple times. That's right.

That's right. All right, man. Exciting. Exciting times. Really fun team to watch. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.