Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #521: Olympics — USWNT v Japan recap

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

Full, detailed review of the 1-0 win over Japan from Greg and Belz. It was a real challenge of low-block unlocking that we struggled with but ultimately overcame. TRIDENT OF DEATH. 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.

The U.S. Women's National Team is on to the semifinals against Germany, and Greg and I are going to recap the win over Japan on Saturday. Greg, how you doing? Bels, I'm pretty relieved. That was a nervous matchup. You know how I feel about Japan's women's team. It's super exciting to get these games in these high-stakes moments, so tons of anticipation, and we get to do it all over again tomorrow.

I'm very interested in what you have to say about the game, Because, you know, there was a lot of talk about it not being a very good performance from the U.S. or, you know, too timid or, you know, not risk-taking enough. Lots of talk on the broadcast about it being a grind. What did you think? I think there's truth to all of that. I missed all the immediate chatter because I was traveling. So I was watching the game. But then I didn't have time, you know, to the normal sicko decompression where you spend the next four hours after a game.

reading every single thing you can find. Right. Including live reactions, you know, going back and reliving it. So I didn't get to do that. So I am a little surprised that, I mean, maybe not. There's a, there is that sort of like moment-by-moment magnifying glass on these, on these soccer games, which is just funny in like such a low-scoring game because the frustration builds, right?

If you don't hit that early goal, everything that you're doing is just like, It is a grind. And in this game in particular, I mean, this is a total grind. And Japan created that by design, executed it, I think, pretty well. I think very well. And our choices and how we responded to how Japan set up, I don't want to say we played into it at all. But we definitely accommodated it, right? We said, okay, we're going to be super patient.

If you're not going to come out and play us, we'll be extremely deliberate. it and we'll see who gets the better looks and see who comes out ahead. I mean, if you can do it as well as Japan can do it, I think this is a play against this U.S. group. I think the play is try to sit deep and absorb and see what we can do. Because I think, you know, the gaudy attacking numbers the U.S. has put up in this tournament from that, what I see referred to as the Tridente de la Morte? Yeah. Brilliant. So who are you creating that to? Who actually, who dropped it? I don't know.

I don't think it was. I don't think there was a source. I don't think there was a source list. Maybe the telemundo broadcast. Yeah. That is the best one yet for sure. Oh, for sure. For, for self, Mal and Trinity. And again, Lavelle's going to, we like eventually maybe work her way into a force. But it's the front three, right? And it's, it's, they put up insane numbers. and Japan, I mean, made the conscious decision to just be like, we are not going to get into a race, a race track meet with these three players. And so they buttoned everything up super tight. And, I mean, it was effective. We, we, our front three is not a particularly tidy front three. They have moments where they pull off some really tidy sequences, but it's, it's almost like by volume.

It's like we create enough attacking moves that a few of them in the game will be tidy, and that'll be enough to score a couple of goals with that group of player. When you significantly reduce the number of those moves we can create in the attacking third, running downhill, you know, it sort of, again, puts that magnifying glass on sort of how loose our touches can be and how heavy things can get sometimes. And so again, I think if you think you can do it like Japan did it, if I'm Germany, I'm doing that. Yeah.

I guess my thought was there was a lot of untidiness, but we were kind of doing what we needed to do against that low block, or at least trying to do what we needed to do. And it's not like we didn't have any success, we just had like a bad touch at the last moment fail us, you know? I mean, a dozen times probably. Yeah. I mean, not that we would have, not that we would have scored, were it not for that heavy touch,

but the heavy touch just killed the opportunity. It's not like we didn't have any downhill moments, even against this, you know, extremely well-organized block. So I was not, I mean, I was not, I was not unhappy with what we were trying to do at all. Same. Same, yeah. I wasn't, I wasn't frustrated. other than just Japan frustrating us.

I wasn't frustrated at choices or tactics necessarily. I mean, I'm curious about what some of the other plays against it could be. A little frustrated with Haran, who is nominally like our tidiest player, and she has not been particularly tidy in this tournament. This was, yeah, this was her worst performance. And she hasn't played up to her standard in this tournament even before this game.

Yeah, I also think this approach that Japan takes, I think this is a great approach to put Horan in situations that don't play to her strengths. I mean, she should have just been cleaner, and I hope she is cleaner if we see this kind of situation again. But again, like, Iran in a game where the other, where the opponent's going to come up and defend us and is going to come up and defend our back three

and create like areas for her to receive behind that. first line of confrontation and then have the midfielder's coming up onto her back where she can then sort of ride that and then hit another progressive pass. I feel like that is her wheelhouse for the U.S. That's where we love watching her carve teams up and with those vertical passes. When you sit so deep against us, that that position that her hand thrives in basically doesn't exist. Right. Right. So, I mean, she sits in her normal spaces, but she's actually sitting up high in their block. And so, yeah, it's a totally different universe.

Instead of... Instead of receiving it between the lines and riding one challenge, she receives it in front of three people, and then they collapse on her. And she doesn't have, like, the... I mean, I don't know, she just... She looked so... She never looks fast,

but she looked so slow in this game. Like, maybe she's... I kept thinking, like, maybe she's playing hurt or something? I don't know. She just looked really behind the page. Let's do the last. I want to make sure.

Yeah. And again, I want to make sure that I'm not not wet blanketing this. Like we beat Japan in a knockout game in the Olympics. This is awesome. And it was a Japan playing a pretty good game. Yeah. Doing what they,

certainly doing what they try to do. So that is, this is great. I'm extremely happy. It's just, it's so tense. Like it was such a tense match. It didn't feel like,

oh, a goal is definitely coming. I didn't feel that way pretty much at any point. I very easily could have just been, yep, this is the game Japan wanted. They didn't open it up and they'll take their shot at a penalty shootout or stealing one going the other way if it presents itself, which they had a couple of looks of that. But that's just what soccer against really good teams is, especially a team that is really well coached. And we knew Japan can do this. You know, we go nuts about their possession and all their little patterns.

an intricate passing. But we know they can flip the switch and play this style. We saw them do it against Spain in the World Cup last summer. So we know they can do this and do this incredibly effectively. So they're such a, they're such a versatile team that to come out and solve it and get a result, what, you know, we didn't, we didn't necessarily solve it like with flying colors where I was just like, oh, we've got them, we've got this,

we've got their script down where we weren't carving them up by any stretch. but to solve it and get a result is that is more than enough to make me happy. Yeah, me too. Yeah, I suppose we should hold back on the Haran Slander for just a few more minutes. But, all right, let me do the lineups. It's basically the same lineup we've had, except Corbyn-Albert replaces Sam Coffey, who was out with a yellow card suspension. So it's Neyer, Fox, Germa, Sonnet, and Dunn.

And then Albert as the sort of defensive midfielder, Iran and Lavelle, also in the midfield, and then Rodman Smith, Swanson, across the front line, the Trident of Death. And then, well, so that's a huge, huge opportunity, huge challenge for Corbyn Albert to, you know, anchor the midfield in a big game like this. I thought she was pretty good, all things considered.

And my initial reaction, you know, there were a couple moments where she was very conservative, with her passing, particularly in extra time, that I clocked in my maybe frustrated brain as the game went on. But when I went back and watched the whole thing through, she was good in pretty much all facets. I mean, she's not quite as tidy as Sam Coffee can be, but Sam Coffee hasn't been that tidy in this tournament either.

And I thought Albert was very comparable. And then, of course, much more vigorous and active. and ground covering as a disruptor, which we need, even against the team that's sitting back like this. I mean, maybe we need to even more in a game like this because it's counterattacks that you need to, you need somebody sprinting over to break it up. And she did that excellently.

Right. I would love if Corbyn Albert had gone in the game and just been an expert lock picker. I certainly wasn't expecting it. And it was much more like, I have no idea how she's going to stand up to, again, an elite opponent in a knockout Olympic match. And she had like essentially, I mean, zero meaningful mistakes.

And I don't just mean meaningful like Japan didn't punish this. I mean like any of her mistakes were like, yeah, that's not really a big deal. Like she kind of had a give away that, you know, you wish she would have completed the past. But it wasn't a, it wasn't, she didn't set Japan on a breakaway going the other way. Right. And so for her to come in and do that, do that job for 120 minutes. given her relative lack of experience with the national team. Yes, that is her passing the test she was given with flying colors.

Yeah. It's a huge positive thing to take away from this game, too, for the future. Yeah. In two years if she's doing all of that and also, like, constantly dicing, like, hitting, hitting mal in the pocket, great. But for that match, that match, like, when I'm already, like, clinching my fists the entire way through, Yeah, terrific from Corbyn-Eller. Yeah, I agree.

Japan's lineup was Ayaka Yamashita and goal, Toko Koga, Saki Kumagai, and Moika Minami across the back line of three. Now, Koga is an 18-year-old. So she got a big challenge too, and I thought she actually played really well. They were really in a 5-4-1, I guess, so the wingbacks would be Miyabi Morrubes.

and Hikaru Kitagawa, right and left. And then Yui Hasegawa, Fuka Nagano in the midfield. Hasegawa, what a player she is. She's fun to watch. I guess just joined Manchester City. And then Kiko Seike, Minatana Tanaka, and Auba Fugino across the front line. A couple other notes on their lineup. June Endo, who is a brilliant winger for them,

is, as most of you probably know, out with an ACL injury. So that was a big loss for them coming into the tournament. She's been out for months. And then, um, Kina Sugita, the one, the winger slash midfielder, I mean, kind of jack of all trades for Portland Thorns. She just wasn't called up, which as I watched this game, I'm like, wait a second. Couldn't they have used Sugita in this game? But, um, they didn't.

And so those are two players you might know about that weren't in the game. But that's the, that's the Japan lineup. Yeah, and Bels, I feel like you've, you caved a little bit and you call it a 5-4-1. I feel like maybe that was deferring to Julie Fowdy who kept on a 5-4-1. It actually was me deferring to Julie Fowder. Because I thought you had it differently in your notes, and I was like, oh, Bells. Bells has like meant a lot to me that you originally call it a 5-2-3. I did originally call it.

What do you think it was, 5-2-3 or 5-4-1? I'd call it a 5-2-3. Okay. Again, all formation, numerical formations are incomplete, so you always have to describe Fouty kept calling it a 541, which is, it's fine. But I think you get more information calling it a 5, 2, 3, because they absolutely, early in our buildup, when we would begin, our initial buildup out of the back, which was most of the match.

That's most of the state the match was in. They mirrored us, and they had their two wide, if you want to call it a 5,4-1, their two wide midfielders stepped up with their striker and created a three front that just stood right in front of our three. and then their two in the middle would just be kind of running all over the shop. They wouldn't just stay in like a two zone.

Like they were tracking where Corbyn went and then they would track where Horan would go or if Lavela drop back to try to pick it up. They'd sort of pick up whichever two players we had dropping deepest to try to collect the ball from the back three. So I would say it was very much a 5-3-1. It very much contributed to why it was such a stalemate

of a match. You know, you're asking a lot. from Corbyn Albert in that situation is sort of the chief player trying to pick that ball up from the back three and then distribute it. That's what you're going to do. And we also never adjusted like our back

our buildup three that we started with, you know, same we were used to seeing with Fox on the right, Gerber in the middle, and then Sonnet and Tierna's role flaring out to the wide left. We don't adjust that. So even though Japan's matching us, you might see us try to, and this is what I'm curious.

I'm curious what it would look like if we try to shift that into like more of a back two with Fox getting a little bit wider and higher and Dunn dropping back a little bit on that left side because Dunn pushes really high and wide early to create sort of a front five, a shape we're all used to if you listen to scuffed that 3, 2, 5 and buildup. So I am curious about if we'll ever, if Emil kind of tinker with that to try to defeat that early pressure or that first line of pressure that we saw from Japan.

But yeah, Japan's shape was very much geared towards us, I think. It will be fascinating to see if Germany you know, capitulates in that way. You know, just says, hey, we're going to do everything we can to stop that Trident, even if it means we're not getting forward as much.

Wouldn't you kind of be a little surprised if they played the same way as Japan did? Um, no. I mean, I mean, I mean, I think, I think our game was, because of how, how lethal that front and three is, you know, when we recap the Germany group stage match, which was meaningful, it wasn't a dead rubber match. Uh, it was a, it's an even look, it's an even feeling game. Uh, if you're just sort of watching the soccer. But we, we wax some three zero because our tried end of death is, is much more lethal than anyone else is, anyone else is really, you know. boasting at the moment. Bar Spain. And even that, I think, is certainly going to be an open question. Spain won't do this. If we play Spain,

they're not going to sit like Japan did. So that will, I really hope we get that match, not looking ahead to it, but I really hope that we get it. Yeah. Because it could be, it could turn into an absolute bloodbath. You know, I'm very, I feel very confident

if we play Spain and they try to come out and play against us. Anyway Let's go to the timeline First two minutes are We're going to get to the Haran slander right away First two minutes are her game in a nutshell Because it's just immediate Problems

She dribbles into a bit of a trap Just inside Japan's half Has time dribbles herself out of time And then tries to poke it out to Fox And she kind of gets nudged As she passes it The past is very poor

Launches a Japan counterattack then as she's tracking back she can't there's a pass that goes right by her and she just can't move fast enough to cut it out and um and then you know sof uses her body to seal off somebody and run with the ball down the left sideline after we recover it she plays it across the top of the box but her hand decides just before she passes it to kind of flare toward you know back and sort of show for like the easy pass which i think is kind of her instinct in these situations um rather than fill this where the ball goes.

So, like, just kind of three reminders in a row that she's, that, of her sort of lack of mobility and, you know, maybe this isn't going to be her day. And it certainly wasn't. Yeah. And I'll still defend Heron because of what we know she can offer. And I don't, I don't see us dropping her. If she's not giving us that stuff, in possession stuff, then she is, then she is like a bit of a drag.

Like, there's no way around it. And so if you know she's not going to give you anything on the possession buildup, carving upside, then I think the switch at this point would be like coffee and Albert as your center mids. But I don't think you, I just don't think you do that. And you start her anyway, knowing that she can give you these sort of, they're not zeros. She had a couple of nice moments for sure. Yeah, she did. I mean, you just, you have to go on her whole body of work and say, no, we know she can give us a lot.

and we got to roll the dice and hope that in this next knockout game, we get more of the good things that we know she's capable of. Yeah, I think that's right. And she was not the only one with a misplaced pass in the opening minutes. I mean, Smith and Swanson both were a little bit sloppy. We get a decent little chance in the fifth minute, thanks to Crystal Dunn. She intercepts a pass and touches it cleanly into Sof's path on the left side. It stuck out because it was kind of like the first sort of in rhythm, in weight,

pat like right weight pass of the game in in any kind of leverage moment and smith gets a full head of steam she's driving at the goal shoots from just inside the box is blocked but you know that's we like to see that i think for sure uh this this is a nice one because it's a theme that's going to repeat for both teams this is how cage it is um we get these crazy visuals right like dun gets in there and pokes the ball away um upfield to sophia but you don't see a full flood of U.S. players coming after, like, the play. You very much just see, like, our trident in the frame and, like, no one else rushing to join.

So when self loses it, it's because we have three attackers in there and they get swallowed up by seven Japanese defenders. And that, again, that's going to be kind of a trend going both directions. I guess, I guess I just think, like, her shooting from the edge of the box or just inside the box, you know, a certain percentage of the time it's just going to get through and might be a goal, you know. We didn't have a lot of those. Good Corbyn entry pass to Rodman at the 10-minute mark.

She lays it off for Rose. Rose settles it cleanly and plays it back to Rodman. Then she and Smith have a little 2V1 in tight quarters with Minami. But Rodman's first touch is just too loose and she gets dispossessed. but this is also quite a dangerous moment, I think. Yeah, and this came on the heels of a couple of other times where we broke Japan's first line of pressure and then recirculated very quickly.

In my mind, it came off as overly cautious, and on re-watching it, that's sort of actually only, I feel even more strongly that's over-cautious because seeing how the game plays out, it's like, Japan are so organized, they're so committed to this, that when you do break that first,

line of three and sort of stress one of those midfielers. So I'm kind of calling it like if you if you beat three and a half of their players, where you beat their front three that we're calling it and you beat half of their one of their midfielers. Like you then have to push that advantage as much as you can because it's going to be sort of the best look you're going to create, the best opening or sequence you're going to initiate once you've done that. And I felt like we were too quick earlier on and throughout the match to,

you know, make a very safe backwards play to like maintain possession. And I don't know that that's obviously the wrong play. Like again, it's a knockout game. We're being really cagey. You're sort of, it's very common to sort of play not to lose. So it's like, okay, we're worried about Japan's counterattack. If that's the worry, we're not going to give it away cheaply on a, you know, a riskier, but higher award progressive pass.

We're going to go safe, recirculate to the back three. But I do think the sort of optimal soccer play there is, you know, is to play a lower percentage next progressive pass once you've beaten three and a half of their block. But would you say that this is everybody's, like everybody was being too cautious or was there anybody that stuck out as particularly cautious to you? No, I thought it was pretty much across the board.

I thought Lavelle actually was one of our least cautious players, but she already, even in 10 minutes, she'd already had a moment where she went safer. And again, it's not like we're passing up easy, obvious, openings to attack. It's like, no, you have to start essentially, if you don't want to beat Japan all over again from the start, then you have to try to hit it through a narrow window

and hope that your trident of death does something amazing, which they're capable of. But this, I bring that up because this 10th minute moment that you just talked about was very much us pressing the advantage. It's a nice entry from Corbin and it's a good layoff to Rose Lavelle. And Lavelle could, I mean, it's a small window for Lavelle to hit it into Trinity's feet in the box here. But she forces the issue and gets it to her feet.

And then we muck it up. But it's like you got to keep giving yourself, that's what I mean, that's the volume attacking sequences. You just got to keep giving Trinity, Mal, and so as many of those moments as possible, they'll muck up quite a few. But, you know, foreshadowing for 100 minutes later.

Yeah. They got the good sometimes. That's true. It was really slick from Rose, too. I mean, because the, the pass from Trinity to Rose was a little hot, and Rose was able to take it down, and then just a clean little on the ground pass to put Rodman in.

You know, I mean, she and Smith are behind the entire defense except for the one defender. It's like I said, very tight quarters, but... Yeah, tight quarters. Your screenshot of this is perfect. People can't see it, but it's... You know, I talk about how Japan envelopes us with tons of players. They have a ton of bodies back here.

but Rose somehow in a very small space eliminates five Japanese players and gives us a two on one at the top of the box. Yeah. And if you want to look at it, the exact time stamp is 1010. And my thought was, wouldn't it have been cool if Rodman just receives that with a little first-time chip over the defender for Smith,

and then she just sidewinder, left foot, volleys it past the goalkeeper. Again, you give that trio enough opportunities to do something cool, and they'll find one. Yeah. 15th minute, Albert snuffs a counterattack with her ground covering and bite. I'm clocking it because I think it's an important thing, and she just pokes it away to sonnet. She's just, I think her being good was a major revelation in this game. I already said that, but I want to say it again. And we'll say, too, for all of Japan's organization and, you know, how we talk about them.

They haven't really threatened us on the counterattack, and I'm sure Corbyn Albert's been a big part of that. You can just see. She covers a lot of ground, and she's physical. 16-minute mark, another decent ball up the gut from her in Smith's direction. Smith also, I thought, you watch this game back, and you see, man, she just gets to everything that's played in her direction, you know, even if the pass is a little short,

or if she's got two defenders on her back, she manages to gather it. So this is what she does in this instance, gathers it under pressure, turns and goes. Plays a through ball for Trinity that is not very good. But I was thinking at this point, you know, we're actually doing a decent job of probing this block. We're just very sloppy in the final third, you know?

Yeah, this was, I mean, I don't want to give, this one, we're giving Corbyn some praise here. This was kind of just a hopeful ball. She hit up the scene. There's a little scene between those two Japanese midfield. others as they kind of chase players around. So she just hits it through the window to where she can see Sophia kind of is. It's not like it's coming in hot.

It's bouncing. It's like shoulder high bouncing into her. And Soap just does her. Yeah, she does that ridiculous slop play that she does where she has two defenders on her and it's a ball that she has no business being able to control. And she not only controls it, but like spins the defenders and actually beats both of them and is now running upfield. It's a little three on three. 10 times. Yeah, we actually get a little three-on-three out of this,

and it's kind of wasted by self when she does it. She hits an early, like an early, long-range through ball, and I have it actually is going towards Heran, which is just almost like laughable. I mean, it was way too heavy no matter what, and the keeper picked it up easily. But Heran is, I mean, she didn't have position on the centerbacks, and she isn't going to gain position on the centerbacks.

Yeah, in that situation. We got to stop playing through balls to Lindsay, because we did it. There were a few of those. Another instance of sloppiness at the 19 minute mark. Fox plays it to Rodman on the wing, inside to Haran, and we got something going, because this is one of the nicest moments for her from the game.

She plays a really nice ball between the wide defender, which is Kitagawa, between Kitagawa and Minami for Swanson. Swanson's got Rodman overlapping. She's got a little bit of room to, you know, she kind of has a lot of choices. is here. And her first touch just cancels the whole thing. She just gives it right to Kitagawa. And I thought of the front three, I mean, Robin had plenty of sloppiness, but I think Swanson had the least effective performance of the three. Well, obviously, Robin scored the game winning goal,

but Swanson, Swanson was not very good in this game, and I think it's unlikely she will play that poorly again soon. Yeah, I mean, that's the hope. But yes, I'm confident that we're going to get a decent attacking showing from these gals against Germany, even if Germany take the Japan route. Can't wait to see what they do. 24 minute mark, another Haran giveaway, and Japan gets forward a bit of threat, corralled by the backline and Lavelle.

So that's another thing I feel like I should say is we, it feels like, we're totally dominant, you know? Not just that we have the ball, but like any time Japan tries to get forward, at least at this point in the game, there's nothing, there's nothing doing. They can't accomplish anything. We just get crowded off the ball and it's over. And in this case, we're coming back at them.

Swanson carries it and sends it down the wing for Sof. She takes it to the end line and then just plays a kind of tasty ball right across the six-yard box. but there's nobody. Nobody arriving in the box. Rodman's too far behind the play. Horan doing that sort of flare to the ball and show for the easy pass thing that seems to come naturally for her instead of attacking the goal with a run. So it just trickles through and nothing really comes of it.

Yeah, this was sort of the first end-to-end moment of the game where Japan did get a little head of steam going into the top of the, like right at the top of the box. But we do. I mean, you're right. like Japan haven't threatened, really. This felt threatening, but we just completely recover. Like the amount of players we have that outwork Japan into the boxes is great. It also works against us as we go back the other way.

Because Trinity ends up, and by the time we recovered the ball with Lavelle at the top of the D, Trinity's in the back line. Like she's like the fifth fullback or the second right fullback. So it would be asking a lot for her to. get back up the field. And I think that plays into how there's nobody there for Sof. And to be quite honest, like, Sof needs to know that she shouldn't hit this ball square across the six-yard box to nobody.

Like, it wasn't a fast developing play for her. Like, she had it at the corner of the box, like seeing, she saw everything, right? She could see where all the pieces were. So her eventual decision to square this to nobody is kind of like, So if you knew Trinity wasn't there, she's not in the picture and hadn't been the whole time. So it's almost like self-needed to come up with something else here. Okay, yeah. I mean, it does seem, I mean, Trinity is fast enough to get there.

I mean, easy for me to say, for my couch after, you know, watching her play for 120 minutes and score the game-winning goal. But anyway, yeah, I think you're probably right. Sov needs to be a little more aware. 30th minute, we get another kind of good moment from Horan, a flick on on a long ball from Fox, right into Smith's path. Smith drives at the near post and smashes it just goes high and wide. But, you know, that's another way to get a chance. Yeah, and this was the right chance decision from Sof. And she actually had Lavelle going with her here too.

But really, really subtle stuff from Horan, a nice moment with that flick on. And it's just like we beat Japan's block right away with this. Was it like a goal kick or just somebody just lumping it forward from the back? It was, yeah, Fox just lumping it forward. Yeah. So I like this choice from Smith where Lavelle's in the box with her, but there's no obvious opening to square it to her. So it's like she smashes it and I think makes the right choice to try to smash into the near post top corner.

And it just sort of veers sharply out of balance. It's a difficult shot. She slices it pretty good here. Yeah. We have a few of those in this game. So then we get two good Japan chances in quick succession And the first real threat from them They register their first shot in the around the 34 minute mark

Sayike runs onto a ball down the right faces up Germa I'm sorry on the left down the left Japan's left our right faces up Germa And then finds Tanaka's feet with Haran on her back And Tanaka just receives it shrugs Heran off and turns to her right and has a shot from a pretty dangerous spot, like 16, 17 yards from goal, and she rips it. It's just right at Nair.

But, I mean, Haran's got to do better defensively there. I don't know why she lost her balance in that moment. And then, I mean, do you have any thoughts on that sequence before I move to the next chance? Yeah, we can talk about it quick because it'll apply to both of them. These aren't countertacks from Japan, right? So they've been sitting in. So the thought is like they're going to sit deep and then they're going to counterattack. But both this chance and the next one you're going to talk about are very much like Japan buildup moments.

And they build up through us pretty comfortably and pretty easily. And my worry after this was like, oh, no, their possession structure is actually going to get us. And if they can start doing this regularly, we're done. But they don't really stick to this. So on this one, they're building and they get it to their left side. And they're in that, you know, 523 or 541, whatever you want to call it, that left wingback from their five. causes us some issues. So as they build up, they've got their back three

and those wide defenders sort of creep upfield as wingbacks. And this caused some decision issues for Fox and Rodman. And on both of these chances that we're going to talk about, Fox like has to race upfield to meet that wingback as the pass goes out to her on Japan's left, our right. And we aren't particularly well connected at that point. So Trinity isn't like racing back to help her. She's just sort of like watching.

And this might be we just, it's like a little rope-a-dope where Japan have had nothing and haven't really been building. And so Trinity might sort of take a play off. And on the weak side, Mal's kind of taken a playoff too. That'll matter for the next one. But Fox comes out to meet it. And there's a ton of space between Fox now and Germa. And that's the easy pass Japan find into the space behind Fox. And now Germa has to come out from the middle to come play defense.

And that sets up where there's a huge amount of space between Germa and Sonnet. And Horan fills that space. But you don't love this, right? Personnel-wise, you don't love that Horan is now your centerback. And they pretty easily, not easily, it's a really nice find. Fox does recover eventually and actually is there facing up. So we have Fox and German double-teaming Japan at the edge of the box. And it's a nice little, like, lifted pass to beat that double team to split it into the feet of Japan's attacker with Heron on their back.

And it's just Heran, like completely, you know, she's not, she has no escort. It's just Haran one-on-one in the box. And that's bad for us. Yeah. You know, a common theme, I don't know, I think this probably fits into what you just said, but one thing that Japan did, I thought, really well, is when they played that ball into that space, the person who ran onto it and received it, they wouldn't, like, go right to goal or go right to the end line and visit it across. They would, sometimes they would pull back with the ball, like, to the corner of the box,

And then all of a sudden they'd have like two options, one on either side, like an underlapping runner and an overlapping runner. And then that's how they got a lot of their good chances was with that sort of the coordinated movement after the sort of floated ball into that space. This wasn't exactly like that, but it was, you know, there's something, some similarities. The next chance we're going to talk about is not two minutes later after a nice little passage of play, Hasagawa gets it with her back to sonnet in the middle of the field, holds her up, lays it off for Seike, and she chips it over to Fujino, who is running free into the box.

I mean, Dunn is desperately trying to run back over there. Maria, the right wing back, is also out there. So Dunn does like a flying intervention, not quite an overhead kick. Well, I mean, I guess it's an overhead kick, but she just hits it right up in the air, does enough to disrupt the play. and I got to thank her for that personally. It pops up, and then Maria comes in and volleys it. It's a pretty good shooting chance.

She just slices it wide, really pretty badly. So excellent work from done, kind of scary for Japan to get two pretty decent looks in two minutes like that. It wasn't down to continue, though. On what feels like sort of their first real attempts to break us down, and they broke us down but good. Again, this one they start out on their right sideline on their defensive third. Just work it casually without any real effort across to the left.

And it's the same thing. They get it to that left wing back. And Trinity had been pinned to the inside, or at least chose to stay to the inside and a little higher. And so when it goes to the wing back out wide, Fox has to step way up. Germa has to come with her. And it creates that gap between Germa and Sonnet that they find their target player and post it up. And once she gets it, Sonnet has now come all the way over. There's just, again, the rope-a-dope where they've lulled us to sleep a little bit,

and there isn't very much urgency as she's got the ball posted up for anybody to be getting back to help. So when you do the screen grab of their player receiving it with her back-to-goal, they have a significant numerical advantage with everybody around the ball. Like we've got Sonat on her hip and Germott covering her, so we can stop this player from going to goal and scoring. but they just have an umbrella of blue jerseys around the point of attack. And we have, we just, we just have done. Like, it's done in the two centerbacks because Fox is way out of the picture.

And Horan and Albert haven't been attentive enough to sort of see what could develop. And in another one, the other important player taking a nap here is Mao as that weak side defender who does not come and join Crystal Dunn to help. Right. Because every, like you're, I mean, like you just explained, everybody sort of slides over right. I mean, Sonic comes to the middle, done sort of stays close to her. Yeah. And we, yeah, we just leave that weak side totally, totally vulnerable. And we, which maybe you can do if you have these midfielders who are crashing, our center mids, if they're crashing back to just blow everything up.

But we aren't, right? Herand's not blowing things up from, from upfield. She's sort of a spectator here. Yeah. Well, we're almost to the end of the first half. And so there's not that... Japan didn't like press this advantage to the extent that they had it.

40th minute, Rodman wins a corner after some very patient possession from the U.S. It's a short corner. Lavelle hits it at the keeper. It's claimed... So we do that little one-two, Lavelle, and I think was it Swanson? I can't remember.

But it's the overlap, right. Lavelle takes it overlaps. Yeah. Takes a short overlaps. I love it. I love it. And we see it again in the second half. Like you overlap because they only sent one.

It's a really easy 2E1 to execute with our talent. And then I love the sort of like shoulder height shot through all the bodies in the box because it's really hard for the keeper to move to stopping the shot. Because she's got a, she also has to play any touch it might take. you just don't want to hit directly at the keeper because then she can just, if it gets through, it just hits her. And if it, you know what I mean?

Like you got to, we got to just sort of aim that at the far post, which we improve a little bit on the second half. And this one, in this case, you know, Haran wasn't too far away from getting a little touch to it with her head too. Exactly. If it's pushed just a little bit out towards that far post,

Haran either does touch it, either does touch it in the goal or misses it, but the keeper's, frozen by Heron and would just watch it sail into the far post. Fair. Fair point, yes. Okay, that's the half. And we'll take a break and be back in a minute.

Okay, we're back. No subs from Emma at halftime. Japan made at least one sub, maybe two. And there was a lot of complaining on the broadcast and in the larger conversation as the half went by about the lack of rotation. But, I mean, post-game comments from Emma, she sort of reiterated what it seems is pretty clear that she's a big believer in reps as a team, you know, developing partnerships. I think I'm kind of team Emma here on this one. I know people are getting tired.

They did start to look really tired, especially an extra time. But, like, who do you bring on? Unless Jaden Shaw was really fit, who's going to, who's going to, um, lock this for you. Yeah, that's, that's, that's, that's the rub here, right? Like, uh, our tried end of death, uh, is so good that even though Lynn Williams is a, is a very good attacking player, uh, she is a drop off in for any of those three. Um, so if, if you, if you're not going to bring Lynn Williams on, then like,

you're going down the rest of your bench and, you know, again, we're missing, or Jane, Jane Shaw probably not particularly fit. We're missing Kat Macario for injury. Um, those would be sort of the two. So while we have a lot of depth, the depth is kind of already out there. It's already on the field and the fact in, like, Rose Lavelle. Like, you can be missing Kat and Jane Shaw, and you still have this outstanding attacker in Rose Lavelle, who you can put out there. But then you're not in any hurry to take her off for the next attacking Pete. Right. And with coffee suspended, we don't love our midfield options. And with Tierna hurt, we don't, I mean, like, you're just going to sub Krueger just to subber and take Fox off? Like, what's the, what's the

urgency to change these players. Williams is the sort of obvious choice, but I do agree that she is a big drop-off from the other three and from the Trident. So I was okay with how things played out subs-wise. 49th minute, Japan gets a throw, a little bit of poor restart awareness from Corbyn. She turns to argue with the ref as the ball goes into play behind her. Japan wins a corner. I just, you know, any restart awareness issues I'm going to be trying to identify for the rest of my life.

50 minute mark, the 50 minute mark. There's a Rodman giveaway at midfield and then a ball into the box from Japan back out of the box. This is one of those where they sort of like, they get in behind us, but then they sort of let everybody arrive. and so Maria, the right wing back, gets it on the overlap, streaming into the cutback zone, and she fizzes it across the six, and Crystal Dunn, once again,

extremely alert and on the spot, thumps it out of bounds just ahead of the backpost runner. But this is dangerous and scary. This is Japan's moment, as far as I'm concerned, like this is their big miss of the match, because Dunn does what she needs to do to save it from the backpost runner,

but that's after the ball has already, gone past Japan's wide open player dead center of the goal. And that's the miss is they get this ball in the cutback zone. We'll kind of go through how they arrive there. But we've got, they're in the cutback zone. Their center forward is on side and has like a full step on both Fox and Germa to go to goal here. Lindsay's observing, observing from a safe distance. And I don't, again, I'm not putting anything on Lindsay here.

This is just like, they just, they have it. They've created the tap in and the pat, the cut back just is too far beyond the wide open center player. So that's, basically, right? Yeah, yeah. This is their big miss. And if this is a little bit better pass, then it all comes down to Neyer and whether she gets her body in the way. But this was their moment. It was another interesting one.

It came off of a Japanese corner, the same one they got off that restart where Corbyn was a little, slow to the danger. And, you know, we dealt with the corner. Like, we got a decent clearance. Trinity did a cool little flick on to herself. And it has the ball in total control out on the left sideline, right? Like, danger averted. But then she makes a little, everyone's running away from her.

So I'm going to hold some other players responsible for their choices. Like all of the front three just running away, even though Trinity needs someone to come play soccer with her. No one does. She hits a bad pass anyway. It's still on her to not hit it directly to Japan. She hits like a diagonal ball towards the center circle that's instantly cut out. And this is another one of those interesting visuals because as that Japanese player collects the ball,

there are like three Japanese players ahead of her from the corner kick that aren't usually ahead of her in that situation. And none of them try to transition into like being attacking players. It's kind of, it's funny to see like Japan control the ball at the bottom of the circle and all three Japan players run past it back to their own goal. Like, I don't want any part of this. Not here to attack. My job's to get back into the shape to protect against the Trident of Death. Like, I know what my role is. In Japan still managed to carve out this chance.

With just the one player at the top of the box, you get one wingback overlapping. And then you have the center forward who I think just sort of exploits the fact that we never get back into our base shape. Like all of our personnel's in weird spot. So you have Corbin, or you have Sonet as the left back. because Crystal Dunn was still on the right side from the corner kick. That's how she cuts this out as the right fullback. And so, yeah, so we get kind of caught out here and can just sort of light a candle and say thank you

because Japan just missed their chance. I did not realize until I looked at the screenshot of yours just how open that center forward was. I guess that's Tanaka probably. I mean, hard to know. Okay. Yeah, candle lit, 54 minute mark. It's starting to look maybe a little static from the U.S. off the ball, was my impression.

Just not enough pistoning from Smith and Swanson, so we are tapping it around in the back a lot. And I do understand the criticism of that a little bit. That's just a general statement, so I don't know that we needed to discuss it. 57th minute, Sonic gets a yellow pulling down for Gino, who was kind of away from her on the right side line, but Probably a smart yellow, I think. 58 minute mark, good Robin recovery to head away a looped cross at the backpost. So, you know, she wasn't, she had some moments of untidiness, which I think we've covered in there will probably be a couple more.

But even when she's doing that, she does usually defend pretty well. And there were two kind of notable instances of that. This was one of them. 59th minute, a good Smith carry after Swanson wins it, and then Smith just shrugs off Hasegawa and plays it out to Rodman wide, and Rodman just, you know, it's like a really heavy touch, right? Gives it away at the edge of the box on the dribble.

No, this wasn't a really heavy touch, but heavy enough that she gave it away. And then we get a good chance. 61 minute mark. Rodman blocks a pass on the right sideline. It kind of pops up in the air and Horan volleys it forward to Swanson. just directly forward. Swanson helps it along

deftly, in my opinion, for Smith in the box, kind of loops it over with the outside of her boot over the back line. And Smith almost gets there. I mean, this is the kind of thing that she loves to run onto.

And it's cleared away by that 18-year-old Koga for Japan. Nice defensive play from her. Yeah, big intervention. And yes, like that's, in real time, I'm watching that, and I'm fully expecting Sophia

to, like, beat everyone there. At the last second, they all think they have it. And for her, to actually just tap it past them, stay on her feet, and then hit it into the open net. Like, I saw all of that happening in my mind. But it's a real nice clearance from Japan.

It is, yeah. Swanson takes a shot in the 63rd minute off a short corner. Does that little one, two, with Lavelle, and then carries it across the top of the box. Just can't, you know, shoots from 20 or so, just can't wrap it, wrap her foot all the way around it. Sails a couple feet wide. but it's hit well.

Yeah, again, I love this routine. This is, I think, a little, I mean, it's basically the exact same thing. The first half, she does just push it out towards the far post, just a tiny little bit, too far. But again, I love just looking at the shot as it's coming off of her foot through all of the bodies in the box. And so if it's on frame, there's just no way the keeper's going to get to it because she's going to be planted waiting for it to get to Germa's head or Horan's head and see what happens. and then when no one touches it, all so we'll be able to do is watch it nestling to the side net. Yeah.

Horan gives it away in the 68th, back the other way, just wantonly sends it backwards. Maybe being put off by the defender on her back. I know, just a rough game for her. Why do I keep saying that? Boring and it's going to annoy people. Now, keep saying it, Bells, you've got to keep hammering on Haran

because then what happens is she's going to come back with a blinder tomorrow, and everyone will get to say, I told you so, to you. And you will lap it up because you want Herand to have a blinder in a win against Germany. I do, yeah. I do love when people prove me wrong. That's one of my favorite things. So yeah, you got to really lay into it, go all in on the Haran takes, and then act like it's impossible for her to have a good game.

And that will basically guarantee that she lights the Germany up. Well, for the record, I don't think it's impossible for her to have a good game. But she did have a bad game. I mean, nobody's learning anything for me saying that. So 69th minute, Corbyn, good recovery, sprays it out to Robin on the wing. This is the one, this is the first touch that's way too heavy. She loses it. But then wins a corner.

On the ensuing corner, it's kind of headed up in the air. Rodman, you know, a bunch of times, Rodman lays it off definitely for Swanson and then she just shins it into the seats. Not Mal's best day either, so let's hope that she has a blinder against Germany as well. But I thought, I mean, I think we're creating,

I mean, we're, I don't know if creating is the right word, but we're, we have opportunities. We're just pretty wasteful, I would say. Yeah, I think that's fair. And I think, again, the lesson in this match is stick with the outrageous talent you have because they'll do something outrageously talented pretty soon. Yep.

71st minute Fujino collects a long ball in behind done. Just a good ball and run. I don't know that anybody's really at fault here. Correct me if I'm wrong. But it comes back out of the box and then Hasagawa underlaps into the box sails a juicy cross through the six, like head high, but nobody for Japan attacks it.

So maybe not as good of a chance as that one that Dunn had to had to thump out of bounds, but, you know, pretty good chance. Yeah, it's, it's another one where like, we don't quite have the midfield, uh, I don't want to say, yeah, I mean, basically is commitment, right? Like, Japan get into the box on this, on this, it's just a goal kick, basically, and then they hit another ball up ahead of done. Um, but we get the numbers back to, to slow down the first one. But you see that second wave of Japanese players, and they just flat out beat Iran and Corbyn into the play. So by the time we get our numbers back, we're just a little bit slow.

And again, it feels like a little bit of, it feels like a little bit of ropedo because Japan have not offered much. I mean, they haven't done too much since that three, that pair of chances in the 36 minute. Yeah. It's like, oh, no, they actually are doing something. They're trying to do something. stuff here.

Yeah, that Ropa Dope is, I had not really thought of it that way, but that's a good way to think about it. Sevent second minute got a clock, a Lavelle block on a shot from distance for the hustle. 78th minute, nice past through the lines from Sonnet to Smith, received well on the half turn as she does, plays it out to Rose Lavelle, who cuts in and shoots, I would say, a bit wildly with her right foot, goes way over. Japan gets a chance in the 80th minute. close the end of regulation here.

Hasagawa gets a look after a cross from Fujino and then a bunch of scramble ball, and she hits it way over. So nobody brought their finishing boots for the first 90 minutes. No, and even again, like, even as we're talking about these dangerous moments, uh, almost none of them are just like clear cut chances. I mean, it's,

it's all like, there was a chance for an opening like two passes later or, you know, they created a shot from, that we created a shot from 26 yards. Yeah. Or bouncing ball from 20. It's, it has been cagey the entire game and it has remained pretty cagey.

Yeah, but you know, in a cagey match like that, a bouncing ball at the edge of the box that you get like, you get a full wind up on is a, it's a pretty good chance. I mean, oh yeah. Yeah, pretty good chance. The relative quality for the match, it's a good chance.

And obviously the one we end up converting isn't, some like gimme. No. It's not like, Japan would say like, okay, if that's a shot we give up, we can take that. And then it still isn't enough. I'll just quickly mention a few things. So 89th minute on a set piece won by Swanson, Rodman has, takes it on the volley. It looks like she hits it pretty sweet, but it's blocked.

People are looking tired out there. In stoppage time, Rodman beats Kitagawa, squares it for Mal. her first touches off a little bit. She just can't corral it. It falls to Heran. She kind of shoots falling to her right, and it's deflected into the goalkeeper's arms. And then, you know, some good vertical stuff from Dunn to Smith.

Nice work on the half turn. Plays Robin in the box, and she just gets covered up real fast. Actually, this was actually, this was a really nice sequence. So, yeah, so we're talking about how tired this group is, you know, or at least we're talking about how they haven't been subbed and how unusual that can be.

But they're so good. And you have to sort of, at some, point just ride your luck with this group in particular. And we get a really nice moment here from Sof to be able to check back to a ball, get it with someone draped over her shoulder, leverage that player, spinner, and be able to actually look at the entire box to see who's moving where. And she hits a really dangerous ball into Trinity's feet. And this is tidy, right?

So while this group has a bunch of loose, heavy touches, they can pull off the tidy stuff sometimes if they get enough chances. And this was almost it. We almost steal it right here at the death. Yeah. Because, again, correctly, I think, we leave our talent on the field. Yeah. I don't know what Trin could have done differently when she receives that.

Maybe like take it first time and just kind of like try your luck. The last thing in regulation is Maika Hamano tries from distance and it goes over the bar, over the corner. The replay kind of made it look really close. but I don't know if that was just an optical illusion. Did you... I thought it was close in real time. I thought it was close in real time. And again, it's just one of those effectively working as a cross shot,

which is really tough for shorter goalkeepers to deal with. And in the women's game, you know, again, like basically all the goalkeepers are short. The tall ones are like 6-2, right? Whereas that'd be like one of the shortest men's keepers in a tournament. So they just, they have so much trajectory to cover. for these balls from the angle that are going over your head towards the far post. So I love the choice from Japan because this is a shot. There's no question about it.

She's shooting. Love the choice. And it does. We almost lost it right there on a really clever attempt. Neier didn't even try for it, did she? Like she read that it was going over? Well, she gets her footwork a little bit wrong. So it's, again, I assume this is off a goal kick.

the we were watching the replay of trinity going down in the box and then suddenly it just cuts to japan um and again numerically like we're fine here it's it's basically two against five uh and she just again she creates a shooting window from 30 yards out um neyer should probably be a little bit tighter to her line as this is developing uh to discourage this kind of attempt um and then she gets as as it's shot she her feet are kind of getting all tangled up on her uh and takes like two wasted steps before she really starts moving to try to cover that far post. Okay. But by the time it gets there, by the time it gets there, she might have known it was wide,

and that's why she didn't go like full out to get her hand up to like, you know, do the, I've got it covered thing. Yeah. But maybe not. Well, that's the interregulation. And an extra time, so we got 30 minutes of extra time to work through here. Lynn Williams on for Swanson. some good 1V1 defending from Fox on Kita Gawa.

I mean, Fox and Dunn, again, proving I think why they're the starting fullbacks. Not a perfect game from Fox. Not a perfect game from Dunn either, but I thought defensively they're just both so solid. Williams, so in the 92-minute mark, we get a Williams knockdown on a Germa Longball, and she just knocks it down for Smith. right at the top of the arc and she takes a touch and then a second to get her feet set

and the shot is blocked. But it's a nice new wrinkle for us in this game. We hadn't done that. I don't think we had done that yet in the game. You know, hit it to somebody, have them knock it down for somebody else. And, I mean,

Smith's just got to get the shot off a little bit quicker if she can. So have you first touch? Was it? Yeah. Yeah, kind of story of the game. Okay, Sonnet horror, there's only a few more things. Sonnet horror show nearly in the 96th minute.

She gives it away in the box to Hinata Miyazawa, who had subbed on. And, I mean, it's just an unnecessary giveaway, I think. And she's the last defender there. She gives it to Miyazawa. Miazawa goes right and rips it off the outside of the net. Sonnet's been mostly good, though. It should be said. Yeah, she had another giveaway in the first half, like farther up.

You know, this was right in her own box. And then she kind of does okay to narrow the angle, force a shot from, you know, almost the end line. But it's not a great, it's not great. But yeah, so she had this giveaway. She had the other giveaway where it was kind of taken off of her feet. It was like a Germa pass to her that she just wasn't prepared for and it kind of handcuffed her. And then she had another ball where in the first half where she's not under much pressure. And she tries to like clip it, but she tries to clip like a 15-yard pass from the edge of the defense.

if they're just into the center circle. And it's to nobody. It's not like, oh, it was just a tough ball for Sophia to try to have to deal with. It was like there was nobody there. And Japan just trap it and run right at us. So what it felt like, though, was examples of Japan not being particularly efficient or dangerous running at us on the counter when we actually did kind of try to give them a couple of chances. So stop doing that, please, if you're playing against Germany. Yeah.

Smith mugs Minami in the press in the 97th minute, just takes it off a foot, tries to go through the keeper's legs from a pretty tight angle. Maybe he should have shot earlier from a better angle, but it's also a good save from Yamashita. It is, but it does feel like, again, the first time, I mean, she's in, she mugs him, and she now has no one but the goalkeeper to beat.

And it does feel like her. first touch makes her chance worse. That's probably harsh. Her first touch, really, if you want to think of it, is a touch that takes it away from Japan. So that's good. But yeah, she doesn't seem to, she doesn't really, from there, improve her scoring chance.

But it's still a great chance, especially in the context of this match in extra time. That's a, that's dangerous. Would have been a crazy way to win the game, you know. 98 minute mark. Corbyn goes down clutching her calf for a minute, which it seems like was a cramp. which allowed for an easy counter because if Corbin's not in there, the midfield is just full of ghosts.

Fox does well to skim a ball out of bounds. So it's a diagonal ball at the backpost. Fox dives and just glances it out of bounds just ahead of the runner, making no mistake there. On the ensuing corner, there's a few passes over on the left side, some possession transfers back and forth, and then some lossing, some losses and regaining of possession for Japan,

and then another cross. And it's a good punch from Neier, I think. She goes down. It doesn't get up super quickly, and there's a shot before she's back in the frame of goal, but it's blocked before it gets to the goal and wasn't super well hit. I'm getting there, Greg. No, no, no, I'm only, like, again, I'm, we're deep into this timeline, of course.

But I am basically like reliving the tension of the match. Like we had that Sophia chance. But it doesn't necessarily feel like, oh, there's going to be a bunch more of these. It's like, oh, that could have been our last, like our last look at goal. And then Japan have that one. It's like, oh, man, we could like, you know, when our midfielder goes down with a cramp in the middle of a play and they come back at us. And it's like, it feels like, yeah, this is what a game like this will be decided on. if we can avoid penalties.

Yeah. Robman gets a chance after a nice interception in the 105th minute from Germa. She plays it between the lines to Smith. Smith does her thing where she plays on the half turn, carries it, plays it over to Robin. Her shot with her left foot is not as good as the one she has a few moments later. It goes way wide, way high. And then I don't want to pick on her, but I got to mention Williams' really. ruins a chance for Smith to shoot in stoppage time.

I mean, this is pretty egregious, I would say. Trinity gets to the end line and cuts it back. And I mean, the crazy thing is you watch the replayback, and Williams checks her shoulder, and she sees Smith coming. Smith is coming. Smith is arriving on this ball. I mean, it's not a gimmee of a chance. but this is a ball that's rolling softly towards her.

She's closer to the goal than the penalty marker from a little bit of a difficult angle. And right before Smith meets it and, you know, she's going to crush it. I don't know if it's going to go in or not, but she's going to hit it hard in the direction of the goal. Right before she hits it, Lynn Williams takes it off her foot and just passes it back to somebody, somebody else. Yeah, like pretty inexplicable. And again, like I just said it feels like we might not get another chance after Sophie had missed that other. one. But then we do get Trinity into the edge of the box and she has a shot go white. And then we get Trinity in the box again. So it's like right from that Smith moment now it actually feels like,

oh, maybe Japan's losing it. Maybe Japan's getting tired. Uh, and we can do something here. So now it does feel like, oh, maybe the game is going to get stretched in a typical fashion. Uh, and in that case, we've got the edge. In a stretch game, like, it's us. It's going to be us. Uh, because Lynn Williams can play in a stretch game too. So, uh, this play notwithstanding. I don't know what the decision was. At first I was like, oh, she touched it inadvertently because she was just going to try to set it to Sophia. Like, she looks up, sees Soph, like,

spot it up and is going to try to set it to her and let Sof hit it. But she doesn't. She, like, hits it back to Heran at a completely different angle. Yeah, I don't know. It was, it was definitely a missed opportunity. Didn't like it one bit. Sof doesn't actually have, Sof is going to end up smashing this ball directly

into Lynn Williams if Lynn Williams doesn't touch. No, you're right. It's Lynn's job like seal off her player and try to create a shooting chance for Sof, get out of the way and actually box your player out. Sof is coming hard at it. Well, anyway, we don't have to. Because we got the really good thing that happens almost immediately after this. So second minute of stoppage time in the first period of extra time, we get what we came for. Goal USA.

It's actually pretty straightforward. It's just a diagonal ball from Crystal. done way back on the left side. It's a really nice ball. Rodman brings it down. Not super neatly, but does well enough to bring it down and then cuts in on her left foot and curls it in at the far post. Yamashita gets a touch, but not nearly enough. It's a beautiful goal. 1-0 USA.

Yeah, like I said, it's the third time we've got Trinity into the edge of the box here in like two minutes. Yeah. And Trinity is still changing direction much faster than Japan. So it's, you know, whatever worry there is about rotation and fatigue, Trinity is just unfazed by it. And I think Japan is getting tired here. So she creates her own window.

It's still a tight shooting window and she hits a worldly. Yeah. I guess I'm just so grateful for the soccer that we're playing now compared to what we were playing, the way we were playing a year ago. That I, um, I'm, you know, I'm, you know, I'm. I do kind of trust Emma Hayes a lot right now. But it does, and so I want to be careful not to, like, stand for her, but she was vindicated here in keeping Trinity Robin on the field.

Just to sort of reiterate what you just said. Yeah. And, again, I don't anticipate much changing for the next match. I think, I mean, like, when Lynn comes on to start the first extra time period, 90 minutes, and we finally make our first sub. I'm not like, oh, thank God we used a sub to take. Mal Swanson off the field. I mean, Lynn Williams is good, and I think she can win us a game. But I'm not happy to see Mal Swanson walk off the field, and I wouldn't have been happy to see Trinity or Sophia leaving the field, even though, like, you get that at some point there's like almost an obligation to make a substitute.

I just want those three players to stay on the field. And all the other players we have on the bench who would come in for any of the other seven field players aren't going to do much for it for me. Yeah. I mean, Jaden Shaw would, Jaden Shaw, if she is fit and ready to go, and apparently Hayes said, or somebody said today that everybody was trained, everybody was in full training today, all 18 players, including Tierna and Jaden.

When Shaw's healthy and good to go, like, she does something for me. I don't know if she exactly fits, fills in for Swanson and Rodman in the way that they play. but anyway that's it for the first half of extra time and then Naisweiler comes on for Lavelle Now Japan has to push a little bit

Could get interesting There's a little bit of a scary moment In the 107th minute Where there's like a ball across from Japan It's headed away kind of weakly by Germa So not doesn't get out of the box on the clearance Iran tries to gather it with a high boot as I forget which Japanese player

kind of just like runs right through her. Horan gets wrecked, but luckily no penalty because I mean, I think that could have easily, you know, you stick your boot up like that on a ball that's just coming down out of the air. We saw that what that happened with the U23 men where like we got a penalty that sent us down the path to lose that game to Morocco.

It could have easily happened here. But it didn't. There's a scramble and then the crisis is averted. Yeah, terrifying. And it very much is like, again, as you're watching it develop, you see the ball loop over her hand's shoulder and you see her like plant her foot and start to swivel to clear it without ever checking what's around her. And that's like the recipe for just smashing into somebody and conceding a penalty.

Fox does the same thing in a second, about a couple of minutes later. Does she? I mean, it's a different scenario, but she, she swings her foot up at a ball that's bouncing, and she gets beat to it by a Japan player and kicks her a little bit. And it's like, especially in the age of VAR, you got to be real, real careful in there, swinging at those bouncing ball. It's a bouncing ball. They're not going to score it.

Like, just don't, don't kick somebody's leg who's also up there. Get in the way of it, yeah. Yeah, I mean, if you go, a player runs through a, outstretched leg like that and goes down, more often than not, the referee is going to call a penalty. So luckily the Japanese were not super intent on gamesmanship here. Trinity tracks back magnificently in the 109th minute

to crowd Miyazawa off the ball on a like a somewhat dangerous move from Japan. I got to clock that. the game winning goal. She's still running the full 120 yards. 110. 110th minute, she gets a big chance. I mean, she was offside, but it was, let me describe it anyway. It's Corbin interception.

First time passed to Smith. Smith drives and then plays a through ball for Trinity. She was off, and she missed, you know, her shot was saved by a goalkeeper leg. It's a pretty good save. She probably should have squared it for Williams on the back post. She definitely should have been on side here. She had the whole field to look at. She should be on side.

And that's it for me. I know. That is it, right? Like, we actually did really well killing this game off, which is a huge plus. Yeah. I do think a big part of it is, like, stamina. I do think we can just keep going.

But there was a ton of commas. composure for how we sort of just professionally, you know, wasted the last 10 minutes of the match. Yeah. It's a very, very satisfying win, I think. Not the prettiest game, but a difficult one. And I think really good for our team to have to play that way and figure it out. Now, do you – so is you running it back with coffee in the midfield? back to the bench or

what do you think? I think I am and that's tough on I can feel tough on Corbyn who had a great game but I and if Corbin's in 11 and we literally run this exact lineup back against Germany, I'm not going to be mad

but I think you do sort of lean more heavily on the volume of minutes you've seen from I mean the same reason you don't just bench her and right you don't just bench her and because she's not been great in three games the last three games. You sort of trust the evidence that you have built up to this point.

You know, she can give you a lot. You know, her and coffee can work really well together. And I think you still ride that against Germany. Okay. And of course, the same front three and, I mean, certainly the same back four. Well, I guess if Tina's healthy. Yeah, she's back in. And those are going to be the choices, right?

of health versus like full match sharpness and fitness. Like, okay, so Tierna is cleared, but can she do all the things at the speed necessary? Or do you have to make a judgment call on that? Well, isn't it, her injury was a bruise, like a contusion? So it's like a, it was a pain, kind of a pain management thing. Okay, I think that's it. I mean, you get Germany games coming right up. I know, I know.

on Tuesday. Okay, Greg, thank you. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.