Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - W Gold Cup: USWNT v Dominican Republic recap

Episode Date: February 21, 2024

A soggy night in southern California, hung over by the shadow of Mia Fishel's injury, but Greg and Belz find plenty to be glad about.Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private feed for the Monday Review, which is, among other things, a run-down of club action for national team players every week with Watke and Vince. We have recently added patron-only content that’s available every Friday. Patrons also 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/scuffed OTHER LINKSScuffed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAoundrEkZUgZ13IE5XIqrg We’ve streamlined and revamped the merch we’re selling. Check it out: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Scuffed on Discord: https://discord.gg/X6tfzkM8XU Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the scuff podcast where we talk about U.S. soccer. The U.S. women beat the Dominican Republic 5 to 0 on Tuesday night. Greg, how you doing? You know, I'm mixed, bells. You know, the game was nice. It was fun. But the, you know, to get the news the morning of the match that we lost me official to an ACL, it was just, it was tough to take, you know.

Yeah. So exciting. Like, we're all just excited to see new plays. players all the time. That's always sort of a scuffed thing. New players full of possibility. And Fishel had waited a long time for some of these chances. So it was just, it's hard to, you know, you're processing that. And so that was kind of in the back of my mind watching this game, especially the way this game played out. I was like, oh, this was a perfect game for Mia Fisio. Thoughts and prayers go out to her, as they say. You know, on that note, you know,

Meofficial, a lot of times you know, you get your chance for the U.S. And if you miss out, you never know if you're going to get another chance to get evaluated. You got to get evaluated. Mea Official obviously has been evaluated by the women's national team coach, Emma Hayes, because she's been in Chelsea for a while.

So it's not like, oh, no, she missed her chance and now going to the Olympics, she'll be an unknown quantity. Like Emma Hayes knows who Meofficial is, and whether she'll rate her or not for the Olympics. I'm sorry, I guess it won't matter for the Olympics, post-Olympics. Right. You know, again, at least she's got a relationship with the coach. The coach knows what she's about.

Yeah, Fisciel still has a lot in front of her. But man, these ACL injuries, sheesh. Yeah, it was a game that happened. So, the official thing hung over it, or the injury hung over the game. It was also a game that happened after bedtime on the East Coast, definitely on the East Coast after bedtime in Central United, pretty close, right? 10.15 Eastern, 915 Central.

Against, let's face it, Minow in the D.R. Who, you know, I thought acquitted themselves with courage and, what's the other word? Diligence. It was a dignified. Yeah, it was a dignified. 90 minutes for Dominican Republic. Yeah. And it was kind of on a soggy field on a cool night in Los Angeles,

so a lot going against the game. But it was an interesting game a lot because of the interpretive possibilities around Kilgore's lineup, for me at least. Like, would younger players get tested? Who? In which ways? Would we try to soccer our way through it to use Velazquezism? Or, you know, would the,

crossing and praying continue. And so at least I was very curious about who would start and how we would look. And we got some surprises, didn't we? Yeah, I mean, again, like you said, the outcome of this match, essentially a formality. You know, there's a golf between the U.S. and pretty much every other team in Conccaf. Canada, that golf is to be determined, whether there is one in how big it is. But you know there's already a golf between us and whoever the third Concaf team is. And then Dominican Republic, there's a golf between.

them and even that tier, right? So we kind of knew what we were going to get into. We knew that this was going to be a dominant performance. So yeah, it was just about interpreting how Twyla approached what was going to be a dominant performance regardless. And it was, it is interesting, and it remains kind of interesting. And the way it played out was interesting. Yeah, let's go straight to the lineup, because it was, I'm very curious to see how you numerically identify this lineup. But I guess I was, my thought was, it was a 352 on paper, probably a 3-25 in possession with Nysewanger in that back three.

And then 4-4-2 in defense with sonnet slipping into the back four and Moultry up top with Smith. It's something like that. What did you, what did you think? So I'm at the point now where like I just totally don't even think about what a formation is on paper because I feel like that just gets to be so nonsensical in 2024. So it's very much like what's the formation in possession, what's the formation out of possession? And you could even go further than that.

What's the formation, you know, in possession early in buildup? Right. As we. But I think you can at least at least have to do in possession and out of possession. So I thought it was kind of a in possession like a hybrid, either a 2-3-5 or a 3-25. But it was very clear that we were shading it towards profiles, right? With Sonnet as a nominal fullback, she was clearly not like the up and down the sideline kind of a fullback that Midge Purse plays when she's a fullback.

And obviously with Midge Purse starting on the wing, she got that up and down the sideline role to execute. and she was sort of, that was sort of the defining role, certainly of the first half. You mean purse's role? Yeah, inch purse on that right side. So, yeah, I would say, you know, some combination of 325 or 235 with Nicewanger and Sonnet pinching into the midfield and not being like overlapping fullbacks whatsoever. Yeah. See, I didn't even pick up any fullback vibes from Sonet, but maybe that's on me.

I thought she was, I don't know, more out and out midfielder. More or less a six, yeah. Yeah, and again, there's almost no reason to even talk about the defensive shape because there was no defense played in this game, right? Like, there just wasn't, there was never a time where we settled into a defensive shape. If we had to play defense, it would be like three or four players in charge of recovering to deal with a long ball that Dominican Republic had half passed, half cleared, and it was just a matter of corraling the ball.

back and then getting back into our possession shape. So this was very much a possession walkthrough. And for me again, even that is interesting because, again, of how Twyla clearly set us up for what I thought were correctly used profiles. So, you know, you kept midge person Lynn Williams out wide. They were not, they were not, you know, half-space merchants creeping into the middle of the field to collect the ball and create in pockets. Like they were the width of the sort of front five.

and then you had Corbin Albert and Olivia Moultrie filling roles that I think fits their profiles, which is get into those pockets as high up the field as you can, collect the ball, and try to play soccer. We really did, I think, attempt to play soccer. We did. For almost the entire game. You know, we got impatient sometimes, but totally night and day from all the things we've whined about for three years now, which would be like hit it into the mixer at the first opportunity.

There were times we did hit it into the mixer, but it usually came after long spells where somebody finally gets impatient and does it. Mostly, it was really controlled, passing attempts into pockets, not always successful, but the intent very clearly there, in my opinion. Yeah, I agree.

And I think that's pretty encouraging. I guess we should give the full lineup, regardless of what we think the formations are. Nearing goal, a little bit disappointing, but whatever. And then Dahl Kemper and Sowerbrun were the nominal centerbacks. So I guess I'll just read it as the 325 we had in possession that I saw. So Dahl Kemper, Sauer, and Nyswanger is the back three.

Sonnet and Coffee as the two. And then the five would be from right to left, Midge Purse, Olivia Moldtree. Sophia Smith, Corbin Albert, and Lynn Williams. And that's not exactly how it played out. Everybody had kind of a free role. There was a lot of people in different spots all over the field. But we got to see Smith as the nine, which is, I think, cool. And like you said, Williams and Purse out wide,

purse was the, she was the defining characteristic of the first half. And really the game, you know, I mean, she, she made everything happen. Yeah, which it's encouraging to me to see that that's how we're using her because I think, you know, when we get into tougher opponents or when we decide to trot out a full strength lineup as we get closer to that, that's the other thing we should say. This felt very much like a pre-rotated, full, like, substitute lineup,

or at least it's possible that it is. You know, you can make the case that every single one of these players would be second on the depth chart at one of their positions. with the exception of Sophia Smith, but that could very likely be a knock-on effect of me official getting hurt the day before the match and Alex Morgan coming into camp with no camp reps. It's like, okay, well, this would have been official, but now Sophia Smith is just going to play.

Yeah, that makes sense. Do you think the way purse played and the way she was played, I guess, more like it indicates that she's going to play some fullback for full strength? team? I don't know that it indicates that she will, like that that's the plan, but I think it indicates that you could very easily put a Jaden Shaw type out on the right wing, and then you wouldn't keep Jaden Shaw out on the sideline the way Midge Purse was, or Jaden Shaw would pinch him the way she did when she came into the game.

And, you know, at that point we used Trinity Rodman out on the right side to get around, to keep the right-sided with, but it could definitely be that with Jaden Shaw as a nominal winger, Midge Purse could a right fullback and she would play the exact same role she played in this game and she would just defend as a fullback for the rare times in this tournament where we will be defending in a block. Right, right. Yeah, I really like it. I think it suits perfectly.

It can work against good teams now. It worked especially well because she was just toying with the left back was defending her. But let me, that means we, that's a signal we should get into the lineup for the Dominican Republic. So it was Paloma Pena Toro in goal, Renata Mercedes, at right back, Gabriella Cuevas and Brian Reed as the centerbacks. And then Nadia Colon was the target of a lot of, frankly, a lot of, a lot of the abuse that Mitch Purs dealt out. Colone, just to give you an idea, she plays for the UT Rio Grande University, University of Texas Rio Grande. And Cooper City.

I don't think... Go ahead. Oh, I don't think this in any way was like us identifying her as the weak point to go at. I think it was very much just like whoever happened to be playing that left back spot was going to get destroyed by Mitch Purse. She did it in NWSL playoffs. This is who she is. And she will give us this even against tougher teams.

I mean, I'm sure it won't be, it won't look like a glitch in a game as much as it did last night. But, but she's, this is what we're going to get for Midge Purse, I think, for the next, for this entire cycle. That's, again, certainly my hope. Yeah, a fun drinking game for anybody who wants to rewatch the game would be anytime Cologne just kind of, like fell into single file right behind Perce, you know, started walking by. I mean, absolutely eliminated on the play. And then, and then again, very often. Reed coming over to help it's the centerback would get similarly eliminated. Or at least, you know, yeah, it was a highlight reel for Midge Purse.

Yeah, real nice game from her. So that's the backline, band of four in the middle, is Lucia Leon, Leon, Jalen, Jollaillo, Jimenez, Stella Jimenez, Winnibeon, Houdit Peralta, and then, the two forwards were Vanessa Cara and Mia Asenho. So that's the Dominican Republic lineup. A lot of several American-born players on that team, like U.S. born. Should we go to the timeline? Let's hit the timeline up.

Right in the second minute we get a goal. It's off a corner kick. That gets called back. It's nice, Wong, nice, Wong, floats one in after, Albert just kind of kicks it up. Corbyn Albert just kind of kicks it off a defender in the right corner. Lynn Williams sneaks onto it and heads it home. It's called back because Sophia Smith was blocking the goalkeeper's line of sight on the hit, which is, I guess, no, she was offside and blocking the keeper's site.

So she was a factor in the play. Yeah, certainly, I guess by some kind of a technical definition. And this might be, this would be an interesting one to hear what, like, the technical explanation is because in no universe was the goalkeeper going to get to Lynn Williams header whether she had a clear view or not. Right. So I guess there's no like version of like uncatchable in tackle football where that you get some subjectivity to decide how much of an effect this had on whether she could make a play or not.

Because this was very much like yes, she is standing in front of the goalkeeper's eyes and she is offside. So I don't know if it's just black and white goals chalked off. or if they really did have some wiggle room to say, no, I think she could have gotten that if she hadn't, if Sophie is not there. Right. In any event, it didn't feel like a big call

because we knew that no matter what that decision was, it wasn't going to change the number of points we were going to earn in this match. Yeah, no need to dwell on it, but it did was a nice set piece right off the bat and kind of some, maybe some bad set piece defending on the other side as well. Right at the five minute mark, Midge just toys with Cologne up the right side, finds Moultrie at the near post Moultrie, kind of cheeky, tries to croiff it in. I liked it, hit the side netting, but it was a bit of a foreshadowing of the goal that would come,

oh, a minute and 20 seconds later. Yeah, and again, I feel like this is what we were going to get. As soon as we saw that Midge was going to be that right-sided player, And it just didn't disappoint every single time. Yeah, almost every chance came from her beating somebody and then playing it across, including the goal, the first goal, the one that wasn't chocked off, a six minute and 22nd mark. She does it again, this time beats two players.

I think the aforementioned Brian Reed was the second one, and slips it on the ground across good runs from Smith, Moultrie, and Williams, all attacking the face, the mouth of the goal. And Smith gets a touch to it, but not a real clean one. And it deflects towards the back post. Moultry and Williams are both there to stab at home. Moultry is the one who's closer, and she puts it away. So 1-0, USA.

Yeah, and this is really going to be the whole test, is once we get Purs doing these players, are we making the right movements, are we filling the right spaces? Is Purs picking out the right path? and again, it's just training on this man city zone. That's really what this entire match was. I want to take that back because even when you were saying,

you know, almost every chance was coming from Perce. Purse was creating chances a high percentage of the time, but we did get some joy just with very like, I want to say direct. It was a good possession around the edge of the box where we would find like Albert and Moultrie in those pockets without having to go to Perce to solve it for us. Yeah, I suppose that's true. It just was, it just was much less effective than the purse revenue stream.

Yeah, yeah, and less flashy. Yeah, less fun. Because again, yeah. 1620 mark, she, midge does some more damage, so beat somebody and then finds Albert in the box. Albert cuts onto her left foot and then just flashes it over the bar with her with her left foot. She's looking to shoot I mean we've talked about this many times on the pause She's always she's always looking to shoot when she gets the ball

Near the box or in the box So that's I think I think good I was not that impressed with her overall though What did you think? With Corby? Yeah I mean I was happy with her I was happy with her intent

And again this for me right now After what we've just gone through last cycle It goes a long way I don't think that she's like cemented a spot by any, by any stretch. You mean like a spot on the national team, right? Right, right. But just the intent, like, to get into a pocket, receive the ball, and then connect another pass. Right now, again, that just goes so far for me because I've been hurt so deeply.

Yeah, she didn't go around just whacking the ball along, that's for sure. Right. Very few players. we're just like, well, I can hit this ball into the, towards the goal, and we'll see what happens. And so, so I'm happy for, I mean, yeah, man, the bar is very low.

And so for this walkthrough, just seeing us doing, walking through the right kinds of things, just meant so much to me. One of those patient spells of possession ended, like, not too long after the Albert Chan ended with purse floating a ball to the back post. So she picks a different kind of pass from that right side,

floats one to Lynn Williams. Williams and I think Dalcamper are on the back post there. I might not have been Dalkemper. And Williams just heads it over. This is like a really good ball right on her forehead. Yeah, Williams couldn't quite get over it. And Doll Kemper also wouldn't have had a freebie in the sense like she was ready to also head it down.

She was kind of moving back away from the goal from the end line. So it would have been tough for either one of them. But I'm sure I'm sure Dahl Kemper feels like she would have been in a better position to finish. Yeah. She seemed to feel that way. I just want to appreciate again the decision from Perce here because it was so clearly a decision, right? She had a few where she tried to flash it across on the ground. Dominican Republic, to their credit, had been jamming up the windows in there.

So to make the actual call, to be like, I'm just going to clip this over all of these bodies and trust the backpost ability of two good backpost aerial players. A nice decision for Mitch Berger. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I just loved it. I love, I've been a proponent, you know, for a few weeks at least,

of purse being our right back for the national team. And I don't know when we're going to get a test of her. defensive chops, but, but boy, in the attack, it's a, it's a whole beautiful new dimension, I think. Yeah, very interested in the way we're playing. It wasn't that pretty, but there was, like we've been talking about, lots of intent to play soccer, lots of interchanging. Nice, Wonger and Williams roaming a lot, even though they're, you know, an anomaly over on that

left side. there was no, there was, people were going everywhere. And, uh, I liked that. Yeah, I'll take, I'll take that kind of, again, that mindset. And we could do it for free here. There was no risk. Right. Uh, that we were going to get caught out.

We didn't really have to worry about our rest defense or our shape. Um, so this is the night to do it. And then, uh, we will still have a big edge on Friday. Um, and we'll have to be probably a little bit more aware of, uh, gaps we're leaving open the other way. but we have to take this step, right? We have to take this step of find these little soccer solutions. And it's not really, like, it's not that Lynn Williams can't do it,

but it's definitely not her game. You know, this isn't, if you were thinking, what would be the best kind of a game for Lynn Williams, it's definitely not trying to break down 10 people in the box with intricate pass-move stuff. So it's nice, I mean, she was, she has good ideas. And again, when you're just talking about, those rotations, it's good to see that we can do that.

We're not stuck in the pre-Emma mindset. We're not stuck in a Vlato mindset. That's not inherent to the players, is what I guess what I'll say. Yeah, I like that. So the second goal comes in the 30th minute. Again, Midge Purse beats Cologne. This time slides it across, and Williams darts in front of her marker on the back post and thumps it home.

I don't know how much there is to say about it. is just the same thing we've been talking about pretty much. Good run from Williams. Get into the Man City Zone enough times and you're going to get your good looks. Yeah. And I know some of you are occasionally some people say, well, you guys don't have to call it the Man City Zone. What should we call it? You know?

What do you want us to call it? The square on the end line between the edge of the six-yard box and the 18th? yard box, the imaginary one. I can start calling the cutback zone. I mean, I'm not, I don't have to give props to. I don't have to mention an oil state soccer club every, every podcast we do. Cutback zone. I guess that works pretty well.

Good thing we have you. Good thing we have you here, Greg. Come back zone from now on. All right. Style change. Update the guide. Just the style book, please. And 39 minute mark.

Just clocking a poor pass out of the back from Dawkemper, you know. I'm dinging people here and there. I forgot to ding Sonnet for a giveaway earlier, partly because Sonnet went back and won it back herself. 43 minute mark, nice pass from Williams to Albert in the box. There's kind of a scramble, and it falls to Williams. She just first time hits it to Albert streaming into the box. her shot hits the crossbar, it's deflected

off the foot of the defender nearest her as it hits the crossbar, I mean right before it hits the crossbar, but that's a good pass from Williams and good movement from William, from Albert, I think. Yeah, and there's just, the key thing to remember here, of course, is as much as we're praising the mindset, it's nice that we're finding these pockets. The pockets are huge and easily findable

against the Dominican Republic. Do you really think the pockets were huge last night? I mean, in the middle of the field? Yes. Yeah, it's tough. I mean, it's tough to, like I was saying to the Discord, this would be a game. Somebody shared a stat that the U.S. had the most forward passes

in this forward completed passes in this game than they have since like 2015. And that totally checks out because even though we've had games where we dominate in the past, even last cycle, so much of that was like as soon as you got into the zone to hit it into the box we would hit it in the box like just drive it into the box towards the goal so you couldn't rack up forward passes and in this game we were so clearly racking up these forward passes and it was very easy to do that so Corby and Moultrie I was saying I would for sure want to against if this was against a tougher team I would for sure want to comp the number of times we received the ball at our feet in the box because it was again other than Midge For us, for me, that was the defining feature of this match, uh,

was how often we were finding players' feet in the box. Because it's a willingness and it's an execution. And the willingness for me is more important in this game than the execution because the execution is sort of so easy. Yeah. Yeah, the willingness is the, it is the kind of the key thing. Um, we'll see if it lasts. Uh, 40, right in stoppage time.

Uh, the tendency to whip, whip it in. rears its head a couple times. Coffee and Nice Whonger just kind of give up and whack it in there. Nice, Niswanger with one that, like, she wax it in and comes right back out to her, and then she wax it in the 80th row. Yeah.

What did you think of Nicewanger? Hard to say? Yeah, real hard to say. She wasn't, she wasn't just like, she's definitely not a blind mixer, drive it into the mixer type of player. Like, again, we, we, clocked her on this in her first games in 2023, like she does have some feints to her, right? So that just

signifies to me that she's willing to show something and then make a different decision. So she loves to show early the like leg pulled back. I'm going to drive this ball first time into the box and then instead just stand on it and make a different decision. So she, I'm just saying all that to say, she will, she's going to be a willing possession player for us if she, if she can kind of like be good enough at everything else. Yeah. I guess I would have liked to see a little more spark from her.

You know, we got so much spark on the right side from purse, of course. And they weren't, their roles were very different, but still would like to see a little more invention from Nicewanger. Same goes for Albert. All right, let's go to the second half. Emily Fox comes on for Sonnet, which I think turns it into... A little bit more of a 4-33, but I don't know. Coffee still in the midfield.

Yeah, and this was, what I noticed in the second half was the urgency, once we'd win the ball back, once Dominican Republic would clear it, we'd corral it. Fox and Nice Hanger both would, like, race up ahead of coffee. So it wasn't even just like they were creating a three-player band ahead of Dahl Kemper and Sowerbrun. Like, they were getting up ahead to be like the eights. Yeah. Like, the fullbacks definitely jumped up in the formation in possession to be sort of eights in center mids.

So, yeah, so Fox and NiceWong are both showing a little versatility to do that. If you want to say that this kind of a game can show something like that. Yeah. 51st minute, I'm going to ding Albert pretty hard here because this was so annoying to me in the game. But purse comes in. from the left side, if that gives you an idea of how free everybody was, and plays it to Williams at the top of the box. She makes a lovely one-touch pass to lead Corbyn Albert into just a giant

hole, one of those big gaps you were talking about between the centerbacks in the left channel. And Albert is just not perceiving this possibility at all. She's standing there watching, gets wrong-footed by the pass. Very annoying that a player at her level isn't looking for that second run, you know, looking to make that second run to be the person who's available when somebody who receives a ball at the top of the foot. What was she expecting to happen? Yeah, so that was very much like,

like you're saying, that's the third man running concept in action, or it should have been. And she was playing it, and I feel like as a attacking mid, that movement in choreography should be sort of second nature, right? Ball gets passed ahead of you, you make the next run forward. You just move into the space.

You feel the space there and you go to it. You go to it, yeah. She was playing it more like a less of an attacking mid, more like a, oh, I stay back behind and offer relief for a drop, you know, a pass back order to settle it back to me facing forward. Which, yeah, I get why we want her doing more of like that full-on final third pattern. I mean, a couple of minutes later it didn't make the timeline, but there's another play where she doesn't quite have that fox in the box mentality.

It's like a ball kind of lofted across the box, and Lynn Williams gets it running towards the end line at the far stick and makes a very intelligent layoff into a giant gap of space. Oh, yeah. For anyone to run onto to hit it, and it would have been Corbin Albert's run to run into that space as the ball was moving across the field, but she kind of just hovered at the top of the box

and, you know, gets caught ball watching a little bit. So yeah, so we can we can we can dig people a little bit I mean we can't praise anybody too much from this game So we got to go one direction or another 58th minute we get the goal The third goal of the game We're parked at the top of their box Purse gets a pass across zone 14 from Albert

So you know Albert making a decent choice to play it across To purse arriving in a lot of space Then Perce just kind of feints Steps by a defender and plays the ball to the back post. Was she shooting? Was she passing? Who knows?

But it meets Olivia Moultry, who's kind of posted up against the centerback and gets a little bit of separation. Moultrie just stabs it home from close range. Three to zero. Yeah, nice possession sequence here. We go from the left side of the field, from Lynn Williams in the box,

you know, in the corner of the box by the end line, all the way to the right side of the field with all good decisions sort of looking for that shooting gap. We go back to the left side and get it back to Lynn Williams in the box again and shift it back over to the right to purse. And then the goal itself,

I'm not saying it's like a bad thing at all, but it's again, it also very clearly shows the Dominican Republic's experience and sort of, you know, understanding of how to maintain that back line because as Moultry just drifts up towards goal, one defender just follows her all the way,

way back and that's how you end up with like Moultrie's four yards behind the back line other than this one player who just kind of tracked her all the way to the goal line so it's a nice finish but to even say this is a good pocket to find like it works in this game

and good on us for exploiting it and good on Olivia Moultrie for getting two goals in her what third game in the US uniform first start right? Yeah it's not the kind of thing that is going to translate in particular You know

Yeah Yeah the defender I can't remember who it was But the defender marking Moultrie Kind of shaded over towards a near post As she saw purse winding up Presumably to block the shot You know

And that's what gave Moultry the space But Yeah it was They were the only two ones back there At that point Moultrie rolls her ankle Shooting That's too much wet blanketing

This is again This is an 18 year old kid scoring two goals from U.S. women's national team. We're happy about this. Yeah, I'm definitely happy about it. Olivia sort of seemed to take it in stride too. I mean, she wasn't like jumping up and down and, you know, crowing about it too much.

She said, I remember her saying really nice stuff to purse after purse hit that ball crossed for her first goal. And, you know, she just kind of enjoyed the moment. She rolled her ankle shooting in the 62nd minute and was down for a while, but she got up, she was okay. That was a little worrisome. Because she definitely rolled that ankle, bad. Oh yeah, everyone in Portland was very worried about that.

64th minute, nice little one-two from Albert and Williams. Kind of rare in this game from those two, I thought, to do something inventive. It didn't really come to anything, but since I danged her earlier, I thought I should mention that. 66 minute Rodman comes on for purse Moultry comes on for Shaw and Alex Morgan the me official replacement

comes on for Sophia Smith So yeah so you have Shaw coming in Even though it's you know she's coming very much to play in that pocket Because Rodman for purse means Rodman's going to stay out On the width And then Morgan for Smith pretty like for like So do we talk now about Sophia Smith in this game? Yes

Where are you at with it? We're big Sophia Smith that's the nine folks. I don't know. I'm curious to hear what you think. I wasn't that impressed. Yeah, I mean, she didn't do anything to blow anybody away. And it also was just a game that it's kind of fine if that's the case.

Like, the idea for me is, as a team, are we creating pockets for attacking players to get into? And I think we had no trouble doing that. So the fact that it was Moultry moving into the pockets created. or Corbyn Albert moving into those pockets to receive the ball feels fine to me. Like if Smith is there and they're just marking her tightly and then there are other pockets around her, then it's okay with me that Smith has the quiet night.

You know, it's, again, going to tackle football. Like, if you're, it's okay if you're all pro wide receivers and catching a bunch of passes if you're averaging nine and a half yards per carry on the ground. So, like, we were taking what they were giving us and we were, in my mind, taking it very effectively. I think we created 30-odd shots. Yeah, it was 31. It would be more of a problem if we just weren't creating anything.

And, you know, and Sophia Smith still isn't involved. I thought she was pretty good receiving the ball in tight space. Like, not great, but pretty decent. And I did like the way she was moving on that, on that first multery goal. You know, there was definitely some some drilled in, looked to be drilled in sort of intent there in the way she kind of held up her run

and then attacked the ball as purse slid it across. Yeah, and I think a lot of, I felt like on a lot of occasions in the game when she did get it, she maybe tried to do too much because again, when she was getting it, she wasn't in the bigger pockets of space that we saw the tens getting it. She tended to be surrounded by two or three bodies.

And she was getting it And a lot of her touches came when we were already up A couple of goals And so it did feel like maybe she's trying to do too much Knowing that like the game's done But can she make an impact It wasn't every time There were plenty of times where she got it

And kind of just kept the rhythm going But yeah, it did feel like at times There was a sense of like I can turn These players aren't very good I can beat two of them myself and get a shot off She did get a couple of shots off that way Yeah

Yeah I think, I guess the thing I'll be looking for from her is, is, can she do it? I mean, this is a good, this game is the kind of game that's a good test for her, really, because we want her to be more elegant in tight space. I think we do, don't we? For sure. And, you know, like I said, with Lynn Williams, this isn't, like the best case format for Sophia Smith, I think, to sort of show what she has.

like she will do better in a game against a better opponent who's playing us a little more evenly. We want her to also be able to make an impact in these situations against a set block. But this is where I go back to like watching this, it was like, man, this official would live for this. The official would live for this kind of a game to try to connect and have little like one-touch layoffs

to the third player running, you know, kind of those sequences. it would have been really fun to see me official in this game. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Smith, Smith likes to, she steamrolls people, you know, in NWSL and in transition and in open space. She's just a, she's just a machine. But yeah, I don't know. We'll see.

In it, we'll see. So then, I don't have a ton more. in the timeline here, but Lavelle comes on for Albert, who I've already talked about. I wish she was a little more, Albert were a little more intelligent in the way she sort of moved off the ball. And then 80th minute,

good touch from Williams to eliminate her marker after a simple pass from Nicewanger, and then she sails a knee-high ball through the six, but nobody gets a foot to it. Williams again, yeah, Williams getting to the cutback zone really well. She had a couple of these that seemed to just miss players or players didn't quite get there soon enough.

Because just like with Midge, you have to know Williams has this against a team like the Dominican Republic that she is going to get to the end line and you've got to make sure that somebody is getting to that near post spot for the tap in. Yeah. There was one earlier where Sophia was just like an inch short of getting to one too. I wish she had been a little more urgent in that moment.

It's tricky though. I mean, those moments are really tricky because your teammates going to the cutback zone. Cutback zone. Trademark. Yeah. And you don't know if she's going to, maybe she's going to cut it back, you know? So I don't know. How do you?

Yeah, first person, no, first person's got to go harder than your post. And you got to, you got to trust that if they cut it back at like the 45 degree angle, you've got a second wave of players behind you. But somebody, you got, like one player has to get to that. spot where it keeps, it also, like, again, so many good things happen. One, it keeps the goalkeeper honest or even, like, forces them to be dishonest in covering the near post, which makes it a lot easier for anyone else to score if the ball does go somewhere else. So, yeah, almost always that striker or the ball side attacking 10 has to get to that, has to get

to that spot. Okay. Almost always. On that one in the first half, was it, or I don't know if it was the first half of the second half, was it, was Smith, was it Smith's job to go hard at the goal? or slash near post? I'm not sure which one you're talking about, but I mean, we got it a couple of times.

Like she got there to set up the Maltry tap in, but then you can think other chances like that Maltry Kroif where it was like Moultrie's the player who gets to that almost like ahead of the near post. Yeah. And we know Alex Morgan will make that run constantly. We saw in the World Cup over and over. Yeah.

Just maybe ending up a little bit too far at the near post, yeah. Um, goal in the 82nd minute. It's a penalty. Shaw gets stomped on somewhat incidentally as we're trying to sock our way through the box. Morgan passes it to that cutback zone for Shaw. Shaw kind of scraps for it, pokes it back to somebody and gets stomped. Ref goes to the video, calls it a penalty. They give it to Nice Wonger.

And she scores, slides it in down to the keeper's right, clean little penalty from her. Kind of cool that she got to take it. Yeah, good on her. I mean, that means she's showing. some kind of clinical either set piece or penalty ability in training because that's not who you would have expected. Right.

It's not who you would have put your money on. But I'm always in favor of that. I don't think it needs to be your best player or anything else. Like penalties for me are so much like who's going to keep this ball from going over the goal. And so for her to hit the grass cutter, I'm like, all right, nice longer I can do this. Yeah.

She did it well. 88th minute, some good interplay up the right, and Shaw clips a ball across for Lavelle. It just misses her as the keeper jumps out to claim it. You may ask, why include that in the timeline and not, you know, one of the 150 other things that happened in the game? I don't know. I just did. It's because you needed more things on Shaw

because we are basically a Shaw-centered podcast, and she didn't have a great game. I feel like, so I'm going to have to be the one to say it. No? She's just kind of chilling out there. Yeah, I mean, I don't think an all touches comp would be very, very flattering for Shaw in this match. Okay. I'm not worried about it.

I'm not either. I'm not even honest, but yeah, this wasn't one that is going to, like, go on a reel. Right at the end of regulation, Brian Reed, scissor tackles Rodman. I have no idea why she did that at that point in the game, but it was determined to be a penalty, and Morgan laces it in down to the keepers left, wearing the number seven, which she said on social media felt very weird to her,

that she was not wearing number 13. But, you know, just be grateful that you're there, Alex. How about that? Oh, man. She wasn't complaining. I'm just joking around. She wasn't complaining about the number thing at all. No, she seems to be handling all this very gracefully

to take an alternate's invitation and accept that and join the camp late. Yeah. Not getting to start. We'll see how much she ends up playing or if she gets any starts in the group stage. But again, we know who she is. We know she can definitely be still an effective player,

even if she's not our preferred number nine. Just a third. I mean, if we know that we know that we're certainly going to be needing to find multiple number nines, because Alex Morgan is not going to be, not going to be probably ever back to like, you know, 2018 Alex Morgan, 2019 Alex Morgan. And we're not entirely sure what her level is in 2024. No. Well, it is just, you know, probably just a 30-minute drive for her to get to the stadium.

So it does work. Her coming in late worked out really well. Last action of the game, clever quick set piece on the ground in the 98th minute from Nicewanger to Morgan. Morgan gets a good shot from eight yards out. It just happens to hit it right at the keeper. But I like the little training ground plan there. Do you think Morgan is going to stay with the team or do you think she's going to stay at her own place?

Because all their games are in the same venue, right? Where's her place? Like La Jolla or something? I don't know. I don't know. I know. I'll have to figure that out. Go to the county assessor's website.

No, I won't do that. I assume she's going to stay with the team, right? Or does she get special privileges because she has a daughter? I don't know. I think she could probably just bring the daughter with and they could all stay with the team together. Yeah. So anything we love?

learned from this game that we can carry forward in our understanding of this team and its future? Effective use of player profiles from Twyla slash shadow coaching from Emma. Definitely the mentality was find it on the ground, which I think, find solutions on the ground, which I think we can fully credit to Lindsay Horan. And then... People are mad at her, man. That's not going away.

I don't, again, I don't care. Wait till she says something vaguely Republican. It's going to be, oh my goodness, it's over. If she's part of this thing where everyone's looking for these soccer solutions, then they're all heroes, and she gets to be included in that. So will we always wonder why it didn't happen starting in 2022? Yes, yes, we will. And again, it does make, like it makes me so curious whether the three-year,

of just smashing it into the mixer was literally like instructed or if that's just what they set what the team settled on in the absence of instructions but like very clearly we have players who will pass the ball around so that's my big takeaway

and then can we keep that going against teams that are much better than Dominican Republic but still not as good as we are yeah yeah I'm more I'm even more excited about the purse plan fullback plan because I think it gives us so many options

and different ways to attack even against a good team. Yeah, incomplete for Albert. Everyone else. Yeah. Albert is, you know, I'm very curious about Albert and didn't like what I saw that much. I mean, she was okay.

She's fine. She's got a great, like, physical profile for a midfielder that covers a lot of ground, you know? Like, she's quick. She's got some pop in her step. and she's pretty strong in the tackle. But I worry about her in possession, both the way she distributes and the way she moves the ball,

moves off the ball. And Moultrie was okay. Oh, go ahead. Yeah, do Maltry. Happy for Moultry. I still have to probably give her an incomplete because we just don't know, you know. Yeah, nobody's getting a complete,

even Midge with what she was doing in this game. Like, this doesn't mean that this is what we're going to see from her every single time out. But the other thing that we're going to be really watching carefully for this tournament is versatility, because as everyone keeps talking about, the Olympic rosters are 18 players, tiny, tiny rosters. So the fact that you have like a midge purse who can play fullback and winger goes a long way.

The fact that I know this isn't everyone's favorite player, but like an Emily Sonet who can play fullback or centerback or, you know, center mid. these, you know, different roles, even within one position, that can go a long way for an Olympic roster. Casey Krueger, who we might see in this next game, Crystal Dunn, all of those players who can either play right and left or fullback and midfield, that's a big deal for the Paris games coming up. Nice, Wenger has some versatility, too.

You know, she can play some, she can play in the midfield if she needs to. and, you know, as we mentioned, does a lot of stuff on dead balls and so forth. All right. Well, the next game is, let me look at my calendar here. Friday night. Bedtime Friday. Friday night, 1015, Eastern Time. Should be great.

That's against Argentina, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it wouldn't surprise me if we see over under, I'll put it seven and a half. changes for that game. Okay. And by the way, Mexico and Argentina played earlier on Tuesday night last night and to a scoreless draw, zero zero. So we're at the top of the group. What do you think about that? What do you think about that? We're in a good position to go through. I think three, up to three teams from each group can go through. I think we'll make it. Yeah, we should. We should make it.

Check out our Patreon. The link is in the show notes. Shout out to Cammy. I got to mention this. Cammy Shulton, who sent me an email this morning. She heard that we don't get a lot of emails on the Monday review. And she said, hey, I heard you don't get many emails. I'm bored waiting for my train.

I thought I dropped the pot an email. And she asked us to do more women's soccer coverage. And I told her, hey, I'm working on the recap of the game. last night right now. So shout out Cammy. Appreciate that email. If anybody else wants to send me a nice email, only nice ones. Scuffpod at gmail.com. Scuffed pod. Does Google have a filter that just filters out, so you only get the nice ones? Yeah. Does that technology exist? As soon as it exists, I'm getting it. Anything else? No? I don't think so. I think that's the,

Dominican Republic match. Yep. All right. Hey, thanks Greg. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.