As pointed out by a BY'r (forget who), the USWNT go up against #3 France on their home soil. This will tell us alot about our team.
Oh well. France shreds our defense with flank speed. 1-0 at 10' mark.
I think the US was shoddy today. The former USWNT player/announcers, kept making excuses; not in condition; team hadn't played together in a month or two; missing stars; home game for France, too many escargots, etc.
The fact is; we had a lot of world class players on the pitch, and couldn't achieve or maintain possession. We had no attack at all, and rarely earned a corner. Mallory's goal in OT was nice work, though. But, up until that point, she had not had her usual brilliant game. Fox was a major liability at left back ( isn't she still in
college ?), but the experience will serve her development. Great to see Davidson back, who is a quality player at that spot. Using Dunn where they did was a bit of an experiment. It didn't yield much. We didn't use ( or have available ) many of our top players, that is true. Rosey LaVelle, for example, is one of our best. Not to mention Ertz, Rapino, Tobin Heath, and O'Hara. Nonetheless, the team's structure seemed way off kilter. At times, we just looked like we were kicking the ball around willy-nilly. Its was far too difficult getting the ball into the offensive end. Also, I am not certain we have a world class goal-keeper. She made some nice saves, but looked out of position for a couple of key moments. We have already seen a number of " better" ones on other teams.
This pasting will be like a cold shower for the US team, who may have grown over-confident due to recent 10 game winning streak. Many against less than "top 10" world class competition. And Jill will have many teaching moments. As a final thought; I hope Jill has the soccer smarts to know how to defeat the French styles. The French side seemed completely in control on offense and defense. And it was difficult to note a tactical response by the US.
On to Spain.