Good morning everyone. The Olympics started in full on Friday night, but of course the soccer has been going on since the middle of last week. We start under the Olympic rings with some soccer news from the weekend:
2024 Women’s Olympic Soccer – USA 4-1 Germany: The Americans win with a vintage performance (SSFC)
The USWNT look great against Germany, winning 4-1 to book a place in the quarterfinals. They finish up the group stage on Wednesday against Australia.
Olympics: Canada docked 6 points, coaches banned over spy scandal (ESPN)
The Canadian drone scandal received some immediate punishment over the weekend, with the team being docked 6 points in the Olympic group stage standings, with the federation fined 200K Swiss francs, and head coach Bev Priestman and assistants Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander have been suspended from soccer for a year. Canada did beat France over the weekend so they now have a chance to still get out of the group.
A nice story on how Loudoun United has helped Griffin Yow and Kevin Parades develop into Olympians. Love seeing them both get so much playing time during these Summer Games!
Mak Whitham makes Cavan Sullivan look like old man, debuts at barely 14 (Pro Soccer Wire)
Gotham made some history late last week, signing Mak Whitham to a professional contract a couple of days before she turned 14. She made her pro debut yesterday against the Spirit, become the youngest professional player in American soccer history.
The Washington Spirit lost their Summer Cup match to Gotham FC. They are next up against the Chicago Red Stars down in Richmond on Wednesday.
DC United won their Leagues Cup match at Atlanta United on Friday night. However, their next match that was slated to be at Audi Field on Wednesday has to be moved:
This was absolutely avoidable by the team, and hopefully they recognize the consequences of having too many events on the field makes the field unsuitable for play.
Finally, Lewis O’Brien is coming back to America…no, not to play for DC United. He’s going to the West Coast, unfortunately:
Enjoy the Olympics!
So, Vlatko didn’t have Swanson, and that is a mitigating factor in the WC performance. Another is that some of the burgeoning talent had two years to develop.
The rest is less kind, as a comparison between his team instruction and Emma’s.
Trin, Swanson, and Smith are all geniuses in their own right. Together in a game like this, it’s insane.
Naomi Girma… I’ve never seen a defender opposing forwards avoid more. Nuff said.
Naeher might be forgotten in this game, but she saved the US from going down a goal early, and made the best of some dicey situations otherwise.
Frankly, I was expecting a draw, but Hayes’ decision to rest her forwards in the second half against Zambia is maybe the most “I’m not as smart as this coach” moment I’ve ever had, personally, and I’ll admit I’ve done some arm chair coaching in my time.
Small side note, but seems Horan is still figuring out her role in the team, so there’s, scarily, room for improvement.
That sucks about O’Brien. But that indicates that his experience in MLS (previously) was positive for him. Too bad about DCU–Jona takes his first loss with the Spirit. I wonder where we can get more details about that match.
Glad to see Yow and Paredes getting PT and having an impact on the US Men’s Olympic side. And congrats to the USWNT for their beatdown of Germany. I’ll add something I haven’t seen elsewhere: there was a lot of praise for Naeher for some good saves. But frankly, I saw make a very indecisive misplay on a header in the first 30 minutes and then Gwinn’s shot was terrific, I agree with Foudy that Naeher should have done a better job with it.
Last of all, I love Canada, love Canadians, they’re great allies and lovely people. And, I”m going to be angry if the Canadian women advance. Maybe no-one showed them actual drone footage. But this (Canada doing drones) has been going on for at least 4 years with both the men’s and women’s programs. It’s inconceivable that it wouldn’t benefit a team in some ways–seeing their plans for corners and free kicks, seeing how they set up their press.
The US Women lose to France 31-14, but score the first points in Women’s 7s that France has yielded. Okinmba just destroyed us and scored 4 tries for France. Good news is both sides were already qualified for the Quarterfinals this evening. The US will face Great Britain in a rematch of a Quarterfinal match in the last Summer Olympics that the US lost 21-12.
The US women get revenge and downwd Great Britain 17-7. They will face New Zealand in the semifinals while Canada takes on Australia. It’s the Pacific 4 for the podium just at 7s instead of 15s.
The debacle with the condition of the playing surface at Audi Field is an embarrassment. Hopefully the FO learns some lessons. We’ll see.
I even applaud them for having lots of events and making use of the stadium, but yeah, they have to figure out the field. I know the Columbus grounds crew gets a lot of plaudits, and I look at them with envy, in addition to the rest of their organization, but I think a lot of it is just that the ground isn’t very good at Buzzard Point, and they can’t go deep under it to really strengthen things. So, they need to find a way to be gentle on it. A football team, three soccer teams, another football game or two in the fall, Capital Cup and USWNT matches, plus concerts…
I feel like it can be done, but as with so many things about this club, no one is really bothering to figure out how to do it with excellence.
As much as I enjoyed having Lewis O’Brien on the team, I’m willing to see what Boris Enow brings to the table before bemoaning missing out on him a second time. If nothing else, Enow is much more of a long-term answer than O’Brien is ever likely to be.
I think that, above all, Friday’s game showed us how much better this team is when playing out of a 4 man backline. Transition defense was still a bit off, but our movements were better and we did a much better job of possession with purpose. |
What remains to be seen is how Enow fits into the picture. Does he displace Peltola or Stroud in the midfield three? My guess is Stroud will move up and push Dajome to the bench, with KDP battling Badji for the other wing.
My hope is that would allow Dajome to be a bit more impactful. He’s incredibly energetic, and being able to come off the bench and run at tired legs from anywhere on the field should be a benefit.
Dajome has done some tireless running at wingback, but I’d wager moving him closer to goal will remind us of how mostly miss he is
He’s not the best in terms of the final ball, but his speed/aggression late in games could help win a lot of balls high up the field. Even if they don’t all translate to shots on goal it will help us close out games imo.