Troubling issues persist despite USA's hard-fought win over Australia
WINNIPEG, Manitoba --
Hope Solo had a hell of a game against Australia in the United States women's national team's World Cup opener Monday, making at least two saves that would have been goals on almost any other keeper in the world.
But swatting back blistering shots was only part of her work. After the U.S. win, their goalkeeper also provided the best postgame analysis about what the team must do next.
"We have to come out with a sense of confidence on the ball,'' Solo said, slowly enunciating her words as if to make sure everyone, including her teammates, gets what she's saying. "I thought (against Australia) we went direct, we did not play through the midfield, not just offensively but defensively, we kind of bypassed the midfield. We have to tighten up that and get them out of shape and hopefully our set pieces are better offensively and defensively.''
Solo should know. From where she stood Monday night, she had one of the clearest views of the anxious effort so many of her teammates put forth. Not that the U.S. was the only World Cup team to experience opening night jitters; host team Canada was even more out of sync in its game Saturday against China, requiring a referee's whistle to give star striker Christine Sinclair the chance to win it for Canada on a penalty in extra time.
The U.S. were more game than that; however, outside of midfielder Megan Rapinoe's creatively classy pair of goals, and a keen assist by Sydney Leroux to feed Christen Press on the other U.S. goal, much of the rest of the match was way too often an unflattering over-reliance on the long ball.
On offense, the U.S. reliance on direct plays resulted in a whole lot of nothing. Abby Wambach was not able to get in good position to use her size, and the overdependence on this style allowed Australia a few chances to counterattack as the U.S. went too wide and too long too much. The U.S. went too long too often not only on offense, they also tried too often to just boot the ball out of its defensive end. The lone goal by Australian Lisa De Vanna was a direct result of a ball that the U.S. defense did not handle with any control.
The game seemed to highlight the old-school tendencies that have retarded the U.S. team's progress toward a more technical and tactical execution of strategy. In other words: The U.S. remained untracked and looking slightly stale on the world stage when so many other national teams participating here have shown up with thrilling speed and style (Nigeria) or stalwart tactical firepower (Germany).
The U.S. main threat, it says, is its depth. It is also looking to continue to peak -- which means it has until the Round of 16, because after that, all bets are off given the competition in this World Cup. The U.S. may feel it has time to grow into this tournament -- and certainly the three points they earned Monday will help ease a little tension -- but it didn't sound as if anyone thinks the U.S. is close to hitting its stride, if there is a stride it can hit, especially since striker Alex Morgan is still limited to the number of minutes she can deliver.
On Monday, Australia gave the U.S. a run for its money at Winnipeg Stadium, and now the Americans face Sweden here on Friday and Nigeria in Vancouver on June 16. This was billed as the "Group of Death" and so far, it's abundantly clear that this round isn't for the weak or worried.
In the other Group D match earlier in the day, Nigeria and Sweden played to a eye-opening 3-3 draw. Nigeria ignited the crowd at Winnipeg Stadium by erasing a 2-0 deficit in the second half and then again equalizing the game late after the Swedes had made it 3-2. That result has also ratcheted up the tension, since Sweden will come into Friday's game even more eager to try to secure more points.
As it stands now, the U.S. has three points and is alone in first place in Group D, followed by Sweden and Nigeria with one point each. Australia is last with zero points.
Given the turf and the stated mission of using the entire 23-player roster in this World Cup, it seems unlikely that Wambach will get a second start on Friday against Sweden. However, the all-time leading goal scorer continues to warn that the Americans' don't have to play the most beautiful soccer in the world in order to win -- like France.
"I'm confident that every single player on this roster is going to contribute in some way, shape or form to help us hopefully win this World Cup. It's not going to always be pretty and that's just the moral of this story. We're a work in progress and hopefully we'll be playing our best soccer by the end,'' she said.
For starters, Wambach stood firm that results were what mattered.
"There's something to be said about being able to gain three points,'' she said. "What a lot of people don't understand is that (coach) Jill (Ellis) can literally look down the bench and put one person on and the game will completely change. (On Monday) she put Tobin (Heath) and she put Alex Morgan in and they come in and provide us with a little bit of calm when we needed it, a little bit of ball control when we needed it.''
The U.S. are relying on their depth and ability to change personnel as the games and conditions warrant. But they continue to have difficulty in the midfield, where Lauren Holiday and Carli Lloyd -- both natural center midfielders -- have struggled to find a way to give the U.S. team an engine that can control tempo and, as Solo says, have more confidence on the ball.
