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Post by Soccerhouse on Feb 16, 2016 11:06:57 GMT -5
watched about 3/4 of the women vs puerto rico last night.
The player that stood out more than anyone in my opinion wasn't Dunn with her 5 goals, it was Pugh. She is technical as heck, can fly, and plays great ball after ball. The announcers compared her to press at 17, I never watched Press at 17, but I would think Pugh has the potential to be one of the greatest female players of all time. I know she is just 17, but wow. The announcers (JP and forgot who the other one was) were actually not giving her more credit, she clearly was the most skilled player on the pitch, and I would say even above Loyd. She gave loyd a gift in the box and loyd wanked it wide.
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Post by rifle on Feb 16, 2016 11:18:54 GMT -5
I only saw highlights but she is impressive. Just finishing high school, right? Awesome.
Makes me wonder how many on the male side would do better to skip college and go pro elsewhere, like most of the very best players around the world.
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Post by zizou on Feb 17, 2016 11:17:50 GMT -5
On the one hand, she is by far the most technically gifted player out there. This is plain to see. Horan is second to my eye. Different type of player obviously. They both have vision and understanding of game that does not seem to exist among the other players. Don't get me wrong, I mean, those other players are awesome physical specimens with amazing physical tools. But when you watch that team play "sophisticated soccer brains" is not the first thought that comes to mind.
On the other hand, I am not going to get too excited by watching these players against what are frankly soccer minnows. If they look the same against England, France, and Germany then I will be really excited.
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Post by zizou on Feb 23, 2016 21:08:21 GMT -5
I forgot to include Morgan Brian as another high soccer IQ technically gifted player. Easy to say after she won the Golden Ball obviously! She makes it look easy. Nothing flashy typically but she can be flashy if she wants. Lots of people in the media have already pointed this out, but against Canada the USWNT stopped playing long balls and ill fated through balls pretty early on in the match. When they started playing possession-oriented soccer against that bunch of thugs (sorry to any Canadians in the house), they generated lots of chances. I felt pretty good about their play. And the younger players were really responsible for the difference in style.
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Post by rifle on Feb 24, 2016 7:13:17 GMT -5
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Post by zizou on Feb 24, 2016 7:32:13 GMT -5
Yea so what they will do is institute what USSF considers a proven training platform that has resulted in the USMNT dropping in world ranking from about 16 to about 32 over its life. I think a standardized training approach is a bad idea for multiple reasons. That is not what produced Brian, Horan, and Pugh. Oh. And the Canada coach has a visual perception problem.
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Post by rifle on Feb 24, 2016 21:42:16 GMT -5
The story I attempted to emphasize in the link is the coming change in player type for the WNT.
I have no idea what the female DA situation will bring.
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Post by zizou on Feb 25, 2016 7:09:52 GMT -5
The story I attempted to emphasize in the link is the coming change in player type for the WNT. I have no idea what the female DA situation will bring. Fair enough. There is going to be a female DA? Who knew?
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