USA Defeats North Korea in Group Stage 2-0

The United States women's national team defeated North Korea in the teams' opening Women's World Cup game in Germany. The US was led by goal scorers Lauren Cheney and Rachel Buehler.

The US started out playing a short passing possession game. In the first half, they struggled to execute offensively against the high pressure North Korean defense. Poor first touches and sloppy passes by the US gave North Korea a few goal scoring opportunities, but Hope Solo did well to protect the goal. The first half of the game was evenly matched and it looked like either team could win.

The second half was a different story. The US seemed to realize that they were unable to break the North Korean defense by playing short passes and started to play a mixed approach, favoring the long ball. North Korea suffered from fatigued and did not put the US under intense pressure as was the case in the first half. This allowed the US to move the ball up field without being penalized for their poor ball control.

In fact, the two goals were products of offensive movements that started from a long ball down the field. On the first goal, Abby Wambach made a run behind the defense onto a long ball played into the corner. She did a cutback that gave her the time and space to get off a cross to Cheney who scored with a fantastic header.

The second goal was a result of a long ball that came off of Korea for the US corner. After a few missed tackles and missed opportunities for clearances, the US made Korea pay with a slotted shot by Buehler.

This game showed that if the USA wants to win, they will need to stick with what they know: the long ball offense. It is clear that the team doesn't have the technical ability to play possession and, when they play against fit and athletic teams, the US will pay for their poor technical ability.

Watching the EPSN post game commentary the last 24 hours has been very amusing as well. The American announcers all ignore the fact that the US won because North Korea was not as fit as they should be at the international level and don't mention that the US scored off of long balls as they failed at playing possession. The non-American announcer was the only one to cite North Korea's lack of fitness in the 2nd half as the turning point for the US, but the other announcers disagreed and credited the success with the US. I thought it was rather funny.

here are highlights of the two goals, via youtube.com:

Liverpool Sign Henderson from Sunderland

22 year old Jordan Henderson has completed a summer transfer from Sunderland to Liverpool. Henderson enjoyed a good run of form during the season, but the transfer of Sunderland's number one striker, Darren Bent, saw the team struggle to gain results. His transfer fee may reportedly rise to £15 million depending on the clauses included in the transfer contract.

I think that Henderson is a great transfer. When he was playing with a great striker, he excelled. Luckily, Liverpool have Suarez and (hopefully) Carrol will hit form, which will give Henderson some attacking outlets to play the ball to. Henderson is a young midfielder with a lot of upside and I expect him to grow a lot under Kenny Dalglish.

Here are some videos of Henderson in action, via youtube.com, that highlight his touch, finishing, and passing abilities.

 

Adidas reveals adiPower Predator

I couldn't resist posting about this. I am literally drooling at the idea of wearing this shoe and may have to start playing soccer again as an excuse to purchase it.

Adidas has released images of the newest installation to its Predator line: the adiPower. Its initial release will be featured in two colorways (black/white/red and blue/electricty) and is currently up for pre-order at prices ranging from $200-250.

In my opinion, the adiPower brings Adidas back at the forefront of football boots. It is absolutely stunning and I am excited to try the technology out for myself. My only worry is that it is not very durable. Only time will tell.

Read about the details over at Soccer Bible.

Dalglish Signs 3 Year Deal

It is official: Kenny Dalglish is Liverpool FC's new manager.

This is not a surprise as Kenny has led a turnaround at the club, saving the Reds from the bottom half of the table (at one point it seemed possible that we could be relegated) and bringing them up to 5th place. The culture of the club has changed and its nice to see that he can stay and keep it going.

This is probably the biggest "no-brainer" decision that the Fenway Sports Group has had to make since taking over Liverpool. The future is exciting and I look forward to Dalglish taking us to bigger and better things.

Read more about this story at Liverpool FC's official website.

Liverpool to Sign Kit Deal With Warrior

Wait, what? Weird.

Liverpool are going to switch kit suppliers from Adidas to Warrior, an American based company known for its lacrosse gear.

Warrior is a subsidiary of New Balance

The Details of the deal are that Liverpool will sign a £25 million pound deal with Warrior that will start for the 2012-13 season. It is interesting to note that Liverpool have not won a European cup while wearing an Adidas kit, so... maybe this will change our luck!

As a business major, I have to admit that this worries me from a branding and distribution standpoint. Adidas has both strong brand recognition and a worldwide distribution system that helped make Liverpool the fourth highest selling football jersey in the world. I don't know much about Warrior or New Balance, but I think that says a lot about its brand visibility.

I've read comments from Europeans who have never heard of Warrior, so that shows that Warrior doesn't have worldwide brand equity and that they do not sell their product worldwide and don't have the infrastructure to distribute Liverpool jerseys internationally at a low cost.

In the end, I don't think jersey sales have the same impact as £25 million injected directly into the club on a yearly basis, so the benefits outweigh the costs.

Read more about it at the UK's The Daily Mail.

Terp's Head Coach Search: Moving to Plan C, D, and So On

Arizona's Sean Miller, Maryland's number one target in its search for Gary William's replacement, has turned down the opportunity to be the head coach of the Terps. Initially it was being reported that Miller would be revealed as Maryland's new head coach on Monday. This rejection is a major blow to the search process as Maryland's athletic director, Kevin Anderson, had to move onto plan B: Butler's Brad Stevens.

Things went from bad to worse when Butler's coaching prodigy, Brad Stevens, also turned down Maryland to remain in Indiana. Now on to Plan C, D, and probably plan E. This is pathetic.

Not only are we having to settle for a lesser-known coach, everyone knows that we are getting turned down left and right. This makes our basketball program look like a joke.

Plan C is Notre Dame's Mike Brey. He's from Maryland and has found success at Notre Dame, but isn't a bomb hire that Stevens or Miller would have been. This is serious business, because if we don't get a respectable coach we risk losing some of the most talented recruits we've gotten to sign letters of intent in a while.

One has to wonder if Gary Williams was really planning to retire, or is it just a coincidence that we get a new athletic director and instantly the coaches of our revenue sports (that support the other 25 sports that don't bring in any money) are fired or retiring. What a coincidence that is. Only time will tell us if these changes are positive for the program.

Wonder what he is thinking right now...

If these coaching replacements are busts, Kevin Anderson will be affecting more than just football and basketball. He'll be affecting every sport. In the event our two big sports don't bring in as much money as in the past, that revenue lossed means we won't be able to fully support the 25 other sports. Let's keep our fingers crossed that that doesn't happen, even though I've already heard rumors on campus that some varsity sports will be cut next year.

Do I trust Kevin Anderson to make an exciting hire? No. See Randy Edsall. Do I trust Kevin Anderson to make a good hire? To be determined. I'm going to wait to see his new coaches in action over the next several seasons.

Gary Williams to Retire

Gary Williams has announced his retirement from coaching after 22 years as head coach of the University of Maryland's men's basketball team.

Terp's head basketball coach Gary William's signature fist pump

There will be a press conference tomorrow, May 6th, at 1 PM in the Comcast Center. 

More information can be found on the official press release on the University of Maryland's official webpage.