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:
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Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
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.
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