Women's FIFA World Cup

[M2]

Injuries and red cards may have won the World Cup for the U.S. If Rampone and Boxx had been healthy, we may not have seen Johnston and Brian. If Holliday and Rapinoe hadn't been out for the Colombia game, then who knows if they sort out the midfield. Ultimately it was a throng of younger players who made the difference.

Give Ellis credit, she chucked Plan A, which was built around her forwards. When Press, LeRoux and Wambach were ineffective, they got sent to the bench. Ellis found the right role for Lloyd, who was rough in the group stages. She hit paydirt with Brian as the DM and Heath on the right wing. That was a classic case of a team finding itself during a tournament.

[IslandRed]

Yep. Sometimes it takes a little luck to find the right combinations. With so many forwards to choose from and Alex Morgan being injured for much of the run-up to the tournament, it probably never occurred to Ellis to try a one-striker formation until she had to game plan for Germany. The Morgan Brian move turned out to be a masterstroke, especially since there were other options involving more experienced players. It was no sure thing; like every midfielder not named Boxx, she's an offensive-oriented player by nature. And as great as she was earlier in the tournament, the last couple of games were a reminder than Johnston is not a center back by trade.

[Chip R]

Does anyone think that the sun shining right into the keeper's eyes has something to do with those 4 first half goals?

[Slyder]

Does anyone think that the sun shining right into the keeper's eyes has something to do with those 4 first half goals?

The really poor defense (especially on set pieces) is what directly attributed to 2 of those first 4 goals and a really poor clear on another. When you give players the caliber (World Cup Final) the ball inside 10 yards... you're going to get goals more often than not. The fourth one is on the keeper for stumbling a bit and being too far off her line, and great vision by Lloyd to see that.

I don't think there was/is many goal keepers who could have stopped many of the 7 goals scored by both teams (men or women). The 2nd Japan goal was bad luck of how it hit off the American defender and that took a lot of luck to not hit someone else on the way).

[M2]

The 2nd Japan goal was bad luck of how it hit off the American defender and that took a lot of luck to not hit someone else on the way).

I was surprised Sawa wasn't called for a foul on that play. Johnston went to head the ball and Sawa slammed into her without even coming close to the ball. Without the human projectile in her side, Johnston clears that ball.

[Chip R]

I was surprised Sawa wasn't called for a foul on that play. Johnston went to head the ball and Sawa slammed into her without even coming close to the ball. Without the human projectile in her side, Johnston clears that ball.

Do they usually call a lot of fouls on plays like that? Kind of like in basketball, especially the NBA,you can get away with quite a bit in the paint. Or in the NHL where there's a lot of pushing and shoving and cross-checking that doesn't get called. Also, isn't Sawa a superstar? In most sports, again the NBA, superstars rarely get called for fouls.

[M2]

Do they usually call a lot of fouls on plays like that? Kind of like in basketball, especially the NBA,you can get away with quite a bit in the paint. Or in the NHL where there's a lot of pushing and shoving and cross-checking that doesn't get called. Also, isn't Sawa a superstar? In most sports, again the NBA, superstars rarely get called for fouls.

They tend to call blatant shoves and elbows in the box. A couple of things that make this one different is Sawa innovated and hurled herself backwards into Johnston, also it caused Johnston to misplay the ball rather than miss it completely. So it wasn't your standard in-the-box foul. Add in that Sawa is a superstar and that the score was 4-1 and that probably explains why the ref swallowed her whistle. A 2-1 game and she might have called the foul.

Had that been in a men's game, it would have touched off a minimum of two minutes of histrionics and arguments. In lower profile leagues it might have resulted in a fistfight. Sawa also flirted with a red card when she kicked through the back of Abby Wambach's leg to prevent a breakaway. She played an extremely cynical game.