Leszek (Shek) Borkowski

Canada put up a good fight and rode their luck at times in Portland last night but in the end USA exposed their flaws. With the Canadian midfield not putting enough pressure on the ball and lapses in concentration, the US defeated Canada3:0 (2 goals from Wambach and 1 from Morgan).
From the opening whistle USA monopolized possession and Boxx, Lindsey and later Cheney were permitted to sit deep, receive, connect with Rapinoe, Rodriguez and O’Reilly and dictate. In the first 45 Rapinoe had easy time as Canadians didn’t know how to deal with her and who should pick her up.
Given time to develop, Rapinoe can become effective in her withdrawn striker role, playing between the lines.
Playing Rodriguez, whose strength is her pace and movement off the shoulder of the last defender, on the left side is an experiment. To be effective there long-term, Rodriguez will need to dramatically improve her service or future opponents will recognize her tendency to come inside, and her impact will be minimized.
Pia Sundhage’s willingness to give young talent opportunity to play is encouraging. Heath, O’Hara, Morgan, Cheney and others are the future and with each match they are gaining confidence and are making it difficult for veteran players to claim their place in the starting 11.
One additional player, who could benefit from playing in international friendlies is Engen. Athletic, she needs to learn when to go tight and when to drop off but in the post-2012 she could make a good center back partner for Sauerbrunn. Giving her experience now, will only benefit USA in the future.

On paper WNY may have a better squad than Philadelphia but in Paul Riley Philly have an astute coach who knows how to setup his teams.
Philadelphia will get an opportunity to show that teams with the biggest stars but average tactically, will not always beat well organized teams, such as Philadelphia is. With commitment, pressing, running, and clinical finishing, Philadelphia do have a chance of upsetting Marta & Co.
The title match, I believe, will be decided by three things, the midfield battle, Seger vs. Buczkowski, and how Riley chooses to defend flank play.

I expect that Riley’s match plan will be to stay compact, defend low, to have outside midfielders track back to help defend in the wide low areas, and to play WNY on the counter.
Marta is an ace and containing her will be priority one. As a full-back you try to make your opponent do what she doesn’t like to do. If she likes to go down the wing, you’ll cut off the room out wide and force her inside. With Marta its different. Show her outside and she’s got the pace to beat you; show her inside and she will combine and create problems. Riley, I expect, will use the full-back and midfielder in tandem to protect Johnson and to contain Marta. If Marta does get the ball, the midfielder comes across so the space both inside and outside Marta can be closed down. He will probably do the same on opposite side to protect Robinson.
One aspect of the way WNY 3 forwards play, which may help Philly, is that they tend go inside and to play narrow. Next weekend if WNY isolates Marta in wider areas, it could be a long day for Johnson and for Philly defenders.

The Independence midfield will need to aggressively press Bock, Seger and Edwards and compress space. Buczkowski will probably have the responsibility to track Seger and is good enough to contain her. Seger, when WNY in possession, has a free role and makes frequent runs into opponents penalty box. She also combines well with Sinclair and will need extra attention from Buczkowski. Edwards and Bock are support midfielders and are available to receive but are much more conservative. Buquete will need to be helped by one of the forwards in putting Bock and Edwards under pressure. If Philadelphia just let WNY midfield 3 monopolize possession in front of them, Philly will be in trouble.

Going forward, Philly will have to depend on Di Martino penetrating down the flank and on Buquete delivering balls for Rodriguez to attack.
WNY’s attack-minded Ali Riley loves to go upfield and join in quickly and she has proved herself a threat going forward. But that creates openings. Rodriguez will need discipline to make make her runs, drifting out from center to the right. That way she can exploit the space Riley vacates.
Buquete, Rodriguez and Kai have the ability to combine and to score against WNY and if Buquete capitalizes on her opportunities, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Independence win this one.

Thinking about what Atlanata and Sky Blue need to do this off-season.
Defensively, Atlanta isn’t bad. With everyone healthy their back four can compete. Playing Chalupny in her natural position would only strengthen Atlanta defensively and add to their attacking options.
Atlanta’s difficulties come from poor midfield and it needs revamping. Assuming that the US will qualify for London, LLoyd will not be available much next season and her league performances in the last 3 years coupled with her salary, should make her surplus to requirements at any prudent club.
Adding an experienced striker can have immediate effect on Atlanta’s poor scoring record.

As for the Sky Blue, they need inside help and an experienced international center back who can organize and who understands how to control space would help. They have acceptable midfield/forward personnel and Adriana, with one season under her belt, will be more productive in 2012.

The first task for Sundhage, as she prepares for Olympic qualifiers, will be to not allow the lingering euphoria from its dramatic win over Brazil to cloud reality.
I have previously asked how long this current USA squad can continue to perform at the top level, with the average age of the long serving players considerably higher than that of close rivals. At London Olympics Rampone will be 37, LePeibelt 30, Boxx 35, Lloyd 30, Wambach 32, Lindsey 32.
With the intensity and leadership of Wambach, it’s unlikely that the US will have any trouble keeping the hunger and the excitement, but how will the veterans cope with the rigors of another year and can the youngsters continue their technical and tactical development on par with the best and brighest in rest of the world?
The team had just finished second in the World Cup and the ever optimistic Sundhage will surely remain convinced that her current squad can deliver gold medal in London. She is unlikely to institute major rebuilding in the next 12 months, but even if she wanted to her options would be limited.
What US players, at this point, have adequate international experience to replace Boxx or Lloyd in midfield? There just are not many, if any, and its not Sundhage’s fault.
Are WPS, WPSL, W-League and universities developing an American Necib to replace Lloyd? How about a Sakaguchi or a Kulig ready to step into Boxx’s shoes?
France’s Necib has a very similar role and responsibilities with Lyon as with France. There is continuity of approach and methodology.
What is Tobin Heath’s position and role with her club and when she represents the US?
Is there a cooperation between the WNT and American clubs in grooming future national team players? Is there a common vision?
Nobody questions the resolve and athleticism of this team, its superb. But as France, Japan and other countries have emphatically demonstrated the future of women’s football will be based on technical mastery, superb positional play, intelligent spacing, creative movement and play between the lines, and savvy control of tempo.
Direct play and enthusiasm still have its role in the women’s game but most international coaches understand the trend and are preparing accordingly.

I will copy what I wrote after the US was defeated by Sweden.
“Once again, this result was not unexpected. Casual fans tend to overlook poor performances, such as v Colombia and Korea, as long as goals scored were spectacular. Few noticed that all three goals v COL were results of naïve mistakes by COL not of creativity or sustained possession and patient build up of the US team. The immediacy of Twitter in particular delivers purely emotional responses from fans and very little of realistic analysis. The quality of ESPN coverage, the sound bites, the highlights, cover-up the deficiencies in the team’s play.”

Constant approval, without objective criticism, devalues.
The US media and Twitter have collectively created expectations based not on technical and tactical reality but on make belief world in which desire and optimism are omni important. The exaggerated quality of the US WNT play created by emotional Twitter posts can distort objectivity and evaluation in ways that are hard to overcome.
In this current love fest, devoid of any rationality, it is unpopular to say it but USA are average and exciting match endings can’t obscure this fact. While there is no disputing that USA are hard working and committed, that they are athletic and have a great ‘never die attitude’, they simply were outplayed by decent Sweden, average Brazil and good France. Against Brazil and France, Abby Wambach has single-handedly dragged the US into the final. In this patriotic time it is unpopular to state the obvious and of all media pundits, only Brandi Chastain briefly addressed the US vulnerabilities. All others are merely cheer-leading.

So, can USA win this one?
After five, average performances, athleticism, team spirit, media frenzy, and Wambach will not be enough.
Japan’s technique and composure to beat USA.