OT: Soccer - USWNT vs Japan Game 2 Recap
Another 2-0 win for the US. Could easily have been 3 or more, with all the opportunites in the 2nd half.
Same starting lineup as Saturday. Possession was much better, didn't see all those turnovers like last game. We had earlier scoring opportunities, especially around the 15' mark, when we had a free kick and two corners one after the other.
The first goal came in the 27' as midfielder Heather O'Reilly attacked from the right wing, beat her defender baseline and passed to a wide open Amy Rodriguez, who had made a run down the center, and when O'Reilly went baseline, drifted back to open a passing lane, and the Japanese defense didn't stay with her.
Japan attacked by trying to get a player behind the defense. They had a bunch of offsides. Finally at the 34' they had a player running with speed at the D and a well-timed pass that would have been a great scoring chance had Hope Solo not come off her line, slid and grabbed the ball near the top of the box, just beating the player. Overall, despite winning four early corner kicks, they didn't threaten much, only mustering 3 shots, 2 on goal, for the game. If there wasn't a corner, they seemed to only have two players in an attack, their midfield failing to come up and support.
The second goal came in the 69' again with O'Reilly attacking down the right. She entered the right side of the box halfway down, then took a dribble diagonally to the center, and ripped a shot to the far side.
Alex Morgan subbed for Amy Rodriguez at 61'. Soon after a long pass got her in behind the defense, all alone. The goalie came all the way out of the box to challenge, but Alex won the ball. She could have tapped it into the empty net, but instead got casual and took an extra touch, enabling a defender to get back in time to slide and block the shot.
Midfielder Shannon Boxx looked much better this game, helping control play, and even getting a couple one-on-one chances attacking in the box. Unfortunately, she didn't connect with anyone on those passes.
Amy LePeilbet, back from an ankle injury, subbed in at the half, replacing Stephanie Cox at left back. She looked strong back there. Lori Lindsey subbed in at 61' for Shannon Boxx, Lauren Cheney at 71' for Heather O'Reilly, and Tobin Heath at 83' for Megan Rapinoe.
Lindsay Tarpley tore her right ACL (same knee as in 2009) in Saturday's game and is out. Final roster isn't due until June 16, so Coach Sundhage has some time to decide on a replacement.
Next game June 5 @ 2PM ET vs Mexico.
for soccer right now (she's seven, ambidextrous, can boom that ball with both feet, and would have me lob headers to her all day long if I would). We have been talking up the coming world championships in our house.
Thanks for making mgoblog that bit more mgomultidimensional. Hopefully we can get some live threads going during the games.
Sorry, I don't know about streams.
The US Soccer site is a good place to go for info. Under the Teams menu you'll find the US Women page, as well as US Men, and the different age bracket teams. At the bottom the WNT menu has the 2011 World Cup page and The WNT Blog.
Here's FIFA's 2011 World Cup page.
There's the ESPN Soccer page, though there's a lot more coverage of men's soccer.
As far as "making mgoblog that bit more mgomultidimensional," you're welcome, but if Brian hadn't posted about the MNT on the main page, I wouldn't have tried making a board post about the WNT. I wonder what the participation in world cup live threads will be with games being (mostly) at 9AM and 12PM ET, though it does start on a Sunday (6/26) and the second US game vs Columbia is Sat 7/2 @ 12PM ET.
those times are a bit problematic. I'll bet it will be possible to find them saved, even at the team site. At least some highlights should be available for last night soon, I'll bet.