USWNT - Route One

I've been watching the USA matches in this Women's World Cup and I've struggled to understand why US Soccer is marketing this team as "the greatest team you've never heard of".

They look so disjointed. Sure Abby Wambach is one of the top three players in the world, Kristine Lily is a legend, and there are other outstanding players in the squad. Yet, when I watch them play, I miss seeing the dynamic flowing soccer of previous years.

Then I read these quotes from Coach Greg Ryan and it all made sense & it saddened me:

"Back then, you could get away with playing little passes all over the field and have success doing it. But in the modern game, a team that just knocks the ball around the middle of the park is going to get killed doing it," continued Ryan, who replaced 1991 world champion-turned-coach April Heinrichs in 2005 and signalled a shift from the technique-driven short-passing game to a more physical and direct style.

"If you spend all your time trying to look pretty, you're going to end up with big problems the other way," said Ryan, who lined up alongside Franz Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto in his playing days with New York Cosmos. "We try to attack, exploit the space and turn it into goals," he said. "This is the only way to play now. Look at what happened to China when they were risking things right in front of their own goal against Brazil. They got stuffed 4-0."

http://www.fifa.com/womenworldcup/news/newsid=598139.html#direct+us+reflect+realities

The US teams of the late '90s and early part of this decade knocked the ball around, made runs and moved the ball from flanks to the inside. There was flair in their game.

Watching the US employ this route one attack today reminds me of how we sneered at Norway's & Canada's simple attack back in the day. Truly sad and likely a losing proposition should Abby Wambach get injured or she gets shut down by an equally physical central defender like England's Faye White.