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Message: [QUOTE="Forza Azzurri, post: 4719417, member: 1452"] I have now watched a number of games and am stunned at the lack of technical quality of the US players compared to other teams. Cannot play out of the back; cannot play out of pressure; cannot complete simple give and gos. We seem to think we need an act of congress to switch fields. We literally play kick and run. Portugal ran rings around the US technically. And, if you think Portugal is technical, wait until you watch Spain or Japan, So, the question is, is the better training available in more established countries creating that gap (which we see in spades on the men's side) or is the US fixation with speed and athleticism causing more technical players who may be less athletic to be excluded from the mix? I do not know that answer to that question. Sophia Smith has no soccer IQ. None. Zero. She receives the ball and she runs at the defense until she gets stripped. No idea how to release a pass. Her spacing was better today but she gets the ball and consistently runs into double and triple teams. And yet we keep playing down that left-hand side. Why? Rapinoe may not be able to give you 90 and she is clearly not what she once was but she looked better than Smith in the time she was in there. We saw Williams start for Rodman but we barely played down the right-hand side because Fox has no interest in getting forward. The midfield? Horan has done a boatload of running over the three games. She has to be wearing down. Lavelle is suspended for the round of 16. And Sullivan is basically the female version of Beckerman. Is there anyone other than DeMelo? Reading articles, that Sauerbrunn injury is really hurting the team as Ertz really should be playing the 6 but is being forced into the centerback role. Assuming we play Sweden, I will be stunned if we beat them unless there is some magic on the bench that we have not yet seen and Andonovski is willing to roll the dice. Doubtful. He makes Berhalter look like Leonard Hamilton when it comes to subbing. [/QUOTE]

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