1. USA can play with the ball on the ground
The American team that fans love to watch seemed to make a return on Friday in the quarter-final against China. USA have spent much of this Women’s World Cup punting the ball away, hoping someone in a USA shirt would pick up the loose ball. But against China, the ball stayed on the ground at USA’s feet while all parts of the field, including the flanks, turned into channels for ball movement. It was a welcome change from what appeared to be an ugly, one-note game plan of playing direct.
The Guardian asked USA manager Jill Ellis if a less direct approach was deliberate, but she said: “It wasn’t anything different than what they were directed to before.” Rather, she added, the team “recognized they needed to step up.” Goalscorer Carli Lloyd said it was not a change in tactics.
“When we defend like we did, pressing high, I think it just instinctually gives people the confidence to attack,” Lloyd said after the match.
Seeing the Americans control the ball more was an encouraging sign. But if it wasn’t a shift in tactics American fans may not want to get too excited about the quarter-final’s new-look USA World Cup team when a tough task in the semi-final lies ahead.
2. It doesn’t really matter if USA’s soccer looks good
Aesthetically, USA’s first half against China was perhaps the best-looking 45 minutes of their entire tournament. Despite how much pundits and spectators may gush about how much more cohesive and strategic the Americans looked on Friday, the USA still only won by a narrow 1-0 margin over China. That was the same result the Americans saw against Nigeria, and a worse result than their 2-0 win over Colombia, both games where that USA played in a more direct style.
What matters is that the Americans keep finding ways to win. It was a treat for fans that the winning plan against China was fun to watch, but against other opponents, the Americans may see the need to go direct again. Some of the American players seem keenly aware of how poor the critiques have been of their past performances and struggles with possession, but they’ve also said consistently that a win is a win.
In that context, Lloyd’s comments ahead of the quarter-final seem all the more relevant: “That’s the history of this team, whether it’s good or bad, we find a way to get it done. We’re just following the direction of our coaches, the coaching plan, and doing everything they ask of us.”
3. USA look better with a holding midfielder while Carli Lloyd roams free
The American team doesn’t actually have a true, dedicated defensive midfielder. The only “natural” defensive midfielder on the roster is 37-year-old Shannon Boxx, who comes into this tournament with just five caps in the past two years, all of them substitutions in the 75th minute or later. Boxx is not starting material, and no one else has been tasked with taking up that role on a permanent basis. Instead, throughout this tournament, Lauren Holiday and Carli Lloyd have worked as a central midfield tandem, sharing duties and switching between defending and attacking.
Because Holiday was suspended in card accumulation, Ellis tried something different: she assigned 22-year-old Morgan Brian the role of holding midfielder so Lloyd could push forward and focus on the attack. The result wasn’t perfect, but those clearly defined roles seemed to create more freedom in the middle of the park. “The coaches told me to hold a little more and let her do what she needs to do,” Brian said, but what Lloyd did was what the team needed her to do – she scored the game-winner. And what did she credit to her performance? “Freedom. Freedom to play and do what I do best,” she said.
Forcing an attacking player like Lloyd to get out of attacking positions to defend is a waste of her talents. It may worth it to Ellis to settle on a single defensive midfielder so Lloyd can be the attacking midfielder that has earned a reputation for scoring big goals. Brian may have done enough to earn that holding midfielder spot.
4. China were USA’s weakest opponent of the tournament
If you look at FIFA’s world rankings, No 16-ranked China shouldn’t have been any easier than No 33-ranked Nigeria or No 28-ranked Colombia – both worse teams on paper. Butof all the teams that USA faced, China were the only one that seemed to make no real effort to attack or get ahead. China, even in possession, were reluctant to commit numbers forward and search for a goal. A pre-game remark from China’s captain hinted that China was happy to try to force a scoreless stalemate and settle things with a penalty kick shootout. “We have prepared for lots of scenarios, including extra time and penalty kicks,” Wu Haiyan said.
What it boils down to is that China were the easiest opponent USA have faced yet in Canada. If Nigeria and Colombia were supposed to be scared of the Americans and bunker, they didn’t get the memo. They attacked aggressively, especially on the counter, and played on both sides of the ball. China only did one thing for nearly the entire match: defend. An easy riddle for Americans to solve.
Don’t expect Germany, awaiting in the semi-final, to look anything like China did, which means it gets much tougher from here for the Americans.
5. Americans are excited about the Women’s World Cup
The Women’s World Cup has done well to deliver some exciting match-ups, regardless of how much Fifa had to do with it. But there are always a few grumpy people who aren’t interested and feel the need to announce it, as if those who are following the tournament should suddenly stop just because someone else isn’t interested.
Well, feel free to keep on ignoring the naysayers because, on the whole, Americans are enjoying USA’s ride through Canada. Early returns show the USA-China match on Friday night attracted 5.7 million viewers for Fox’s main channel, a record for a soccer match on the channel. With Spanish-language broadcast partners included, the final overall number will be higher. The Women’s World Cup content on Fifa’s YouTube channel has more than 10 million views, with Americans accounting for the largest segment of viewers.
The American enthusiasm has made its way to Canada, too. USA played to sellout crowds in Winnipeg, Vancouver and Ottawa, made of mostly American fans who traveled across the border. Hours after USA were locked into a semi-final match-up against Germany, more than 40,000 tickets had been sold. Forward Sydney Leroux said of the American fans in Canada: “This is as if we’re Kansas City. This is as if we’re in Seattle.”
