Tag: New Zealand

Women’s World Cup Daily – June 20

Posted on by Backline Soccer

June 20: Matchday 14

The group stage is over. It took 14 days and 32 games to eliminate a grand total of eight teams. It’s actually kind of a silly process, but so many of these games have been so great that I find it hard to really complain. 

Cameroon 2 – 1 New Zealand

Netherlands 2 – 1 Canada

In the day’s early games, the Netherland confirmed their status at the top of the group with a win, albeit not a particularly easy one. The real excitement was in Cameroon v. New Zealand, where we looked set for yet another ‘draw that helps neither team’ until literally the final seconds of the game, when Cameroon found their winner. It was an absolutely magical moment for them, and a well-deserved result for a team that has played tough in all three games. That result did eliminate Argentina and Thailand, and really put the pressure on Chile for the late game–forcing them to win by a clear three goals to advance.

The Canada-Netherlands game mostly confirmed things we already knew about these teams. Canada did an excellent job killing off the game for about an hour – showing why many of us have tipped them as team that could go further than might seem plausible. They’re not going to beat many of the other top teams, in the sense of outplaying them. But they can neutralize just about anyone. 

At the same time, the Dutch did find two goals, one more than Canada had conceded over the entire rest of 2019. So even though the Netherlands still didn’t quite look right, there were a few solid glimpses of the team that won the Euros. It was enough to net them the two goals they needed. 

If they expect to go significantly further in the tournament, they’re going to need to get better performances from their defenders, who once again looked pretty shaky. They also may want to consider whether the likes of Jill Roord and Lineth Beerensteyn might deserve a start. They’ve been getting very little from Lieke Martens and Shanice van de Sanden. It’s hard to argue against going with proven talent, and the substitutions have been working well. But they’ve also had to ride a decent bit of luck to win their three games.

Sweden 0 – 2 United States

Thailand 0 – 2 Chile

Heartbreak for Chile, who came achingly close to qualifying for the knockout stage by only managing two of the three goals they needed. I was in Le Havre watching the US so I didn’t get a chance to see it, but it sounds like this was the truly exciting match of the late time slot, one which was unfortunately probably seen by a tiny fraction of the people who watched the other game.

But since I was one of those who watched the other game, that’s where I’ll have to restrict my comments.

After two matches that were effectively uncontested, the US finally got to face some serious opposition. It didn’t actually look that serious in the opening twenty or thirty minutes, as the US moved at breakneck speed and looked like a constant threat to score. Sweden struggled badly in this period to do anything with the ball, occasionally finding a little space out wide but almost nothing else. And they also seemed at a loss to cope with the US ball movement and speed of play. They didn’t really press, but also didn’t drop back to limit space. They mostly just backpedaled and then got turned by either a dribble or pass. It looked like it might turn into another bloodbath.

But eventually Sweden got their bearings, and the US dropped off a bit. The second half was much closer, with Sweden finding a lot more time on the ball, getting a lot of dangerous play from Kosovare Asllani in the middle and from Sofia Jackobsson out wide. Fridolina Rolfo also looked dangerous after she came on as a substitute.

Still, in spite of those threats, the US never really looked to be in danger. After a wonder goal from Tobin Heath (officially listed as an own goal), they rested fairly easily on their 2-0 margin.

In the end, that pretty much just means they held serve. This was a second-string Sweden team, with quite a few changes from their primary XI, and the US would have been expected to win pretty easily. Which they did. And that’s fine. When you’re the best team in the tournament, as long as you hold serve you’ll probably win. 

But this certainly was’t a dominant performance, and it showed that all the weaknesses we’ve discussed at length are still there. 

It also exposed one newish weakness: Megan Rapinoe. I don’t think this is actually that new of a phenomenon, since I actually struggle to think of examples from this year when she’s really been Megan Rapinoe. But this was a particuarly rough game for her. She was virtually nonexistent in the attack, and actively blew up several promising moves. It’s possible that this is her lingering injury. Maybe it’s rust from lack of training and limited games. Maybe she’s just finally reverted to the aging curve we all expected her to follow a couple years ago. Or maybe it’s just a bad patch and she’ll be back in top shape soon. I certainly don’t feel comfortable saying for sure. But given how dynamic Christen Press has been in that exact role, it’s certainly time to at least consider whether Press should be the first choice there for the upcoming knockout games.

Notes

– If you didn’t see it already, check out my post on last night’s truly mad experience: Scotland, Argentina, and the Human Condition.

– The second US goal was allowed to stand. And according to the rules as they appear to be written (and interpreted), that is apparently the correct call. But by any reasonable interpretation, it should clearly have been disallowed. Carli Lloyd very obviously interfered with play from an offside position. This is the rule, apparently. But it is an absolute nonsense rule and we should absolutely not tolerate it.

Tomorrow’s action

There are no games tomorrow. I don’t really know what we’re supposed to do with ourselves, to be completely honest.

 

Women’s World Cup Daily – June 15

Posted on by RJ Allen

June 15: Matchday 9

Netherlands 3 – 1 Cameroon

This was an ugly, ugly game. Lots of fouls, poor refereeing, plenty of bizarre unexplained stoppages, along with poor touches and poor tackles from just about everyone. It did produce four goals, three of which were nicely worked, and remained close for most of the game. For those reasons, I’ve seen it described as one of the more exciting games in the tournament. But let’s be real folks, this was a terrible game of soccer.

In their first game, the Dutch were reasonably good but couldn’t finish. This time around they were very bad, but were able to finish. I suppose it more or less comes out in the wash, but if I were a Dutch fan I’d be extremely worried about this team. To be more precise, here’s a complete list of players who played well today: 

  1. Vivianne Miedema

This team is ridiculously talented, but at the moment they look about as weak as you can reasonably imagine them looking. Now, they have still managed to acquire six points from six, so maybe it’s just a case of a good team powering through a slow start. But at least so far, we haven’t seen anything remotely like the dazzling side that ripped apart their opponents two years ago in the Euros.

The backline is a major worry. It was a known concern going into the tournament, but has been even worse than expected. Anouk Dekker returned to the starting XI today after serving her suspension, but only brought more chaos, giving the ball away several times in incredibly dangerous areas for no particular reason. Bloodworth scored, but was off the pace all day and was often out of position. 

But it’s more than just the defense. The whole team just looked bad today. They couldn’t connect simple passes. Their touch was bad. They weren’t reading the game well. And despite some significant athletic advantages over Cameroon, they were pushed around quite a bit.

To some extent, this might be an officiating issue, with a referee who failed to keep a grip on the game. But this didn’t feel like China v. Germany, where the overall combativeness was in service of some larger tactical agenda. This was just a very snippy game that didn’t need to be.

For Cameroon, they were realistically never going to get much from two games against Canada and the Dutch. To hold their goal difference to just -3 over those two matches absolutely gives them a fighting chance. Beat New Zealand and they’ll be in the running for a berth in the knockout round. 

Canada 2 – 0 New Zealand

An exceptionally dull game, defined by one team that was entirely willing to let the other side attack, and an opposition that probed and probed and probed and probed, but lacked the technical ability to produce much of anything in the process. Canada did generate two goals, which is 100% more than I expected, so that does count for something. But this really just felt like exactly the result you’d expect from these two teams.

It was interesting to see Canada adapt fairly quickly. Once it became apparent just how deep New Zealand were going to set up – and that they were going to keep two forwards – coach Kenneth Heiner-Møller shifted his team shape significantly, dropping Schmidt into the central defense, allowing the fullbacks to operate as midfielders. They played most of the game in a 3-1-4-2, and were never really troubled in the process. It was a breath of fresh air in a tournament with exceptionally little tactical innovation.

For Canada, this was a job done. The results on the day do mean that they’ll need to beat the Netherlands to take top spot in the group, since the Dutch now hold the tiebreaker. But it’s not especially clear that it matters who wins the group – either way, you play a 2nd place team from another group in the round of 16. The only caveat here is that the runners-up could theoretically face the US if Sweden were to somehow beat them in the final game of the group stage, which is an eventuality you probably want to protect yourself from.

Canada remain a thoroughly limited team, but it’s hard to argue with results. No one much enjoys watching a team with talented players grind out results, but the reality is there just isn’t enough talent here to actually play some of the top teams in the tournament. So they’ve decided to lean into functionality, and hope for a thunderbolt now and again to generate a goal. It’s certainly worked so far, but we can see how it works against the Dutch before drawing any more conclusions.

Notes

– By my count, there were eight teams entering the tournament that felt like plausible title contenders. Of those, Australia and the Dutch have looked awful, Germany has struggled, Japan couldn’t do anything against Argentina and England only looked somewhat better. Canada has looked very professional and very dull, which seems to be their game plan, so we can call that a neutral result. But only the US and France have truly impressed.

I wouldn’t want to over-interpret the results from a tiny set of games, but it’s possible the two favorites deserve to be even heavier favorites than we once thought.

– I once again subjected myself to the Fox commentary for the Canada game and…it astonishes me that people being paid to talk about soccer on a major national broadcast can exhibit so little interest in actually describing what’s going on in the soccer game they’re ostensibly covering.

– As planned, I took the afternoon to wander around the Musée de l’Orangerie, which was really lovely. I’m a big fan of Monet, so the huge panels of water lilies were great, but I also really liked the other exhibits downstairs. Obviously, hit up the Louvre, Pompidou, and d’Orsay first, but if you have time for more, strong recommendation.

Tomorrow’s action

  • Sweden – Thailand. Based on their first game, no one will be expecting anything from Thailand. And while Sweden are not on the level of the US, they’re still quite good, so it’s quite likely we see another lopsided result. Still, Thailand were subjected to an epically bad goalkeeping performance last time, so if they change keepers (or remind Charoenying that she’s allowed to use her hands), it should be less of a bulldozing. 
  • USA – Chile. See above. Unlike Thailand, Chile have a world class keeper, so will not give away goals nearly so cheaply. But it would be an epic shock if the US failed to win this game. Expect something on the order of 4-0. Maybe tighter, but also maybe much worse. The one big question is whether the US rotates, and if so, how much. Ellis doesn’t like doing it, but it’s a short tournament and probably would be wise.

 

 

Women’s World Cup Daily – June 11

Posted on by RJ Allen

June 11: Matchday 5

New Zealand 0 – 1 Netherlands

I was only able to watch about 20 minutes of this game (see below in the Notes), but I followed along electronically the best I could. From what I can tell, this was not one of those games which requires us to ask whether New Zealand deserves credit for shutting down the Dutch, or the Dutch deserve blame for failing to create anything. Rather, it’s one of those games where the Dutch created a million chances and eventually one of them went in.

Compare, for example, these two performances:

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xG isn’t the end-all and be-all, but it certainly tells part of the story. And the story here was: the Netherlands were unlucky in their finishing. And considering the lethal strikers they have at their disposal, there’s no particular reason to think that will continue. Again, not having watched most of the game, I’d caution against assuming that the Dutch are in trouble.

For New Zealand, this was an agonizing result. To hold out for 90 minutes only to concede at the death will be frustrating beyond belief. But they didn’t really need anything from this game. They kept their goal difference down against the high-scoring Dutch, which likely ensures that a single victory will be enough to make them one of the advancing 3rd-place teams. Anything beyond that is gravy.

Chile 0 – 2 Sweden

Unlike the day’s first game, this was an example of a heavy favorite being unable to break the deadlock because they genuinely just couldn’t create enough chances. But unlike yesterday’s masterful team defensive performance from Argentina, Chile was merely solid. They set up their defensive block, and waited for Sweden to come at them. And it mostly worked.

The opening fifteen minutes were nervy, and Sweden looked like they were inching closer and closer to the goal. But instead of heightening, the pressure began to ease. By the 60th minute, it increasingly felt like we were in for another 0-0.

But then came the weather delay. After a lengthy wait for the lightning to depart, the teams came back out, and Sweden finally seemed to have developed a bit of urgency, and an understanding that going wide and sending in crosses is not a complete strategy. And so the goal finally did come, and then another to seal the deal.

It wasn’t a great performance from Sweden, but they got the job done. Meanwhile, Chile did more than enough to do themselves proud, without quite ending up with anything to show for it.

USA 13 – 0 Thailand

I talked about my thoughts here.

I have literally nothing to say about the specific content of the game. We learned no lessons, and there is nothing important here to analyze. The US got the three points they were always going to get. Time to move on.

Notes

– This afternoon, I took the train from Paris to Reims to catch the US game. It was extremely fast. I love the trains of Europe so very much.

– My plan was to get to Gare de l’Est an hour early and catch the first half of New Zealand-Netherlands in a bar or café. But I couldn’t find a single place showing it! To be somewhat fair, that was partly because TVs are less ubiquitous in Parisian establishments than in US ones. And I managed in my broken French to ask in several places with TVs if they would put it on (French friends: does “est possible de regarder la Coupe de Monde Feminin?” mean what I think it means?), but they didn’t have the channel.

– One underrated storyline: the US just played its first game of the World Cup. One day later, France will play its second. If that quarterfinal does end up happening, that means the US will have played five games in 18 days, while France will have played the same number of games spread out over 22 days. That extra little bit of rest could make a real difference.

– My official position on the Hope Solo/Jill Ellis ‘controversy’ is that I don’t care about it at all and you shouldn’t either.

– For those keeping track, these are the Official Players of the Backline Soccer Women’s World Cup daily column: Barbara Bonansea (Italy), Sydney Schneider (Jamaica), Lorena Benítez (Argentina), Miranda Nild (Thailand).

Tomorrow’s action

  • Nigeria – South Korea. The two teams from Group A that lost their first game. South Korea were blitzed by France, while Nigeria played Norway a bit more evenly. But it all resets here. In this format, though, even three points is usually enough to make the next round, so neither are anything close to out.
  • Germany – Spain. The two winners from Group B, neither of which really performed up to expectations. Both faced teams that mostly sought to frustrate rather than create, so this will be a very different test. Germany will be missing Maroszán, after the referee in the previous game allowed China to kick her to pieces, which is a big loss. But if there’s any country in the world that can survive her absence, it’s probably Germany.
  • France – Norway. This should be a much sterner test for France than their opening match. If they can brush Norway aside as easily as they did South Korea, they will truly lock down their status as World Cup favorites. For Norway, with three points in the bag, they can treat this as a bit of a freebie, which might give them the freedom to find a result.

The Unknown International: Abby Erceg

Posted on by RJ Allen
Kelley Piper

While the NWSL is the American soccer league, many of its best players come from all around the world. This series looks at some of those players who have come from outside of the U.S. and looks at their style of play and how they have featured for their club and country.

This article will look at North Carolina Courage and New Zealand defender Abby Erceg.

Who Is She?

Abby Erceg is a central defender who plays for the North Carolina Courage. She is the former captain of the New Zealand national team, having retired from international football earlier this year as a form of protest, claiming that the national federation undervalues New Zealand’s women’s team. She is an experienced professional, playing for the Football Ferns since 2006. Odds are you have heard her name–after all, she captained the NWSL champions last season and has been in the league for about three years. While I recognize that Erceg is not an unknown player, this article will seek to highlight the details of her career that fans may be less familiar with.

The Football Ferns

Erceg made her debut with the New Zealand National Team in 2006, in a match against China. In her 11 year career with the Ferns, she competed in two Olympics and three World Cups. Her 130 appearances are the most of any New Zealand National Team player, male or female. Early in her career, she played a record 37 consecutive matches for her national team, setting her on the path towards a record-breaking career. Beyond her skill with the ball, she is also a consistently strong and vocal leader that helps lHer decision to retire came from disagreements with the New Zealand Football Federation, which Erceg claims did not value and support the women’s side.  Specifically, Erceg took issue with the fact that the federation decided to reduce funding to the women’s side after they failed to make it past the group stage at the 2016 Olympics. She said in a post on Instagram that one of her main goals with the Ferns was to create a livable working environment and that New Zealand had shown a lack of willingness to make that goal a reality. Many in the football community deemed her a “legend” in New Zealand football and credited her with being a massive contributor to the growth of the women’s game. She served as their captain starting in 2014 and played her final matches with the team at the Cyprus Cup earlier this year. 

North Carolina Courage

Erceg got her first taste of the NWSL in 2014 when she was loaned out to the Chicago Red Stars by Jena, her team in the Frauen-Bundesliga. She signed with the Chicago after leaving Jena in May 2014 but was then traded to the Western New York Flash in 2015. Last season, she made 18 starts in 19 total appearances and captained the Western New York Flash to an NWSL Championship. During the offseason, the Western New York Flash were rebranded as the North Carolina Courage, and Erceg became captain of the new team in Cary. She has made 15 starts in 15 appearances so far this season. She is often credited as being the anchor of the Courage defense.  Erceg mainly plays alongside Abby Dahlkemper, who has received a few call-ups by the U.S Women’s National Team after drawing some attention during the Flash’s run to the NWSL Championship.  They have become one of the best center back tandems in the league, and their strength has helped lead to North Carolina’s 10 shutouts in 18 matches this season.  To say that Erceg plays a critical role on her club team is putting it lightly–and considering they are in first place in the NWSL, I’d say she’s doing a pretty good job. Erceg rarely misses a chance to make an impact for her club and will do whatever it takes to help get her team back to the NWSL Championship.