Thank you to everyone for the patience on the articles. Work has been crazy, and I wasn’t in my right state of mind while I waited so long for episode 18 of the No Eligibility Podcast. Thank god they’re back so we can get to our normal weekly routine.
Speaking of, it is a great time of year if you’re a sports fan. I don’t need to go into detail about the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup finals, or the baseball season really heating up. But what it really is a great time for is soccer, specifically the Women’s World Cup currently going on in France.
I’m not going to pretend this article is the best thing you read leading up to today’s match, as I haven’t played soccer since I was in Kindergarten.
However, if you’re not pumped for today’s match against Sweden, then there’s something wrong with you. The USWNT (US Women’s National Team) has been so much fun to watch throughout the years and this one is no different at all! I’m going to give a VERY simple breakdown and preview of today’s group F final match with the winning team taking the group and changing whom each team plays in the knockout round. If the USA wins the group today, they will play Spain on June 24th. However, if they lose to Sweden this afternoon, they will play either the Netherlands or Canada next Thursday.
Today’s Match: USA vs Sweden, 2:00pm CT, Le Havre France
The lineups haven’t been posted yet, but you have to imagine that most of the starters who sat in Game 2 vs Chile are going to play. I definitely understood the move to rest the starters, knowing full well that even the USA’s backups were good enough to beat Chile. Someone could make a case of starting certain bench players that started vs Chile, like Carli Lloyd to keep her momentum going, but I love the idea of her coming off the bench in a later second half situation.
The USA definitely has the upper hand in this match. Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan will be coming off a good amount of rest for today’s game – a couple of players who combined for 6 goals in the opening match vs Thailand. With a sold back line led by Julie Ertz and Kelly O’Hara who can spend most of their time attacking, the US should lead considerably in time of possession as they have done throughout their two games so far – albeit this is the toughest team they will play in their group. You then add in to the fact that US Coach, Jill Ellis will have weapons such as Mallory Pugh, Carli Lloyd, and Ali Krieger to come off the bench. And that’s assuming that Christen Press doesn’t start the match out in the wing (as I think she should) because she would then become another weapon at Ellis’ disposal. For reference, below is the starting lineup used by Coach Ellis in the game vs. Thailand.
Let’s not forget however that Sweden is a very good team. They have not lost to the USA in each of the last two times they have met in a World Cup, back in 2011 with a win and a draw in 2015. They will be looking to win the group and they need a win to do that. However, the US only needs a tie or a win to win the group. So to all the people who say the US should have stopped scoring against Thailand, this is where that goal differential comes in. It allows the USA to only tie Sweden and still win the group based on the goal differential tie breaker.
I highly recommend everyone to tune in because it will be a good one today, and I am fully expecting a USA victory. Here is a video of Alex Morgan because I love her, GO USA!
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