gaysoccerhorse - Tumblr blog

[gaysoccerhorse]

Been hankering to see the us play a 4-2-3-1. Is this backline young? Definitely, but that's a good reason to play Naeher and we have Julie Ertz for one last go before Sullivan slots into that role. Krueger and Huerta get subbed off at half for Cook and O'Hara. Excited about the creative potential of the front 4.

[gaysoccerhorse]

“Gotham FC looks like an unstoppable team on a mission | NWSL Weekend Recap”

[gaysoccerhorse]

QUINN’S FIRST NWSL GOAL!!! QUINN’S FIRST NWSL GOAL!!!! QUINN’S FIRST NWSL GOAL!!!!

[gaysoccerhorse]

QUINN BANGER!!!!!!

[gaysoccerhorse]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by OL Reign (@olreign)

Ahhh!! Their play today was damn good!!!! Soooo fun to see. Yes Alanna Cook! yes Emily Sonnet!! Yes Megan rapinoe! Yes Quinn! Yes Veronica Latsko!

I need to stop naming before I I go down the entire roster. Such exciting chemistry again! But I'm still a Gotham loyalist. Go bats!

[gaysoccerhorse]

Just going to leave this here Gotham fans😂

[gaysoccerhorse]

Tell em Lynn😂

[gaysoccerhorse]

this whole kmew sequence 🤌

[gaysoccerhorse]

I think Crystal Dunn should be in the midfield trio for the world cup... What if we saw a rotating combo of Dunn, ertz, mewis, and Horan?

[gaysoccerhorse]

The Sonnett and Kristie midfield matchup has been endlessly entertaining. They’re so scrappy with each other, Sonnett quite literally rolled off Kristie’s back earlier and Kristie yanked the fuck out of Sonnett’s jersey. Love to see it.

[gaysoccerhorse]

Week 8, Gotham (away, 4) v OL Reign (home, 1) May 21st

I’m gonna riff a little about second half of this past weekend's game between the Bats and the Reign. 

Scrappy counter generated in the opening seconds of the 72nd minute by Emily Sonnett. She wins two headers in a row over Farrelly. When defenders execute this feat even once in a row I’m amazed. Pulling this off without risking a call requires making a move towards winning an incoming aerial ball before their attacker does, but without moving so soon that you make your play too readable to the attacker. If you wait until after your attacker moves, you increase your risk of getting beat. So as a defender, you must choose which shoulder you're gonna body up against as close to the arrival of the ball as possible— whether aerial  or not. If you don’t do this, you could get dusted. See Eboni Salmon’s turn against the Portland Thorns on the May 12th game leading to the 2-1 win. You will also likely get a foul called on you if it’s not an immaculate, challenge-free win of the ball. If defending from behind, the attacker always has advantage of being playing distance from the ball. And fair charging becomes pushing, the callable foul, when not done shoulder-to shoulder.  It’s hard to defend effectively from behind, especially without drawing a foul. 

In short, to pull off what Emily Sonnett did, she had see the world from point of view of her attacker, to calculate and anticipate the incoming trajectory of the ball according to the perspective of Sinead Farrelly, and then interrupt it with command and acumen. 

And she did that twice!! She made Farrelly look a little silly, which was really hard to do in this game. Farrelly has been so incisive, consistent, and creative. She was instrumental in all of my favorite plays of the night. I hope Andonovski saw what I saw. The Sonnett-Farrelly battleground was a future World Cup matchup, and Emily Sonnett presented a case, despite the Reign not connecting. 

I think the Reign is feeling the pressure of the World Cup. They carry a substantial count of national team players. Cook, Huerta, Rapinoe, Lavelle, Sonnett. Cook has been playing self-consciously. She has been putting her teammates in dicey positions with some over-burdened balls, in my imagination burdened by nerves, anxiety, and perhaps self-doubt. Veterans Rapinoe and Sonnett feel much less rattled in their play and play-making. I hope they can share some wisdom and experience with their teammates. And I hope Lavelle is making a recovery. 

The international players gearing up for their respective countries’ showings are no doubt feeling similarly anxious. Anxiety catches.  Fishlock, Quinn, Luany, Huitema… all these players make up a significant proportion of the team. 

Anyway, Sonnett had this great turnover, which caught Ali Krieger on her heals and led to a corner kick. Gotham cleared it, and Tullis-Joyce booted it back to attempt a shotgun counter-attack. From here, Gotham quickly won the 50-50 and commanded play in the midfield. Bruninha found Mewis through the seam between Fishlock and Sonnett . And Mewis turned, took a gorgeous touch into space to set herself up for the most accurate and tuned-in pass of the night. Like oh my God, Kristie Fucking Mewis. It was beautiful. It had the perfect pace and drag to slow down at the feet of the intersecting run of Lynn Williams, who saw what Kristie was thinking the whole way. And then the patience!!!! Lynn knows it’s not worth it to take a shit shot if she can manage to build a better option with her team and continue to keep the pressure in the attacking third. So that’s what they all do. Williams holds up the play and feeds it back to Mewis, who takes her time and let’s the team get some runs going with a little body feignt. She feeds it to Sheehan who changes the point of attack back to Nighswonger, who drives a hooked ball through the wides seem of Reign’s backline after reading Bruninha’s raised hand and creeping lollipop run. And Bruninha picks the ball and smashes it near post with so much poise. 

The commentators on Paramount and Attacking Third were high on the third goal, which was totally merited. But I don’t want us all sleep on this 4th goal, either. It was a team build. It was so patient and so smart. It was full of chemistry, connection and trust. And I loved seeing what it meant for Bruninha, who I think might make my top 11 team for the NWSL. 

[gaysoccerhorse]

are u kidding me???

[gaysoccerhorse]

yessssss

People think Alex is “out of pocket” for saying this but statistically speaking… *whispers* she’s not wrong.

2019 USWNT pre-World Cup record: 7-2-3.

2023 USWNT pre-World Cup record: 7-0-0 (with a game still to come on July 9th.)

You can hate Vlatko as much as you want but statistically speaking this IS the best USWNT we’ve ever seen going into a World Cup.

[gaysoccerhorse]

winning games and my HEART

[gaysoccerhorse]

Oopsies in love

[ussoccer] These Kristie mewis bloopers 💀

[gaysoccerhorse]

feeling good about this

LET’S FU*KING GOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🤩

[gaysoccerhorse]

Living vicariously through these updates

Maybe one day i'll have egg money for fubo tv

Not the Spirit getting 3 goals in 10 minutes!?