Megan Rapinoe and Abby Wambach (click to enlarge)
I waited a day after the United States Women’s National Team beat Nigeria 1-0 to post because I wanted to see which squad would oppose the Americans in the round of 16. Well, that and I needed a day to mourn the Cleveland Cavaliers losing the NBA Finals. But…moving on, it will be the USA vs Colombia. There are many reasons to worry about our chances moving forward. Although we should win against Colombia, don’t forget that they pulled off a huge upset during the group stage beating France. What really worries me is the USWNT attack game. 1-0 against Nigeria doesn’t fill me with confidence, especially considering Nigeria played with 10 players for 20 minutes. More importantly, in the last 13 games they’ve played, the US Women’s squad has been shutout 5 times. That can’t happen going forward. I don’t know if they can ride Hope Solo in goal and players like Meghan Klingenberg on defense all the way to a championship. That’s a lot to ask. There’s bound to be a game where the other team gets an early goal, maybe two. Remember that it took a couple of stellar saves by Solo to keep Australia from being up 2-0 early in the first game. If the USA falls behind, do they have the legs to chase down the opposition. It’s not talked about as much as some other issues surrounding the team, but many of the stars of this team, outside of Alex Morgan, are over 30…Abby Wambach is 35. This team is still ranked #2 in the world, an elite squad. But they look a lot more vulnerable than they did in Germany in 2011 when they made the final, finishing runner-up to Japan. Certainly, as a fan of the team…and heck, just as an American…I hope the offense kicks into gear. No matter what happens, lose to Colombia or win the World Cup title, I’ll root for the US Women’s National Team until the final whistle and beyond. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
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Fairways and Forehands 