September 1 Friendly - Canada vs Germany [R]

[DJT]

Final:

Canada 1Germany 3

I believe Canada's goal was scored by Kara Lang.

[DJT]

[u]Originally posted by Free kick - 09/01/2005 : 23:12:12</u>

This just might be my first ever post on this forum. I was not aware until 15 minutes ago that there was a soccer game on and look what I found while channel surfing. From the 33rd minute ( when I started watching) and onward, I quickly noticed that nothing has changed with the women game in Canada. All I keep thinking is, when will they clue in and get it?. I fear that by that time the women soccer players in Canada figure our that a soccer pitch is wider and longer than a hockey rink and that playing with the ball is actually fun, we may be overtaken by even the second rate powers in Concacaf. If the US can get it why cant we.

[Chet]

The Germans were clearly the better team, but not by a huge margin. Considering that they're the top team in the world, they looked remarkably disorganized in this game, especially on their back line.

Canada, on the other hand, looked faster, fitter and much more determined than the Germans. The Canadian midfield and defense were effective at cutting out the German forwards' passes and consistently beat the Germans to almost every 50-50 ball. The German players had very little time on the ball before they were charged down, often by two Canadian players. The Germans looked like they weren't used to such a fast, agressive opponent and it took three quarters of the game for them to get settled in.

The telling difference was the Germans touch. The German players have that little bit of poise and polish in their game that only a few of the Canadian players seem to possess.

But considering this was Germany's full A-Team while Canada was missing its two best players, Timko and Sinclair, and had a couple of starters earning their first caps, it was a pretty good showing.

Women's soccer still has a long way to go. This game was pretty sloppy. Only one of the four goals was well-earned. The others all came from defensive blunders or players just falling down at the wrong moment. The German keeper was dreadful.

Rhian Wilkinson was the best player in the game for either team. An infuriating player. On one play she'll just lose the ball by letting it get too far ahead of her. Then on the next play she'll do something utterly magical and make the opposing defender look like an idiot. What Wilkinson lacks in skill she more than makes up for in sheer audacity.

I expect Sunday's game to be better. The Germans will know better what to expect from Canada and will be better prepared I think. Canada will have Timko in the lineup.

[Rudi]

quote:Originally posted by Chet

Rhian Wilkinson was the best player in the game for either team. An infuriating player. On one play she'll just lose the ball by letting it get too far ahead of her. Then on the next play she'll do something utterly magical and make the opposing defender look like an idiot. What Wilkinson lacks in skill she more than makes up for in sheer audacity.

Wilkinson is the women's version of Dwayne DeRosario.

I say that as a huge DeRo fan (he has turned it around lately with San Jose, being a more team-oriented player).

[Richard]

For those interested, there is a multiphoto slideshow of the Canada Germany game September 1st on the PCSL website at www.pcsl.org