5 Thoughts from USWNT Friendlies Against Germany and the Netherlands

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: April 10, 2013

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This past week, the United States women’s national team played two friendlies in Europe, drawing 3-3 in Germany last Friday and beating the Netherlands 3-1 on Tuesday.

Here are five thoughts from the two matches.

 

Sydney Leroux’s playmaking ability is underrated

In the 2012 Olympics, Sydney Leroux’s role with the USWNT was mainly that of a late-game “supersub,” coming into matches late when the U.S. needed some extra firepower.

In 2013, with new head coach Tom Sermanni giving players like Leroux more playing time, Leroux has been able to demonstrate that she is a multi-dimensional player.



Like most of the U.S. forward pool, Leroux is blessed with great power and speed, but what Leroux demonstrated in the Algarve Cup and again on Tuesday against the Netherlands is that she is becoming a great playmaker as well.

On Tuesday, Leroux assisted on two of the U.S.’ three goals and continually pestered the Dutch back line, closing them down defensively and going at them hard and fast when she had the ball.



Like Alex Morgan, Leroux draws plenty of attention from opposing defenses because of her goalscoring ability. Over the past few games, Leroux has demonstrated that she is learning, just as Morgan has over the past year, that as defenders are drawn to her, space is opening up for her teammates.

And when Leroux gets her teammates the ball in that space, as she has done in her past few games, good things are happening for the U.S.

On the U.S.’ first goal, Leroux's centering pass found Tobin Heath for the finish. On the second goal for the U.S., Leroux, with her back to pressure, found strike-partner Christen Press with a nice little flick to put Press in on goal.

 

Christen Press is special

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Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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