It was a great day of Algarve Cup action, and our first opportunity to see the games. First, we traveled to Lagos to see Denmark play China. I interviewed Sam Laity at halftime, who I believe summed up the game better than I could ever write (1:30):
Transcript:
-
Amanda: I’m here with Sam Leity, for the second time, because for the first time my audio had issues uploading to the internet. So, Sam, would you mind telling us, where do you coach?
Sam: I coach for Doss FC in Seattle, Washington.
Amanda: And Sam’s been gracious enough to give the listeners back home in the states a halftime report on China vs. Denmark. Sam, would you give us a little insight into the shape of the teams in the match so far.
Sam: Absolutely yeah. China currently wining 2-0, playing a 4-4-2 system. The Danish are playing a 4-3-3 system. They started off the game with 2 defensive mids and 1 attacking mid, and 3 flat forwards. And they switched it up in the last 15 minutes to 1 defensive mid and 2 offensive mids.
Amanda: So the score is currently 2-0. Can you tell us a little bit about the goals that were scored.
Sam: Yeah, the first goal was a good piece of individual play by the attacking midfield player for China. She created a bit of space for herself on the edge of the box and cracked one in from about 22 yards. It was a very good goal.
Amanda: And the second goal?
Sam: The second goal was a good team goal. Started off with the left back, into a checking center mid. Center mid released to the outside fullback, fullback did a little combination with the outside midfield player, then played a though ball into the forward, who did a quick combination with the attacking mid, and left the player 1 v 1 with the goalkeeper. So both great goals from the China perspective.
Amanda: Thank you Sam.
Sam: You’re welcome, for the second time ;-)
Following halftime, the score remained knotted at 2-2 for some time. After about 20 minutes, the pace started to slow. With Germany being such a tempting prospect just 30 minutes away from kick-off (with a 20-minute drive to get there), we left and headed to Parchal.
Upon arrival, it was apparent that this match was the one to be at. The stadium was packed with fans, mostly German, and action from Germany front line was exciting from the moment we arrived. Credit to the Finnish goalkeeper for a great opening stanza.
Seven minutes in, NSCAA Master Coach candidate, Ted Anderson, gave us his opening impression (0:40):
Transcript:
-
Amanda: I’m here with Ted Anderson at the NSCAA Algarve Cup Symposium. Ted, how would you say play is so far, Germany vs. Finland.
Ted: It’s taken a couple minutes, I think all of seven and the Germans have dominated. Just put a ball off the post, and had another opportunity with a 1 on 1 with the goalkeeper. And I think, at this point it’s only a matter of time until they get the first one in. The crowd is electric here, as you may be able to hear with the noise-makers and everything else. I think it’s a pro-German group, so they have a little backing even though they’re on the road.
Amanda: Thanks for that Ted.
Germany lead 1-0 at the half. Here’s April Heinrichs, former USWNT coach and current FIFA consultant, with a first-half recap:
Transcript to follow.
The match ended 8-0 in favor of the Germans. As both coaches predicted, it became incredible one-sided and Germany proved their stuff.
Tomorrow morning we are going to the German WNT training session – it begins at 10:00am local time, and begins with GK training! I’m not sure what the schedule looks like after that, but I’ll fill you in as details become more clear. You can follow along on Twitter as well at http://www.twitter.com/nscaawomen.
http://www.amandavandervort.com/NSCAA/550-german-fans.jpg>
All of Today’s Match Results
Sorry for not doing a full-write up here, but my battery is down to 2% and it’s 1am here right now. Check out Jeff Kassouf’s site, The Equalizer, as he’ll likely have some info/analysis for you :-)
Group A match reports (.pdf):
http://www.fpf.pt/portal/page/portal/PORTAL_FUTEBOL/Comunicados2009/DIVERSOS/Group%20A%20-%20Day%202.pdf
Group B match reports (.pdf):
http://www.fpf.pt/portal/page/portal/PORTAL_FUTEBOL/Comunicados2009/DIVERSOS/Group%20B%20-%20Day%202.pdf
Group C match reports (.pdf):
http://www.fpf.pt/portal/page/portal/PORTAL_FUTEBOL/Comunicados2009/DIVERSOS/Group%20C%20-%20Day%202.pdf
Fairplay standings (.pdf):
http://www.fpf.pt/portal/page/portal/PORTAL_FUTEBOL/Comunicados2009/DIVERSOS/Fair%20Play%20-%20Day%202.pdf
Results and standings (.pdf)
http://www.fpf.pt/portal/page/portal/PORTAL_FUTEBOL/Comunicados2009/DIVERSOS/Results%20and%20standings%20-%20Day%202.pdf
