weekend games

FANatic, maybe our confidence is why we haven't mentioned CAL a lot. I'm not Garrett, so I don't have to follow the "they are all tough " line.
They have some good players besides Morgan. Megan Jesolva at midfield has provided a lot of their assists, and Lisa Kervorkian has also been threats in the past. they also have some very good defenders, though I wouldn't call any of them All Americans yet.

The news that they were going to a 3-4-3 I found pretty interesting. That means we are facing a a team using a new formation that has never met the kind of pressure UP can put on a team using that formation. They have played one game against Nevada and are probably feeling pretty comfortable right now. That interview with Alex Morgan where she told us there no downsides to the 3-4-3 is either bravado or ignorance. We aren't exactly strangers to the formation and have a pretty good idea of how to pressure it.

The key is the same as with any team. if you put pressure on a 3-4-3 it, one of those mids has to fall back into the defense pretty quickly. and other mids and forwards have to fill the gap. They will run more, and that will mean they will be tired in the second half.

Years ago we an a three back defense. we got away from it when we figured out how to still pressure the other team with defenders out of the back. the 3-4-3 uses the opposite philosophy figuring that your numbers up top will control the game. I guess tomorrow will show which Philosophy will control the game.

If I had to predict, I'd say you will more often see 4 defenders in the back than three. How they deal with that will be a key to the game.

one of the keys to the game is that they will have pretty much the same players as last year driving the offense. that team played 8 ranked teams, and their best win was 17th ranked Missouri. I think we are better than that.


Just so you guys have time to digest that, I'll remind you that there will be a "Bite on the bluff" event before the game ( I think it starts at Noon). Come an hour or two early and enjoy the food. And be prepared to celebrate after the game with fireworks.

Friday, Aug. 28 – Bite on the Bluff
Women vs. California, 7 p.m.
Kickoff the 2009 season with our first ever “Bite on the Bluff.” Enjoy food from local area restaurants and get pumped for the women’s home opener vs. Cal! Event runs from 12 p.m. – 7 p.m. Don’t miss the post-game fireworks show!

the bandwagon will be warming up for that trip to Seattle.

Did I mention their coach has a nice Scottish accent?

Not the classic "what the hell did he say?" kind of Scottish accent.

It's just enough that you know it's there, and that he might just know how to coach Soccer. It makes his interviews interesting.

Hopefully we'll hear an interview from the Scottish coach of Cal.

Maybe they have a podcast or two on the Cal Bears website. Be interesting to see what he says about Portland after the match. Hopefully he's gushing about how good and tough we are.

(Gonna use adjectives "tough" and "physical" a lot more this year, I think. I've heard others on this forum as well as from players and Garrett talking about the Pilots being tougher and more physical this year. You just about have to be to ascend to the throne at the end of the season. And that's both mental and physical toughness.)

Btw, Geezaldinho, I have to agree with you about the confidence about playing Cal that you mentioned. I actually thought of this several times this week. I just got a little frustrated that our home opener wasn't being discussed at all. (That I could find on this board, anyway.)

I remember when UPSF, (or someone else?), first mentioned we were opening the season at home against Cal, a Pac-10 club. At the time the NCAA had not decided to open the season a week earlier, so Cal at home was going to be the season opener. I found a lot of folks on this forum, including myself, were pretty pumped about it. That's why I have found it somewhat odd this week that people were discussing the Huskies instead of the Bears. I could see discussing both, but just the Huskies?

Question, boys and girls: In the Pac-10 hierachy, where would you place the Bears and the Huskies? And, does either team have a shot in heck against us?

Good morning FANatic - rise and shine - Are you up yet?

I started this thread because I was looking for information on any broadcasts for the Washington game. I figured it would eventually morf (morph?) (morpf) DEVELOP into a full discussion of the weekend games, as it has.

Good discussion of the 3-4-3, Geezer. I occasionally coached against it. As you said, it requires that you have outside mids who can get back into the defense quickly. Usually, the weakside outside mid (the one away from the ball side of the field) hustles back to become the outside defender away from the ball - lots of running. When the other team has the ball inside the 3-4-3 team's territory, the defense should settle into a 4-3-3. As Geezer said, it is a formation that depends on high pressure from the 3 forwards and keeping the ball in your offensive end, but I predict (very confidently) that Cal will not be able to do this. Having three forwards allows for dangerous counterattacks, but I also predict (very confidently) that, if Cal leaves 3 forwards out around midfield when we have the ball in their end, they will get scored on a lot.

Should be fun.

Article from the Daily Californian on today's match:
http://www.dailycal.org/article/106392/bears_travel_to_portland_to_face_no._3_pilots

Good morning to you, fan from afar. No, at 3:41 am, I am not rising and shining, and I won't be up until 6:00 am PDT.

Thanks for the clarification, your great soccer knowledge as a former coach and the tremendous fan of the Pilots that you are. When I think of Pilots fandom, I think of you as our anchor out there in the N.E. United States. You have brought a ton of good info and spirit to this site. Keep up the good work, and GO PILOTS!!!

FAN

Less than 7 hours to go, FAN.

Are you as excited as I am?

From the PortlandPilots twitter page

The Bite on the bluff until game time... Live music at 5:30

I am excited for the game and I am the mixed loyalities guy...but I love watchin the Pilots kick ball

PurplePrideTrumpet said:

Less than 7 hours to go, FAN.
Are you as excited as I am?

Just got home from lunch with my Pa, PPT. I have been excited all day buddy. And it's getting worse. I'm dropping things and acting absent-minded. (Well, that's not so unusual!)

And because of some of the wonderfully caring people who are members of this forum, I get to go see the match in person tonight!!! So this will be my first time seeing Cloee and the other new freshmen this year. It will be great seeing the team early in the year, because I know they are going to get better as the year goes on.

What about you, PPT? It's about 3 1/2 hours to go now, my good man!

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:Are you as excited as I am?

GO PILOTS!