Soph Smith & Sam Coffey - Playing for gold!
If you need a game winning goal, who are you going to call?
The game between the United States Women’s National Team and Germany needed a winner. In the first 90 minutes, it was scoreless. In extra time, Soph Smith became an Olympic hero for the USA. Sam Coffey initiated the attack from midfield and played it to Mal Swanson. She found Smith who expertly finished for the game winner.
In the biggest goal of her career, Soph Smith has now marked herself on the international stage as one of the best players in the world. The Portland Thorns superstars, Smith & Coffey, now get the chance to live out one of their long-life dreams of being Olympic gold medalists. In the final they’ll face off against Brazil — this opportunity is rare and they are representing the Rose City so proudly.
Post Game with Soph
“It means absolutely everything.” - Sophia Smith
There were three key passes in getting the ball to Smith for the score - from Girma to Coffey, then to Swanson, then to Smith, then into goal. All these passes were perfectly executed on both ends, sent with accurate aim and weight as well as received under control and without a significant bounce. Everyone did their part and did it skillfully and quickly. It was a beautiful sequence.
I've been sitting on this take all tournament, but I think it's time to release it into the wild: One of the big reasons why Soph is thriving (in her own words!) is because she's getting used virtually identically to how the Thorns use her: centrally, in behind, and with the freedom to rotate into pretty much any position on the front line. Even the formation --which has played as a 4-2-4 at times because of how high Horan has been playing-- is eerily similar to how the Thorns play, in both the good and the bad ways.
Obviously, this is the USWNT so the talent level is at a much higher level and the burden is distributed more evenly....but it looks very much like the Thorns stylistically in that they rely on balls in behind to their playmakers, don't play through the midfield very much, and allow their attackers the freedom to rotate to hunt matchups. You know what the US pass map against Germany looks a hell of a lot like? The Thorns when Weaver was healthy: https://ibb.co/48rFxF4