Team USA vs. Germany: Pivotal Olympic Soccer Match

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00:00And welcome back in Newswire here on the SportsGrid Network.

00:09I'm Joe Renneri in for Craig Mish and we've got Olympics on our mind, especially Team

00:16USA, who has a pretty big match coming up on the soccer pitch for the women in just

00:25less than an hour with an opportunity to continue their quest for a gold medal, and we welcome

00:32in our good friend Kyle Bond here, who is also waiting patiently for this to get going

00:38on the pitch here, because why not?

00:40I think this should be a fantastic match to this particular point, right?

00:45Team USA taking on Germany in the front end of this, then we'll have Brazil versus Spain

00:50at 3 o'clock.

00:51So let's start with Team USA, your thoughts on this match and how are we betting it?

00:58Yeah, so this match is an interesting one because the U.S. dominated Germany and everybody

01:03else in their group in the first three matches that they played at the Olympics, and then

01:08all of a sudden it ground to a halt against Japan.

01:11Japan sat back in that low block defensively and just frustrated the U.S. the whole time.

01:16They got the winning goal finally in extra time from Trinity Rodman, but it took a long

01:22time to get there and they didn't look great in the process.

01:25So now you come into this game going, which version of the U.S. are we going to get?

01:29Are we going to get the prolific team that dominated the group stage, scored a bunch

01:34of goals, or are we going to get the team that looked like they reverted back to all

01:38their troubles that they had back last summer in the Women's World Cup?

01:42So kind of difficult to know which team is going to come out and play.

01:46Now, I think you're going to probably get the good U.S. team that played well in the

01:51group stage.

01:52They beat Germany 4-1 in that group stage and they played really well against teams

01:57that tried to play with them, play at them.

02:02They struggle against teams that sit back defensively and frustrate them, which to be

02:08honest with you, many teams struggle against because that's the whole point of sitting

02:11back defensively is to prevent the other team from scoring and frustrate them.

02:16So sometimes it does have a good effect against the U.S. when you sit back defensively.

02:22Germany's not really that team.

02:23They're one of the best teams in Europe.

02:25They don't want to sit back defensively.

02:27They want to get up on the front foot and play the way they want to play.

02:31So I think the U.S. will have chances to score in this game.

02:35They've preached patience this whole tournament.

02:38I think they'll come out on top.

02:41It's good to know that they can win in both those ways though, right?

02:45They can win.

02:46If you want to get into a shootout, we're able to do it.

02:48If you want to make it a grind it disgusting game like we saw with Japan, they have the

02:52ability to win those two here.

02:55Are you leaning towards more goals than less goals in this match?

02:59Yes, I would say so.

03:02Like I said, 4-1 was the final in the group stage.

03:05The U.S. has such a prolific attack.

03:07They really have revitalized those front three.

03:11Mallory Swanson being back when she was injured for the World Cup last year is such a huge

03:15addition.

03:16Trinity Rodman is a gamer.

03:18And Sophia Smith continues to crop up in front of goal.

03:22One thing I worry about is tired legs.

03:27Emma Hayes refused to make a single substitution through the entire 90 minutes of regulation

03:33against Japan.

03:34They started to tire.

03:35She's hammered the starters.

03:37The whole tournament, just throwing them out there and going, you're my 11.

03:41Make it happen.

03:42Germany had a couple of late injuries this morning, both up front in the attack.

03:47So that also scares me a little bit.

03:49But I think the U.S., if you're going to play goals in this one, I would say play the U.S.-specific

03:55over.

03:56Alexandra Popp is ill for this game.

03:58She's their main goal scorer for Germany.

04:00She's out.

04:02And they also lost their other striker as well.

04:04So Germany's got a little bit of issues up front in the attack.

04:09They have a lot of good players, but some of their most prolific attackers are not playing

04:13in this game.

04:14So if you're going to play an over, I would say play either the U.S. on the spread.

04:20So maybe to win by a half goal or a goal and a half.

04:24Or play the U.S.-specific over, because I do think there's going to be some goals in

04:28this game for them.

04:29I would hesitate against anything like both teams to score or the general game over.

04:36I don't know how much Germany can contribute.

04:38Yeah.

04:39Well, it's a much different format than a World Cup, too, right?

04:43Smaller teams, smaller rosters, six games in 17 days.

04:47There could be some tired legs out there.

04:50Maybe not for Spain, though.

04:51They seem to be the favorite still on the board.

04:54They've got an interesting one against Brazil at 3 o'clock this afternoon.

04:58What are you looking at in this one?

04:59Yeah.

05:00Spain, both on the men's and women's side, just continue to show incredible moxie.

05:06Both teams just continuing to come back from early deficits and win games.

05:11Really, really impressive.

05:13And because of that, I like the second half to have more goals than the first.

05:17I think that's where you would be looking at in a game like this.

05:20Brazil will try their absolute best to keep Spain off the score sheet.

05:25But man, that has been a difficult task for anybody in this tournament.

05:29Brazil without Marta in this game.

05:32She was suspended two games for a red card.

05:35She's retiring at the end of the Olympics.

05:37But the fact that they won in the quarterfinals means she will take the field at the end of

05:42her career in some capacity.

05:44It just remains to be seen whether that will be in the final or in the bronze medal game.

05:48But she will get another game in her career, which is great to see.

05:51We were kind of worried that her legendary career, one of the best players ever in women's

05:56football, would go out of her career on a red card.

05:59That would be really unfortunate.

06:00But she will get to see the field again.

06:02Just we're not sure where.

06:04But I think Spain comes through with it.

06:05I picked Spain to win both the men's and the women's tournament.

06:08And right now, I just don't see anybody throwing them off course.

06:13I think the U.S. can beat them.

06:15They're the biggest threat to them on the women's side.

06:17But both teams just continue to take punches and come out with a win.

06:22Yeah.

06:23Well, it's pretty impressive stuff here, Spain.

06:26Women's are reigning Women's World Cup champions, too, now with an opportunity to add a gold

06:30medal.

06:31Real quick here, Kyle, on the men's side here, another interesting final between France and

06:37Spain here.

06:39Is this a toss-up game to you as well?

06:42Yeah.

06:43France look good, man.

06:44My goodness.

06:46I would play maybe even the money line draw there at plus 240 to have it go to extra time

06:51because both these teams are playing really, really well.

06:55Thierry Henry is the coach for France, and he has led them back from a couple of early

06:59deficits as well.

07:00Both these teams just show real, real guts.

07:03I like France just by the way they're playing.

07:06If somebody is going to win it in 90, but that money line draw has good value.

07:10It should be an interesting one.

07:13Get ready.

07:14That's the end of the hour.

07:15Kyle Bohn, we appreciate it as always, my friend.

07:18Enjoy the games.

07:19Newswire will be back after this here on The Grid.

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