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'Set' for success U.S. women profiting via predictable attack
CANBERRA, Australia -- If you ask anyone who loves soccer, the sport's charm lies in its non-stop action, the fluid samba beat of its ever-changing, ever-surprising narrative. Good soccer needs a good plot, and though it doesn't always have one -- what sport does? -- artistry on a soccer field is a joy to behold. Which raises the question: How is the U.S. women's soccer team one win away from the Olympic gold medal even though its attack has been as lousy and predictable as a Dean Koontz novel? The answer is quite simple, really, and in it you can learn a lot about why the U.S. women have been so successful over the years: Set pieces. In four games here, the American attackers have been remarkably poor at beating defenders one-on-one or unspooling game-breaker through-balls to their forwards. The speed has been there, and so has the desire, but their imaginations have failed them. "We're playing ugly," striker Tiffeny Milbrett admits, and she's right. On an aesthetic scale, the U.S. squad has been quite dreadful to watch.
The lone goal in Sunday's 1-0 semifinal win over Brazil was a perfect example. The U.S. offense sputtered the entire game, but early in the second half Brandi Chastain stood over a free kick on the left side outside the penalty box. Chastain served a cross to Lorrie Fair, whose header eluded Milbrett but found Mia Hamm, who deftly side-stepped the ball into the net. Game over. When I brought up the subject of set pieces to coach April Heinrichs afterward, she told me two shocking statistics about her team: 1) In a five-year period before she took over in February, the U.S. hadn't scored a single goal directly on a free kick, and 2) Since her first game, the U.S. defense has not given up a goal on a corner kick. Not one. To combat the deficiency in Stat No. 1, Heinrichs did two things. She had the team work on free kicks more often in training, but more important, she enlisted team psychologist Colleen Hacker to break down the mental aspects of set plays. Among other things, Hacker showed films of Olympic rifle shooters, demonstrating how they were able to shoot at the exact moment their heart rates reached their down phases. "Soccer is what's called an open skill, meaning that the environment and your opponents are constantly changing, and set pieces are the only aspect of soccer that's a closed skill," Hacker told me. "The mentality for a closed skill, if you're an archer or a free-throw shooter or a sculler, is entirely different. I wish it were as simple as a matter of skill. But set pieces transcend skill. Look at a free-throw shooter like Shaq. To be able to move that lens in and out is one of the most remarkable and overlooked qualities of this team." Sure enough, the U.S. has improved its potency on direct free kicks -- Shannon MacMillan blasted one for a goal against Nigeria -- but it's worth noting that the Americans still don't have a world-class free kick specialist the caliber of China's Sun Wen or Brazil's Sissi . In my mind, it's no coincidence that of the Americans' four set-piece goals in these Olympics, all but one have come indirectly, with more than one U.S. player touching the ball. And here we come to one of the less-discussed examples of why this American team has been so good for so long. When a team executes well on set pieces, whether offensively of defensively (see Stat No. 2), it has just as much to do with attitude as it does with skill. How else to explain Julie Foudy heading in a corner kick against China while surrounded by four Chinese defenders? "It's the players' mentality when the ball gets closer to the box," says Heinrichs. "We have a winner's mentality, and we've had it from day one. We'll find ways to win, and we're never, never, never going to quit." Which is why, even if they continue struggling in their attack, the U.S. women will win their second Olympic gold on Thursday against Norway. Mark my words: the game-winner will come on a set piece. Sports Illustrated staff writer Grant Wahl is in Australia covering the soccer
competition for the magazine and CNNSI.com. Check back daily to read Wahl's
behind-the-scenes reports from Down
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