Women's Football World Cup

[farfetched]

I read over here in the Dutch press that Sarina Wiegman was a little surprised at the rivalry between England and Australia.
Now of course that's not really an issue in Men's footie as the Aussies don't tend to get that far at the WC, and there are few if any competitive games,
She obviously does not follow Rugby and Cricket.

I'm also not that sure that Women's sport carries the same tribal atmosphere, it's certainly not evident if you look at the supporters, by and large the
players and coaches seem to be behave as well despite there being some pretty close games and penalty shoot-outs. Now I have said this it will obviously all go tits-up (no pun intended) on Wednesday with 10 yellow and 4 red cards.

[Mr Larrington]

(click to show/hide)

AUS 1 — 3 ENG

Hurrah!

[Wowbagger]

"Phenomenable!"

[Cudzoziemiec]

Crikey! The Oz goal was nice, so was Angol's third.

[Von Broad]

Crikey! The Oz goal was nice, so was Angol's third.

Set up superbly by Lauren Hemp.
She's playing so well.

Wiegman has a decision to make - I hope she keeps the same team, [especially as Toone scored a really good goal], and leaves James [who is due to return] on the bench - and that's a very useful player to have in reserve!

[Wowbagger]

Does anyone decide upon a Player of the Match? In my view it was Lauren Hemp. Possibly not too much of a difficult decision to make.

[Wowbagger]

Listening to the commentary and reading a couple of articles, I gain the impression that some of the pundits are assuming this is in the bag for England. It's implicit, but I'm sure it's there.

Here's and example: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/aug/16/matildas-fever-has-met-its-antidote-an-england-team-with-killer-instinct

[Von Broad]

Listening to the commentary and reading a couple of articles, I gain the impression that some of the pundits are assuming this is in the bag for England. It's implicit, but I'm sure it's there.

Here's and example: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/aug/16/matildas-fever-has-met-its-antidote-an-england-team-with-killer-instinct

Yes, interesting. I know what you mean.

But, from where I sit, my own view is, and they make the point in the article, having followed the womens game [only really at International level] for quite some time, and seen how it's developed from a kind of slow, naive, starting at the very bottom kind of thing, and progressed to where they are now, as that has happened, they've learned a lesson from the men - although probably not that consciously done, it's all very well having good players, or a so-called golden generation of young talent, at the end of the day, if you're going to do well, it's all about playing tournament football and knowing how to adapt and get through games, even if you don't perform at your best. In the mens game, the Germans have always been masters at it. And England have fallen short so many times. The closest the blokes got was Italia 90, where the team evolved and got better as the tournament progressed, but lost on the dreaded penalties - as we all remember!

As for the game on Sunday, I expect the Spanish to play not dissimilar to the way Nigeria did, although endowed with a higher level of technical skill, I don't think they will give England an inch to play. I remember England played Spain in the Euros 2022, and they were a tough nut to crack. - and they've just beaten Sweden who are ranked 3rd in the world [I was amazed to find out]. Spain are ranked 6th and England 4th. There's just nothing in it.

edit: looks like the bookies are not giving much away, best odds:
England - 10/11
Spain - Evens

[Cudzoziemiec]

For England, these are battles that have already been fought and won. The final against Spain on Sunday will be the latest chapter in a story of evolution and growth that has already made the Lionesses one of our best-loved sporting teams. The game itself will be wildly different. Spain, with their technical skill and sophisticated passing patterns, will provide an entirely new challenge after the long punts and swirling crosses of Australia. England will have to endure long periods without the ball. But this is a team who thrive on their ability to adapt and endure, to weather the tough spells and meet fire with water.

I don't really read that as "assuming this is in the bag for England."

[Cudzoziemiec]

Meanwhile, Aussies getting hooli:

Crowds will no longer be able to gather at Melbourne’s Federation Square to watch the remaining Women’s World Cup matches after a small group of fans repeatedly breached security fences and others lit flares during Wednesday’s semi-final.

The decision to axe the fan zone at Fed Square – which had already hosted 140,000 fans throughout the World Cup – was made out of safety concerns, and follows what Victoria Police called a “challenging night” for officers.

And the most prosaic stadium name ever: "Melbourne Rectangular Stadium"

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/17/womens-world-cup-2023-federation-square-live-site-melbourne-axed-dropped-safety-security-flares

[bobb]

And the most prosaic stadium name ever: "Melbourne Rectangular Stadium"

Well, there's about a dozen stadiums in Melboune called The Something Oval, so it makes sense to name a rectangular one in that way!

[citoyen]

Does anyone decide upon a Player of the Match? In my view it was Lauren Hemp. Possibly not too much of a difficult decision to make.

I don’t know if there is an official award but I was discussing the game with my colleague and e we both thought Hemp was the outstanding player.

That was the only game I’ve watched so far (which means I’ve watched one more game in the women’s tournament than the men’s last year) and I think I picked a bloody good one. As m’colleague said, always good to beat the Aussies at anything.

Might even make an effort for the final.

[Wowbagger]

It's odd, isn't it? I'm relatively unenthusiastically English (born in Essex, but half-Welsh and always had much more contact with the Welsh side than the English) and I mostly thought myself impervious to this sort of thing, but I always found that beating the Aussies at Anything is very satisfying. I've no idea why, but I always findig myself wanting the All Blacks to beat Aus in the rugby as well.

My younger daughter is very enthusiastic about Welsh rugby too - more so than I am I think, as I deprecate the razzmatazz of the modern international games - but she is now an Aussie citizen but living in Auckland and in a partnership with a Kiwi. She always supports Wales, but the All Blacks are her second team too - and I think that was true when she lived in Melbourne.

[Mr Larrington]

Dear The BBC

There is a bloke colemantating in Spaignish in the background of your coverage.  Please silence him or I will switch to ITV.

Kthxbai

[Mr Larrington]

(click to show/hide)

Spaign 1 — 0 England

Arse.

[andyoxon]

No way was that a yellow card ref!  Player went down looking like they had a shattered ankle.

[Mr Larrington]

Woo-hoo!  Mary Earps saves penalty 

[Mr Larrington]

Bah

[Jaded]

Dear The BBC

There is a bloke colemantating in Spaignish in the background of your coverage.  Please silence him or I will switch to ITV.

Kthxbai

We went to ITV.

Didn’t seem to change the result, but the colemantating was way better.

[Mr Larrington]

So did I but returned to the Beeb at half-time to avoid the shitverts.  El Colemanio had buggered off by the second half.  Strangely, Auntie's colematary did not perform its usual trick during live sporting events, viz. emerge mostly from the left speaker.

[citoyen]

At the end of the day, the best team won, Brian.

[De Sisti]

Remember, it was only a game of football. Nobody died. Now we're going to be plastered with
nine months or so of premier league soccer. 

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Nobody died. Now we're going to be plastered with
nine months or so of premier league soccer.

(Quotation fixed by Mod)

My ability to ignore football has reached the level at which I do not know for sure what teams are in the Premier league. Assuming it is still called that.

In company, I did watch the final of the women’s World Cup. They was, of course, robbed by a cynical team of excessively professional performers. Is what I said. I am tactful like that.

[Peter]

I thought England were "lucky" to get away with 0-1.  Have the rules on goalkeepers moving been changed?  Earps saved a penalty by being already practically horizontal by the time the kicker reached the ball, as far as I could see, especially in the view from behind the goal.  And I don't think it's fair to imply that Spain were "professional" (i.e. cheats).  Certainly as it got towards the end and England could feel it slip away, the England side, who were probably a stone or so heavier per person, started to throw their weights about and there was also a lot of "accidental" stepping on feet.  This was a pity because there was only a goal in it and both teams had been really entertaining until England began to lose hope.  That said, I did only watch the second half, so I may have missed dirty deeds by the very small and fast Spaniards.

[farfetched]

Best team won,  which doesn't always happen of course. It was a game of few really good chances and not many mistakes were made, I thought Walsh was off the pace and Earps kept England in the game.

The penalty rule is quite simple, goalkeeper has to have at least one foot on or behind the line at the time the pen is struck,  years ago they were not allowed to move now they can do what they like as long the foot rule is observed.