most sensationally unlikely Final pairing, against Scotland:

Jamaica

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jun/06/womens-world-cup-2019-team-guide-no-22-united-states

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/28/womens-world-cup-2019-team-guide-no-3-norway

"Brief history of women's football in Scotland -
The first records of women's football start in Scotland. In the Highlands single women would play against married women while men would watch and select a prospective bride. Much later, Easter Road hosted the first known match played under FA rules between England and Scotland in 1881. With women drafted into the factories during the war, munitions teams cropped up and in 1918 an unofficial game with England at Celtic Park attracted a crowd of 8,000 However, the SFA banned women's football in the 1920s, as the FA did in England."

"Annual budget for the women's national team (compared to men's)
The women's budget this year is actually higher (14.8m Norwegian kroner (1.3m)) than the men's (12.4m NOK) because it is a World Cup year. This however, does not include the salaries for the two coaches, with the men's coach, Lars Lagerbck, earning far more than his fellow Swede Sjgren. Interestingly and impressively the women earn as much as the men (6.8m NOK per year) after the men took a pay cut in 2017."

Give it up for Cedella Marley, daughter of Bob. Jamaica cut funding for the women's national team, so Bob's kid raised the funds through crowd funding.

And I thought I would be alone if I started a thread on this.
Thank you for doing so, I will be watching as much as possible.

That penalty against South Africa was weak!

I was thinking of the 2nd one, but so was the first.



I said during this game that the quality of play by these two teams was poor and the US would destroy both.

Look at how Nigeria gave up these three goals.
They suck!!!

I'm surprised it wasn't 10 nothing after such display of horridness.

1. Just go right around the defender, then don't mark on the pass, then make yourself big as to otherwise yield a PK handball.
2. GK, right over her head. May as well not even be there.
3. Own goal, duh.

prospeCt said:

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most sensationally unlikely Final pairing, against Scotland:

Jamaica

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Funny you say that. They just played a friendly as a final tune up game before the actual tourney.

German newspaper Bild ran a headline that said "ugly win thanks to our prettiest".
Backlash ensued for the sexism.






I guess the author likes Guilia Gwinn:

FYI, Fox Sports is airing the games, FS1, and the US women, uswnt, play on

Tuesday, noon vs Thailand
Sunday, 9am vs Chile
Thursday, noon vs Sweden

Then it's on to the knockout stages.

Alex Morgan is the lead striker, and there are some other holdovers from years past, but there are lots of new players in the pool. IIRC, the US did not have great quality send off matches.

They say this will be the deepest overall pool of teams in the tourney.
No problem at all getting out of the group, but a finals win is not a sure thing, as has seemed in the past.

who ya got, Argentina : Japan

Japan, 4 -2


https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2019/jun/10/argentina-v-japan-womens-world-cup-2019-live

Besides Morgan, there are 3 other Cal alums competing in France, Betsy Hassett and Daisy Cleverley for New Zealand

Daisy Cleverley


Ajax' Hassett:


and Miranda Nild for Thailand:

All goals:


Disappointed thoughts from Canada:

Cal88 said:

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and Miranda Nild for Thailand:

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Okay, sorry to laugh, but I just finished the game, and I saw Alex talking with some Thai player who was crying, and I told my daughter, "look, that girl probably grew up in the Us and Alex Morgan is her hero, and now she is crying because she got obliterated by her half-home country."

Little did I know!

B.A. Bearacus said:

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Disappointed thoughts from Canada:

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I disagree.
So do all the Fox people except Stone.
These aren't the little AYSO kiddie teams I coach. Nor is this a meaningless friendly. This is the World Cup!
Bring it!

That was hella fun! Most enjoyable game I ever watched! At least in terms of howling, screaming, and all out bursts of laughter and cheer for so many players. Not just the goals, but the assists, and the passing.

With Thailand continuing to non-Mark out wide, we had so many crosses into the box.
Thailand failed to mark in the box.
Thailand failed to string more than 4 passes together the whole game.
Thailand played boot ball.
Their GK was horrible.

It all allowed for textbook examples of what to do to take advantage of favorable situations - which Thailand yielded oh so many of.

The USA played very well. This is not 1970's crap soccer! At least not on the US side! There is plenty of quality play for fans to enjoy!!

You cannot endlessly leave players unmarked in the box. Thailand did, to a laughable amount.

And if Canada ever has a match like this, we'll see if she says the same.

PS: the uswnt is in the business of selling entertainment. They are trying to increase their salaries. I ask you, were you not entertained?
More people will buy more tix and gear and advertising slots on tv if there is more joy. The uswnt team brought the joy. And the more money there is in the game, better for teams like Thailand.
So shut up, lady.

PSS: huge complaint (from a US fan viewership standpoint) about the sport of soccer is that you can watch 90 minutes and have one goal. There's been talk of changing that. No problems with that today.

Up 9-0 with 5 minutes to go, they keep going for the jugular and score 3 more goals, never seen a worse case of running up the score in over 40 years following international soccer. It's the equivalent of being up 84-0 with 5 minutes to go in a football game and using your timeouts to call bombs to the endzone, and if that weren't bad enough, celebrating after each score as if you've won the Superbowl. That was just really weird and plain ugly.

Cal88 said:

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Up 9-0 with 5 minutes to go, they keep going for the jugular and score 3 more goals, never seen a worse case of running up the score in over 40 years following international soccer. It's the equivalent of being up 84-0 with 5 minutes to go in a football game and using your timeouts to call bombs to the endzone, and if that weren't bad enough, celebrating after each score as if you've won the Superbowl. That was just really weird and plain ugly.

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In a goal differential competition that's what you do. But you keep doing you.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2019/jun/12/womens-world-cup-shoved-down-mens-throats

"Once again I am hugely grateful to the community that will not allow us to forget the great under-reported story of this Women's World Cup: men. Most specifically, the men who are not watching it. We hear so much about the tournament itself. Too much, it is argued and at the expense of one of the four great civil rights questions of our era: 1) When are we getting a White History Month? 2) When is International Men's Day? 3) Isn't it time we had Straight Pride? and 4) Can you imagine how sexist people would say it was if we had a men's World Cup? ... "

Gee, that would have done a lot for the interest in, enjoyment of, and profitability of women's soccer had the USA decided to pass the ball around the back.

I know I would have enjoyed watching Morgan be subbed for Sauerbrun, so we could watch her knock it around with Dahlkamper, O'Hara, and Dunn, then see Naher punt a 50-50 ball to midfield, which the US would win possession of, then progressively pass backwards so we could do it again, wow, that would be awesome!

US to play again this morning vs Chile.
Pregame is on now.
FoxSports1

PARIS The starting XI for the United States women's national team's second World Cup match is set, and the lineup has been heavily rotated for the noon ET kickoff against Chile at Parc des Princes.
U.S. coach Jill Ellis made seven changes to the lineup that defeated Thailand 13-0 in the opening match last week.
Mallory Pugh, Becky Sauerbrunn, Morgan Brian, Carli Lloyd, Ali Krieger, Tierna Davidson and Christen Press were added to the starting XI.
Sam Mewis, Kelley O'Hara, Alex Morgan, Megan rapinoe, Rose Lavelle, Tobin Heath and Crystal Dunn all moved to the bench.

Lloyd is captain for the Sunday match. Julie Ertz remained in the lineup, but will play a different position at defensive mid.
Davidson, 20, is the youngest player to start a Women's World Cup match for the U.S. since 1995, when Tiffany Roberts started against Norway on June 15 in Sweden. Davidson also is just the sixth player under 21 to ever start a Women's World Cup game for the Americans.
FIFA announced an expected sellout at the nearly 48,000-seat stadium. Fox will broadcast the match.

Here is the full lineup:
Starting XI: bolder starting their second game
Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher;
defenders Becky Sauerbrunn, Abby Dahlkemper, Ali Krieger and Tierna Davidson;
midfielders Morgan Brian, Julie Ertz, Lindsey Horan;
forwards Mallory Pugh, Carli Lloyd and Christen Press.

Substitutes: Ashley Harris, Adrianna Franch, Samantha Mewis, Kelley O'Hara, Alex Morgan, Emily Sonnett, Megan Rapinoe, Rose Lavelle, Tobin Heath, Crystal Dunn, Allie Long, Jessica McDonald.

Chile's starting XI: Goalkeeper Christiane Endler; defenders Carla Guerrero, Francisca Lara, Su Helen Galaz, Javier Toro and Camila Saez; midfielders Claudia Soto, Karen Araya and Rosario Balmaceda; forwards Maria Jose Urrutia and Daniela Zamora.

Debate on pregame if replacing 7 is too many.
I'll side with NO.

The US have tons of talent, and will get the win today.
The question is establishing continuity of the players that will be in the later matches that count vs
1) establishing depth that's ready in case of injuries
2) creating camaraderie, where everyone feels involved
3) avoiding injuries to your later/key starters (just ask the warriors)

3 > 1

Wow, I never knew this story about Ali Krieger:

In her junior year, Krieger made 20 appearances for Penn State, ten of those appearances being in conference matches. She made seven goals in the season, which tied for second in the season at Penn State. Three of those goals were game winning goals. Penn State was the 2004 Big Ten Conference regular season champion and was No.1 seed in the Big Ten Women's Soccer Tournament. They made it to the quarterfinals of the tournament, when they were defeated by Michigan on November 3. Penn State earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, its highest seed ever.

However, two days before the tournament, Krieger broke her leg while playing against a men's soccer team in preparation for the tournament. The injury required surgery, where they inserted a plate and five screws in her leg. A few months later in January, after traveling to visit her family, Krieger began experiencing shortness of breath and checked into the hospital as a precaution.

As a result of her broken leg and subsequent plane rides, she had developed blood clots in her legs that traveled up to her lungs and caused a pulmonary embolism, affecting her blood flow and triggering multiple mini-heart attacks. The doctor informed her that if she had gone to sleep that night, there was a high probability that she would not have woken up. She was required to do a series of self-injections of enoxaparin for several months, but eventually made a full recovery and joined the Nittany Lions for her senior season.

Good read on player rankings

https://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2019/5/2/18526305/uswnt-roster-squad-2019-womens-world-cup

Has nobody been watching all the great soccer recently?

Womens World Cup is in the knockout rounds. USA plays tomorrow. Host France and Brazil face off momentarily.

Last night the USA men destroyed Trinidad Tobago in their second gold cup game.

Soccer fans, unite!

concordtom said:

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Has nobody been watching all the great soccer recently?

Womens World Cup is in the knockout rounds. USA plays tomorrow. Host France and Brazil face off momentarily.

Last night the USA men destroyed Trinidad Tobago in their second gold cup game.

Soccer fans, unite!

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Been watching the American women's matches at the gym while working out. The athleticism really has really elevated in women's play. Unlike the men's game, the women handle contact and typically keep going, instead of going into hysterics to draw fouls. Much more enjoyable to watch.

On to face the frogs in Paris after a physical victory over a rising Spain team. Winner of the next game has inside track to win it all. USA, USA....
.

That second PK awarded to USA was weak. Spain was playing really well, and might have been able to pull of the upset. The ref let the USA off the hook. Or denied us our own well earned glory.
It was a good match for sure.
Last 3 matches vs frances have been 1-3, 1-1, 0-3.
#1 vs #2, and #2 is at home.
The USA could very well lose.
Must emotionally prepare for such an outcome....

And in the evenings, FoxSports has been airing 2 games per night with the concacaf Good Cup.
It's been great fun.
Did anyone catch the Haiti Costa Rica game last night. Fun stuff.
Some of the games have sucked, but this has been a few weeks of soccer overdosing.
And we still have the high tension final games to go.


USA men on Wednesday night vs panama. Not an elimination game, so just sit back and watch the talent and the team progress. Then it's on to the final 8 and knockouts.

Women in the morning,
Men at night.
Go USA!

First PK was deserved. Tobin may have scored, and was taken down.
The second PK on Rose Lavelle was not a good call.
Too bad.

NY area HItians were going crazy.
This game was for first place in the group and to avoid Mexico in the next game, elimination.

On the top half of the bracket, you've got
Mexico vs Costa Rica. US has had trouble with both.
Then there's Canada vs Haiti.
Winners play each other.
This is the more difficult half of the draw.

On the bottom half, not exactly set yet, but:
USA vs El Salvador
Jamaica vs Panama
USA should emerge!

It's nice to see that we have as easy a road possible. Hard to imagine any easier, actually.
Honduras has already been eliminated after two games, and they went to the World Cup (instead of us) last year.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_CONCACAF_Gold_Cup

From the games I've seen in the women's WC, the level of play has improved, you have teams from countries with solid soccer cultures emerging and adding some depth to the tournament, like Holland and Italy. The USWNT is still a cut above the field, for now, the winner of France-USA will be favored to win the WC. I think the US wins 3-2.

From a purely athletic viewpoint, the best tournament right now is the Copa America, which is the main COMNEBOL tournament. The bracket is now set, with the top 8 teams all in the QFs:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Copa_Am%C3%A9rica#Bracket

I had no idea how much of a fan of Megan Rapinoe I am until today.

I bet Ertz goes would go to the f***in White House.

dajo9 said:

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I had no idea how much of a fan of Megan Rapinoe I am until today.

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Just noticed this. F yes. Go Rapinoe! Go Morgan! Go USWNT!

BI wagers here - 6 : 5 Parisians during the heatwave, sad

"first World Cup defending Champ v. host nation", in capital city a fortnight before Bastille, 30 C +, bon chance Mesdammes du Berkeley

https://news.yahoo.com/united-states-womens-national-team-world-cup-spain-hope-solo-got-lucky-000243703.html

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jun/28/usa-france-preview-world-cup-uswnt

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/27/kamala-harris-second-democratic-debate