WWC19 | Final: USA v Netherlands

KirkDuyt said:
They should make the tournament a bit smaller I think. Just invite the best 12 countries until others actually start developing women's football, because a match like this, while fun in a trololo kind of way for the USA is just silly.
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I'm old enough to remember when an African team won a men's WC finals match for the first time. Part of developing the game is to use the finals to encourage national FAs to prepare for their regional qualifiers/tournaments.

The disparity is huge at the moment - from pro players who play weekly in pro club leagues, to amateurs who only really play friendlies, or if they're lucky in local amateur leagues.

But the World Cup focuses the minds of the media and ultimately the FAs. Argentina basically closed their team for two years, and the players had to raise their own travel costs for the qualifiers, but qualification helped them get funding again. They got their first ever World Cup point this week They lost 11-0 to Germany in 2007, so they'll see Thailand now heading the record loss table as a good thing :smirk:
 
KirkDuyt said:
The massive dance of at the US' bench after the 13-0 was a bit embarrassing to me. Good on you, you beat a team that looked like it had never seen a football pitch before. Curb your fecking enthusiasm.
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Even Germany were almost half-heartedly celebrating the last few goals in that 7-1 win over Brazil.

The USA Coach talking about "being in tears" watching the game was a bit over the top.
 
jojojo said:
I'm old enough to remember when an African team won a men's WC finals match for the first time. Part of developing the game is to use the finals to encourage national FAs to prepare for their regional qualifiers/tournaments.

The disparity is huge at the moment - from pro players who play weekly in pro club leagues, to amateurs who only really play friendlies, or if they're lucky in local amateur leagues.

But the World Cup focuses the minds of the media and ultimately the FAs. Argentina basically closed their team for two years, and the players had to raise their own travel costs for the qualifiers, but qualification helped them get funding again. They got their first ever World Cup point this week They lost 11-0 to Germany in 2007, so they'll see Thailand now heading the record loss table as a good thing :smirk:
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Agree, it's a necessary evil for development really. It's worth remembering the massive improvement in African sides alone from 2015-2019. The exposure and experience from a World Cup is huge for the future development. They got hammered by Germany but off the back of the tournament a few got moves to Europe in the following years. Cisse wound up at Minsk, Coulibaly is captain for Barcelona in Cyprus and Akaffou plays for them as well. Guessan moved to Gintra straight after the World Cup and she now plays for a top tier Spanish side (can't remember who). All of this has contributed to the standard of their football improving massively, better training facilities along with higher standards. If Ivory weren't allowed at the World Cup due to fewer numbers then most likely none of these moves would have happened and the standard would never improve.
Thailand are all local based in a poor league, a couple of their players will end up in Europe after this though which will help them in the future. Their biggest issue is genetics really. They really aren't built for football when compared to African sides or the top European sides. There is always a huge physical disparity.
 
@Spiersey @jojojo

Good points on the tournament size to be honest. Having silly matches like last night to force improvement on the weaker nations seems like a fair price.
 
KirkDuyt said:
@Spiersey @jojojo

Good points on the tournament size to be honest. Having silly matches like last night to force improvement on the weaker nations seems like a fair price.
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Yeah - back in the early 80s - a team like Turkey was a joke and one of the worst in Europe. In the qualifiers for the 82 and 86 World cup they lost 15 out of 16 matches. In 2002 they won the bronzemedal in the World Cup. Give them good opposition and they will improve, and a team like Thailand need the World Cup if they are to get better as they wont meet many decent opponents in the qualifiers
 
I think the size is fine, the quality will catch up. Looking at all the other score lines, it's all pretty respectable and going into this tournament, there are as many potential winners of the tournament as there usually are on the men's side. The women's game at the international level has come a long way.
 
Ouch, South Korea defender knocks the ball past her own keeper for a Nigerian goal. It's gone to VAR because it may have hit an attacker's arm on the way through.

Goal given on review.
 
Looked like she touched it to me but not 100% her fingers move as it passed her hand I thought. Not enough evidence to overturn the original decision, also doubt it even changed the trajectory of the ball anyway.

Korea look all over the place now.
 
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What was that.

One of the worst own goals you'll see all year, but it should've been called off because the nigerian player reaches out for the ball with her hand and actually makes contact with it. WTF!
 
Lyricist said:
What was that.

One of the worst own goals you'll see all year, but it should've been called off because the nigerian player reaches out for the ball with her hand and actually makes contact with it. WTF!
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I couldn't tell from the angle they showed if she made contact or not - it was just weird her sticking her arm out like that. I think the lack of deviation in the flight probably made it hard for the VAR team to call.

In other news - not having rollback on BBC red button is really irritating :lol:
 
jojojo said:
I couldn't tell from the angle they showed if she made contact or not - it was just weird her sticking her arm out like that. I think the lack of deviation in the flight probably made it hard for the VAR team to call.

In other new - not having rollback on BBC red button is really irritating :lol:
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Don't want to seem bigoted or offensive, and i'm not usually one for conspiracies, but I wonder if they didn't make the call because that scene would've been made fun of across the internet.
In my opinion, it's obvious she makes contact with the ball, if you see the replays often enough. It's clearly a "deliberate" albeit mindless handball as well. The direction of the ball did however not really change too much. It would've probably went in anyway. It is a handball though and should've been called off in my opinion.
 
lysglimt said:
Yeah - back in the early 80s - a team like Turkey was a joke and one of the worst in Europe. In the qualifiers for the 82 and 86 World cup they lost 15 out of 16 matches. In 2002 they won the bronzemedal in the World Cup. Give them good opposition and they will improve, and a team like Thailand need the World Cup if they are to get better as they wont meet many decent opponents in the qualifiers
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Yeah, I remember Turkey losing 8-0 to Germany in the qualifiers around 83 I think. I also remember El Salvador losing 10-1 to Hungary in WC 82, who subsequently lost 4-1 to Argentina, who had just lost 1-0 to Belgium, who a week later where trashed 3-0 by Poland, who in turn where beaten 2-0 by Italy, who had started the tournament by drawing with Cameroun. I then concluded Cameroun would have beaten El Salvador 20-2 and was probably the worlds best team (whereby my friend reasonable enough concluded I was a moron).

I believe the record for men is also 13-0 in a World Cup, with Just Fontaine scoring four for France.
 
jojojo said:
I couldn't tell from the angle they showed if she made contact or not - it was just weird her sticking her arm out like that. I think the lack of deviation in the flight probably made it hard for the VAR team to call.

In other news - not having rollback on BBC red button is really irritating :lol:
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Yeah no rewind is a complete nightmare.

I think she was sticking her arm out the wave to her player for "good attempt" with her not realising the ball flight going towards her. Or instincts.
 
Keeper error, S.Korea get the ball in the net, but the Korean player was offside when the cross came in. Still 1-0 to Nigeria.
 
Nigeria won 2-0. Korea are almost certainly out, but this could give Nigeria a qualifying spot (even if they don't get anything against France)
 
For the moment I only know two players.
Jenni Hermoso, who plays in the midfield and scored the penalties against South Africa. When they were in a hurry, she seemed one of the few that had confidence with the ball.
In addition to Nahikari Garcia, the forward of Real
 
carvajal said:
For the moment I only know two players.
Jenni Hermoso, who plays in the midfield and scored the penalties against South Africa. When they were in a hurry, she seemed one of the few that had confidence with the ball.
In addition to Nahikari Garcia, the forward of Real
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Caldentey's name looks like it's a Spanish name that is spelled based on the American pronounciation.
 
One Night Only said:
Always a lot less cards in the women's game, they get away with all-sorts :lol:
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There's a lot less cynical fouls at the top level of womens compared to mens (Plenty of them at lower levels though weirdly). Slower game speed as well usually makes tackle not look as bad as if they happened between men also.
 
Germany defence is so poor these days. So exposed to any ball in behind, was exact same against China. Need one of the chances to fall to Hermoso, great finisher.
 
Why the feck do they never raise the flag when the offside position happens, but instead when the attack is finished?!?!
 
Oh come on with the offside calls.

Is this some kind of nonsensical FIFA directive?

They're waiting about 10-15 seconds after the offside situation happens, till they raise the flag.
 
Grande said:
Yeah, I remember Turkey losing 8-0 to Germany in the qualifiers around 83 I think. I also remember El Salvador losing 10-1 to Hungary in WC 82, who subsequently lost 4-1 to Argentina, who had just lost 1-0 to Belgium, who a week later where trashed 3-0 by Poland, who in turn where beaten 2-0 by Italy, who had started the tournament by drawing with Cameroun. I then concluded Cameroun would have beaten El Salvador 20-2 and was probably the worlds best team (whereby my friend reasonable enough concluded I was a moron).

I believe the record for men is also 13-0 in a World Cup, with Just Fontaine scoring four for France.
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Well, I think your logic was impeccable.
 
Lyricist said:
Oh come on with the offside calls.

Is this some kind of nonsensical FIFA directive?

They're waiting about 10-15 seconds after the offside situation happens, till they raise the flag.
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It's because you can always take back an offside goal with VAR, but you can't give back a goal scoring chance. So referees are supposed to let the immediate situation play out if they aren't sure.

And I think that should've been straight red against Germany.
 
The offside thing is ridiculous tbh. They're doing it wrong, leaving clear offsides to play on for no reason. If it's clear they should blow straight away.

If it's tight and it could be wrong it's fair enough because of VAR. Let them play incase they score then check.
 
Germany win 1-0 again. They're a remarkably unremarkable team - given they're ranked 2 in the world. Doing just enough to stop a Spain that seem to be able to do most things well, but can't score - where's Ramos when you need him?
 
do.ob said:
It's because you can always take back an offside goal with VAR, but you can't give back a goal scoring chance. So referees are supposed to let the immediate situation play out if they aren't sure.

And I think that should've been straight red against Germany.
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Have to say, the way it's being applied is so silly. Also imagine being a defender, having a good game with your defensive unit, always getting the offside line just right (so practically allowing nothing) but because the game is being played on, it seems like they're allowing chance, after chance, and aren't tracking the runners well. Despite the offside situations, the defenders mentally get a lot more worried, while the strikers will now feel they're very close to getting it right. If the call comes right away, the defender is on the mental high ground, and can continue to play with confidence. These situations test the nerves of the entire defense every time.
 
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