WWC19 | Final: USA v Netherlands

Imagine the VAR Vs none VAR league table.

Might be a little earner for someone to do that, money through adsense etc. Something like VARvariance.com

Someone did rightresult.net a few years back, didn't they? An alternative table based on eliminating ref mistakes. Would be the opposite.
 
Match day threads are going to be fun when the season starts. VAR taking the spontaneity out of typing.

I refuse to believe our match day threads could get any worse than they already are.
 
The 2 English central defenders simply aren't good enough for this level.
 


I was aware that this change was to come in but didn't know it was being implemented already?
 


I was aware that this change was to come in but didn't know it was being implemented already?


All the changes for next season are being used here at the WWC.

UEFA choose not to use them for their end of season tournament matches etc. I don't know what has happened with the Copa America etc - I guess they'll follow the UEFA stance of introducing them in the club season rather than at a tournament.
 
All the changes for next season are being used here at the WWC.

UEFA choose not to use them for their end of season tournament matches etc. I don't know what has happened with the Copa America etc - I guess they'll follow the UEFA stance of introducing them in the club season rather than at a tournament.

Cool, makes sense. Thanks!
 
Lindahl is a safety risk for sweden, England needs to put her under pressure. Sweden will tire in the end of the half after playing double extra time in the semifinals.
 
FT, 2-1 to the Swedes.
They’re delighted so happy for them but England will feel bad as they’ve not improved their placing.
 
Nice to see the often meaningless third place finish seems to mean something to Sweden anyway.
 
Alex Scott with quite a brutal but honest assessment of England in this WC.

"Sloppy in defesde and passing"
"Only played well for moments"
 
England didn't start playing until they were two goals down. Played some decent stuff but not that many clear cut chances in the second half.

I feel sorry for Greenwood. She's playing so well 99% of the time - but the occasional error is killing her as an England player at the moment.
 
This Swedish team is the female version of Atletico Madrid.
 
Disappointing end to the tournament. England didn't really deserve anything though two sloppy goals given away. No complaints really. Well done to Sweden!
 
Alex Scott with quite a brutal but honest assessment of England in this WC.

"Sloppy in defesde and passing"
"Only played well for moments"

She’s the only person actually calling it as it is. England were actually pretty similar to the men’s team. They underwhelmed the vast majority of games and results were a lot better than performances. People are terrified to criticise women’s teams for some reason. They were horrendous v Argentina and Cameroon.
 
Like England wouldn’t celebrate? If youre an athlete you always wanna win your matches. Even more after Englands comments when Sweden played Netherlands. Comments like ”We’d crush the swedes and should play the final against USA.
 
Like England wouldn’t celebrate? If youre an athlete you always wanna win your matches. Even more after Englands comments when Sweden played Netherlands. Comments like ”We’d crush the swedes and should play the final against USA.

Who said that?
 
Alex Scott with quite a brutal but honest assessment of England in this WC.

"Sloppy in defesde and passing"
"Only played well for moments"

I think their passing is really letting them down - failing to hold the ball in midfield, inaccurate in attack.

Defensive positioning is weird though, the centre backs have a lot of ground to cover and there's a lot of "last ditch" defending required. I suspect part of it relates to that midfield question. Ultimately too many good England players (like Parris, Kirby, Duggan) had a disappointing overall tournament.
 
It probably doesn't help when you are easily destroying teams in the early stages of the competition. England's first difficult game was an absolute huge step up to face the USA in the semi finals.

Suddenly, errors which were glossed over against Norway/Cameroon were much more noticeable when the USA used the high press.
 
She’s the only person actually calling it as it is. England were actually pretty similar to the men’s team. They underwhelmed the vast majority of games and results were a lot better than performances. People are terrified to criticise women’s teams for some reason. They were horrendous v Argentina and Cameroon.

To be fair they were good against Norway and I think if they’d beaten the US it wouldn’t have been an unfair result. The game was certainly there for them to get something out of in the second half. I agree they’re like the men’s in that they definitely need some better players in some areas.
 
Like England wouldn’t celebrate? If youre an athlete you always wanna win your matches. Even more after Englands comments when Sweden played Netherlands. Comments like ”We’d crush the swedes and should play the final against USA.

From who?
 
Deserved win by Sweden though England tried in the second half. Couldn't get enough chances.
 
They looked a bit flat to me (especially Mead & Parris)... on their heels a little bit and Sweden took advantage with that extra space.

I thought Sweden were very good defensively - a lot of experience and game management. Fantastic headed clearance from Bronze's volley.

Unlucky with VAR again.

Thought Kirby played really well and Carney when she came on. Greenwood just seemed to lack a bit of composure in the final third but so much time in her career to sort that out.

I thought they missed Walsh because although Moore was OK she does not seem to have quite the same passing range and we just could not switch the ball quickly enough.

Still I think an excellent world cup from the team. Huge improvement in game style in the last 2 years which should bare fruit further down the line.
 
1 - I remember defending Sweden at some point so I think someone was possibly underrating them. Maybe only in the context of England having a better chance of beating them in the semi than whatever the alternative was. Also in the context of not playing the USA too. I also think it was later acknowledged that Sweden had improved though.

2 - This looks about right for this England. I always thought they were being flattered by this sort of finishing position with Sampson in charge,

3 - Defence does seem a bit error prone. And still think they 'overplay' too deep. Maybe with White told to stay central, the attack is a bit static & positionally inflexible compared to others. I don't know what team role Kirby is upposed to be in either, related to that.
 
It was also weird that she used the example of Simeone's celebration to suggest men get away with it, when there was loads of discussion about that celebration and he got fined for it.

The celebration didn't really bother me, but it's kinda ridiculous that she did an attention grabbing celebration and then is annoyed that it got people's attention.



So look at this celebration from Ronaldo - it was deliberate and not spur of them moment as it was after the match. I never saw the anger, vitriol, or accusations of classlessness from the CAF, in fact the buzz after that match was is Ronnie the GOAT or not? And some laughs about his cheekiness.

Meanwhile, Morgan celebrates a goal and is labeled classless, portraying lazy stereotypes, making a political statement (wtf). The whole faux rage over Morgan's celebration is a storm in a teacup, and you and @Classical Mechanic should own it to being emotional when England lose.
 
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So look at this celebration from Ronaldo - it was deliberate and not spur of them moment as it was after the match. I never saw the anger, vitriol, or accusations of classlessness from the CAF, in fact the buzz after that match was is Ronnie the GOAT or not? And some laughs about his cheekiness.

Meanwhile, Morgan celebrates a goal and is labeled classless, portraying lazy stereotypes, making a political statement (wtf). The whole faux rage over Morgan's celebration is a storm in a teacup, and you and @Classical Mechanic should own it to being emotional when England lose.


It was a political statement if it was relating to the Boston Tea Party, as was the hype in the US with many outlets



It's a lazy stereotype if its supposed to relate to the English being a bunch of posh stiff upper lip tea drinkers.

Ronaldo is consistently slated for the way he acts and celebrates and many people hate him for it so its a terrible argument to make. Simeone and Ronaldo were both fined by UEFA for that celebration too.
 
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So look at this celebration from Ronaldo - it was deliberate and not spur of them moment as it was after the match. I never saw the anger, vitriol, or accusations of classlessness from the CAF, in fact the buzz after that match was is Ronnie the GOAT or not? And some laughs about his cheekiness.

Meanwhile, Morgan celebrates a goal and is labeled classless, portraying lazy stereotypes, making a political statement (wtf). The whole faux rage over Morgan's celebration is a storm in a teacup, and you and @Classical Mechanic should own it to being emotional when England lose.


There's a clear difference between a cocky celebration/dance and a celebration which is clearly aimed to rub it in to a particular opponent/nation. If an English player did some celebration mocking a part of US, French, German culture etc you can bet 100% that there would be backlash.

There's loads of discussion about how arrogant Ronaldo is with his celebrations anyway, all the fecking time. And any footballer who does a personalised one, look at the heat Lingard got. The idea that backlash is reserved just for female footballers is really silly and I think it's pretty clear that any male footballer who did a similar celebration in a world cup would get attention for it.

As for being emotional, not really. It's a long time after the fact and at the end of the day, whilst I was disappointed it's women's football. The emotion is a fraction as strong as when we went out against Croatia. The celebration wasn't some huge deal (nor have I ever said it was) but I do think it was a bit weird considering we're not rivals and yeah, I do think it came off as a bit arrogant and unsporting. But you know, each to their own and all that ...
 


So look at this celebration from Ronaldo - it was deliberate and not spur of them moment as it was after the match. I never saw the anger, vitriol, or accusations of classlessness from the CAF, in fact the buzz after that match was is Ronnie the GOAT or not? And some laughs about his cheekiness.

Meanwhile, Morgan celebrates a goal and is labeled classless, portraying lazy stereotypes, making a political statement (wtf). The whole faux rage over Morgan's celebration is a storm in a teacup, and you and @Classical Mechanic should own it to being emotional when England lose.

Without wanting to say anything about this particular subject, unless you didn’t noticed there are thousands of posts here in this forum regarding everything Ronaldo does. The Justin Bieber fanboys went wet with the gesture, the Messi fanboys demanded the death penalty for him. Nothing new here.
 
Alex Morgan thinks her celebration is getting more stick in the press than the stuff Ronaldo does? You wot?:lol:
 
Well as a partisan I want the Netherlands of course to win it. Also my favourite women player is Lieke Martens, who is brilliant. But objectively the USA still really deserve it. The goal is to develop female football to the same level as in tennis, athletics, etc., but only the USA team is at this truly professional level. If I look at the level of individual sports like athletics or even beach volleyball and watch the six packs, and then watch fat and slow Martens, it proves it's not on the same professional level yet. And that's the best player, I'm net even mentioning some of the really useless players. The same is true for the English team, even with their cold baths. Whether you think they are likable or not, the USA players are fecking winners and live for it and set the example and the level the others must thrive for.

Still hoping for an Italian style WC win :devil: Play shit and win it.
 
Well as a partisan I want the Netherlands of course to win it. Also my favourite women player is Lieke Martens, who is brilliant. But objectively the USA still really deserve it. The goal is to develop female football to the same level as in tennis, athletics, etc., but only the USA team is at this truly professional level. If I look at the level of individual sports like athletics or even beach volleyball and watch the six packs, and then watch fat and slow Martens, it proves it's not on the same professional level yet. And that's the best player, I'm net even mentioning some of the really useless players. The same is true for the English team, even with their cold baths. Whether you think they are likable or not, the USA players are fecking winners and live for it and set the example and the level the others must thrive for.

Still hoping for an Italian style WC win :devil: Play shit and win it.


Why do they deserve it because they have a massive advantage over other teams? If anything I'd say that means the Netherlands deserve it, because despite not having that professional level of investment and training, they can still compete.
 
Why do they deserve it because they have a massive advantage over other teams? If anything I'd say that means the Netherlands deserve it, because despite not having that professional level of investment and training, they can still compete.

Like I said, they are on top of living the sport to the highest level, setting an example for the others to follow.
 
Alex Morgan thinks her celebration is getting more stick in the press than the stuff Ronaldo does? You wot?:lol:

She's just not used to the European press paying this kind of attention to the women's game. She probably didn't pay that much attention to the way the mass media, twitter and even UEFA get caught up in these daft stories.
 
Like I said, they are on top of living the sport to the highest level, setting an example for the others to follow.

Meh, sorry but I'm more for supporting the underdog than the team who have funding at the highest level and a huge advantage over their competitors.

I think the US deserve credit for treating the women's game seriously, but I don't think that means they deserve to win games/tournaments.