FIFA Womens World Cup

[Ballbaby]

Those calls by the ref were shockingly pro US. She decided a World Cup semi final with two complete misses.

It seems that way BUT Germany still missed a penalty that could have sealed their fate. She made that call. Sad to say that I am not surpassed at all that the American wasn't sent off on that play. We are seeing more of these arbitrary decisions. The USA penalty was a terrible mistake but also understandable in the run of play. Why we still allow the human element to affect on such important aspects of play is beyond me.

 

[Sir M]

Oh I agree that the German player gagged. But that was a straight red and the US peno was a yard outside the area. Game deciding calls. Two of them.

 

[jimmy_jones]

Two Critical errors made, good thing for the ref the tournament is almost over, she probably just earned her team a quick exit from Canada...

 

[freddy]

I suppose it was a good thing the ref on the US game wasn't the same as the last time they made it through to the final on a bogus call. 2 in a row.

 

[Sir M]

40 minutes in, two penalty calls that were not penalties in the Japan/England game. FIFA should think about getting qualified officials; otherwise the WWC is starting to be something one laughs about. And that is too bad.

 

[freddy]

40 minutes in, two penalty calls that were not penalties in the Japan/England game. FIFA should think about getting qualified officials; otherwise the WWC is starting to be something one laughs about. And that is too bad.

They could get Clattenburg, but he would likely take a sexual misconduct for talking dirty on the field

 

[Sir M]

Four wrong peno calls in 120 minutes in World Cup semi finals.

 

[freddy]

Bad calls and pantshitting are the only goals. England faces the hand of God, or Toe of Basset in their demise. Painful. I feel for the girl.

 

[Jigsaw]

The standard of Refereeing, matches the standard of play.
We are not seeing any male officials in this World Cup and I think that is correct.
Yet we still get female officials working games on the male side, both here locally & even in the Premier League.
It seems that the Women get off lightly with not accepting criticism very well ( Sessleman )
I wonder if the English girl who scored in her own goal today will write a long note telling people to stop the "personal attacks".
If they want the "big stage" they need to take the good with the bad.

 

[Sir M]

In the two World Cup semi finals we have not seen a team score on their opponent from open play. Yet, we have seen four goals scored on pks as the result of wrong decisions by the head official. It is hard to be a fan of this type of thing. Finally, I like the USA's chances in the final unless Japan takes the pass it back to the keeper who then shanks it out of touch repeatedly tactic to a new level.

 

[forest1979]

it would all of been different on grass!! LOL.....

 

[4thplacetrophy]

In the two World Cup semi finals we have not seen a team score on their opponent from open play. Yet, we have seen four goals scored on pks.

3 goals from pk's, 1 was missed. US scored in open play, actually a decent build up on their 2nd.

Also feeling like the US will win this one.

 

[Sir M]

Sorry you are right, I turned it off as I could not stand to watch any longer.

 

[jimmy_jones]

3 goals from pk's, 1 was missed. US scored in open play, actually a decent build up on their 2nd.

Also feeling like the US will win this one.

Yes but U.S. Should've gone down to 10, and that would've made a difference... Or so you would think...

 

[Regs]

So what did everyone think of the final?

USA set pieces were stunning. Lloyd's third goal was special too...

 

[Regs]

 

[trece verde]

Stunning? Nah - the Japanese keeper tripped as she was backing up. More amazing that she still managed to get a hand to the ball at all while falling backward. Actually a lot of slips on the turf yesterday, including Hopeless when she went to hit a dead ball. Footwear or players still not used to the surface?

Japan looked dazed off the start; the normal presence of mind and control were completely missing until they sorted themselves in their group huddle after the 3rd goal. Much more even game after that, but still not able to match the US on firepower. Still fcuking annoying to have to listen to "I believe that we will win" and "Yew Ass Eh" over and over, though...

Some of the US players were wandering around Gastown this morning playing tourist. I did resist the urge to give them bad directions to Main & Hastings...

 

[Dude]

Sorry you are right, I turned it off as I could not stand to watch any longer.

An honest statement.

I watched more so for the historical perspective, and that it was in Vancouver. I DID like some of the US technical play. A well coached team, and individually, you can tell these players were well coached coming up, doing the simple things well (passing, moving, positive touches, communication, etc.). I want to get my hands on a few replays and use them to show my girls some of the positive play that came w/ the WWC.

Also, happy for our girl Sydney. Good for her. Yes, I know this is a very hypocritical statement from me, and Owen Hargreaves is still a fcuking turncoat.

On turf...it was a bad decision to allow the CSA to host this WWC on turf in the first place, and a lot of the moaning is legit, IMO. Not Wambach's accusation that it lead to a decrease in their goal scoring (all things being equal, scoring should not suffer, as there were just as many defensive errors leading to goals, arguably caused by turf...so shut it), but certainly there would be a total change in how the ball will play, how it snags on boots (even turf shoes), how the hot turf can snag a ball on a simple thing like a rollover. I think it diminishes the play, significantly. Sesslemann may have been an (extremely hot) racoon circling a garbage can whenever the ball came to her feet, but she wasn't alone. Her big gaffe could easily be attributed, at least partially, to turf. But to me, the biggest and most obvious to me when they announced it was that the players were going to cook on turf in the summer. That was my first thought. Anyone who's had to play in the Knight's or FVSL Summer league will attest to this. It's deadly hot. How this was just shuffled aside is criminal. Real grass could have and should have been installed in every facility, no matter what the cost, and the CSA should have been prepared to costs structure / share this. I can't immagine the CSA not making boatloads of profit on this, and yesterday in an article, it was speculated that the tourism benefit to Vancouver was similar to the Olympics, without the high cost of hosting. Certainly Tourism BC, and the counterparts in the other provinces, would have already made an economic calculation on the benefit, and the Provinces could have been convinced to allow for their cost increase on adding real grass.

Again, fcuking criminal that it was allowed, and I really wish more teams had jumped on board the US Team's class action (I think it was a class action...maybe a resident lawyer could correct me on this).

That's my only beef about all this whole thing. Great tourney, great hosting by Canada, hopefully it leads to hosting the Men's WC sometime before I die.

Back to SirM's statement...unfortunately, he's right. On a pure entertainment level, without trying to look at the games and play analytically, a lot of the play left a lot to be desired. The big hope is that this tourney will be a catalyst to a successful expansion of Women's Professional Football. I hope it does, but I am very skeptical as to the model and chances of success.

 

[TulioMaravilha]

Lloyd's third goal was special too...

Stunning? Nah - the Japanese keeper tripped as she was backing up. More amazing that she still managed to get a hand to the ball at all while falling backward.

Yeah she tripped, but I have to agree with Regs, special, if nothing else for her presence of mind, rarity of this kind of goals and because it was a WWC final game.
I have seen a few half field goals on TV (Beckham's come to mind) and scored one on a competitive game that I can remember, but that's the first time I saw one live and especially at such a stage.

Attending the games was over all a very enjoyable experience, great atmosphere, comparing favourably to my going last year to the WC in Brasil.