Such a snoozefest.
How foolish was I to expect this match to be a good one only for it to turn out like this?
How foolish was I to expect this match to be a good one only for it to turn out like this?WWC23 | England v Spain - Spain win the World Cup - and Rubiales gets sacked
- Thread starter jojojo
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Such a snoozefest.
Worst match I've seen so far
USA still look the best team.
Not a very good match, Portugal still clearly a level or two below the best teams. The Netherlands were a disappointment, I was expecting more going by the players they have.
I think out coach should've made the changes a bit earlier, especially Kika and Telma. The whole team seemed a bit nervous, hopefully we see better football against Vietnam.
I think out coach should've made the changes a bit earlier, especially Kika and Telma. The whole team seemed a bit nervous, hopefully we see better football against Vietnam.
Not great from Portugal. Netherlands doing enough to win but there's got to be question about where the goals will come from - same question mark as against England as well. In the end another match decided on a setpiece
Spain and Japan have started well too. Hard to know how good any of them are until we see them against strong opposition. Long tournament ahead though and that's always been one of the USA's strengths.
France v Jamaica and an odd situation where I'd like both of them to win. I'm far more used to watching matches where I'd like both teams to lose.
France are my dark horse favourite to win the cup, be interesting to see how they start
Three French players jump with Shaw for that header. Hopefully Renard and Shaw not injured in the collision there.
I've liked Spain's passing game, they could evolve into a top team.
Jamaica have had a good start here. France looking a bit uncomfortable - they know they're supposed to win this and win well, but it's not that easy.
They’re already the best team in the World. They beat USA last year with their B team. They were the much better side v England in the Euros last year as well, even without their 2 best players. They’re missing 13 players for this and probably still the favourites. USA are favourites based on their name only. Performance v viet was probably their worst ever in a World Cup and they’ve been unconvincing in their warm up games.
Has the game evolved beyond the energy style that dominated for USA. In the past when I watched them it was usually their physical preparation and conditioning that stood out, they weren't more technically talented that the other countries, just had better athletes, which you could put down to the academic system in the US giving them a head start on the rest.
Spain are a good shout too, looked pretty slick in their opening game as did Japan
How did France waste such a build-up?
This is potentially the World Cup where technical ability overcomes the physical side. Whether it happens now or next time, it’s definitely the way the game is trending. Barcelona have already done it in the Club game. Lyon were always the physical dominant side and Barcelona have overtook them by playing great football.
Japan and Spain are miles ahead of every other side technique wise. Their touch, passing, movement and decision making is much more similar to the men’s game than any other side. They both lack physical attributes though.
Japan played USA off the pitch in the She Believes Cup, they somehow lost 1-0. It’s the most dominated I’ve seen the USA be though in the last 7-8 years.
USA arguably aren’t as physical this time, also lacking experience with a lot of debutants. They’ve always relied on physical attributes but also being extremely clutch. I’m not sure this set of players has enough of either of those traits.
Not so much evolved beyond it as starting to incorporated it maybe? You're seeing a lot more pro players now who can match the fitness, but including a significant minority who had qualified coaches as junior players. People like Toone and Russo are pretty much the first generation of "coached" players.
The USA still has the biggest junior player pool though - combination of that college scholarship possibility and plenty of local clubs. Still a lot of places in England where it's hard to find a girls club and most schools etc don't offer it - I'd guess it's the same in a lot of countries and much harder in some.
Thanks, mentioned up the thread but I find it really interesting just seeing how the game is developing and it is much easier to identify when you only watch the major international tournaments, can see the jumps. Today is actually the first games I have watched and to be honest they haven't been great but early days in the tournament.
I think the rise of the European pro leagues is going to have a big impact globally. For sure it impacts the national game and hopefully it'll bring a sustained growth in grassroots and junior football in those. But as we've seen here we're now watching players from countries like Haiti getting chances on the back of that.
Just being fitter/stronger than the rest isn't going to be enough and I do think that was something the US had going for them for a long time
Good sized crowd considering it's France Jamaica.
Netherlands/Portugal was a disappointing match to watch. France/Jamaica has been more interesting - both sides look too disjointed to be described as playing with quality, but good enough to keep me watching.
When Japan won it all in 2011, I was genuinely hoping that it would be a major inflexion point from which more countries would start focusing on developing technical skills above physical fitness as a primary directive in player development. Japan and Spain are the only ones so far to apply that model to a larger scale, which explains why they have dominated U17 and U20 tournaments for a decade. I guess the message will be definitely clear only when either Japan or Spain will knock the USWNT off their perch at a WWC.
Diani, Diani, Diani... how many more chances will she waste before one goes in?
These World Cup games are a bit boring. I think only Spain and Australia have really impressed.
Renard has had a couple of good chances as well. On another day...
Australia?
What? You should have watched Japan then.
I thought their scoreline was bigger than 1-0. The other 2 are USA and Japan but USA are favourites to win the tournament. Japan vs Spain should be a good one.
Ye I forgot about them to be fair. Them USA and Spain with the most comfortable wins so far.
Diani hits the bar. 6 minutes added time to play.
Shaw sent off! Clumsy and reckless considering that she was already on a yellow card.
Oh no. Red card for a second yellow for Shaw.
Been an awful lot of rolling around in this game, thought that red was deserved for the clumsiness of the tackle.
Jamaica working very hard here to hold on. France will be disappointed but that's a great moment for Jamaica - their first ever WWC point.
Not sure what to make of that game, France were a bit toothless but Jamaica were another example of lower ranked teams improving.
I guess I should have gone to sleep instead of watching the last 2 matches on today's schedule. God, those were awful for anyone wanting to see good football and goals.
But France v Jamaica at least had a good story line plus a lot of near misses and I always enjoy the French national anthem
But yep, not worth missing sleep for.
Same with the men really. The only decent first match in the group stage I can recall would be Netherlands - Spain 5-1 in 2014
Jamaica defended better than I expected, shame they couldn’t have nicked the win.
The so called minnows giving a great account of themselves so far, shows that teams are improving tactically on the defensive side in particular
I was a bit worried with the extension to 32 teams that we could see something similar to the Thailand humiliation from 2019 but not so far
I was a bit worried with the extension to 32 teams that we could see something similar to the Thailand humiliation from 2019 but not so far