2019 FIFA Women's World Cup

[Digby]

One hour til showtime.

 

Feels like this will almost certainly be the best WWC yet, in terms of competitiveness. I suppose the USWNT is the favorite by default, but the rise of so many other countries plus an unfavorable bracket gives me pause there.

[Maroon]

Obviously rooting for USWNT, but generally I would enjoy chaotic upsets of favorites. Also rooting hard for Scotland to beat England since they're in the same group and they play their first game against each other.

[MJWalker45]

2 minutes ago, Digby said:

One hour til showtime.

 

Feels like this will almost certainly be the best WWC yet, in terms of competitiveness. I suppose the USWNT is the favorite by default, but the rise of so many other countries plus an unfavorable bracket gives me pause there.

I feel like France or the Netherlands would be the best bets. Brazil and Japan will probably make the knockout rounds but can they do more than the quarter-finals? People seem to disregard Canada but they always seem to come up with something. We'll see if the French ladies are able to deal with the pressures of hosting the tournament as well the men did for Euro 2016. 

[MiK]

I'm really looking forward to how some of the European teams perform. France & England have showed promise in the past but are they ready to matchup against the powerhouses; the Netherlands are reigning European champions and played the Japanese well before their exit in 2015. I don't think it will be/look as easy for the USWNT this time around as it was/did in 2015.

[Sport]

I'll be pulling for the US obviously, but also my sister is friends with one of the women on Team Canada so I'll be pulling for her and them as well. 

 

 

[MJWalker45]

Eugenie Le Sommier (FRA) with the first goal of the tournament!

[Digby]

Bunch of sharply taken goals too. Even the one that didn’t count.

[MJWalker45]

China came out chippy and Germany were fortunate to not be punished for turnovers inside their final 30. I think everyone discounted China as a force in this tournament. We'll see if they can make it out of the group.

[JG36]

Norway look pretty good, Nigeria isn’t the greatest competition but that was a hot start. Spain had a very good comeback, but they couldn’t get anything on the board for 70 minutes and 2 goals came from a penalty.

 

Like many of you, I will of course be rooting for the USWNT, but I believe France will take them out in the quarters win the tournament at home. 

[schtee]

 

Here's a bracket I made for the Women's World Cup. PDF download available here:

http://worldsoccertalk.com/2019/06/06/womens-world-cup-bracket-free-pdf-download/

[MJWalker45]

Japan looked toothless against Argentina. It should be interesting to see how the Argentines do against England. If they take another point England could have to play for the win vs Japan instead of just seeding position. 

[OlavoP]

On 6/7/2019 at 3:07 PM, MJWalker45 said:

Brazil and Japan will probably make the knockout rounds but can they do more than the quarter-finals?

 

As a brazilian I think our best hopes of getting out of the group stages was to win by a lot against Jamaica and try to grab one of the best 3rd placed teams spots. Came into the tournament with 9 losses in the last 9 games and no friendlies prior to it, a terrible coach and with out best player being 33 years old and injured to start things out.

I'm really liking Netherlands this first half agains New Zealand, they seem like the best team based on the first game so far, even though is still 0-0. France (solid win and dominated the midfield against what seemed like a weak South Korean side), China (even with a loss) and Argentina (with a good defense holding up 0-0 against Japan) are the other highlights so far in my opinion. Expecting a lot from the US later today

[MJWalker45]

USA beating Thailand 12-0 in the 90th minute. I'm at work so I'll definietly be interested to see how they look when I watch the replay later tonight. 

 

And it's now a baker's dozen. Two games and 22 goals scored against Thailand. I'm pretty sure they won't give up this many against Sweden but Sweden will be trying to break that record anyways. Especially since Pia Sundhage (?) used to coach the USA. 

 

Chile held out for 83 minutes and a 40 minute weather delay but lost 2-0. I was hoping they could take a point off Sweden because they don't have the nest record against the US ladies either. 

 

I'm really surprised by how many close games we've had compared to 2015. I'm pretty sure no one saw Argentina keeping a clean sheet against Japan. That to me is still the biggest shock of the tournament. 

[GDAWG]

The US scored a touchdown and two field goals to beat Thailand 13-0

[Maroon]

Equally as impressive as winning 13-0 is Alex Morgan netting five goals. Yeesh.

[Needschat]

Rob Stone made himself look like the total "Participation trophies are good for the esteem of the players" parent when he suggested the US could have throttled it back.  I am so glad NONE of the former players on the telecast agreed with him, all of whom basically told him to STFU!! 

[The_Admiral]

I enjoyed the Cup-winning celebration when they made it 9-0 with plenty of time left. Feminism is when women can be just as crass and oafish in running up the score on a bunch of jobbers as men are, I guess.

[UnclearInitial]

I understand continuing to try and score when GD is needed, but celebrating 9-0 like Rapinoe did or 12 and 13 nil jumping with the whole sideline was pretty unnecessary . I’m not usually one for the ‘act like you’ve been there before’ crowd but celebrating like that running up the score when the other team, that has vastly inferior resources and has amateurs playing in its ranks, is getting humiliated was tough to watch. 

[The_Admiral]

Best take going around is that the USWNT did this to take out their frustrations over the pay gap in America. I'm afraid have some bad news about Thailand...

[Digby]

3 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

USA beating Thailand 12-0 in the 90th minute. I'm at work so I'll definietly be interested to see how they look when I watch the replay later tonight. 

 

And it's now a baker's dozen. Two games and 22 goals scored against Thailand. I'm pretty sure they won't give up this many against Sweden but Sweden will be trying to break that record anyways. Especially since Pia Sundhage (?) used to coach the USA. 

 

Chile held out for 83 minutes and a 40 minute weather delay but lost 2-0. I was hoping they could take a point off Sweden because they don't have the nest record against the US ladies either. 

 

I'm really surprised by how many close games we've had compared to 2015. I'm pretty sure no one saw Argentina keeping a clean sheet against Japan. That to me is still the biggest shock of the tournament. 

Pia's not in charge of Sweden anymore though, right? Which makes me sad as I still love her to death.

 

33 minutes ago, anythinglogos said:

I understand continuing to try and score when GD is needed, but celebrating 9-0 like Rapinoe did or 12 and 13 nil jumping with the whole sideline was pretty unnecessary . I’m not usually one for the ‘act like you’ve been there before’ crowd but celebrating like that running up the score when the other team, that has vastly inferior resources and has amateurs playing in its ranks, is getting humiliated was tough to watch. 

 

I mostly agree with this take; that said, this is mostly on FIFA as the nature of the tournament at this point. Shouldn't have been expanded to 24 teams, frankly. At least not without FIFA doing something about developing the women's game for a change, because there are many half that many teams that should even be bothering with all this.