2019 FIFA Women's World Cup

[Seadragon76]

Quarterfinals are set... It's the US and the 7 Euros (I only wish that was a cheap Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs knock off).

[MJWalker45]

11 hours ago, Seadragon76 said:

Quarterfinals are set... It's the US and the 7 Euros (I only wish that was a cheap Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs knock off).

The most annoying part of this isn't that the USA is playing France before a semi-final, it's that Germany played a game on Friday and their opponent played on Tuesday. FIFA is usually good about not giving teams such a big advantage regarding rest days between games for the men, but tossed it out the window for this tournament. USA vs France is still the second biggest gripe I'd have. Every other sports confederation would want to see their best matchups closer to the final. 

 

England may be without Bright and Houghton for Norway. I think losing Bright helps, because she's been caught out of position a lot. If Cameroon had held their runs on a couple of their possessions they may have beaten England. Houghton is a big loss though if she can't go. 

[Maroon]

1 hour ago, MJWalker45 said:

The most annoying part of this isn't that the USA is playing France before a semi-final, it's that Germany played a game on Friday and their opponent played on Tuesday. FIFA is usually good about not giving teams such a big advantage regarding rest days between games for the men, but tossed it out the window for this tournament. USA vs France is still the second biggest gripe I'd have. Every other sports confederation would want to see their best matchups closer to the final. 

 

England may be without Bright and Houghton for Norway. I think losing Bright helps, because she's been caught out of position a lot. If Cameroon had held their runs on a couple of their possessions they may have beaten England. Houghton is a big loss though if she can't go. 

 

You're right about the USA playing France so early is a shame, but a mild counterpoint: at least this made it more likely (or event ensured, to a degree) that there would actually be a USA - France matchup, which is good hype for viewership (host v defending champion). Sure, this matchup would have been even more appealing as the championship game, but there's no guarantee that would actually happen, and it would make sense if FIFA wanted to make sure that the matchup actually happened.

I really just wish it wasn't Europe + USA. It's not like I think FIFA rigged it for that or anything, I'm just disappointed that there's so little diversity in the teams left.

[MJWalker45]

2 minutes ago, Maroon said:

 

You're right about the USA playing France so early is a shame, but a mild counterpoint: at least this made it more likely (or event ensured, to a degree) that there would actually be a USA - France matchup, which is good hype for viewership (host v defending champion). Sure, this matchup would have been even more appealing as the championship game, but there's no guarantee that would actually happen, and it would make sense if FIFA wanted to make sure that the matchup actually happened.

I think the best 4 teams should be expected to meet in the semi-finals. If France or the USA lose before then, that's the breaks. If the US was playing anyone other than Germany it wouldn't get as much attention as France, especially since the French have been dominating the US in the last year. But would FIFA do this intentionally for the men? That just shows FIFA doesn't trust this competition to be a success without manufactured narratives, a lesson they should have learned in 1991 and 1995 but still refuse to.

[Maroon]

2 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

I think the best 4 teams should be expected to meet in the semi-finals. If France or the USA lose before then, that's the breaks. If the US was playing anyone other than Germany it wouldn't get as much attention as France, especially since the French have been dominating the US in the last year. But would FIFA do this intentionally for the men? That just shows FIFA doesn't trust this competition to be a success without manufactured narratives, a lesson they should have learned in 1991 and 1995 but still refuse to.

 

1.  I agree with you. The best four teams should make it to the last four spots, regardless of who they are.

2. I don't know that I think that FIFA actually did this "intentionally." That was just looking at a possibility within the equation.

[MJWalker45]

1 minute ago, Maroon said:

 

1.  I agree with you. The best four teams should make it to the last four spots, regardless of who they are.

2. I don't know that I think that FIFA actually did this "intentionally." That was just looking at a possibility within the equation.

Seeing how their ranking systems work, I'm surprised the US side of the bracket wasn't more of a guantlet.

[-kj]

The schedule with which finishers of which groups would go where in the bracket was created before the draw.  As the hosts, France was the only team locked into a slot (A1) before the draw.  The only sure thing after that is that the seeded teams would be drawn into the 1 slot of each group.

 

Unless you believe conspiracy theories about rigged balls and all that, there doesn't appear to have been consideration about where each team would go when creating the schedule.  

[MJWalker45]

1 hour ago, Mockba said:

The schedule with which finishers of which groups would go where in the bracket was created before the draw.  As the hosts, France was the only team slotted into a slot (A1) before the draw.  The only sure thing after that is that the seeded teams would be drawn into the 1 slot of each group.

 

Unless you believe conspiracy theories about rigged balls and all that, there doesn't appear to have been consideration about where each team would go when creating the schedule.  

Not arguing that, it just seems weird that you would open up the potential of tow top 4 teams playing before the semi-final when you know which four teams will be in those slots. It would be weird to see Germany play France before the semi's as well and I wouldn't like that either. 

[-kj]

32 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

when you know which four teams will be in those slots

 

But you don't know that.  There are six groups, and therefore six seeded teams, but only four places in the semifinals.   (Remember also that Australia was a seeded team that finished second in their group.)

[dfwabel]

 

[MJWalker45]

9 hours ago, dfwabel said:

 

The US win also means Great Britain can send a combined women's team to the Olympics next year since UEFA uses the finishes of the top three European teams at the World Cup for next year's Olympics berths.  

[DG_ThenNowForever]

It'll be interesting to learn why Rapinoe isn't playing.

 

Looking forward to the tut-tutting for Morgan's teatime celebration.

[WJMorris3]

They're going home, they're going home, they're going, England's going home...

[MJWalker45]

48 minutes ago, willmorris said:

They're going home, they're going home, they're going, England's going home...

USA surviving and advancing, Millie Bright lost the plot in almost every game she's played and it's helped the US hold off England. I'd probably feel more badly for Houghton, but she plays for City, not United. 

[DEAD!]

3 hours ago, DG_Now said:

It'll be interesting to learn why Rapinoe isn't playing.

 

Looking forward to the tut-tutting for Morgan's teatime celebration.

It was about 246 years in the making.

[Jaffa]

12 hours ago, DG_Now said:

Looking forward to the tut-tutting for Morgan's teatime celebration.

 

Only if she put the milk in before the water.

[dfwabel]

 

[Digby]

I've gone from "Phil Neville is unqualified to lead the England women" to "Phil Neville has done an impressive job, fair play" to "Phil Neville is so bad" in mere months.

[-kj]

Were you not entertained?

Seriously, what a crazy game.  It would have been great to have a US goal in front of us during the second half, but we'll just have to settle for a win and doing it all again on Sunday for the title.

[Maroon]

3 hours ago, Mockba said:

Were you not entertained?

Seriously, what a crazy game.  It would have been great to have a US goal in front of us during the second half, but we'll just have to settle for a win and doing it all again on Sunday for the title.

 

It really had everything. Dramatic goals. A goal reversed by VAR. A penalty kick then awarded via VAR. Said penalty kick being saved. No lack of excitement at any point of the match.