419 replies to this topic

[lanforod]

Plus its a whole lot more of an enjoyable vacation to go pretty much anywhere in North America where there will be games than to go to Qatar.

[Victoria Watcher]

I think the women really needed to win that first game.

 

I guess we might be able to beat Ireland to get through to the rounds.

 

 

Messi scored a nice one in his first game in Miami (actually Ft. Lauderdale).

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 July 2023 - 03:50 AM.

[AllseeingEye]

The Nigeria game was as close to a must-win as you can get for a game 1 in this or any tournament.

 

Major injuries to key players and all the endless off-field stuff involved in the ongoing (and going and going....and going) labor dispute with Canada Soccer do not bode well for a long run in this WC.

 

Also - and absolutely no disrespect to her given her long history leading the Canadian ladies - but when you are overly relying on 40-year old Christine Sinclair to pull your butt out of the fire, you are in trouble. If Jessie Fleming was healthy - she being one of the key injured players noted above - there is no way Sinclair takes that penalty and we all saw why. It was a weak shot and relatively easy for the Nigerian keeper to save.

 

Short of a miracle they have to beat Ireland now; with the Aussies co-hosting this WC their fans will be going berserk cheering on the home side which will not only be jacked but they are also healthy. Like the Canadian men the Achilles heel of the women's program is an overall lack of offensively gifted, creative attacking players. One or especially two key injuries to either national team on the offensive side of the field is huge because we simply don't have great depth in terms of producing those types of players.

[Victoria Watcher]

Also - and absolutely no disrespect to her given her long history leading the Canadian ladies - but when you are overly relying on 40-year old Christine Sinclair to pull your butt out of the fire, you are in trouble. If Jessie Fleming was healthy - she being one of the key injured players noted above - there is no way Sinclair takes that penalty and we all saw why. It was a weak shot and relatively easy for the Nigerian keeper to save.

 

I think it was slightly weak, but 9 time out of 10 that's a goal.  

[Victoria Watcher]

Short of a miracle they have to beat Ireland now; with the Aussies co-hosting this WC their fans will be going berserk cheering on the home side which will not only be jacked but they are also healthy. Like the Canadian men the Achilles heel of the women's program is an overall lack of offensively gifted, creative attacking players. One or especially two key injuries to either national team on the offensive side of the field is huge because we simply don't have great depth in terms of producing those types of players.

 

Women play to safe, defensively all the time.  We could use two or three players that are always attacking.   

[Victoria Watcher]

Our division just got a lot more interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nigeria upsets Australia, tied for first with Canada in Group B at World Cup

https://www.sportsne...b-at-world-cup/

 

 

 

 

 

A tie or better vs. Australia on Monday puts us through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canada and Australia will go head-to-head Monday, in a game that could see one of the two sides eliminated from the tournament. A draw or win would see Canada advance, will Australia would need three points to ensure their place in the knockout rounds.

 

Should two teams be tied on points and goal differential, the third tiebreaker is goals scored at the tournament. Nigeria has the advantage there with three goals, while Canada has two and Australia, still a point back, has three. 

 

https://www.tsn.ca/s...tchup-1.1989054

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 27 July 2023 - 04:46 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Thanks to Nigeria's upset win, Canada finds itself in Women's World Cup logjam


https://www.cbc.ca/s...takes-1.6919678

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 27 July 2023 - 09:03 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

In the final group games Monday, it's Canada versus Australia in Melbourne and Nigeria versus Ireland in Brisbane.

Australia has to beat Canada to move on. The Canadians can advance with a draw or win.

Canada could still move on with a defeat — as long as Nigeria also loses and the final goal difference favours the Canadians.


https://www.cbc.ca/s...takes-1.6919678

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 27 July 2023 - 09:06 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Looks like the women do deserve equal pay.

[AllseeingEye]

This was entirely predictable; injuries aside, and you can't discount them because they do matter - Australia had its own injury concerns to deal with in any event including to Sam Kerr its very best player and one of the best in the world, who sat out today's game - you could smell this coming right from the get go.

 

The team, in spite of some media and public comments to the contrary, was nowhere close to 100% mentally and psychologically focused on the WC. Comments by several players right before and even during the tournament showed quite clearly the dispute with Canada Soccer was top of mind throughout. Even in the midst of the tournament there was a collective announcement about the 'temporary' settlement reached with CS in the last week and how "this is not over".

 

You can't expect good results in any sporting event, especially a world championship, if you aren't collectively and exclusively 100% focused on what you are there to do. They were there to outscore their opposition and to win games. This team wasn't anywhere close to that mindset, not by a long shot. They looked and were completely out of sorts right from the get-go and really only got their single win because an Irish player deflected a shot into her own goal, otherwise Canada could easily have come home with no wins at all. 

Edited by AllseeingEye, 31 July 2023 - 06:54 AM.

[spanky123]

^ Same outcome with Women's Rugby. 

 

I think the other issue was the makeup of the team. I am sure that having Wayne or Mario on the national hockey team would sell a few more tickets or gain a couple of new sponsors. 

[UDeMan]

Hard to play against the home team. Australia way better than Canada today.


Maybe they need to hire coaches that are not from England.

[Victoria Watcher]

It was not helpful that we got off to such a bad start.  That gave early incentive to Nigeria to just play their game for a safe tie.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 31 July 2023 - 11:28 AM.

[aastra]

 

Maybe they need to hire coaches that are not from England.

 

I think it's neat that English footballers are encouraged to be involved in the big international events. How else will they learn the game if not by trying and failing over and over again?*

 

*razzing English soccer

[AllseeingEye]

Not limited to the Premier League by any means; in spite of their obvious world class skills both Neymar and Ronaldo were infamous for their diving in their younger years. It got so bad a decade or so ago Sepp Blatter the then FIFA president was imploring referees to crack down hard on diving as it was giving the sport a real black eye.

 

You can find all sorts of videos like the following which illustrate(d) the magnitude of the issue:

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=8bebt62RAxE

[Mike K.]

Are you going to tell us that WWF wasn’t real!?!?

[AllseeingEye]

Shhhhhhh.....keep it down!!

[Mike K.]

It does beg the question. What else is faked in pro sports? Those soccer primadonas were bad actors, however.

[LJ]

A friend of mine who was a semi-pro soccer player says the first things the coaches teach them is how to cheat, and mostly not get caught.

[Mike K.]

Beautiful game, indeed.