Jiji Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 I can't not see Japan wiping the floor with England. England are a fine team but Japan's the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 The USWNT easily had their best game in the competition so far. And they haven´t really been all to shabby before either.They created soooo much against a team who I thought could handle their style well and deserved the win. Hadn´t it been for Angerer, they might have already secured said win in the first 45 minutes.As a football fan, I have to be a negative douchebag about a few things though, so here are the things from our squad that really irked me:- Our ladies looked to be outsmarted and outpaced in pretty much every regard, aside from the first five or six minutes and from the two players Tabea Kemme at leftback, who was running like crazy, winning a few good possessions, and Bartusiak who returned at CB. The worst thing was, that after beeing bullied for what seemed to be an enternity, especially Meier at rightback was left alone trying desperately to handle Rapino who had a fantastic match. - German manager Silvia Neid got me really riled up. She was standing around in the coaching zone, but hardly seemed to make any changes, whether it was tactically or through actual substitutions. She made ONE change around the 75th minute after being down 0-1 and NOTHING else. This is especially infuriating because of the fact she and others out of the stuff claimed that the Germany squad had fantastic depth etc etc. I don´t know if there was anybody left who could have helped in the creativity department, but it was a huge f- you to the rest of the roster - Sasic up front may have scored 6 or so goals this world cup, but here aswell as against France she had horrible games. Not even talking about the penalty. I honestly found myself WISHING she would drag it wide beforehand, simply because I thought her scoring would be the biggest injustice that could happen. She was virtually non-existant, aside from a few instances where she apparently didn´t see a teammate in a good position (3 or 4 times in the first half), had a shockingly bad run if she decided to run at all (2-3 times) or took eons trying to get the ball under control (4-5 times). She is the kind of player who contributes nothing in matches were she doesn´t score, and those matches come far to often. Against France, the way she handled her nerves made up in the grand scheme of things, but it´s hard to believe that with 1 million associated female footballers in the country there is none to do the job better than she does. Anyway, overall the German squad showed some good spirit, but they also showed that something has to happen with the way they present themselves. Especially in the tactical department, there were a bazillion flaws. The team seemed to rely solely on physicality against France, had extra time and pk´s as a result and then an opponent who were way better in every aspect in that regard and beat them quite handily in the process. Many problems seem to come from the coaching staff and one can only hope, that either Neid gets an "update" on her act or a new manager takes over with a new set of ideas. It´s just not enough to stand around in the coaching zone with sad eyes and yell something from time to time. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 USA~! USA~! I have Monday off so I may have to get all drunk and watch the final. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 England seem up for it early on in the semi so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Oh my. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 Poor poor England Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Oh man that's heartbreaking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Good for Japan, to save their legs from extra time plus possible pks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChesterCopperpot Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 That's the most English way to lose a game ever. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Nah. If that goal had been the equaliser and then they lost on pens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 No, we have to lose on Penalties to the Germans for the full English experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Still though, I think England can be proud of their performance. They defended really well in the second half and made Japan look really pedestrian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Someone get her Steve Smiths phone number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubbymark Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Is this the worst own goal in any World Cup since the Andres Escobar own goal in '94 that indirectly cost him his life? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 That's got to be up there for shit ways to lose in sport lists. Poor England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Is this the worst own goal in any World Cup since the Andres Escobar own goal in '94 that indirectly cost him his life? Unless I'm forgetting something, I'd say so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Poor England, poor Laura Bassett. I was really tired and missed the match, but that own goal is tragic. I would say, in a footballing context, this own goal is worse than Escobar´s. Clipping the crossbar in the final minute of injury time to beat the own gk could only be worse if it was in the World Cup final, instead of the semi final. Talking off pitch consequences, I would say the Escobar own goal ist the worst and I really hope it will stay the worst forever. Nobody deserves to die for a bad moment on the pitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hail Sabin Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Fucking Brutal!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 I love how all the comments I've seen talked up how bravely England's women played, in direct contrast to how their men's team has looked over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 There is truth to that, albeit the last English teams to perform well and get eliminated in heartbreaking fashion talked up English bravery aswell and put forth the tragic aspects of the losses. This can be said for the last two times England reached the semis (World Cup 1990 in Italy aswell as EURO 1996). The last English team to be looking capable of winning something in 2002 didn´t catch too much flag either, apart from maybe David Seaman. The last two English World Cup campaigns just didn´t go well, the 2012 EURO however they received a lot of praise, which might be mainly because nobody expected anything from them. 2014, they - imo - looked a way better squad then 2012, but had a really tough draw and lots of bad luck against Italy and the Urus. In another group with different fortune they would have advanced, compared to earlier and more "successful" British campaigns. But it was not to be and they got the England treatment: If they loose or drop points against opposition considered inferior, they get wrecked in the press and 1966 gets talked up and how football´s motherland has fallen from grace. I doubt the Lionesses would have gotten ridiculed had they been eliminated early, but there seem to reasons for that: First of simply because people seem to be way kinder towards female footballers. In German media for instance, nobody even dared bringing up how our manager didn´t pull off any subs. Our newspapers and websites admitted defeat, basically stating that we didn´t look like a top tier team after USA and France successively being the better sides in our matches. They added something very vague about them being better physically and tactically, but this didn´t turn in the same critical tactical analysis Loew faced for instance after losses at EURO 2012 or even World Cup 2010 semi-finals, which were defeats where the gaps between a German team and their respective oppopnents were way narrower than in Tuesday night´s match up against the USWNT. To me, this is dumb and - in a "positive" way - quite sexist, since it seems like female football isn´t taken seriously. Of course, coverage, level of transcendence, level of play and competition is not at the same level as with their male counterparts, but Women´s World Cups in football are relatively new (the seventh World Cup being played, compared to 20 played for men) aswell as Women´s football in general and the sport is getting better and better, so if you want to be hard and lash out as a sports tabloid, do that. Or be good journalists who put content over headlines for both, women´s and men´s footie. But I digress... Second reason, expectations: England aren´t in any way, shape or form a great traditional women´s football power and there is just no equivalent to 1966 within their female FA´s history. So far, the Ladies weren´t expected to show up big, and this tournament there was no difference. Even the performance were indicators that expectations shouldn´t be too high: England´s first two matches and the majority of their Round of the last 16 match versus Norway actually looked like the team was set for early elimination. Then they scored to quick goals against the Scandinavians and all seemed much easier for them. Basically, the moment they advancet to the QF they had done better than honestly expected. They showed up against the hosts and prevailed against them in a very hot quarterfinal with a player coming back from longtime injury scoring, which set off a kind of "fairy tale story"-alert. Then they had the reigning World Champions who controlled every match of their tournament so far at the verge of defeat, but after coming close to scoring they fell to a tragic last-minute own goal. This was (still is) actually a very good campaign, and considering no English team in Women´s football had won any k.o.-game so far, it´s a great achievement. It will be interesting to see the reactions should the next EURO or World Cup end early. I doubt they would be as harsh as they tend to be against the men´s team, but they will be the same in principal, no matter if they fought bravely while going down or just took it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 Someone forgot to tell Germany and England you're not supposed to care about the third place game because those two teams really went at it and obviously don't like each other very much. Penalty call was rubbish, which is a shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 It was rubbish, albeit clumsily defended from Kemme, which was really disappointing since she was playing really well against France and USA. I had the feeling the Gerwomen could have played another two hours and couldn´t have scored yesterday. They did look the slightly better team for a majority of the match and had some pretty good opportunities, but they seemed to be lacking the determination in the final third. With how - the "not scoring" bit aside - they both played, I still have to question Silvia Neid´s decision NOT to throw Petermann and Daebritz into the match for the last 20 minutes against the US. They were agile and didn´t shy away from physicality, they ran a lot, created a good amount of space up front and especially Daebritz was able to beat opposing players in one on ones quite a few times. This could have helped a big deal. I would argue third place matters more in Women´s World Cups than in Men´s WCs. Maybe because of the big roll Olympic Women´s footie plays in the sport. Third place means you still medal, which is a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 So can we all discuss how Carli Lloyd is the best player in the world right now 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Man Known as Dan Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Pretty okay with this start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Man Known as Dan Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 So yeah, these first 5 minutes could not have gone any better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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