Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #26
    The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

    How do reigning champions Japan compare to 4 years ago? Same aging squad? Exciting new blood?

    I don't know enough about the women's game to say anything more than the 2012 Olympic Semi-Final at Old Trafford I was fortunate to attend was the most exciting game of knock-out football I've seen in my life and surely Canada must have a real good chance playing at home.

    Comment


      #27
      The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

      Japan winning last time was like Greece winning the mens Euros. Inexplicable.
      England slaughtered them in the group stage. It could and shouldve been a hatful but for Powells inate caution.
      That said I cant see two consecutive outsiders winning.

      Comment


        #28
        The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

        If Canada wins it'd be massive, the biggest thing since the 2010 Olympic Hockey Final. It's also unlikely. The Canadian team has a decent mix of youth and experience, but little skilled depth off the bench. Against the top half-dozen or so teams, I suspect we'll also be shown up defensively. That said they're better coached than they've ever been. It'll also most likely be the last WC for the likes of Sinclair, Tancredi, and McLeod. Though the former is playing a deeper lying game these days, so may surprise us.

        Ideally we'll draw the US in the knockout rounds and beat them. That would be almost as good as winning the competition.

        Comment


          #29
          The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

          TheFourMarys wrote: How do reigning champions Japan compare to 4 years ago? Same aging squad? Exciting new blood?

          I don't know enough about the women's game to say anything more than the 2012 Olympic Semi-Final at Old Trafford I was fortunate to attend was the most exciting game of knock-out football I've seen in my life and surely Canada must have a real good chance playing at home.
          It's a mixture.

          Homare Sawa has come out of retirement for one last big job.

          The rest of the squad has bags of international experience but are mostly under 30. Without checking, I'd guess it's a younger squad than the US (and I'd rather have a 36-year old Sawa than a 34-year old Wambach).

          And the likes of Yuki Ogimi, Nahomi Kawasumi, Asano Nagasato (just picking the players I know because they've played outside Japan) are in their prime and among the best players in the world.

          Comment


            #30
            The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

            Canada strike me as a beaten semi-finalist standard team. They are big and strong, well organised but Sinclair aside they seem to lack inspiration. And Sinclair must be coming towards the end. They will need to ride the home crowd to take the trophy.

            Lots of Canadians itching for American blood after the Olympics. They are wrong to do so. By far the worst refereeing call in that game was significantly in Canada's favour. If he did his job properly then Canada would have played most of the second half with ten men, because deliberately stamping on someone's head is pure thuggery. Melissa Tancredi, your card is marked. Penalising the Canadian 'keeper for time wasting, an unusual but technical entirely correct call, doesn't even come close to the same level of egregiousness.

            Comment


              #31
              The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

              The bit Canadian fans conveniently forget about from that match. It wasn't out of character from Tancredi, either. Just the apogee. She spent the entire game trying to injure her opponents. I've rarely felt more angry with an individual player's performance than I did with hers in that match.

              Comment


                #32
                The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                Lots of Canadians itching for American blood after the Olympics. They are wrong to do so.

                You can claim that till the cows come home but you'll never get anyone here to buy it.

                BTW the — totally out of her depth — referee was a she not a he.

                Christine Sinclair is 31, and in absolutely top physical shape. Depending on what Herdman expects from her she could be in the team next WC. Tancredi, OTOH, is 33 and pretty much only a striker/hold-up player. Unless there's a serious dearth of talent up top she won't be around next time. That is a possiblity though, as Adriana Leon is the only young forward showing real promise. OTOH the midfield is stronger than it's been in a long time, so could compensate for weaknesses up front.

                Comment


                  #33
                  The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                  TheFourMarys wrote: I'm an Atlas-reading Geography nut and I literally have no clue as to where Fort McMurray might be.

                  I think Antibes in 1938 holds the record for smallest town to host a World Cup game.

                  The destruction of Moncton's grass is just scandalous.
                  The Fort McMurray area sits on the largest oil deposit in N. America, it's been at the forefront for the past decade.

                  Antibes' size is misleading because it's next door to Nice, a major city.

                  The US women's team members invoking human rights in their protest against artificial turf is a bit of a first world problem really. The FIFA men's U-20 tournament recently held in Canada, which has a similar profile as the women's senior tournament was also played on turf venues. Granted the Women's WC has a higher profile now, but it won't outdraw the U-20.

                  The problem is that they tried to make it an all turf tournament in a misguided attempt for absolute fairness, instead of using the many appropriate grass venues already available. For instance they could have held games like Costa Rica-Spain in Montreal at the local MLS stadium (cap. 21k) instead of having it at Olympic Stadium, which will be less than half full.

                  They've also not matched teams to local fan bases, presumably also out of fairness, which is really unfortunate. France in Montreal, or China in Vancouver would have resulted in big crowds.

                  I might check out a couple of games in Montreal, maybe Canada-Holland or a 2nd round game.

                  Comment


                    #34
                    The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                    Amor de Cosmos wrote: Lots of Canadians itching for American blood after the Olympics. They are wrong to do so.

                    You can claim that till the cows come home but you'll never get anyone here to buy it.
                    Well, yes, sports fans memories are highly selective and entirely hypocritical. That is not news.

                    Comment


                      #35
                      The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                      Canada's coach claims the team has "no choice" but to reach the final.

                      A somewhat strange statement, given that choice doesn't really come into it. More relevant is that half the article is about playing the USA. It highlights just how obsessed the Canadian team — and, perhaps, the country — is with that particular match-up. Potentially dangerous too, as the possibility of underestimating other opponents is significant. An almost totally unknown Chinese team, for example, could spring a surprise next weekend if Canada isn't fully focused on the task at hand.

                      Comment


                        #36
                        The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                        The Japan squad is indeed younger than the USA's. However, it is built on experience rather than any young exciting talents.

                        The squad includes 6 foot 2 inch goalkeeper Erina Yamane who I think is there only to counteract the impression they are a small team. From the little I have seen she is not as good as 5 foot 5 Miho Fukumoto, but may get the nod cause she is so tall.

                        Comment


                          #37
                          The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                          Get in the mood for the FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 by voting for the greatest goal in the tournament's history in our '15 for 2015' poll.

                          Comment


                            #38
                            The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                            Janik wrote: The bit Canadian fans conveniently forget about from that match. It wasn't out of character from Tancredi, either. Just the apogee. She spent the entire game trying to injure her opponents. I've rarely felt more angry with an individual player's performance than I did with hers in that match.
                            Indeed. IIRC you mentioned it and provided a link back when it happened. Let's move on.

                            Toronto is indeed out due to the logistical impossibility of hosting both the PAN AM Games and World Cup.

                            Hamilton is out as they are sharing host duties of PAN AM soccer with Burlington.

                            I've got tickets to the games in Ottawa, but won't be going to all of them due to the distance / scheduling.

                            The Canada v England game was entertaining, and probably a good tuneup for both squads.

                            Comment


                              #39
                              The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                              From a Facebook thread about the all-plastic WWC:

                              It's more than just an insult to the female footballers or a case of too many knee, ankle and rugburn injuries: This stuff is a DANGER TO LIFE FOR ALL.

                              There has been very little proper scientific evaluation into this new generation of field turfs yet Monsanto and Dow have been free to run roughshod effectively bribing hard-up school districts across North America to rip up their grass fields and put this garbage down.

                              Ask the large number of young goalkeepers struck down with Lymphomas from breathing in the black rubber crumb.

                              Ask the family and friends of the late Austen Everett what this crumb does to healthy young athletes. I honestly believe that in the next five years plastic fields are going to be a bigger health scandal in youth sports than concussions in gridiron.

                              Comment


                                #40
                                The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                                Good job, Panini, good effort

                                We all do it. Sometimes there’s just not enough time to get a project done the right way, so we take a shortcut and hope it all works out in the end. Sometimes it works because we buried the shortcut deep enough that the surface mechanism is still fine. Sometimes you paste Amy Rodriguez’s head on Hope Solo’s body.

                                Comment


                                  #41
                                  The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                                  ursus arctos wrote: Good job, Panini, good effort
                                  But at least it exists, and will probably sell - maybe next time they'll decide a bit further in advance and do a proper job.

                                  Comment


                                    #42
                                    The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                                    Sad but true.

                                    Though I'd love to know what happened to the US team. There are hundreds of headshots of those players.

                                    Comment


                                      #43
                                      The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                                      Hoping for Bruin great Sydney Leroux to score a hat trick in every game in front of the Canadian crowds.

                                      TheFourMarys wrote: I don't know enough about the women's game to say anything more than the 2012 Olympic Semi-Final at Old Trafford I was fortunate to attend was the most exciting game of knock-out football I've seen in my life and surely Canada must have a real good chance playing at home.
                                      Still the game of the decade so far for me. I think I screamed for the Morgan goal in that game and Wambach's goal against Brazil in 2011 more than I did for Donovan against Algeria.

                                      Comment


                                        #44
                                        The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                                        One of my friends at school used to keep his sticker album up to date by cutting out the shirts from his swaps, and sticking them into the album on any players who had moved through the season. I had thought he'd gone into medicine but obviously he has gone to work for Panini.

                                        Comment


                                          #45
                                          The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                                          The FA suggesting that their decision to ban women's football in 1921 was justified.

                                          http://www.thefa.com/womens-girls-football/history

                                          Comment


                                            #46
                                            The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                                            Supporting the U.S. of A., of course, but does nobody here fancy Germany to win?

                                            I did a lot of reading about the German development and league system during the men's World Cup last year, and I really think Deutschland has this whole football thing figured out better than any other nation right now. Not as many resources or players for the women's game, I'm sure, but I bet they've still selected and prepared their team very well.

                                            Comment


                                              #47
                                              The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                                              Germany are without reigning WPOTY Keßler and Alushi and have a fair few injury worries.

                                              They'll also likely have to play France and USA in the quarters and semis of the World Cup.

                                              I think France are going to win despite their proud history of under-performance in major tournaments.

                                              Comment


                                                #48
                                                The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                                                The imbalance of the draw makes predictions difficult.

                                                The likely France/Germany matchup in the Round of 16 is particularly unfortunate, as they are for me the two most impressive sides there.

                                                Comment


                                                  #49
                                                  The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                                                  John Herdman's analysis is relatively objective for someone with a dog in the fight.

                                                  He expanded on Canada's group elsewhere, believing Netherlands are "the tournament's dark horses." The first time they've produced a team that's "a genuine threat on the world stage." In Miedama, Melis and Martens they have the competition's most formidable forward line.

                                                  Comment


                                                    #50
                                                    The Ladies Excuse Me: WC 2015

                                                    So the tournament starts today. Tomorrow sees Norway v Thailand and Germany v Ivory Coast. I think we could see two very one-sided matches which may not be the best thing so early in the tournament.

                                                    France to win. Sasic to be top scorer.

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X