Women's World Cup 2019

SoxFanInCali

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California. Duh.
Pugh had no right to get to that ball, but she splits the 2 defenders, then ends up getting a free kick instead of a corner after a late challenge.
 

Cellar-Door

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For those wondering how good Chile is, they are currently ranked 2 spots behind Thailand in the rankings. they're probably a slightly better team than Thailand, but both are basically amateur teams. USWNT won't play anybody with a chance of keeping it close until Sweden (who amusingly are probably happy to lose that so they can avoid France's side of the bracket).
 

SoxFanInCali

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It sounds silly to say when they are +16 in GD through 1.5 games, but I'm a little concerned about the number of misplaced first and second touches. They will have to be sharper against the better teams later in the tournament. The game against Sweden will be interesting to see.
 

lars10

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Alexi Lalas is in set piece heaven.
Every time he talks I feel like I get dumber. And for whatever reason Fox feels like he's their best analyst obviously...hasn't said anything interesting or insightful in any of his world cups and often talks over people who know more and have experienced more than he ever did. I guess he's there for the typical American fan who doesn't know as much about soccer?
 

swiftaw

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Every time he talks I feel like I get dumber. And for whatever reason Fox feels like he's their best analyst obviously...hasn't said anything interesting or insightful in any of his world cups and often talks over people who know more and have experienced more than he ever did. I guess he's there for the typical American fan who doesn't know as much about soccer?
Yeah, I usually reach for the mute button. I will say though, I thought it couldn't get worse that Fox's soccer coverage, until I watched TNT's Champions League coverage this year.

Looking to the last round of group games, even with 2 defeats so far, Scotland have a pretty good chance to get through to the knockout stages if they beat Argentina.
 

Cellar-Door

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Every time he talks I feel like I get dumber. And for whatever reason Fox feels like he's their best analyst obviously...hasn't said anything interesting or insightful in any of his world cups and often talks over people who know more and have experienced more than he ever did. I guess he's there for the typical American fan who doesn't know as much about soccer?
He's a dick, but I don't know about knowing more or experiencing more. He was a World Cup star, played in Serie A, was the GM/President for multiple MLS clubs... he has a ton of varied high level experience in American and International soccer.
 

Titans Bastard

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Every sport has pundits who occupy the "professional troll / provocateur" role who see it as their job to issue hot takes, generate artificial controversy, and get people riled up by being generally obnoxious.

Alexi Lalas has seized that position in the US soccer media ecosystem.
 

lars10

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He's a dick, but I don't know about knowing more or experiencing more. He was a World Cup star, played in Serie A, was the GM/President for multiple MLS clubs... he has a ton of varied high level experience in American and International soccer.
Most of the people he's usually sitting with have won the World Cup. I know I'm oversensitive about him.
 

lars10

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Every sport has pundits who occupy the "professional troll / provocateur" role who see it as their job to issue hot takes, generate artificial controversy, and get people riled up by being generally obnoxious.

Alexi Lalas has seized that position in the US soccer media ecosystem.
He's the Shank/Felger of soccer commentary?

edit: is this the deepest team that the US has had? The seven changes before this game seem to indicate they're pretty stacked.. although I guess we'll see their best team against Sweden.
 

coremiller

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On my list of trivial complaints, what is with the US squad numbering? A #9 in midfield, a #2 at right forward, a #11 at RB? Krieger and Pugh should switch numbers.
 

SoxFanInCali

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California. Duh.
And yeah, Alexi can be obnoxious, but he doesn't annoy me as much as someone like Skip Bayless or Stephen A. Smith.

I remember watching the 2010 World Cup draw when it was Lalas with a handful of English guys (pretty sure Macca was there), he was fired up when the US drew England, and gave just as good as he got when the English guys gave him stick.
 

SoxFanInCali

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California. Duh.
On my list of trivial complaints, what is with the US squad numbering? A #9 in midfield, a #2 at right forward, a #11 at RB? Krieger and Pugh should switch numbers.
Pugh has worn #11 in the past, but when Krieger made the team she took her old number back. That left #2 for Pugh, which she has also worn in the past (she inherited it from Sydney Leroux, another striker wearing a fullback number).
 

Ale Xander

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Weird to see a team's best player be the goalie, but that's certainly the case here with Chile.
 

Titans Bastard

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I thought Endler could have done better on Ertz's goal, but she's more than made up for that by now. Great showing.
 

Ale Xander

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USF have a good soccer program (W)? Impressed they were able to recruit her. Maybe the weather helped.
 

SoxFanInCali

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The only real differences between this and the Thailand game is a much better opposing keeper and Chile haven't completely run out of gas yet.
 

InstaFace

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Good to see Krieger out there looking strong. It seemed like the squad was looking to move on from her almost immediately after 2015, but she's forced her way back in. On the other hand, it makes me wonder about the future at RB if nobody could beat out the 34 year old Krieger to back up 30 year old O'Hara.
She looks *great* though. Absolute speed demon, by RB standards. There was a 3 on 3 breakaway about 52' where she was running back to cover and she was meaningfully faster than even the Chilean forwards who didn't have the ball. Just blazed it. She's also been super strong on the flanks today.

You wouldn't bet on most 34yos to still be the best choice in their position, but in her case she probably is.
 

InstaFace

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For those wondering how good Chile is, they are currently ranked 2 spots behind Thailand in the rankings. they're probably a slightly better team than Thailand, but both are basically amateur teams. USWNT won't play anybody with a chance of keeping it close until Sweden (who amusingly are probably happy to lose that so they can avoid France's side of the bracket).
In qualifying, they drew Colombia (a much better team) 1-1 in first round pool play, and then in final round RR they tied Colombia again 0-0 and then whipped Argentina thoroughly, 4-1, to qualify. Argentina then had to beat Panama to get into the WWC.

They've gotten some results out there. They are not the same level of chumps Thailand is, no matter what the rankings say
 

InstaFace

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So if the US beat or draw Sweden, they'll get the winner of China-Spain* in the R16, with of course France looming in the QFs - in Paris**. The theoretical SF opponent would likely be the winner of Japan-England*, playing Wednesday afternoon. Both Japan and England have looked less than their usual dominant selves thus far.

If they lose to Sweden, they'll get Group E runners-up in R16, which would be the loser of Netherlands*-Canada, playing Thursday morning, with likely Germany in the QFs, in Rennes. Theoretical SF opponents would be winners of Italy*-Brazil (Tues afternoon), or the winner of Netherlands*-Canada.

I'm not sure which path I like better or worse. To win the tournament, we'll have to beat France or a comparable team to France at least once if not 2-3 times. But the France route seems to have 2 much easier matches alongside it to get to the final, whereas the Germany (world #2) route has tougher opponents in there between Canada (#5), Netherlands (#8), Brazil (#10) and Italy (#15).

* Holds winning tiebreaker if match is a tie
** You'd think they could spring for the Stade de France (capacity 80k), at least for the Final or the would-be USA-France QF. They've sold out every France game, every USA game, and even topped 25k in Parc des Princes for Japan-Argentina, not to mention selling out a bunch of other smaller stadiums like yesterday's Netherlands-Cameroon game. I bet at Stade de France they'd sell a few more tickets than the 48k that PdP can hold. Instead, both SFs and the Final are in Lyon, capacity 59k.
 

coremiller

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I didn't realize they're not using the Stade de France for the Final. That's ridiculous.
 

ninjacornelius

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I didn't realize they're not using the Stade de France for the Final. That's ridiculous.
Lyon is the capital of women’s soccer in France. Olympique is the best women’s club team in the world and it’s not particularly close. Plus, their stadium holds almost 60,000 so it’s no slouch.
 

Titans Bastard

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Lyon is the capital of women’s soccer in France. Olympique is the best women’s club team in the world and it’s not particularly close. Plus, their stadium holds almost 60,000 so it’s no slouch.
Yup. 2006 was the last time that Olympique Lyon didn't win D1F. They've also won the last four UEFA Champions League titles, and six of the last nine.
 

DJnVa

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Didn't we learn in Kane vs Arsenal that a foul to an offsides player is still a foul? Shouldn't that have been a Chile PK?
The difference here, I think, is that the Chile player was not fouled before she made her play on the ball. In the case with Kane, he was dragged down before he had a chance to play the ball, so even though he was in an offside position, because he was fouled before making play on ball, the foul stands.

I think.
 

DJnVa

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Final group games start today.

China vs. Spain is essentially a knockout game--winner advances, Spain advances with draw.
 

InstaFace

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except that 4/6 3rd-place teams also advance, and at 3 points / GD 0, current 3rd place China is looking pretty good. A draw or narrow loss probably still sends them through.

I wonder if both teams would be happy with a draw and will play like it, maybe not to the extent of Germany-Austria 1982 but something not far off.
 

DJnVa

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except that 4/6 3rd-place teams also advance, and at 3 points / GD 0, current 3rd place China is looking pretty good. A draw or narrow loss probably still sends them through.

I wonder if both teams would be happy with a draw and will play like it, maybe not to the extent of Germany-Austria 1982 but something not far off.
Sure, but those other games play out over the next few days and that's more detail than I was intending--basically winner goes through and loser has to have some level of help.
 

swiftaw

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A draw advances both teams since there at most 4 3rd place teams that can reach 4 points.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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except that 4/6 3rd-place teams also advance, and at 3 points / GD 0, current 3rd place China is looking pretty good. A draw or narrow loss probably still sends them through.

I wonder if both teams would be happy with a draw and will play like it, maybe not to the extent of Germany-Austria 1982 but something not far off.
This is my thought as well.

Was a great match on paper until realizing that so many of the 3rd place teams can advance. Both advance with a draw, and I think we may see it played that way unless an early goal forces the other team to get aggressive.
 

Ale Xander

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I think I'm switching to GER-RSA. Would love to see CHN eliminated, but not looking like it will happen and this game will be a snoozefest.
 

Ale Xander

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What do I need to root for in Group A to have US have the most favorable matchup in QF?