Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 I could probably find a sports psychology paper that outlines how you notice more things when you're watching a team you're invested in, and our women's national team is the soccer team I watch most until becoming an evil Chelsea fan. (Also, I don't think they air WSL here, if that is what I think it is. Having major soccer leagues on regularly is still kind of new. I can't even get La Liga) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 I mean, yeah, I'm sure that's true re: noticing things, I don't really have a team in the WC so I've been watching whichever matches I can. It just doesn't seem too far off the norm from all the football I watch, across all the leagues. Maybe I'm used to watching teams getting fouled a lot, I'm pretty sure the Arsenal teams rank pretty high up in terms of number of fouls committed against them, both in the EPL & the WSL. Also, youtube tv has la liga, I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted July 6, 2019 Author Share Posted July 6, 2019 17 hours ago, Tywin et al. said: I honestly don't get the argument that they're unlikable. It's not like Hope Solo is the face of the team anymore, and they're doing a lot to grow the game for other countries. Europe has almost caught up with us and South America will soon too. They're fighting for equal pay and better playing conditions. And they're gangbusters for the ratings. The only thing I can even think of pointing at is celebrating when you're up 10-0 over an inferior team, but the flip side of that is that it could be each players only chance to do that. The primary thing is how negatively they've played. Neutrals and opposition fans might like underdogs who grind out results with their backs to the wall but when the favourites and the most talented side are doing it it's not exactly going to endear them to anyone but their own fans. There's a reason nobody likes Mourinho's teams. On top of that there's the various celebrating stuff. Which I get people saying isn't a big deal, it isn't, but they do come across as kind of dickish. They also do a fair amount of cynical stuff, which I'm a bit hypocritical about because some of it I like and some of it I don't. Going back to my original post, yeah, I am a bit wishy washy on them, because they do do some impressive stuff off the pitch. I'm not particularly convinced they do a lot to grow the game around the world as such. It's more that European clubs are starting to take an interest in women's football that's leading to the growth of the game in Europe. Taking a stand on issues like fair wages from the team as whole and Rapinoe standing up to Trump and as a gay role model is impressive though. Anyway, not a great start from England to the third placed play off. ETA: England are very committed to this passing out from the back thing. That's fine but they have a real tendency to play themselves into trouble doing it. They leave the deeper lying midfielder isolated so often and the defenders don't look to play over the top so it's pretty easy to put them under pressure by getting players around Walsh or Moore in the deeper midfield role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted July 6, 2019 Share Posted July 6, 2019 1 hour ago, ljkeane said: ETA: England are very committed to this passing out from the back thing. That's fine but they have a real tendency to play themselves into trouble doing it. They leave the deeper lying midfielder isolated so often and the defenders don't look to play over the top so it's pretty easy to put them under pressure by getting players around Walsh or Moore in the deeper midfield role. Neville's crazy for not playing Leah Williamson if he wants to pass out from the back, this is literally what Arsenal were doing all of last season and she's *very* good at it. I might be a little biased, but seeing her in the WSL this season, it's mad not to have her as a starter given how adept she is at playing out from the back. I personally think Neville is a bit shit as a manager, but given how average England's CBs have been, it's astounding that she hasn't played. Some stats on Williamson playing out from the back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted July 7, 2019 Author Share Posted July 7, 2019 The Dutch seem to have put a real emphasis on not letting the US get an early goal. They’ve done the same thing England did and switched from 4-3-3 to 4-4-1-1 but they’ve actually been reasonably solid, unlike England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 van Veenendaal so good during that half. It's so weird to see Miedema be so restricted in this Netherlands team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 The better team won. The Dutch seldom looked like they could be better than the US. I'm glad Rapinoe won the golden boot. I didn't like Morgan in this tournament. She managed to draw a penalty in this game, and her one big contribution was the winning goal against England. The player that impressed me the most from the US was Crystal Dunn. I really wanted her to score a goal, and she nearly did. Even when outmatched in skill or speed, like against Diani in the France game, she made it up with exceptional determination and dogged resilience. With a weaker player on that side, I'm not sure the US would have made it all the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lykos Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 Congratulations to the USWNT. I'll be really mad if Rose Lavelle isn't chosen as most valuable player of the match and best player of the tournament. The way the quality of the US forward play dropped when she was subbed off against England was telling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted July 7, 2019 Author Share Posted July 7, 2019 Holland did better than I thought they would. I thought they were going to get battered and they kept it tight, they did have a few chances to pick the US off on the break and if they'd taken one it might have been a different story. Having said that the US, despite being made to work for the first goal, never really looked overly troubled. I think that's probably been the story of the World Cup really. Spain and England caused them some difficulty for certain periods within games but the reality is it's been a fairly untroubled progress to a World Cup win for the US team. You have to give them credit for how well they've dealt with the pressure of the expectations they've been playing under. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 That literally could not have gone any better. The games were largely good and the player that needed to have a breakout tournament end up winning all the awards. Furthermore, while fans did know who Rapinoe, Morgan and Lloyd were, a lot of second tier players got to have their star turns, probably most notably Lavelle. I'd argue that Dunn was our most important player though. She cleaned up the messes that our defense made. That said the U.S. cannot be complacent. There's a reason why seven of the final eight teams were from Europe. Their leagues are growing much faster than the NWSL. That has to be fixed or our dominance will be over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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