Official 2015 Women's World Cup Thread

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Too bad. They left it all on the field, very proud of the girls! Well done, you made Canada proud!

[SebC]

Would've prefered a Canada win, but either my first or second choice team was going through.

[CroFlames]

It took a long time to settle down in the first half. But two huge mistakes directly led to goals.

Waaaaay too many cheap giveaways in the last half of the 2nd half, with Chapman to me being especially bad. I think I would have started Leon & Kyle.

Great effort, but too little too late.

[Acey]

I think we got outcoached a bit, tactically. Leon should have started this game. Anything to elongate the field so as to render the abilities of Lawrence somewhat useful, like she was vs Holland.

[OILFAN #81]

It's hard for them to generate any chances and when they do, they seem to miss the net a lot. The gaffe on the 1st goal was brutal. Lost to a better team. 4 of the world's 6 best teams made the semis in Germany, U.S., Japan and England (France and Sweden being the other 2). Semis should be good.

[Acey]

Core is young. Fleming (17), Buchanan (19), Lawrence (19), Leon (22).

From my perspective step #1 for Team Canada is it to develop Buchanan into a midfielder as there's still time. Her athleticism is underutilized at the back.

[jschick88]

Thought something was off with her tonight. She didn't look as good as she did in previous games.

Laura Armstrong ‏@lauraarmy
Herdman says Chapman played through an oblique tear tonight.

[Acey]

Also keep in mind Sesselmann had a bad injury from which she probably came back too early, so while I see the internet destroying her I prefer to give the benefit of the doubt. Seemed unsure on her feet from the very beginning of the tournament. Also glad to see Herdman the blame for the major tactical error on the Bronze goal. A hurt Chapman had to fend off Bronze? Good luck.

[jschick88]

Originally Posted by Acey

Also keep in mind Sesselmann had a bad injury from which she probably came back too early, so while I see the internet destroying her I prefer to give the benefit of the doubt. Seemed unsure on her feet from the very beginning of the tournament. Also glad to see Herdman the blame for the major tactical error on the Bronze goal. A hurt Chapman had to fend off Bronze? Good luck.

Makes me sad and angry to see some of the tweets that are directed to Sesselmann. People need to lay off. She made a mistake. Move on.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by OILFAN #81

It's hard for them to generate any chances and when they do, they seem to miss the net a lot. The gaffe on the 1st goal was brutal. Lost to a better team. 4 of the world's 6 best teams made the semis in Germany, U.S., Japan and England (France and Sweden being the other 2). Semis should be good.

Canada is and was the better team if you ask me...they just made ridiculous mistakes that cost them. Pressure may have been to much

[WCW Nitro]

I think Leon was criminally underused this tournament.

[Northendzone]

Christine Sinclair is a beast.......I love how folks on the net are slagging on these ladies. They left it all out there, not much more you can do than that.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Canada is and was the better team if you ask me...they just made ridiculous mistakes that cost them.

Disagree completely, I don't think Canada was the better team. Those errors were a recurring theme in this tournament. Good teams are not so tactically incompetent such that they make those kinds errors with the consistency that Canada made them. Just took for a decent team to take advantage.

Originally Posted by WCW Nitro

I think Leon was criminally underused this tournament.

This ranks highly on the list of many tactical errors that were made.

[kn]

Couldn't Moscato have played instead of Sesselmann? #10 was just brutal the whole tournament. It doesn't take a soccer-savy nation to see that.

Need to clone Sinclair now... There doesn't seem to be anyone else coming up with her creativity and vision.

[browna]

Sounds like they had their chances in the second half but couldn't find the target.

I disagree they lost to the better team. Nothing from England showed me that they're a step ahead, and the results prior to this in the tournament back it up. The teams are evenly matched, for better but more likely for worse, and Canada made one extra mistake that England capitalized on. That said, they played their most progressive game of the tourney, Sinclair shows how she is head and shoulders above most on the team with her awareness, power, and skill.

For organizers, Canada REALLY needed to win this game, especially with the teams matched evenly. Doing so would've instantly meant two more games that Canada is in in the next week.

Japan would've been a definite step up from tonight, though they haven't looked lights out. But assuming Canada would've lost that, still would've had the 3rd place game and a medal opportunity.

With the terrible attendance in Edmonton today (and for the Esks game in Ft McMurray...must have been mullet washing day up north), having Canada as a draw would've ensured at least one semi final being near capacity, but now, not liking the chances of decent attendance for the semi's, and I am sure there are lot of final match tickets available tonight now too.

Where women's soccer goes from here, Internationally, who knows? Hopefully the awareness and funding from hosting spurns the grass roots. But Canada does have a fair way to go to be legit contenders, skill wise and mentally, and their best player over the past decade may not be around for the next WC.

The London Games was a fairy tale, and may have set unrealistic expectations (though after the last WC, there was nowhere to go but up) for this tourney, at home to boot, but it was pretty evident that Canada had more mental issues then it really should these last week.

Herdman seems like a good coach, and just from the little I followed the inbetween game chat through this tourney, it seems that the women's game (or at least Team Canada) is focused a lot more on keeping up the mental side than men's. Him having to talk up the team in the press on training days, pat them on the back etc moreso then a coach should need to do DURING a World Cup, given there has been 2+ years of preperation since London 2012, but clearly the team was not really comfortable and seemed fragile, feeling too much of the pressure. He tried every trick in the book before/during and after London, and before/during this WC to get the team properly (but not overly) prepared, relaxed, and focused, but the team overall still came out cautious, tense, impatient and easily flustered at best; scared, unable to handle the spotlight/pressure, and flatout clueless on the field at times, at worst, each game this tourney.

On the flip side, it was all still there...one less mistake on either of the goals, or Canada getting one in the second half, and a very good chance of being in the WC semi finals, no matter the fragile mental state or lack of consistent performance by anyone not named Sinclair.

From that aspect, not sure how things move forward. I guess there won't be the external pressure at the next WC in France, with it not in Canada, but there also won't be that added advantage either (if they even really used it this year - Game 1 China maybe, but that had nothing to do with the crowd support. a generous referee), but Herdman has his work cut out for him to cut out the atrocious, basic mistakes that occurred too often, the lack of awareness and basic expectations you have of players and roles on the field, and the mental self doubt this team held onto all tournament, all while also replacing Sinclair and those others that are leaving, assuming he himself sticks around...though I guess the next focus is only a year or so away (qualifying, one assumes) for Rio 2016.

[Acey]

For the purposes of my argument, being a better team includes coaching. Canada not doing their homework and realizing that Bronze has been a hazard from set pieces all tournament long is just poor coaching. England is a better team because they out-coached us and out-executed us. The Taylor goal is indeed a catastrophic error for which we could not prepare, but she capitalized on our mistake with a great finish. The Bronze goal primarily happened because they beat us tactically, but she capitalized and put the ball in the net.

[GirlySports]

Soccer is about a few bounces. Canada beat England(GB) in the Olympic quarters and they beat us here.

[polak]

I don't watch womens soccer very often so can someone tell me is sloppy play like that the norm or did Canada just play awful or maybe both?

Again, since I can only compare it to the mens game I might be out to lunch but that was painful to watch. Every attempt to move up seemed almost random and poorly placed. Terrible finish. Lots of mistakes on D. Just overall bad.

[GirlySports]

The artifical turf has been really bad. Next year in Rio should be good as in 2011 and 2012.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by polak

I don't watch womens soccer very often so can someone tell me is sloppy play like that the norm or did Canada just play awful or maybe both?

Again, since I can only compare it to the mens game I might be out to lunch but that was painful to watch. Every attempt to move up seemed almost random and poorly placed. Terrible finish. Lots of mistakes on D. Just overall bad.

Canada played poorly, but aside from the big mistakes that generally level of sloppiness has been typical of all teams. Poor finishing has also been a thing for all teams. While still poor compared to men's, the least sloppy teams have been Japan and France.