There are definitely a lot more mistakes! Not sure about chances, though.
My picks for the quarter-finals:
Spain
Japan
France
England
Netherlands
Japan
France
Colombia
Taking the Netherlands for the height and experience. Taking Colombia because, well, it's England and they'll be tired after playing extra time and James is suspended. And it would be cool to see a South American team in the semis as it would breakdown barriers in that region.
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I haven’t seen such a blatant and intentional hand ball in the box in a long time, especially from a defender. She literally stuck her arm out out and the moves her hand to block the ball. It’s part of the reason you see defenders hold arms behind their back in those situations, but that’s more so something doesn’t inadvertently happen when the ball is crossed in.
And now she scores as a forward! Spain with terrible defending since the goal.
Taking the Netherlands for the height and experience. Taking Colombia because, well, it's England and they'll be tired after playing extra time and James is suspended. And it would be cool to see a South American team in the semis as it would breakdown barriers in that region.
I'm good at this
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Watching the Oilers defend is like watching fire engines frantically rushing to the wrong fire
Crazy shootout with both teams having multiple chances to win. Would have been a riot in Brisbane if Australia was eliminated on a goalie being off the line by inches call. That was a huge 2 saves in a row by the keeper. The French coach definitely over thought things subbing in the keeper and the striker who missed twice.
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The first semi was exciting. Sweden tied the game in the 87th minute only for Spain to score on an incredible shot a minute later.
Australia vs England goes tonight. Aussies have the be some of the biggest band wagon fans. A few weeks ago no one cared about women's soccer but now it's all anyone is talking about. We might even get a public holiday if they win.
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If England loses (as is their way), will they pissy little bitches like the men and refuse to wear the medal, or will they set a new standard of sportsmanship for English teams? The current bar is low.
I am betting England win though and I may actually be cheering for them. Game-time decision.
I find Women's football more entertaining than the men's. It seems more physical was they let more contact go and the women don't flop as much. Also seems to be way more chances compared to the men's.
I wouldn't say more entertaining, but about as entertaining. The quality of play is not as high, but the tempo is about equal, and the amount of mistakes is higher which means more stuff happens.
Most importantly for the entertainment though, yes, the lack of flops is great. Just in general women's game is a lot cleaner in every area. Less delays of game, less arguing with the referee, less ugly plays, less illegal plays going unpunished... just less of every type of BS present in men's soccer.
All we need now is for the crowds in women's soccer to get their chants and singing on, and they'd be pretty close to an ideal form of the game.
Would have been nice to see Australia get some hardware to celebrate with the home crowd, but Sweden clearly deserved to win the bronze game.
Canada defeats Jamaica 2-1 lats night and 4-1 over the two legged tie to qualify for the 2024 Olympics. Given their poor performance at the World Cup combined with Jamaica making the final 16 some were thinking Jamaica could upset Canada but it was a pretty dominant performance by Canada.
Also the Drew Spence free kick to put Jamaica up 1-0 last night was a thing of beauty.
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I’m pleasantly surprised at how good Canada looked after the disaster of a WC. The change in shape helped and the changing of the guard is in full effect
I’m pleasantly surprised at how good Canada looked after the disaster of a WC. The change in shape helped and the changing of the guard is in full effect
I think a few things; they got caught up in being "disrespected" supposedly by media not picking them to go far, and I think the team and maybe the coach took that as a misguided rallying cry. That includes the pressure and the narrative around Sinclair and her final WC.
So I think there was thet mental miscalculation around motivation. And yes, forcing the ball up to Sinclair, especially in the first game that they should've won but didn't, and then they were on the wrong path.
And, Jamaica was a bit of a Cinderella, where one ok result turned to 2 and other teams crumbled more than themselves doing anything great.
