All-Encompassing Womens Soccer Thread

[KevFu]

England and Spain should be a good one.

Ugh. You know how in the 90s early 2000s (And continuing for a lot of fans into today), most "traditional" hockey fans were rooting against the expansion/relocated franchises in the playoffs because they need to 'pay their dues' or 'didn't deserve' to win?

I feel like that about Spain-England winning the WWC. And that sentiment is far MORE justified in THIS than in the NHL. Because the cities that got NHL teams in 90s didn't actually "do anything wrong" by NOT having an NHL team before then.

Nothing has stopped England or Spain from being really good at women's soccer this entire time other than they simply didn't care.

It's really tough to be "good for England" when they didn't give a damn until like 2005, and Spain didn't give a damn until like 2013.

Don't get me wrong, I think the "Don't deserve" thing is dumb. You do the thing, you deserve the accomplishment. I'm just saying it's ANNOYING to me as a "99er"

 

[Jussi]

If the Lioness manage to do the double, Euro and World Cup, then pressure on the men's team just keeps mounting.

 

[KevFu]

Yep, that's soccer for ya.

I also think Arnold has been poor this game, I called that shot going in before Russo even took it because she was so deep and too close to the near post.

Yeah. Probably Arnold's worst game of the tournament. I wondered how Australia would fare if they actually conceded first (which they hadn't done all tourney). And I guess that was it.

 

[kihei]

Both semis were very entertaining. Definitely looking forward to the final.

 

[NyQuil]

Australia with some brutal defensive coverage on England’s last two goals.

A 1 on 2 and a 2 on 4.

 

[KevFu]

Ha. FOX just showed England fans singing "It's Coming Home."

Pretty much sums up my annoyance at the final.

 

[NyQuil]

Ugh. You know how in the 90s early 2000s (And continuing for a lot of fans into today), most "traditional" hockey fans were rooting against the expansion/relocated franchises in the playoffs because they need to 'pay their dues' or 'didn't deserve' to win?

I feel like that about Spain-England winning the WWC. And that sentiment is far MORE justified in THIS than in the NHL. Because the cities that got NHL teams in 90s didn't actually "do anything wrong" by NOT having an NHL team before then.

Nothing has stopped England or Spain from being really good at women's soccer this entire time other than they simply didn't care.

It's really tough to be "good for England" when they didn't give a damn until like 2005, and Spain didn't give a damn until like 2013.

Don't get me wrong, I think the "Don't deserve" thing is dumb. You do the thing, you deserve the accomplishment. I'm just saying it's ANNOYING to me as a "99er"

England had the lion’s share of possession as did Spain.

The fact that England has solid professional women’s clubs that attract many of the world’s best is also a positive in terms of the hosting country seeing national dividends pay off for it.

I find their media exhausting but the women have earned the plaudits to a greater degree than the men IMO.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Well yeah, pretty much always root against England for soccer. They are the Maple Leafs of soccer, both in terms of their fans and their lack of success (or at least the mens are if the ladies continue winning).

 

[GKJ]

That was an entertaining game. Would’ve been cool to see the home country in the final. Seems like they knocked off in the semifinals a lot.

 

[KevFu]

England had the lion’s share of possession as did Spain.

The fact that England has solid professional women’s clubs that attract many of the world’s best is also a positive in terms of the hosting country seeing national dividends pay off for it.

I find their media exhausting but the women have earned the plaudits to a greater degree than the men IMO.

Oh, they're definitely GOOD, and the PLAYERS deserve to win for how they've played. England has done the work to be a legit contender for WWCs year-in and year-out going forward.

It was heartwarming the last couple cycles watching the country actually get behind the team...

... but now, it's just annoying for the reasons summed up by their fans singing "It's Coming Home" when no one in England 20 years ago even knew "It" existed.

Of course I wanted more countries to take it seriously, and be competitive... I just was hoping they'd be fighting to reach the semis, and leave the Finals to the Day One Crew (USA, Sweden, Germany, Japan, China, Brazil).


It's like you spend YEARS inviting a co-worker to one of your parties, and they finally show up and break your shit!

 

[NyQuil]

Oh, they're definitely GOOD, and the PLAYERS deserve to win for how they've played. England has done the work to be a legit contender for WWCs year-in and year-out going forward.

It was heartwarming the last couple cycles watching the country actually get behind the team...

... but now, it's just annoying for the reasons summed up by their fans singing "It's Coming Home" when no one in England 20 years ago even knew "It" existed.

Of course I wanted more countries to take it seriously, and be competitive... I just was hoping they'd be fighting to reach the semis, and leave the Finals to the Day One Crew (USA, Sweden, Germany, Japan, China, Brazil).


It's like you spend YEARS inviting a co-worker to one of your parties, and they finally show up and break your shit!

With all of the upsets and non-traditional clubs making it further into the tournament, I'd have to call this tournament a bit of a success.

Even if the cynic in me just sees 3 out of 4 semi-finalists from Europe.

 

[robertmac43]

This is shaping up to be an exciting finals!

 

[KevFu]

Tourney was a HUGE success from a global standpoint.

I'm just saying I'm irritated that it's Spain/England in the final. Sweden-England would be "fine" because as much as I just ranted on England... that's nothing compared to Spain!

Spain was playing home WC Qualifiers in front of 1200 fans this cycle. That's some 1990s stuff right there.

Their record home attendance is 11,209 (vs the US). They've broken 10,000 TWICE EVER.

There's probably going to be more people watching Spain in person at this World Cup (like 259,000) than their total home attendance in their entire history.

 

[Satan]

footballs coming home

 

[KevFu]

Another annoying thing to me is that the stadium assignments for ONE match is what cost this WWC from cracking 2 million tickets.

You can point to 4 or 5 matches where if they played them in the bigger stadium, they'd easily have gotten the extra 27,076 tickets sold.

 

[CuuuJooo]

I hope that England is not raising my hopes only to crush them in the end.

That would be a very Englandy thing to do, though.

 

[robertmac43]

Tourney was a HUGE success from a global standpoint.

Best one to date and I think it's only going to continue trending up.

 

[Venkman]

Very good performance. Hemp was brilliant, great finish by Toone. Not sure what Sarina will do with James back for the final.

 

[Ben Grimm]

Vlatko Andonovski steps down as USWNT head coach

Andonovski's tenure as head coach of the USWNT is over after a Round of 16 flameout at the 2023 Women's World Cup.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[kingsboy11]

Vlatko Andonovski steps down as USWNT head coach

Andonovski's tenure as head coach of the USWNT is over after a Round of 16 flameout at the 2023 Women's World Cup.

sports.yahoo.com

Surprised it took this long tbh.

Regardless he had to go. I would love Wiegman to takeover. I'm hoping she wins the final this weekend so she wouldn't have any reason to stay with England and would welcome a new challenge with the US. Think the odds of that happening are very low, but she's the best womens coach in the world right now and honestly US Soccer could use someone on the outside to come in and change things up

But much like the USMNT they'll go with someone within US Soccer and call it a day

 

[Karterthadon]

Anyways, the days of Canada and USA sitting at the big kids table in women's soccer are done. European powerhouses are now taking this sport seriously, combined with their vastly superior infrastructure and resources, ya, it's a wrap.

 

[Rangerboy030]

It's hard to describe just how much Australia has gotten behind the Matildas. Half the country watched the game vs England

Matildas' World Cup semifinal sets TV audience record

The Matildas' 3-1 loss to England creates history by becoming the most-watched TV program since the current audience measurement system began in 2001.

www.abc.net.au

"There was a total of 11.15 million viewers watching at one point during the broadcast... The broadcast figures do not include out-of-home viewing at venues such as pubs or live sites held at sporting stadiums."

11.15 million out of a population of 26.7 million, or 42%, not counting viewing parties at pubs and stadiums. And while anecdotal, I can tell you for a fact that on that night, every single pub in the city where I live was absolutely packed with people watching the game, not to mention the live viewing area set up in the middle of the city.

 

[Jussi]

Surprised it took this long tbh.

Regardless he had to go. I would love Wiegman to takeover. I'm hoping she wins the final this weekend so she wouldn't have any reason to stay with England and would welcome a new challenge with the US. Think the odds of that happening are very low, but she's the best womens coach in the world right now and honestly US Soccer could use someone on the outside to come in and change things up

But much like the USMNT they'll go with someone within US Soccer and call it a day

 

[CuuuJooo]

But is she partial to VESTS?

 

[Ben Grimm]

https://www.cnn.com/style/wwc-2023-womens-soccer-white-shorts-intl-hnk/index.html