Women's World Cup

[Qwerty]

Thought the commentary team were a tad over complimentary about anything and everything last night..
A player doing the kicking themselves on the ankle trick before going down..should not be deemed intelligent play

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Only saw a bit of the game while channel surfing, but the bit I did see was a USA player throwing herself to the ground, tis quite poor.

But on the flip side I saw some of a Norway game and one of the Norway players was fouled by the opposition keeper and could've easily gone down to try and get a penalty but she stayed up and put a good cross in, so not all players/teams were like the USA team.

TBH the US team were the only team I saw throwing themselves done and diving. The Argentinians could put a tasty tackle in, and the Italians did put a few take you down because youre past me ones, oh and Cameroon....
But once this world cup is over, many teams will see how the US have done, and if they win, decide they need to match them in the conning the ref stakes. As I said, up till now the ladies game has been mainly honest, but I think the US teams actions will start to change that and follow them and the mens game.

 

[clubchamp98]

TBH the US team were the only team I saw throwing themselves done and diving. The Argentinians could put a tasty tackle in, and the Italians did put a few take you down because youre past me ones, oh and Cameroon....
But once this world cup is over, many teams will see how the US have done, and if they win, decide they need to match them in the conning the ref stakes. As I said, up till now the ladies game has been mainly honest, but I think the US teams actions will start to change that and follow them and the mens game.

That’s what you get with professional sport, unprofessional cheating.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I rather enjoyed it and at times found myself just about forgetting that this was women's football I was watching and also forgetting my prejudices - so if there was a rubbish pass then I didn't think 'what a rubbish pass - well what do you expect from the women's game' - rather I thought 'what a rubbish pass'

And for me that's indicating a significant change in attitude towards the women's game - that suggests that there was enough that really impressed me.

 

[Foxholer]

Much of what I saw seemed pretty high quality - plenty of skill; running; nutmegs etc.

However, the 'standard' of goalkeeping seemed pretty poor. Perhaps it was lack of 'proper' defence, but it was rather surprising how many 'average' shots resulted in goals. There were some absolutely fabulous goals thoughj. I guess it simply highlights the real gap between Men's and Women's games and the enormous difference in athleticism for the likes of Goalies - that isn't so obvious on a 1-on-1 attack/defence situation.

 

[Orikoru]

I rather enjoyed it and at times found myself just about forgetting that this was women's football I was watching and also forgetting my prejudices - so if there was a rubbish pass then I didn't think 'what a rubbish pass - well what do you expect from the women's game' - rather I thought 'what a rubbish pass'

And for me that's indicating a significant change in attitude towards the women's game - that suggests that there was enough that really impressed me.

It is a shame the commentary team can't follow suit. Jonathan Pearce just constantly makes excuses for poor play, instead of slating them like he would the men.

 

[AmandaJR]

Jonathan Pearce has me off to the Random Irritations thread!

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Jonathan Pearce has me off to the Random Irritations thread!

Utterly painful commentator 😡

 

[User20204]

However, the 'standard' of goalkeeping seemed pretty poor.

I mentioned that ten pages back, it's honking though I would say it's improved as the poorer teams have been knocked out.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Far more cagey game last night and to be honest either side could have gone through but I can't see anything other than a US win by several clear goals. What I do see though going forward is not so much a change in cheating in the ladies game on the back of the US histrionics but a look at their coaching and fitness levels and more countries adopting similar models to try and compete. Technically they weren't that far ahead of England but tactically and physically they were and this is where we need to adapt.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I was talking with my son about where does womens football go now. I haven't watched the world cup other than the odd clip on the news and I did see the semi final just because England were in it. I wont follow that up, it didn't do it for me. However there will be people who will want to follow the game now, young girls in particular I suspect. How does the womens game compete though? It is not going to knock the mens game off its pedestal so how does it get a foothold and start to grow? My thought was for it to follow rugby league and become a summer game. They would not then be competing for supporters with the mens game.

Equally, you may thing it just needs to carry on and it will grow on its own. Personally, I tend to agree with a comment by LP earlier. It has had an Olympic style spike and viewing will drop off again come September.

What other suggestions do people have?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I was talking with my son about where does womens football go now. I haven't watched the world cup other than the odd clip on the news and I did see the semi final just because England were in it. I wont follow that up, it didn't do it for me. However there will be people who will want to follow the game now, young girls in particular I suspect. How does the womens game compete though? It is not going to knock the mens game off its pedestal so how does it get a foothold and start to grow? My thought was for it to follow rugby league and become a summer game. They would not then be competing for supporters with the mens game.

Equally, you may thing it just needs to carry on and it will grow on its own. Personally, I tend to agree with a comment by LP earlier. It has had an Olympic style spike and viewing will drop off again come September.

What other suggestions do people have?

I think it will grow the ladies game the back of the WC especially after the England showing. The biggest issues I see as I've said before is a lack of access to teams for girls especially in more rural places and more importantly access to qualified coaching. Add on access to pitches as well and it imperative the FA put their money where their mouth is with all these initiatives to get more women into the game at grassroots level and put the structure and funding into place. I think TV has a part to play and while the WSL is shown live on BT sport, and the BBC goes into its usual overdrive whenever England are playing, the whole thing needs more screen time and more promotion via TV, social medial and the press. I would like to see Sky get behind the ladies game in the way it does with the mens version and dedicate programme time (they already do a Sportswomen programme so clearly some progress in promoting female sport participation) to the ladies game

I think ladies football is heading to a very interesting crossroads in the next decade or so. Given the success of the England team, we need to develop the next generation to continue to see them compete at the highest level and do well at Euros and WC's. As long as the national side is doing well and the club sides like Chelsea and Man City are mixing it in Europe with the best they have, we'll attract good quality players to come over and that can only hope grow our own players. That of course then needs to feed down into the WSL and pyramid leagues below. If (and hopefully not) the national side slumps, there will be a lack of interest in TV and on social media and the game has a chance to stall and simply revert back to something of a side-show which is where it was perhaps a decade or so ago which is why the FA have to get it right from the bottom up.

 

[pendodave]

I was talking with my son about where does womens football go now. I haven't watched the world cup other than the odd clip on the news and I did see the semi final just because England were in it. I wont follow that up, it didn't do it for me. However there will be people who will want to follow the game now, young girls in particular I suspect. How does the womens game compete though? It is not going to knock the mens game off its pedestal so how does it get a foothold and start to grow? My thought was for it to follow rugby league and become a summer game. They would not then be competing for supporters with the mens game.

Equally, you may thing it just needs to carry on and it will grow on its own. Personally, I tend to agree with a comment by LP earlier. It has had an Olympic style spike and viewing will drop off again come September.

What other suggestions do people have?

I think that the most important legacy (at least over the next few years) will be to increase girls participation in sport. Imho, this is far more important than trying to make the top level a commercial proposition. Anything that makes it more socially 'normal' for young people to run about is a good thing.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

I think that the most important legacy (at least over the next few years) will be to increase girls participation in sport. Imho, this is far more important than trying to make the top level a commercial proposition. Anything that makes it more socially 'normal' for young people to run about is a good thing.

How about peer pressure? How many young girls who are good at something stop doing it because of the negative peer pressure others may give them?

 

[pendodave]

How about peer pressure? How many young girls who are good at something stop doing it because of the negative peer pressure others may give them?

This is one of the things I meant when talking about 'socially normal'. Anything that shines a positive light on women's sport helps to shift the narrative at all levels, including the kids themselves.
Nothing is a given though, girls' lives seem to be tremendously complicated things...

 

[Crazyface]

Far more cagey game last night and to be honest either side could have gone through but I can't see anything other than a US win by several clear goals. What I do see though going forward is not so much a change in cheating in the ladies game on the back of the US histrionics but a look at their coaching and fitness levels and more countries adopting similar models to try and compete. Technically they weren't that far ahead of England but tactically and physically they were and this is where we need to adapt.

I haven't watched much of this at all, but if you're saying we're behind the USA "physically" that is nothing short of disgraceful. We have a fully professional womens league and therefore we should be at least physically able to match ANY other womens team. If we cannot then the team that is responsible for this side of things should be sack with immediate effect. Tactically we will be behind as PN is NOT a fully fledged manager.

 

[Orikoru]

I haven't watched much of this at all, but if you're saying we're behind the USA "physically" that is nothing short of disgraceful. We have a fully professional womens league and therefore we should be at least physically able to match ANY other womens team. If we cannot then the team that is responsible for this side of things should be sack with immediate effect. Tactically we will be behind as PN is NOT a fully fledged manager.

I really don't know how P-Nev got the job, other than he's a well known face and they wanted to raise the profile of women's football a bit. That is the only reason I can think of. He has absolutely no credentials as a manager, and as a bloke he's just a bit of a drip.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I'll defend Neville here. The team got to the semi finals. I didn't watch any of their games up until then so I can't comment on how they played. In the semi final, I did watch that, they kept their shape, tried to play a style of football that was decent, made chances but were not good enough to take them, or keep the USA out. The goals let in were about poor defending, individual errors. You could see him going nuts in the last 15 minutes trying to push the team up the pitch but they simply didn't follow his instructions.

He spoke well at press conferences, seemed to add another level of professionalism to the set up and undoubtedly raised the profile of the team. I can see him moving on to a league team shortly, perhaps not PL but one of the better Championship teams once they ditch a manager early season. Derby have an opening, would not be the worst option for them.

A mildly amusing story for you. After they lost the semi they were out on the pitch in a huddle. Neville was in the middle of the huddle giving his speech. My wife asked why isn't he doing that in the dressing room. Errrrmmmmmm, he can't. Why not, Errmmmmm they will want to get showered and changed. But.............ahhhhhhhh

 

[Orikoru]

A mildly amusing story for you. After they lost the semi they were out on the pitch in a huddle. Neville was in the middle of the huddle giving his speech. My wife asked why isn't he doing that in the dressing room. Errrrmmmmmm, he can't. Why not, Errmmmmm they will want to get showered and changed. But.............ahhhhhhhh

They could go in there and sit about while he does his speech and then he leaves the room though, no? Seems better than doing it out in public.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

They could go in there and sit about while he does his speech and then he leaves the room though, no? Seems better than doing it out in public.

I'm sure he does that most of the time. It happened to be mid 30°C though and he probably told them to look around to see what they had achieved so I understood why he did it. It was not a berating speech, he was not telling them off.

It was also the look on my wifes face when she realised there were times he could not go in, it tickled me when the penny dropped as to why.