Just to be sure... You're joking, aren't you ? The best "throw in" doesn't make you the best football player in the world. You know, football is played before anything with feet and head, not with hands (Campbell is not a GK)
When the level of play is lower and players can't execute possession, long throw-in's are the greatest thing in the world. Or if you're one of the taller countries in the world like the Dutch, the Norwegians and the Nigerians and playing against someone like Japan or Guatemala. Higher quality teams and individuals prefer their chances in possession and attempting to break down an opponent than by the crudeness and crassness of throwing a ball as far as you can into a box. The higher the level of play in men's soccer, the less you see that opted for from throw-in's in the corners. Much higher ratio of the short 1-2 or 10-15 yard drop to a player back to defender.
So what ? What is the conclusion of your lecture ? That Campbell is the best player in the world today or not ?
That long throw-in's are great in desperation situations, and when it's a counter against an off-balance defense, but that's about it. It's like the flip throw, all pomp and little circumstance.
Kinda an odd choice, because in that same game; while Byrne made some great saves, in two goals that Germany scored she was either a 1) victim of circumstance 2) just made poor gk errors below is the up closest replay I could find, 2nd goal, did Germany's Lotzen interfere with the play, or did Byrne just fumble the ball? 3rd goal, did Leupolz catch Byrne off guard, or did she score with a little help of the wind? and we can relive Campbell's phenomenal long balls, which not only has so far dumbfounded the world's best defense, but one of the world's best coaches(Herdman in the other game/video) as well . Remember, what makes them so dangerous is there's no off sides in throw ins so if you think it's the ref's poor calls(as pro Ireland fans claimed Mitag took an pro dive on the 1st pk goal), then Gromit will personally make you a member of Lyon's whiners club!(as they blame all their losses on refs!). My take; the ref is GOD! whatever they call, sticks!
higher quality teams learn to win consistently with whatever tools they have. I'm not talking about an upset win. higher quality teams win and win and keep on winning by breaking down teams with height, set pieces, throwins, frustrating defense coupled with speed on the fast break, etc., etc., etc. soccer is a game of skill. use it. soccer is a game of athleticism. use it. soccer is a game of tactics. use it. it's also a game of mind over matter. use that too. if you only love to see barcelona play, you're missing out imho. personally, i also love the grit of a. madrid, who figured out a way to beat barca. that's higher quality soccer. and the tactics of chelsea, and the way b. munich adjusts their play slightly when pep inserts mandzukic into the game. that's higher quality football too.
One of the most ridiculous things is that Concacaf gets 3.5 spots (Not including Canada); while Uefa has just 8. It should be 9 and 2.5 because let's get serious, would Costa Rica/Trinidad&Tobago beat Denmark, Scotland, Finland, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Austria ..etc... ? Absolutely absurd. I realize Bladder doesn't want this to be the Euro but if Uefa can get 14 of 32 spots in a World Cup, the women should have 9 spots at the WWC.
Absolutely correct, UEFA should have gotten 9. But not at the expense of a CONCACAF team. It should have been at the expense of an AFC team. With North Korea being "banned", AFC should have only gotten 4 or 4.5 in this tournament, instead of 5. Thailand is overrated. Costa Rica can take them. Or at the very least, UEFA gets 8.5, and AFC gets 4.5. The 9th place UEFA team would destroy Thailand or Vietnam, so UEFA gets 9 in.
It's just about time for the next round of matches! =-D Big ones I'm looking at: --Rematch between Belgium and Netherlands, which will also most likely determine second place in the group --Ireland hosting Russia, also a potential second-place decider England-Ukraine might also be interesting, and Spain continues its road swing. I think Spain can clinch their group if they win and Italy loses, but that latter point is highly unlikely. I don't see any other clinching scenarios around Europe this week... (Germany has a huge lead over Russia and Ireland, but those others have three games in hand. If Germany wins and Russia loses, then Germany has the tiebreak over Russia but Ireland would still have 25pts possible to Germany's supposed 24pts - and if Russia doesn't lose, their max is also still above 24pts.)
After Euro2013 I want to give UEFA 9.5 or 10.0 and reduce both AFC and CONACAF. I believe CONMEBOL deserves another 0.5 too.
You never penalize the host confederation. If CONACAF would get 3.5 with Japan hosting the WWC, then they should get 3.5 with Canada hosting it. FIFA has already stated they don't penalize a confederation when that particular confederation is the host. The "host" is looked at as a "bonus" for that confederation, not in spite of someone else (such as Costa Rica). I imagine CONCACAF will also get 3.5 spots in the 2019 WWC, but they won't be hosting it (UEFA will). That means UEFA will probably get 9 teams in (at minimum) at the 2019 WWC, if France is hosting it. Personally, I think UEFA should get 8.5 spots + host at the 2019 WWC. This means they could conceivably get 10 teams in. 2019 WWC? Host: 1.0 (UEFA - France) UEFA: 8.5 CONCACAF: 3.5 CONMEBOL: 2.5 CAF: 2.5 AFC: 5.0 OFC: 1.0 UEFA #9 team vs. CAF #3 team (Scotland vs. South Africa, per se') CONCACAF #4 team vs. CONMEBOL #3 team (Costa Rica vs. Chile, per se')
You are right. In the next two days, there are huge matches to be played that will make or break teams. While every relevant team will be in action this week (except for Finland, Scotland, Austria); there are certain matches that carry much more significance and intrigue. Each day has one big match, and one somewhat big match. Netherlands-Belgium and Iceland-Switzerland are the two matches to keep an eye on this week; with Ireland-Russia and England-Ukraine also rather intriguing. However, due to Ireland's tie with Croatia and my expectation that they will drop 2-4 points against Russia, I don't expect them to make the playoff. England should win without drama against Ukraine. Switzerland should be favorites against Iceland, though Iceland have much to play for still...Two solid teams. And match of the week is of course Belgium Netherlands. My heart says Belgium and my head says Netherlands. I'll take the Dutch 3-1 over Belgium...a tie would be fatal for both as a win would virtually seal a play-off spot
the only game that so far has been listed so far for today on the Sports Lemon live feed is France vs Hungary at 13.50(US central time). But sometimes they pick up the games at the very last moment, so be on the lookout for Nederlands vs Belgium at 13.00 & Russia vs Ireland at 13.30. http://www.frombar.com Holland's Miederma is still only 17 years old. But what a season she's having! She's scored 38 goals in 23 games so far in the Bene League. That league's 2nd leading scorer only got 20 goals! In the meantime Melis(of Holland) is the leading scorer in the Swedish League, all though that league new season just got started. What might help this time too is that winger. Martens, plays along side Melis at Goteburg, thus the Dutch might have a little more team work going(which has been a weakness for them in the past). Belgium should have home field advantage & get the big crowd that showed up in the 1st game. One thing that Belgium might of done previously is try to get the fast & sleek Bundesliga player, Henrich, who was born in Belguim, but just this March got her 1st NT cap with whats right now the best team in the world, Germany! France should be huge favorites against Hungary which unfortunately can't get some of it's terrific home born players to join them(Hungarian born Marozsan, plays for Germany & underrated Wolfsburg winger, Jakabfi, doesn't appear in their roster). Hopefully France will use this as a warm up game, and I do mean WARM UP since they'll be taking the US next month in Tampa where temp. usually goes to over 90 degrees by June!
It might be 6 as they are 2 down after 11 minutes. Edit - pulled 1 back at 35 minutes. She can't be that under-rated! Will she not make herself available to the Hungarian NT?
1-3 with less than 30' left. Far from mathematically out, but they'd need to score 1 goal ever 10min and hope future results go their way, too. Interestingly, France are only one up on Hungary after the entire 1st half...
Dang, Ireland! How y'all gonna let Russia put three goals on you!? I just saw the France score too. Oh dear. But we're talking about France.
Looks like the DF line never got out of bed. I was just on Twitter and got a shock - there was DF Megan Campbell joyfully chirping away. It seems she had been delaying surgery on a bone in her foot, but it had to be done a few weeks ago. In addition, two of the team tweeted of completing educational exams yesterday. It sounded like there was no advance camp at all.