My favourites : Group 1:Germany first place easily , second place will be a battle between Russia and Ireland . Group 2: Italy and Spain for the two first place , both can be first . Group 3: Denmark , Iceland and Switzerland are the favourites , a matured Switzerland could win this group , they have the talent to do it . Group 4: Sweden first , Scotland second , but the Scots could beat Sweden . Group 5: The most uncertain between all the groups , Norway , Netherlands , Belgium and Portugal are more or less equal in strength . Group 6: England and Wales clear favourites . The English will win the group depending on Powell , if she keeps calling the same players Wales has a chance . Group 7: France first and Finland second , another result would be a huge surprise .
Hey, debzy, a quick question: even though I'm English by origin, I've never followed the England women's team. I've noticed once or twice before that you are pretty critical of Hope Powell. On the face of it, the England team has been performing quite well these past few years. What's your beef with her, exactly? If she's not selecting the right players, whom would you have her call up? Not a criticism - I'm curious to know where you're coming from.
Well Powell is in charge since 98 but apart Euro final in 2009 her record is too poor for someone in charge for so long time . The problem are not the players , every women football expert will tell you that England have some of the best players in Europe above all a football icon called Kelly Smith , but Powell never gave a proper tactic to the Lionesses so they related their victory more on individual effort ...Kelly Smith was sublime in 2009 ...than on team organisation . Moreover , Powell has a clear preference on certain players who are definitely not what England has got as best in their position ....players like Flaherty , Sanderson , Chapman , Davison , Taylor , Dowie , Buet , Potter are clearly good enough to play with England , unfortunately they are not among Hope's friends.....
Also Hope Powell has 2 plans : A get all the players behind the ball as soon as the ball is lost B defend England do not know what to do when on the ball. They leave it to individual to create things on their own.
Hope Powell have done great things for the Womens game in England, but nowdays just enthusiams for the sport is not enough England need a WNT coach that actually knows what she (or he) is doing to get to the next level. But even with Hope in charge they should manage to win their qualification group.
England seemed to grow a lot from 2003 to about 2009. Since then (2010 - current), they have become stagnant it seems. They were one of the most growing women's football nations in the world over the latter part of last decade.
Definitely not , Hope did the minimum necessary , most of England success is due to one player Kelly Smith , that's why after 2009 ...when Kelly's health issue become constant they did nothing interesting . They will still be a good team because they have very talented the players , but they will never win a major tournament under Powell , you can be sure of it .
It's time to bump this thread again. Euro Qualifiers for the 2015 WWC are right around the corner. They will be here later this month. A total of 210 Euro Qualifying matches over the next year. That's like four WWC's (16 years) worth of matches, all in a one year time frame. There are a TON of upcoming matches in September, October, and November. Everyone, please post links to live and archived on-demand matches of these games. It'll be an all-out war, as EVERYONE believes they have a chance now to get in (with 8 UEFA spots in the WWC). Matches: http://www.uefa.com/womensworldcup/season=2015/matches/round=2000433/index.html Standings: http://www.uefa.com/womensworldcup/season=2015/standings/index.html
There are at least 21 teams that believe they can Qualify: Germany Sweden France Norway England Denmark Italy Netherlands Spain Iceland Russia Finland Scotland Ireland Ukraine Switzerland Czech Republic Belgium Poland Wales Portugal With 8 spots up for grabs, any of these teams feel they can get at least 2nd place in their group. And if they're 2nd place in their group and a respectable showing, then they can still find a way to continue through Qualification and fight their way for a spot. There are seven groups. The top four 2nd place teams in those seven groups, move on, to dual against one another for the 8th and last UEFA spot into the WWC. If you're Wales, you gotta be thinking, "we can do this". They are in a group with England and Ukraine. They're probably not going to beat out England, but they have a shot to finish ahead of Ukraine. And if so, maybe they have enough points to be one of the four 2nd place teams that advance to the playoff rounds, because the rest of the teams in their group are very winnable (other than England). These Qualifiers are going to be brutal. It's gonna be an all-out war. Lots of smack talking and slapping. Just like the Lingerie Football League.
^That was actually a quality post. Until the last line or two. Granted, 21/46 is still less than half, (and even if you count that four have been eliminated in the preliminary round, 21/42 is still just half,) so shlj's point also still stands. Also, it's probably good to try to take apart your list by group:
Yeah, there's really only about 15 teams that realistically have a solid shot to get those 8 spots, but then there's another 5 or 6 teams that have a slim shot. But it would still be a shock if those 8 spots aren't consumed by those 15 teams who have the more "realistic shot". And the end of my post wasn't as bad as you think, after you watch this 44 second clip. She totally runs over her like a freight train (in 1080p).
Haven't you bumped it again, just as a pretext to post (already three) videos of this vulgar, sexist and violent lingerie American "Football" ?
You're missing the theme here. This UEFA Qualifiers for the 2015 WWC will be the most intense confederation qualification tournament ever. It will be aggressive, it will be bloody, it will be a war. The theme of the upcoming UEFA Qualifiers (the fight for eight spots to the WWC) will be much like the Lingerie Football league, in the level of aggression. There will be fighting, clawing, yelling, and the battles will be more aggressive than you can ever imagine.
I don't think football is war lol it is a technico-tactical contest. It becomes war if the referee is rubbish and doesn't control the game. 90% of the teams are there to play football.
The seven seeds all make it and Russia, Spain, Iceland and The Netherlands fight it out for spot eight. If it comes down to a coin flip, Russia is due.
Well in group 2 and 3 surprises is likely, well so likely they are almost no surprise. Denmark is better than Iceland but not by much so they need to keep the good performance from the Euros to be safe and between Italy and Spain it is almost dead heat Italy is historically better but if they play likely in the Euros Spain would probably win, that is a group where the 1st and 2nd seed is very even and apart for those two groups the fight will be for second spot and not in that many groups either.
Seems unlikely. Netherlands have a very hard group, while e.g. Ukraine should get easy 18 points against the third, fourth and fifth teams in their group.
W-Peezy back up in this thread with another reminder that Euro Qualifying starts tomorrow. Go Romania. Take it to em'. Macedonia ain't got squat.
Results from today's qualifiers: Romania def. FYROM 9-1, Italy def. Estonia 5-1. All 6 goals in the second match came in the second half.
1-9 Really....Romania have some good players playing in non local league but Macedonia have the Andonova sisters......with Czech republic losing only by two goals against France , Italy and Spain this group could be more interesting that we thougth.