Am I the only one who can't seem to watch the highlights of Azerbaijan-Columbia on the FIFA site? (Although I could see all of the other highlights quite fine).
I just watched the various highlights of the first six matches and I am impressed by the sound volume of the audience. Especially when North Korea and Germany scored you had the feeling they were playing before a home crowd.
Yes, I was also impressed. In last U-20 WWC in Japan, those huge stadiums were always half-empty, unless Japan, and maybe Koreas, were playing (and only with Japan on the pitch you could reach 20.000+ crowds). I wonder if here in Azerbaijan there are really big crowds or if they are simply much more louder... Ironic?
So what's up with Brazil? Are they now as weak as the other CONMEBOL teams? Or are Japan so strong? I sure hope Germany win their group to avoid them. Well, according to Wikipedia they had a crowd of 30000 during the Azerbaijan match and 8000 and 9000 spectators for the group B matches.
Not a good sign for the future of Brazil. If you were to ask me 3 or 4 years ago, how good Brazil would be in 2015 - 2024, I would have said that they'd be as good or better than anyone in the world. Well, I'm not sure that's the case anymore. First, their coaching is atrocious at the youth women's level. Their talent is good, but not what it once was. I remember watching the youth Brazil teams back in the 2004 - 2007 years, and thinking, "WOW, they are freaking good". I don't get that wow factor anymore. They're just an ordinary youth team now. Not really any better than Mexico or New Zealand's youth teams it seems.
In fact, after watching the U-20 and U-17 teams so far, here's how the future talent looks from these nation's youth players (from 15-20 years old). 1.) Germany (consistency. just need to learn how to win a string of big games in the knockout) 2.) USA (because of U-20 team, as the U-17 team has been disappointing so far, but will improve) 3.) Japan 4.) North Korea 5.) France (impressed with their young talent, and their U17 defense and goalkeeping is decent) 6.) Nigeria 7.) Canada (looking pretty good for youth talent, but need to win and get to the knockout round) 8.) China (call me crazy, but they look solid at the youth levels, & they may rebound in the future) 9.) Brazil (not really impressed, but they still have "some" young talent left) 10.) Mexico (I almost put them above Brazil. they are improving mightily at all levels lately) 11.) New Zealand (just outside the Top 10, with recent slow and steady growth at all levels) 12.) Norway (made the Quarters in the U-20 WWC, but still think Canada has better young talent) 13) South Korea (look okay, but not nearly as strong as North Korea. looked better in 2010 U-17) 14.) Italy (young talent looked half-decent at times in U-20 WWC, but are better than they showed) 15.) Colombia (don't know what to think of them. they looked so much better in the 2010 U-20 WWC) Sweden and Spain have some good young talent in UEFA. I didn't rank them, because they didn't make the U-17 or U-20 WWC, but they'd both be on this list if they had. Switzerland's youth is meh, and Ramona Bachmann is overrated (and already peaked for her career). They aren't going anywhere in the future. We saw a glimpse of Australia's young talent when they played the U.S. twice recently in the USA's victory tour. They look solid, but not enough to make me think they are growing at the same rate as some other countries in the world (like Japan, France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, New Zealand, etc). As for England, same old England. Not really progressing, but not really regressing either. You can basically say that for them over the past five years.
Power Rankings after round one (2012 U-17 WWC) 1.) Japan (beating Brazil 5-0, impressive) 2.) North Korea (11-0, oh my) 3.) Germany (a little disappointed in them as well, just like I was with USA) 4.) France 5.) Nigeria 6.) China (hate to say it, but they looked better than the U.S. so far) 7.) USA (they need to improve, and now) 8.) Canada 9.) Mexico 10.) Ghana (looked much better than I though they would against Germany) 11.) Colombia (scored like 4 goals against Azerbgaiogjeiejan) 12.) New Zealand 13.) Brazil (all the way down here? yep. they looked that shiddy) 14.) Uruguay 15.) Azerbgaiogjeiejan 16.) Gambia
Just some little, sparse, useless observations... China has an history in football behind it. And they have money. And they are over a billion people, as always. If they somehow decide they want to invest again in women's football... well, with a football tradition, the money, and an huge potential players' base, I can see them go quite far... Plus, lately their U-17 players seem to grow tits. I am aware I said it before, but when all your National Teams, at all age levels, have an Oceania-place at ready in every international competition around, it can quite help the development of your country... Basically they have a wild card saying: "You can confront with the best teams in the world anytime you want". Then, I admit they take it seriously, and their many talents playing in the best teams around the world (Riley, Smith, Percival, Gregorius, etc.) also help. But I guess they have a kind of advantage over other teams of similar consistence, because of the fact that they can always play at WWCs or other world competitions.
actually, the 2008 u20 squad was the pentacle under team. it's been downhill since. the crooks at CBF are destroying the women's side. NT - A complete mess after the Olympics. Debora, Maya, Daiana and a host of up-and-comers robbed of spots on the roster, which had only one bright spot, Bruna. U20 - Some of the best talent, Amanda, Thais , Carol, and Tayla, since the 2008 Lima squad but is lead by a train wreck "who the hell appointed them?" coaching staff, which makes Lima look like a tactical genius. U17 - I don't really keep track of them this young, but I already posted this was going to happen. No real brandnames like Erika or Thais to carry them scoring wise with dysfunctional coaching, so they probably won't see the light of day outside of group. the Back line was worst than normal in that Japan game. Worst federation in the world - CBF!
Brazil may have looked poor against Japan, but I'd be surprised if they wouldn't defeat Mexico and New Zealand comfortably. Japan had a very poor start two years ago against Spain, and yet they made it to the final and Spain didn't. For anyone who missed the match, a kind soul posted this in the Nadeshiko thread:
You do realize brasilian women's football has some MAJOR issues across the board on all age levels, right? you could have said the same about the u20 squad after its' first game tie. zero points going in the games 2 and 3 with the still unfixed back-line issues and no big time forward isn't a good position to be in. unfortunately, they will trip in one of the next two games also. as is life with the CBF.
the U20 squad had two defenders, tayla and amanda, who would pair up better with Bruna on the senior team on the backline, and look what happen to them. on top of that they had two top quality forwards, thais and carol. but they still had issues with nigeria and italy. the u17 squad is balanced with no real stand outs like past squads to carry them, so in my book it's a toss up with mexico and NZ. they are in worst shape than the u20 squad after one game. as usual, you can throw coaching out the window. it's on the girls. i could be wrong, but we shall see.
Brazil has a 33.33% chance to beat Mexico. Brazil has a 33.33% chance to draw Mexico Brazil has a 33.33% chance to lose to Mexico. Brazil has a 33.33% chance to beat New Zealand Brazil has a 33.33% chance to draw New Zealand Brazil has a 33.33% chance to lose to New Zealand. Let's say they win one, and lose the other. Or draw against both. In either scenario, they would only have 3 or 2 points (respectively). "Most likely" they won't advance now. Even if they win one, and draw the other, and end up with 4 points, they probably won't advance, due to poor goal differential. I think they're in a position to where they have to beat both Mexico and New Zealand. They're down to no margin for error, at this point.
I'd be hesitant to give Brazil much of an edge over Mexico at this point. Mexico dominated a competent NZ side but were poor in front of goal. I haven't seen another Mexico women's team (at any level) move the ball this quickly. Regardless, we'll have a better understanding of both sides by the end of group stage. I'm interested to see how Colombia has progressed, anywhere near Brazil in qualifying?
Azerbaijan beat Latvia 4-0 so about 1/3 of women's UEFA must be in pure infancy. I think FIFA should run a UEFA tournament parallel to Euro where the majority of national teams who don't advance, have playoff knockouts and then a group stage of their own, just as a way to give them more games and opportunity for growth. Because being bottom half of UEFA is more hopeless than any other region.
Well, tits are certainly not bad to look at on a hot female athlete (at the age of 18 or older), but cmon, these are 17 year olds. Yeah I know, it's just for educational discussion, and you do make a point. Besides, Chinese women are known more for the power that they possess below their waist in terms of their sexuality, much more so than above their waist, and culturally they are darn proud of that.
This post has made me think of this motivational poster, to hang on the wall. Funny stuff. Gotta love our war heroes (almost as much as) .... http://www.lazyeights.net/Avion/Motivator/boobs.jpg
Ok, enough of the boob talk. Time to talk about the next games on the boob tube, aka ESPN-3 the boob tube online. For those of you that don't know, boob tube is also another term for the tube, or television tube. Upcoming Games (in the next few hours) France vs. North Korea USA vs. Gambia Canada vs. Colombia Nigeria vs. Azerbgaiogjeiejan
Well, didn't want to be abusive or such... It's just that some players, for instance #9 Zhang Chen, had struck me, because I normally see a different physical build in asian girls, and, especially, flatter chests. Semmed quite odd to me, but I didn't want to imply anything more than a casual observation... At max I could imply that they could have more problems in stopping the ball with their chests...
France (Guy Ferrier): 4-3-3? Cousin and Gherbi for #19 Juliane Gathrat and #20 Delphine Cascarino. 7 Lea DeClercq, 11 Pauline Cousin, 9 Kadidiatou Diani 14 Ghoutia Karchouni, 10(c) Sandie Toletti, 6 Candice Gherbi 15 Noemie Carage, 5 Griedge Mbock Bathy, 4 Aissatou Tounkara, 13 Marion Romanelli 1 Romane Bruneau Korea DPR (Hwang Yong Bong): Identical to match #1 (11-0 Gambia). 19 Ri Kyong Hy, 12 Jon So Yon, 10 Ri Un Sim 11 Kim Phyong Hwa, 15(c) Choe Chung Bok, 9 Ri Hyang Sim 4 Choe Sol Gyong, 7 Choe Yun Gyong, 16 Ri Un Yong, 6 Kim Hyang Mi 18 Rim Yong Hwa
Equally matched so far. Korea DPR's LF and RF switch at whim. 14' 0-0 DPRK run up arc right, switch to centerline, fast forward diagonal pass curls through France's line to 10m mid-left. #10 Ri Un Sim or #19 Ri Kyong Hy trips over the ball, ruins a 1-v-0. 15' 0-0 DPRK another diagonal pass through arc left, springs #10 Ri Un Sim to 11m 6-left. Shoots right instep low, #1 Bruneau kick-saves excellently over. 16' 0-0 DPRK left corner, to 6-top right. 2 DPRK rise for unmarked headers, can't turn it on-frame. 16' 0-0 France up the right, square to #10(c) Toletti to 25m arc right. She passes to #7 DeClercq coming centerward. One-touch shot from 19m arc left to left post low, #19 Ri Kyong Hyang dives horizontal (her) right and palms it around the post.