I like Netherlands very much and tell people to enjoy their games but they're no longer on the level which took them through their dream ride in the 2017 Euros. Australia - I'm not as keen on as I was a few years ago. They seem to have peaked except for Sam Kerr. They lack a cutting edge in support of Kerr although they're a solid team, extremely competitive, and could never be counted out. (Can you imagine how many goals Kerr would score if she played on France or the USA?) Scotland - I love Kim Little and Scotland's a worthy team but Kim Little alone can't make them a contender. It's a wide open field. US, France, Germany, England are the favorites (in no particular order). But many teams are capable of reaching the semi-finals. Of the rest, I think Spain and Japan are the best wild-cards, whose full potential is a mystery. Estimated performance ratings (using the FIFA ratings) in the last year-plus (since 1/1/2018): 1. Germany 2092 2. France 2086 3. USA 2084 4. England 2009 5. Spain 1995 6. Japan 1989 7. Canada 1981 8. Sweden 1973 9 Netherlands 1952 10. Norway 1934 11. Australia 1926 12. Brazil 1897 13. South Korea 1881 14. Italy 1870 15. Scotland 1862 16. China 1851
Considering how high they are both on FIFA rankings and on performance rating, I am surprised so few people mentioned England. Japan have hidden their cards quite well (let's hope not too much well: I hope coach Takakura, at least, knows what she's doing and which players she has to call for the WWC). Of course, I root for Japan to do very well. Another team that no-one seem to consider, but one that could do very well if the stars align is Canada: they are 5th-ranked in the world and one of the seeded teams; they have a rock-solid defense (just 1 goal against in 7 matches in 2019), sporting Stephanie Labbé in goal, who's currently, in my opinion, one of the best GKs in the women's game; they have a good mix of veterans (an absolute world-beater like Christine Sinclair, who, although 35, could have her swan song in this World Cup, and is anyway still playing at the highest level with her club) and established youngsters (Jessie Fleming is just 21, but she could be an impact-player anyway). I don't necessarily expect them to win the whole thing, but after all they medaled at the last two Olympic Games, so why not? And especially, why everyone seem to snub them? They are never mentioned when people talk about potential winners: why do they fly so much under the radar? Oh, as a last line: wouldn't this thread actually belong to the World Cup sub-forum? Maybe a mod could move it there? (It is even possible that there is already a similar thread there, that could be merged with this one).
I think most of us, even serious fans of women's soccer, could use a guide as to what to look for, who to watch, when it comes to Japan. Homare Sawa and Aya Miyama are gone and even the players we're most likely to be familiar with like Utsugi, Kawasumi, and Kumagai haven't regularly appeared under Coach Takakura the last couple years - or so it seems. Canada certainly shouldn't be overlooked
Certainly all the teams you mentioned here are threats to win the tournament, but as a USWNT fan, I'm not scared at all by Japan, England, or Canada. That list also includes teams like Germany and Brazil, despite each's high ranking. The teams I'm scared of are France, Netherlands, Australia, and Scotland to some extent (given how good they looked against the U.S. at the end of 2018).
I greatly respect Japan's intelligent, technical style of play, but in terms of being a threat to win the World Cup, I wonder if it's best days are not behind it. Japan will continue to play well--that is not the issue. The issue is that more and more national teams are getting better; there is more competitive depth in the women's game as teams like Spain and The Netherlands and England emerge, and others, including Italy, will follow. Brazil, certainly, will get it together. This means that it will be harder for everybody to win the WC, including the United States, but I think as the number of good programs increases, it will put a lot of pressure on overachieving teams like Japan--and I consider Japan an over-achiever. We'll see; it might prove me wrong. I was high on Australia three months ago, but not as much now. For one thing, the Aussies made a sudden and dramatic coaching change, and it's not clear how the team will respond. Beyond that, while the Aussies physical playing style is similar to that of the United States, Australia is very dependent on Kerr for scoring, and good as she is, you generally don't want to be too reliant on one player for goals. There are other Aussies who can score, but the attack goes through Kerr, and that makes Australia a little predictable--and a little anemic if Kerr is defended well. Canada has a very stout defense but is pretty mediocre in attack. The iron lady, Christine Sinclair, floats around the attacking half looking for opportunities to poach. They were impressive in their recent friendly against England (a 1-0 victory), but remain somewhat enigmatic. Certainly, they don't give up many goals, and that gives them a chance in every match. They're in a group with The Netherlands and their match to end group play will be one to watch. The Netherlands, champions of Europe, have a quartet of impressive attacking players in Miedema, Martens, Van de Sanden and Van de Donk. Miedema could win the Golden Boot, but how far the Dutch go could depend on the play of the centerbacks, especially Anouk Dekker, who is 32 and has not been in the best form lately. Her erstwhile partner, Van der Gragt, seems to be healthy again, finally, and is on the squad, but she's had very little game experience over the last several months and it's not clear how much she might play in the tournament, if at all. I also think midfielder Jackie Groenen will be a key for The Netherlands. She was a revelation in Euro17--a tenacious ball-winner, despite her slight built, and her passing was excellent. Can she come close to a repeat performance? The Dutch will need her to play well. England might be ready to grab the brass ring. The squad, which has yet to be named, will have a lot of talent--and it seems a confident and determined group these days. Coach Phil Neville will have a lot of lineup decisions to make--who to start at center and left forward, to name two. If he can pull the right strings, England will be formidable. There should be a lot of good, tight knockout stage matches in this WC--more than ever before, IMO, and that suggests that it could be an exciting tourney, with several teams in the mix for the coveted trophy, including, most definitely, the home team, France.
To me the winner is obviously in that top 11. Norway don't seem to be strong enough to win it. I can't see Canada win it but reaching the final is possible. Same for Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands, Japan and Australia. So Germany slightly favourite ahead of the USA for me, with France, England behind with a good chance. And then you remember that a quarter final should see France v USA.
Hope Solo weighs in - she sees France as being the biggest threat to the US https://sports.yahoo.com/apos-world-apos-best-apos-200505625.html
Well worth to keep an eye on: Yui Hasegawa (NTV Beleza) age: 22 debut: 2017 35 caps and 6 goals, assist maker, all around midfielder with fabulous skill set, vision and touch. (no. 14 in video) Yuka Momiki (NTV Beleza) age: 23 debut: 2017 24 caps and 8 goals, forward or att. midfielder, her main strength are: movement, finding free pockets of space and excellent link-up play (no.15 in video) chemistry between these two above is outstanding. Kumi Yokoyama (AC Nagano Parceiro) age: 25 debut: 2015 40 caps and 17 goals, striker, joker, super sub, scorer of spectacular and often important goals (no. 20 in video) Mana Iwabuchi (INAC Kobe Leonessa) age: 26 debut: 2010 60 caps and 20 goals, Nadeshiko best all around forward player, golden ball winner at the age of 15 (U17 WWC 2008), unfortunatelly her career was hindred by many injuries. If healthy, she should be considered for MVP in France. It's her time to shine now. (video) Mina Tanaka (NTV Beleza) age: 25 debut: 2013 35 caps and 14 goals, forward, Nadeshiko most prolific scorer of late, league top striker in last season (also in current). In 2018 she had impressive stats: 27 goals in 28 league+cup matches and in NT: 8 goals in 15 matches. Could be a candidate for golden boot award. Rikako Kobayashi (NTV Beleza) age: 21 (call uncertain) debut: 2019 5 caps and 2 goals, forward, had serious injury 2 years ago that delayed her debut, imo she is currently best U-21 offensive player in Japan.
so no mention of Nakajima? This is war! lol,as, well what happened with Endo?) But I'll always remember that disastrous season Yokoyama had in the Bundesliga where as central striker, she only managed 4 goals. But perhaps she's Japan's Alex Morgan(who's porven to be an poor performing club player) I always thought Japan's strongest suit is that their mentality & physically prepare better than probably anybody else for the Wolrd Cup, but that was under the previous coach, Tanaka. We'll see if the newer coach is up to conditioning then that well glad to see someone else that thinks as highly of Scotland/or at least on paper; both CB's, Beattie & Corsie have implaccable creds with the former winning championships in two different leagues. Kim Little still considered the NWSL most illustrious player within it's 6 season history. Lisa Evans one of the best wingers you'll see anywhere. Ross & Weir came in 2nd & 3rd in English league scoring a few years back and now you can include new sensations like sharpshooters Cuthbert & Arnott as well as the very athletic, Esmelie, this squad should be going places one thing that helps(or might not help) is that their in the toughest of all the current WC groups(the last 3 major tourney winners came out of the strongest group). We'll see if this 'strongest group' winning streak holds up(but then it could also be England or Japan) Germany is all about two differend minds of soccer. One is the horrible, atrocious coach of the German men's NT, Low. The other is the phenom/brilliance of Klopp(aka Liverpool coach). Unfortuntely, right now looks like MVT is an ardent student of Low, instead of Klopp(who Jill Elllis seems to be a disciple of). So hopefully for Germany's sakes, MVT switches to Klopp.
Wait, am I behind on their coach? Is it still Asako Takakura (former youth teams coach, if I recall)? By previous coach, are you referring to her or to Norio Sasaki, who guided them to the World Cup gold medal in 2011?
Yes, @hotjam2 uses to claim that correctly spelling the names doesn't have any importance, but Tanaka for Sasaki is one of the worse spelling I've heard. Asako Takakura (former U-17 and U-20 coach) took the reins from Sasaki and keeps being currently in charge.
Well, personally I'd like France or Germany to win - I think they have the players to win but I'm not overly confident that the coaching will be right in order to lift the trophy. I do think players like Renard, Henry, Le Sommer, Majri, etc. do deserve to win a title and it would've been marvelous to achieve France's first major tournament win on home soil - at least I think they have a really strong core to go far with Renard bossing her backline with M'bock Bathy who is seriously a good player too. Henry in the midfield and Le Sommer on top with Majri and Cascarino on the wings - sounds strong on paper to me but I have serious question marks about their midfield as I'm scared that Bussaglia might play... sighs Abily should've been available. I forgot to mention who they have in goal which might be a concern too... Not sure about Germany as MVT is yet to announce her squad. They have the talent, no doubt, but perhaps she took over the team way too late in order to win the WC, but I wouldn't rule it out if I'm honest if MVT is capable of simply playing players in their best positions which means Däbritz on the wing and not centrally etc.... Babett Peter's retired so she won't be there which is nothing but a good thing for this team
In the video of Yui Hasegawa, the whole team looks great! When Japan played the US earlier this year at the She Believes Cup, Hasegawa, Yokoyama, and Kobayashi started. You didn't mention Hina Sugita (#9) but I seem to remember she was outstanding. Japan uncharacteristically gave away the ball a lot to the US, especially in the first half, but I attributed it to youth, nerves, and first time (for many of them) playing an international opponent on the level of the US senior team
Perhaps England but Jordan Nobbs is out so that's a blow on paper I'd rule them out if I'm brutally honest but they surprise and have the latest tournaments been very competitive France vs USA in the QFs will be a good one where I hope the French emerge on top as I personally would like USA to not win back to back WC ....... and Germany won't beat them themselves so better go out against someone else
England goes very deep, in fact it's almost like there's two seperate squads they use like in their last pair of friendlies; usually 8 changes from their previous lineup, and more often their 2nd team plays better than their 1st tier(as their 1st tier lost their last friendly to Canada. but their 2nd tier came back a few days later & socred 2 goals in a win vs tough, defenisve Spain. starting new, fresh pair of legs for every game was a tactic used to good effect by the previous coach, Mark Sampson & seems copied by the newbie, Phil Neville. Sampson was the way better technician, using the high press-high line very similiar to Jill Ellis, or better yet, the genius of Klopp. But Neville to his credit has brought in a lot of better players like my faves, Beth Mead, Rachel Daly, Keira Walsh & Leah Wilkerson., plus added last year's u20 standouts like Stanway & Staniforth(whereas the other major NT's seem to forgotten their youth players). But it's Neville's game play that is puzzling; like why keeps insisting to make arugably the worl'd best right back in Lucy Bronze a midfielder instead(which she's proven so far not good at) & then switches Rachel Daly(one of the best NWSL offensive players) having to take over right-back(which she's proven to be no good at). So hard to predict how much chemistry Neville will get out of his neverending buffet of starting lineups& tactical formations. If he ever settles down, they could very well have a strong chance of winning the WC
#宮間あや さん。なでしこの中のなでしこから、夢に向かっているあなたへ！ #DareToShine #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/vO2Li3hE0z— Ai Yoshiizumi, FIFA (@FIFAWWC_JPN) May 9, 2019
England do have a strong group of mostly young players--it is a squad with a lot of depth--and Neville's biggest challenge will be picking the right lineups in the knockout stages. Up front, I assume he'll start Parris on the right, Kirby on the left and obviously either Taylor or White at CF--each of them capable of poaching goals. I don't think Daly has ever played up front much for England--she is a not as as clinical as the two CFs--but she is an excellent athlete and I think Neville wants to get her on the field, which is why he put her at outside back for She Believes, and I thought she was pretty good in that position against the U.S.A. Assuming Neville sticks with Bronze at right back, it will either be Daly or Stokes at left back, and I wouldn't be surprised if Neville rotates them in the group stage and determines which one is in better form. I actually like Daly more than Stokes as I think she can create more in attack I give England a pretty good chance of winning this thing as the group is hungry and confident, but of course knockout matches are always so finely balanced and typically come down to a handful of plays made or missed or PKs and such.
Of course I would like to see the US win again, but honestly as long as they place higher than Germany and Canada I'd accept it. In an ideal world, maybe I'd want the US to make the final but lose to someone who hasn't won the title - which I guess means Australia based on how we expect the bracket to play out. That said, if Sweden surprise the US in the groups (as they often do) then you could see US vs England, Spain, or France in the final as well, (and of course any number of permutations where USA wins group F but at least one of those three ends up on the other side of the bracket,) and I'd be okay with any of those three beating the US in the final too. As for who actually has the best squads coming into the tournament... France, Germany, and USA. Not sure who has *the* best out of those three. As for likely winner, I bet it's whoever survives the expected USAvFrance QF.