Come on Profe, where's the fashionista in you? It's a style choice. He's in the blue because the lime would clash with his fur!
With England and France both winning comfortably, it looks now between Colombia or Holland to face Japan next. Which team it is will depend on the outcome of the Spain-Korea game later. If Spain wins it will be Colombia; otherwise it will be Holland. I think I have that right, anyway..
I'd slightly prefer to get Holland, but in the end it doesn't make much difference. They're both the kind of team that we must be able to beat, if we want to reach the top of the world.
The Netherlands would likely be a walk in the park while Colombia look like they might pose a real threat.
That's why I said I prefer Holland (and Miedema, their main threat, seems out of form after her slight pre-WWC injury). After all, Netherelands got there only by winning (by a not very large margin) a last-minute play-off vs Italy... But I think Colombia is anyway very beatable.
Sure, but possibly not by Japan. They're certainly better than any of the teams in group C, and some of those games were way too close. All of them, in fact.
per FullBloom: All six seeded teams won their respective groups as it turned out. There was a 3rd team, France I thought (unless it was Canada? - no I dont think so), seeded to avoid Japan - they too join Germany and USA in the other half of the draw? Would someone (not AndG who would just give Yuki zero) care to give, very briefly, some player ratings for yesterday's game? Numbers or comments. I would do it, but have yet to see it (watched the cheddar getting shredded by CMR).
I didn't watch the whole match anyway. Can I give Sasaki zero points though? ... you do realize that's an English cheese, yes?
Queen Ji shirt comes off... Wow, what an exciting end to the group stage. Gutted for Spain and Costa Rica, because I really like them, but really proud and happy for Queen Ji and the girls. Netherlands it is, for us. Let's do this. Lionheart! Let's go!
It is? I cant eat cheese anyway, makes me sick. Maybe a slice of pizza at most. Spain have been eliminated due to a horrific GK mistake (angled mis-hit cross drifts over her head) and as Pablo writes on Twitter - Its good to dream, but its better to prepare. In terms of preparation, I cant really think of anything that Sasaki has actually done, except to write off the up-and-coming and "go with experience"..... clearly he has also achieved tactically nothing with them. I watched Costa-Rica hold out for 82' against Brasil, and then they actually came close to equalizing, but no luck. So per FullBloom: Sweden are through to play Germany, Japan play the Netherlands, Korea play France Also per FB, a surprising statistic: The combined world rankings for the US/Germany/France side is 126. The Japan/Brazil/Canada side's ranking total is 77.
Holy cow I cannot believe how lucky Japan got with the draw. Germany, USA, France, Sweden all on the other side of the bracket; that's the top four of the FIFA rankings (not counting Japan) right there. Compare this to 2011 where the top three teams were all met in the three matches of the knock-out stage. It almost makes you think Japan might reach the final... almost. This is quite possibly the silliest statistic I've read this year.
In a new video, followed by brief highlights of her play - an emotional appeal to deserting Nadeshiko fans to return to the supporter ranks .................. right to the bitter end LINK
Andobear gets a bit of pitchside affection, making several members of our community extremely jealous in the process. I feel the sudden urge to compile an Andobear scrapbook, detailing his adventures in the World Cup. If any of you, for the most part, decidedly not-Americans have come across Hobbes' airport adventure in the news somewhere, that's what I want to do. All of these Andobear shots have been in some shape or form provided by opp03 and kyokuma on Tumblr.
Yeah i wanted Spain and Korea in, Brazil out (lol unlikely since it's on the same continent/land mass), but meh whatever. I hope this is a learning experience for Spain, and they won't stop working hard, be inspired to work hard, and get more decent support from this.
I am happy. That's what I wanted. Well, one could say Marta looks like the only real obstacle in our way, doesn't she? Of course, I'll be unexpectedly denied somehow...
I guess I agree... Marta is inconsistent, but when she is on fire, no team can deny her. Just ask the Americans. England doesn't impress me particularly, nor does Canada. I like the Swiss but I think Japan would beat them again (pace any Swiss supporters here). The Australians can be troublesome, but are naïve. The path to the final is there, but some players have to step up their game henceforth (Yuki, Naho..). This is the big time now.
Some stats... Germany: only 4 (Angerer, Mittag, Krahn, Sasic) played in all 3 matches, only Angerer 3 times full 90' (270min), 191 minutes played that's an average for 11 German players with most time on the field. Japan: only 4 (Miyama, Ogimi, Sugasawa, Ohno) played in all 3 matches, only Miyama and Ogimi (270min), 199 minutes played that's an average for 11 Japanese players with most time on the field. Brazil: 5 (Luciana, Tamires, Rafaelle, Andressa, Monica) played in all 3 matches, only Luciana and Tamires (270min), 213 minutes played that's an average for 11 Brazilian players with most time on the field. France: 9 French players has featured in all 3 matches, Renard, Georges, Houara D'H, Bouhaddi all with 270min, 231 minutes played that's an average for 11 French players with most time on the field. USA: 10 US players has featured in all 3 matches, 7 of them played whole 270min, 241 minutes played that's an average for 11 US players with most time on the field.
Well done. Not knowing anything about stats, this leads me to the following conclusions: 1. The US played their No. 1 team in all games, subbong only the injured or exhausted and uses their bench only for substitutions. This is an important event, so they want to shine. 2. The US so far exhausted their 2. team and will wait with the big guns until it really counts. 3. Germany has the luxury to play around and test new players and still giving a decent impression. 4. Germany will have a well rested 1. team when it counts. 5. Japan has a lot of fun confusing the opponents with playing all kinds of combinations that make the onlooker shake their heads in disbelieve. And suceeded. Not in a pretty way but they make it work. 6. Japan's 1. team (whatever combination that will be but I guess it will look sinilar to the 2011 team) will be ready when it counts. 7. France is in a similar situation as the US. Corrections, please.
One more factor might be important here. 95% of total sum on US player pay slip is from sponsors. Yes, they need to shine.
5. It depends on the diversity in tactics. Merely changing members may not enhance versatility or unpredictableness 6. The stats in question never show a quality of the core group. It could implicate that Sasaki took trial and error approach because only few members are solid, and he was not sure who should become the primary members. On the other hand, he may have tried bunch of players because he was confident of the team and thought only the 4 core members were enough to deal with the hitherto opponents. Hard to see.
Ah, yes. The might have been the reason why we saw what we saw. I am cer Hard to see, yes. But I still believe on purpose. Smoke and mirrors. Somehow I don't think the opponents were watching close enough over the last four years to follow these charades. They saw ups and downs, inconsistencies, trial and error. Not a world champion at all. And now these 3 games, all different teams, still only an outline of an concept - except that all three teams were functioning - to a degree - as a unit and took a rather slow and safe approach. Still fooling everyone. Now the experts will tell me I am wrong, that I don't know what I am talking about, that I am lacking a basic understanding of the game. That is fine. I might be. We will see how this develops...