Actually the Isle of Man, which has the world's oldest parliament, was a dozen years ahead of NZ but only if the women in question owned property. However, the Manx are affiliated with the English FA so they don't have a FIFA recognised representative women's team. Japan has a World Cup but they still have arranged marriages.
I was lecturing at a prison about 90 minutes from here as part of an "Inside Out" program, thinking when I chose the date I picked 11 July (I go to another prison on 9 July). I watched on the DVR, and there was no real joy in it for me or my wife.
I'm just going to leave this here... The @USWNT scored more goals in this match (13) than the @USMNT has in the last 4 World Cups combined (12)— Austin Lyon (@AustinRLyon) June 11, 2019
meh. "Fake News" spread it to a wider audience. The US Women's National Team just scored a record-breaking 13 goals against Thailand. Not only did the men fail to qualify for last year's games, the women scored more goals on Tuesday than the men scored in the 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Cups combined. https://t.co/UKP8QZba6l— CNN (@CNN) June 11, 2019
At least nobody here has brought up the "break their spirit"/"other countries won't invest in women's soccer" because of this scoreline fallacy. Opening game of 2007 Women's World Cup Germany 11-0 Argentina 2011 Women's World Cup Champions and 2015 Women's World Cup Runners-Up: Japan 2019 Group D result: Argentina 0-0 Japan Thailand will be fine
Thailand did get a win in 2015, thanks to being in a group with Ivory Coast. That was a similar group to this one, with two good teams (Germany and Norway) and two bad teams. It ended up with the two good teams tying each other and finishing at 7 points, with Germany winning the group because they ran up the score 10-0 on Ivory Coast. If they gave AFC fewer teams and gave UEFA more, the next few UEFA teams would be more competitive, but FIFA does have to balance the goal of getting the best teams in WWC with getting a good worldwide geographic distribution. AFC did also lose out on a potentially stronger field by putting North Korea and South Korea in the same preliminary group with only one team advancing. Whatever else you think about NK, they've held their own in major women's tournaments when they aren't getting banned. They fell short on goal difference when both Koreas dominated the rest of their group.
We're also likely to get games like this in the 48-team men's World Cup with three team groups. There are going to be some groups with two closely-matched good teams and a weaker brother that's only there because of the expanded field. If the two good teams tie, then running up the score on the third team decides the group. Unless they do something wacky such as adding shootouts to the group stage.
Well I mean the Thai men's team is nothing special to be kind, so it's not like there is a tradition of winning in the soccer program/culture in general to draw on.
ESPN this morning is running a game summary with some film, focusing on a big graphic calling Alex Morgan "The Eliminator" (for some reason) followed by a five minute segment focusing on the player's lawsuit against USSF, complete with Julie Foudy. ESPN just can't help themselves.
At this point, the only journalist who actually seems to have read the old CBA, USSF documents, the lawsuit, and understands how the MNT/WNT contracts are different seems to be @Beau Dure .
If the USMNT played Thailand Women's team I can promise you they could score many more than 13. Uneducated comparison IMO. I know it is supposed to be joky but they are probably also trying to be kind of serious. Unless they are playing against the same teams, any talk of goals scored is a non-starter.
I felt this way too. It was hard for me to watch. It felt completely classless to me. I think if I were the coach in this scenario I would have subbed out my 3 most important players pretty early in the 2nd half. The risk of injury is just not worth it. Morgan playing the full 90 blows my mind. If she had picked up an injury in minute 89 the coach would have never heard the end of it and rightfully so. After subbing my 3 most important players I would have told the team to work on number of passes. Tell them they have to have X number of consecutive passes before taking a shot? Why not use the game as an opportunity to learn and improve. I would have kept increasing that number as they kept scoring. Scoring 13 goals against this far inferior team did nothing to prepare them for more challenging opponents. They can't help that Thailand is in their group but there are still ways to use it to work on things. To be honest, I would have considered not starting some of my players I knew I needed later down the road. Yes, that has the potential to backfire but come on, it was Thailand.
Two other thoughts hit me about the US scoreline: - As has been mentioned this is in part due to efforts to expand the women's game. When you bring more nations into the fold in the early stages of developing their domestic game they're gonna suffer blowouts like this. Not all the time and not often at this stage, but this is part of the learning process. Otherwise we're basically telling all the competitors "Okay, Thailand's not a good team so today we have to play with kid gloves." In which case which teams get that treatment? Do all the teams have to play down that way or only the supposed giants? That's a harsh line to make and wouldn't be a good look for FIFA, I would imagine, and equally insulting to Thailand (in this case). - If the US happens to go on and crush everyone would we view this differently? If we see something where it hits home that they're really that good I bet we would be less harsh on the matter because then the context shifts from being punitive against Thailand and instead acknowledging a truly special level attained by the US. Do I think it will play out that way? Doubtful, but it's an interesting thought about how context can change the perception. - - - I agree some of the celebrations were over the top, but then again this is a World Cup and lord knows I'd have a tough time controlling myself if I tallied under such circumstances. But on the whole if this tournament is supposed to draw the best out of people then "Game on!" I say. I'd rather the other team be trying to score than toying with me in some embarrassing game of keep away. One man's thoughts.
So you think working on passing would be more embarrassing then being scored on 13 times (10 times in one half)? Honest question. I completely agree that you shouldn't play easy, but I think there is a way to work on other aspects of the game once you are up 8-0 and try to get something out of it. Just my opinion. I am not upset or think what they did is horrible. I just think it was useless and I do have a problem with important players like Morgan going the full 90. Just isn't worth the risk. If I was coaching, I wouldn't have even considered letting Morgan play the full 90. Wouldn't have been an option in my mind. When you are up 13-0 the other team may start reacting by intentionally trying to injure someone. Luckily I didn't see any of that going on.
Until FIFA wants to be like UEFA and knock goal differential down a peg in the tie breaking scenarios, fire away.
And that' follows on from what FIFA does with Confederations. The Koreas were in a group to give other sub-regions a chance. Otherwise AFC ends up with two Koreas, Japan, China, and Australia. No central Asia, no south Asia, no middle east. We do that in various CONCACAF competitions with UNCAF and the CFU often having their own regional competitions prior to bringing it all together with the three North American sides.
It's not a training exercise, it's a World Cup Finals game, in front of a crowd that mostly paid a whole lot of money to watch a game. And it's really hard to "work on" things given you're basically stuck with just the given players. Sometimes shit happens. The two biggest blowouts have been first games of groups. Germany 11-0 Argentina came in the 2007 opener. In groups where goal difference has a potential to come into effect, teams are going to stay on the gas until it doesn't.
Wow. This is not South Korea's World Cup. That goal was about "against the run of play" as it gets. Owen Goal strikes again 29' Nigeria 1-0* Corée du Sud *I think it's coming back on review. EDIT. Handball was inadvertent. Don't think I've ever seen an inadvertent handball on a side volley own goal. Weird situation all around.
Agree it isn't a training exercise but I just think 13-0 is a tad excessive. I completely understand this is a very hard line to toe. Goal differential is important and you want to play to your potential. I am not saying this is some cut and dry thing. Just my opinion, that I think I would handle it differently. I for sure would have told my team to act like they had scored before in their lives and tampered down the celebrations. This seems to be a universal comment coming from the experts analyzing the game. What do you think about my suggestion that you take out a player like Morgan to avoid possible injury after you are up 8-0? Is that a dumb suggestion too?