I hate to be a cynic, but are the ages of the women on all these teams supposed to be credible--meaning they are actually following the age rules? I thought Canada was hard one by a handball call in the box, which gave Nigeria a penalty shot and a goal. The Canadian player jumped in the air and the ball clearly hit her shoulder; I don't think her arm was raised. Is the shoulder considered part of hand/arm? I don't think it should be if the arm is down.
FIFA does testing for players ages as far as know, they even test the sex as we saw in 2011 when they rejected some players. Regarding the handball, only intent is supposed to be penalised. But we know referees interpret the rule as they see fit.
Watching France-Ghana right now and it looks like France are playing a somewhat lopsided 3-4-1-2. This seems a really weird formation for a U-20 women's team considering how much ground the wing-backs need to cover. Is this their preferred system? If yes, is this coach a genius or just crazy? Edit: France just scored from open play by having more attackers in Ghana's box than defenders. So far they look the much better team.
C13.France - Ghana 30' 1-0 #7 Delphine Cascarino 44' 1-1 #9 Sandra Owusu-Ansah pokes ball free at box top right, square pass to 24m arc right, perfect -and-go cut, ball stop in stride at 14m 6-right, right instep just inside right post. Don't blink! HT 1-1. I think Owusu-Ansah should play at WSU 54' 1-1 D.Cascarino passes inside-out down wide right, #20 Clerac crosses fast to 7m 1/3 left. #18 Gauvin jump-lunges from 9m for a pike-header just as #15 Ampah does a snap-away header -- they collide in the air with heads whiplashing, both go down. Stoppage, trainers. Both are helped off ... eventually resume?
So on a restart, France line up with a backline of four. The left-back was subbed out (injury?) and I thought their shape had changed as a result, however it was obvious that this was not actually the case during open play: (French goal kick) (in possession) (switching to defence) So either France are actually playing a 3-4-1-2-ish system, or they're playing a very lopsided 4-4-2 with an ultra-aggressive left-back, an ultra-defensive right-back, a right midfielder, three central midfielders, and a left inside forward. Again my question for those who follow French (youth) football: Do they always play like this? And do you think this is a good idea? Edit: Okay, it's now more of a standard back four in the 2nd half.
73' 1-2 GK Antwi gk or punt just past midfield box right, flick-header bounces at 33m mid-right toward arc top right. #4 Cissoko chases and pulls up to shield ball, #3 Jane Ayieyam overtakes her on the inside and sneaks right foot past, one-touch volley from arc top right sails over GK Chavas stranded at 8m right post, into 1/4 left 2/3 high. During the celebration, #18 Rahman does a horse-collar tackle on Ayieyam just before she reaches the bench. "Why is it always Ghana?" -- France 79' 1-2 #10 Adubea breaks through the line to box top arc right, #5 Dhaeyer lunge-trips her tumbling into box. Foul, pk. 80' 1-2 Ghana pk, #18© Rasheda Abdul-Rahman right instep to 1/4 left low, GK Chavas dives and blocks wide 90+5' (of +5') 2-2 #7 D.Cascarino chases down one final ball at arc top box right, jukes #4 Agyemang down wide right to 8m, fires a fast cross to 5m center. #10 Clara Matéo goes to ball, jump-heads a rocket into center back high. FT 2-2 Players on both sides are distraught, esp. France's CBs #4 Cissoko and #5 Dhaeyer (at fault for the 2nd and 1st goals, respectively). And ... New Zealand still lead Group C with 3 points
This is the situation I was calling for: everything is open and Ghana still have an actual chance to advance if they beat USA. Now things get interesting...
USA team defense is too good to lose big to this Ghana team. Worst result, in my opinion, is a 0-1 loss. Which would be good enough to get us through.
You're more optimistic than I am. Just hearing the name "Ghana" in connection with US Soccer makes me cringe. Obviously I have some residual trauma from past WC experiences (MWC, to be fair).
From a rational perspective, yes the US would still advance with a one-goal loss since they would still have a GD tiebreak over Ghana and you can't have both FRA and NZL reach 4pts. But, like with what lil_one said, rational thought goes out the window when dealing with the USA-GHA matchup. (A two-goal swing would be a guaranteed deathblow and isn't *that* much of a stretch to believe.) Heck, I'm still reeling for the thoroughly irrational Tuesday the other week.
Ghana must beat USA by 2 goals however. They're trailing USA by 3 goals in goal difference, and winning by 2 goals would be a 4-goal swing for both teams. Whenever Ghana beats USA in a World Cup match, at any age level (any gender), it's always by a goal. It's not that they can't pull it off. But they will have to do something they've never done before. USA did beat Ghana 4-0 at the 2012 U-20 Women's World Cup, the last time these two teams faced off at this exact age level (for this gender) at the World Cup. That score won't happen this time though.
Nope. Check your facts. I had listed all instances of the Ghana beating the US a few posts back, you should have made sure to look at all of them. The 3rd place match at the 1999 men's U17 WC was a 2-0 Ghana win. The group stage match at the 2013 men's U20 WC was a 4-1 Ghana win.
Fair enough. I forgot about the 2013 match. I didn't even watch the youth men's tournaments back in 1999 (they weren't really televised then). And you didn't list the scores a few post back, only the years when Ghana beat the US (but no scores). That's how I missed it. I had personally forgotten about the 2013 match, and didn't care because that team wasn't going anywhere. But the women (at any age level) have never lost to Ghana by more than a goal. And that's what is truly relevant here. What the men do is completely exclusive from what the women do. Ghana can pull this off, but their odds are quite slim.
I'm not sure why we are comparing the senior men's team vs Ghana. I know people still have bitter memories when they hear "Ghana," but those are men's team losses. The USA women are much better, comparatively speaking, than the USA men's teams. I really don't see the concern about playing Ghana at this age level. I just don't think the Ghana women's U-20 teams have been that good. Ghana didn't qualify for the first 4 U-20 WWCs and didn't get out of their group in the last 3 U-20 WWCs. Here are the results from the last 2 times we played them in a competitive tournament at this age level: 2010 U-20 WWC --> USA vs Ghana result was 1-1 tie in group play 2012 U-20 WWC --> USA vs Ghana result was 4-0 win in group play
It's more relevant to compare to Ghana's 2014 WWC-17 team. USA W17 didn't qualify for 2014 (eliminated by Mexico on KftPMs in CONCACAF SF). Ghana's 2014 W17s won Group "of Death" B, 2-0 DPRK(!), 1-0 Germany(!), 1-2 Canada (2nd). Yes, they eliminated North Korea and Germany head-to-head. (It was quite shocking at the time, and still is.) In the QFs, they drew Italy 2-2, and lost the shootout 3-4. Italy went on to finish 3rd. 10 of Ghana's s current 2016 W20 players are from that 2014 W17 team, including 6 starters: - LB #4 Adu Agyemang - mf #7 Ernestine Abambila, #13 Samira Abdul-Rahman, #14 Lily Niber-Lawrence - fw #3 Jane Ayieyam, #9 Sandra Owusu-Ansah So they have some real experience at this level, probably more than we do (except for Pugh).
USA just needs to worry about getting the ball to Pugh & Sanchez as much as possible closer to frame. Let them do their damage. USA wins the group if they get a win here. Even if they draw Ghana, they still win the group if France and NZ end in a draw, or France only wins by one goal. Both of those scenarios in the France - NZ game are highly possible. It's important to win the group (avoid Germany). USA probably beats Germany in a Final. USA possibly beats Germany in a Semifinal. USA's odds of beating Germany go down if they meet in the Quarterfinal. The later in the knockout round the US faces Germany, the better the odds. It's just the way it works. When the US are that much closer to the trophy, they blow their wad on Germany.
In fact, USA could lose to Ghana by one goal, and still win the group. If NZ and France draw (and they would have to draw), then USA still ends up with better goal differential. If USA loses to Ghana by 2 goals, and NZ - France draw, then USA finishes 2nd in the group. They would have 4 points (same as NZ), but they would have a better goal difference than NZ.
And we might have a first here. It's possible we can see an intra-confederation match in all four of our Quarterfinal matches. Let's say the groups end up like this: Group A 1.) North Korea 2.) Sweden Group B 1.) Spain 2.) Japan Group C 1.) USA 2.) France Group D 1.) Germany 2.) Mexico The Quarterfinal matches would be: North Korea vs. Japan (AFC bloodbath) Spain vs. Sweden (UEFA bloodbath) USA vs. Mexico (CONCACAF bloodbath) Germany vs. France (UEFA bloodbath) I'm not even going to look it up. I'm just gonna stamp it with a guarantee. This has never happened before in any FIFA tournament for all four Quarterfinal matches.
Good point, but player quality/development can change drastically between the 17's and 20's. Also, this is the same squad that lost to New Zealand 0-1 a few days ago. They tied France 2-2, but France made some defensive errors in that match, which should have ended 2-1 France. In the end, I believe that the USA's disciplined defensive will keep the Ghanaians in check. I feel very confident that, should Ghana win (worst case ), it won't be by more than 1 goal. Most likely scenario IMO is a tie. Of course, we'll see if I'm right in a couple days.
Sorry: what "KftPMs" stands for??? That's all the strategic planning and refined style of play USA can have? Boring...
Well, that's indeed very interesting. I was worried that Japan meeting North Korea in the quarters would have been a massive disadvantage for us, but if it's shared with other confederations' teams, I don't mind! Wonder if groups could have been arranged to try to avoid that, but probably not: it's just a question of results from the teams.