My predictions(*3rd place qualifiers). GROUP A 1. France 2. Nigeria 3. Norway* 4. South Korea GROUP B 1. Spain 2. Germany 3. China* 4. South Africa GROUP C 1. Australia 2. Brazil 3. Italy* 4. Jamaica GROUP D 1. England 2. Japan 3. Scotland 4. Argentina GROUP E 1. Netherlands 2. Canada 3. Cameroon* 4. New Zealand GROUP F 1. United States 2. Sweden 3. Chile 4. Thailand
KNOCKOUT ROUNDS(*winner) Second Round Nigeria* vs. Brazil England* vs. Cameroon France* vs. Italy Germany vs. United States* Australia* vs. China Netherlands vs. Japan* Spain* vs. Norway Canada vs. Sweden * QUARTERFINALS Nigeria vs. England* France* vs. United States Australia* vs. Japan Spain* vs. Sweden SEMIFINALS England* vs. France Australia vs. Spain* THIRD PLACE France* vs. Australia FINAL Spain vs. England*
Group D? Group E is actually tougher than Group D. New Zealand and Scotland are about equal, from pot #3. But Cameroon is certainly better than Argentina, from pot #4. Cameroon made the knockout round last time, and beat Switzerland in Group play. There's no easy games for anyone in Group E. But Argentina in Group D is about the closest thing to an easiest game for anyone, in all the groups combined. Group A is still the strongest overall. South Korea is arguably tied for the best team from pot #3 (with China). Nigeria is the best team from pot #4.
Hegerberg with an amazing performance beats France in Group A. France and Norway both finish with 6 points, as Norway loses a game still. France still wins the group on goal diff. Spain gets a draw against Germany in Group B. China plays Germany extremely tough, but loses by one goal. China and Spain draw. Germany wins the group. Spain 2nd. China 3rd. All 3 advance. Italy scores a draw against Brazil in Group C. Italy advances as the 3rd place team from Group C. Scotland fights hard but loses by one goal to England in Group D. Japan beats the piss out of Argentina as the "Laffer" in this group. New Zealand scores a draw against Canada again in Group E. Cameroon gives Netherlands a major scare, but the Dutch pull it out. New Zealand barely squeaks by Cameroon (2-1) to finish in 3rd place. Netherlands top the group. Canada and NZ also advance. No major upsets are happening in Group F. Will USA finally beat Sweden? A "draw" almost feels inevitable between those two. If they draw, USA probably win the group on goal diff. USA will probably score more goals against Chile and Thailand. There is so much parity. Could see a record # of draws in Group Play in WWC History so far.
I mentioned this in the other thread, but by the traditional definition of "group of death", there will be no such group in this tournament. That simply follows from the fact that a majority of 3rd-place teams will get through, and that there's a big between team #17 and team #19. In fact, the shift from continent-based pots to rankings-based pots means that "groups of death" are highly unlikely, even once we expand the tournament again to have 8 groups. Granted, since that ratings gap appears after the 17th-best team and there are only 16 knockout spots, one could maybe argue that one team that "should" advance won't, and their group might be the group of death. I dare anyone to justify which pot 3 team they think is the unlucky one, though. If you want to argue "group of death" as the most evenly-matched group... Again, the ranking-based pots mostly take that argument away as well. It's literally impossible to get three, much less four, evenly-ranked teams in the same group. We could try to compare rankings sums per group, or find instances where rating differences between two teams is particularly small. In the former case, the theoretical smallest group sum is 1+7+14+36=58 and the largest group sum is 6+13+29+53=111. If I've done my math correctly, our groups have sums of 68-A, 77-B, 85-C, 68-D, 73-E, 77-F. The sums for group C and F are skewed by Jamaica and Thailand, respectively, but aside from that it's hard to say if there's any huge variety in how difficult (or easy) the groups are. There are a few particularly evenly-matched matches to be had as well: CAN-NED, NOR-KOR, THA-CHI to name the matches with the smallest adjacent-pot differences. AUS-ITA is the smallest 1-3 difference, and NOR-NIG is the smallest 2-4 difference. If you want an objective way to bet on "upsets", these are the matches you'd bet on seeing them. As such, there might be some evidence to suggest that A is the closest this tournament comes to a "group of death", with the smallest group-ranking sum as well as two of the smallest cross-pot differences, largely thanks to NOR being the bottom of pot 2. In theory, a maybe more-accurate objective analysis of the groups would look at FIFA ratings instead of FIFA rankings, in which case you'd have to give more weight to the "gap" between #10 Brazil and #12 Spain, and use Italy as your "likely KO" cutoff instead of using New Zealand. I'm not gonna dig into those sums right now, though, since it's past midnight here! (disclaimer: doing a rating-based analysis instead of a ranking-based analysis means that the gaps at the top become more emphatic than the gaps at the bottom!)
So, you assume that the Hegerberg psycho-drama will end with Ada eventually coming back to NT and taking part to WWC?
Click the link below, and click on the "GREEN" button where it says Download. Download the USA version (Fox Broadcast) of the Women's World Cup DRAW: https://www.mediafire.com/file/yzodxszgdden27k/wwcDRAW.mp4/file
your finals pick, lol; sorry but that current CB combo; Houghton & Bright, just wouldn't cut it. Houghton's past her prime. Bright, the leading scorer of the last SBC...unfortunately all against her own team! Nevile's simple, one player attack..it's either, Taylor or White(those two haven't had good, new seasons) at the lone striker is pretty underwhelming as well & now their going to miss Nobbs occasional 'crackers'. Neville even somehow managed to make Ellis look like a genius at SBC' I mean all he needed was a tie & he played his squad very tight(obviously to cut the passing lanes. But it was so easy for Ellis to switch the point of the attack from left to right side at a whim.......................... do to their run n gun style, the English & can produce up & coming players at a faster rate, so there still could be hope......Stanway starting at the #10(over the mini disaster of Kirby) would be my prediction but can't helping thinking(as Neville watching in attendance the ManCity/Arsenal game) dram of glory will have to wait if he can coach the GB team at the Olympics, then he'll have Corsie(as well as Little & Fishlock) who looked so superior on defense than any of the current English lasses he's got now
Unlike the Dutch men's team that always gets a tough draw, the women got a pretty nice draw for a Pot 2 team. Now they need to schedule some tough friendlies to get them in match shape for the finals.
the group is eerily similar to the last WC with only Cameroon subbing for China. Canada beat the Nederlands last time they met in a friendly, back in early 2016, got the tie in 2015 WC, I felt their strong point is their defense; Lawrence, Buchanen, Zardowki, Sheridan or Labbe in goal, possibly Carle(form FL ST). The offense doesn't feel that strong; Sinclair getting older, Beckie, Leon & Prince can't seem to get much playing time on their respective clubs mean't to say Beattie was impressive for Man City, but Corsie could start too for the GB team, which would mean an all Scottish CB lineup
Teams most likely to get out their group & advance to the Knockout Stage: (in order from most likely to least likely) 1.) USA (they are in the easiest group to advance) 2.) Sweden (same) 3.) Japan (with Scotland and Argentina as favorable match-ups for Japan) 4.) England (better chance Scotland upsets England than they upset Japan) 5.) France (they are in the Group of Death, but they are the host) 6.) Australia (Italy is tough, but Australia should at least draw, and beat Jamaica) 7.) Netherlands (Dutch should be slightly favored over Canada on Euro ground) 8.) Canada (NZ is tough, Dutch may beat them, but Canada will beat Cameroon) 9.) Germany (they should at least draw China, and beat South Africa) 10.) Brazil (they should at least draw Italy, and beat Jamaica) 11.) Spain (tough draw for Spain, but they have lots of momentum recently) 12.) China (you get the feeling that 3 teams will surely advance from Group B) 13.) Norway (they got the toughest draw of anyone. 60% chance they advance) 14.) South Korea (they are playing much better recently. still, tough group) 15.) Italy (3 points may be enough as a third place team. should beat Jamaica) 16.) Scotland (should beat Argentina. slight chance they draw England) 17.) New Zealand (could draw Canada. solid chance they beat Cameroon) 18.) Nigeria (very tough draw for them. will be very competitive & could advance) 19.) Thailand (if they beat Chile, who knows, 3 points could get it done) 20.) Chile (Thailand/Chile are lucky to be in a group together. they have a chance) 21.) Cameroon (challenging group, and New Zealand usually plays well vs. Africa) 22.) Argentina (game vs. Scotland is easier than Jamaica or South Africa have) 23.) Jamaica (in a group with Australia, Brazil, and Italy. should lose to all 3) 24.) South Africa (good luck against Germany, Spain, and China. they lose to all 3)
with Ada: beat Nigeria 3-0, beat France 2-1, beat Korea 2-0 without Ada but with Euro group winning squad: beat Nigeria 2-1, tie France 1-1, beat Korea 2-1 without Ada+other key players, due to injury: tie Nigeria 1-1, lose to France 0-2, lose to Korea 1-2
I just ran the World Cup simulation, and this is how it came out: Group A France-2 Korea-0 Norway-1 Nigeria-1 Nigeria-0 Korea-0 France-1 Norway-2 Nigeria-2 France-3 Korea-1 Norway-1 (France-6, Norway-5, Nigeria-2, Korea-2) Group B Germany-1 China-0 Spain-2 South Africa-0 Germany-1 Spain-1 South Africa-0 China-1 China-1 Spain-2 South Africa-1 Germany-4 (Germany-7, Spain-7, China-3, South Africa-0) Group C Australia-3 Italy-2 Brazil-5 Jamaica-1 Australia-2 Brazil-1 Jamaica-0 Italy-2 Jamaica-1 Australia-6 Italy-1 Brazil-1 (Australia-9, Brazil-4, Italy-4, Jamaica-0) Group D England-1 Scotland-0 Argentina-1 Japan-4 Japan-3 Scotland-1 England-3 Argentina-0 Japan-1 England-2 Scotland-2 Argentina-1 (England-9, Japan-6, Scotland-3, Argentina-0) Group E Canada-3 Cameroon-1 New Zealand-1 Netherlands-2 Netherlands-2 Cameroon-1 Canada-1 New Zealand-1 Cameroon-0 New Zealand-1 Netherlands-3 Canada-2 (Netherlands-9, Canada-4, New Zealand-4, Cameroon-0) Group F Chile-0 Sweden-3 USA-4 Thailand-0 Sweden-3 Thailand-1 USA-7 Chile-0 Sweden-1 USA-2 Thailand-4 Chile-3 (similar to Thailand vs. Ivory Coast game in 2015 WWC?) (USA-9, Sweden-6, Thailand-3, Chile-0) Round of 16 Germany-2 vs. Italy-3 (Extra Time) Norway-1 vs. Brazil-2 (Extra Time, Marta goal) England-2 vs. New Zealand-1 France-3 vs. Scotland-0 Spain-1 vs. USA-2 (Extra Time, Christen Press goal) Sweden-1 vs. Canada-2 Australia-3 vs. China-1 Netherlands-1 vs. Japan-1 (Penalties: Netherlands advances 5-4) Quarterfinals Brazil-1 vs. England-2 France-2 vs. USA-3 (Extra Time, Carli Lloyd goal) Australia-3 vs. Netherlands-2 (Sam Kerr bicycle goal in stoppage time) Italy-1 vs. Canada-1 (Penalties: Italy advances 4-3) Semifinals England-1 vs. USA-1 (Penalties: USA advances 12-11) (Wild Shootout) Australia-1 vs. Italy-0 (Extra Time, Caitlin Foord goal) 3rd Place Match England-2 vs. Italy-2 (Penalties: Italy wins Bronze 8-7) Final Australia-4 vs. USA-3 (Extra Time: Sam Kerr scores 2 goals in ET) Golden Ball: Sam Kerr (Australia) Golden Boot: Sam Kerr (Australia) Silver Boot: Alex Morgan (USA) Bronze Boot: llaria Mauro (Italy) Golden Glove: Lydia Williams (Australia) Best Young Player: Mallory Pugh (USA) Best Coach: Alen Stajcic (Australia) Best Goal: Sam Kerr scores amazing bicycle goal against Netherlands in 92nd) Best Moment: Alyssa Naeher guesses wrong but stones England with her extended leg backwards in shootout, preserving the 12-11 victory in penalties. Ball deflects straight up off her twisted leg, hits the underneath of the crossbar, comes back down and lands on her butt as she's laying on the ground, and then squirts from underneath her butt sideways and ricochets off the side post and out as she dives and gets it before it goes back in. Most memorable save in soccer history.
lol if you think Italy is going very far! They simply looked terrible vs Germany in a friendly last month even though they played their full team whereas the Germans debuted 2 new players in their starting lineup. Half their starting are with Juvuntus, though that club usually ends up bowing out of the CL with big scoring margins. what the women should of done is what surprisingly their men's side does; scour the world for players that have Italian names & based on their heritage name sake, offer them NT spots. They could of had DiBernadino, Colaprico, Zerboni., D'Angelo & Devanna(probably more) playing for them instead! btw................Aren't Germany & the US going to play each other in the quarters(if both win their group)?