2019 Women's World Cup - DRAW

What a game that would be

 

Even in France, I think I'd expect a USA win. And it would continue the traditional of every host (aside from the USA) going out in the quarters!

 

I don’t think it’s very good for women’s football in France if they suffer a Germany 2011, especially considering what their counterparts did in Russia this summer

 

I would expect our coach to be sacked with a QF defeat. It happened to the previous three.

 

As a casual follower of the women's game, I think a quarterfinal appearance for Spain would be a great achievement. It is a tournament too early for Spain I believe. However, they shouldn't be scared of any team out there. But when/if they face France, USA, Japan, or England then they'll be knocked out.

 

Yes, I believe the best players for Spain have to grow out of the youth teams, but they could be a contender in the next cycle. I don't believe they're already there either.

 

I think their #12 ranking is deserved, at the moment, in both directions. They've been climbing recently, and their rating has showed it - they're starting to leave the "chasing pack" and should be in that top-ten-ish level very soon. They're not there yet, though, so I can't see them getting past two top-eleven teams in a row (or even getting past one top-six team). A spot in the QFs would definitely sound reasonable, though going out in the R16 would be too with a number of possible R16 opponents. A truly favorable KO draw could see them into the SFs, but it'd be very unlikely. They do need to get out of the group, though. I think they were, talent-wise, ready to leave the groups in 2015 too. Missing the KO round twice in a row, then, is unacceptable for Spain.

 

will they have VAR? I thought the answer was NO

2nd} except for Morgan & Ertz, the US, hardly! Now if only Dani Weatherbolt & Kelia Ohai make the team, then your talking!

hmm......maybe that one CA transplant that GK's for Ohio St?(forgot her name) Apparently switched nationalities when she found that the US youth NT's train in bikini friendly Florida,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

Spain is a strong 'friendlies' team based on the build in chemistry all ready as they started 7 Barca & 4 Athletic Madrid players in their last friendly, a 0-0 draw with Germany/ They do miss a good striker, however.
One must wonder if they should move up their lil teen sensation, Claudia Pina? This year, next to Ronaldo, she was the world's 2nd leading scorer in international goals(bro or wo, youth or senior) Guess someone needs to go up to her and say
sorry kid, no prom for you, cuz uz will play on da ole WC!

odd too, that the best player by far in the their domestic cup final was Sonia Bermudez, who along with Vero, is considered over the hill for their NT coach(as well that her club A. Madrid won the league championship over Barca, yet he goes with more players from the latter).
In my opinion, you need to send your best out there(regardless or age) that's why i got the feeling Spain will flop again at the world stage

 

can you please explain the FIFA/Euros way of thinking to me as why would the #1 & #3 teams meet in the quarters? (as compared to an NCAA draw which would make sure the #1 & #4 and the #2 & #3 meet in the semis(if they all won their games through the projected ranking path

 

Not that it matters much because #3 and #4 have shuffled back and forth repeatedly over the past year or so...

But in a word: randomness. Aside from separating the teams into 4 pots based on general strength, actual ranking is irrelevant. Remember the ire drawn when they actually pre-placed the top 6 teams last time around? That's not what people want. The seeded teams - and any team in any pots - are assigned to groups randomly (aside from the host getting group A).

Besides, the World Cup isn't a straight knockout tournament like NCAA things are. Even if you did pre-place the top 6 teams, it's not guaranteed to work out like you would "expect" once you get to the knockout phase. Any group stage upsets would destroy the planned paths, so it's more effort (and criticism) that it's worth to pre-place the seeded teams.

Also remember that if you want to argue for pre-placing the pot 1 teams, you'd in theory have to extend that procedure all the way down through the remainder of the field - i.e. in a 24-team tournament, you'd force group A to be 1-12-13-24, B would be 2-11-14-23, etc. FIFA won't do that for several reasons, one being that it might disrupt the no-conferedation-mixing rule for groups, another being that raw rank (from a competitive standpoint) isn't as predictive as the detailed ratings are, so it's not a good system to base the entire draw from, and a third reason being that the host isn't always going to deserve being in pot 1 (which screws a lot of ranking-based arguments up - as does the fact that we're in a 24-team phase of the tournament and not a nice power of 2). That's why the randomness is preferred for the draw.

 

I wonder though this FIFA "randomness" is good for woso? The one huge game that even the most casual observer might watch(& detrimental to the growth of the woso) is of course the final. So you really want to try as hard as possible to get the two best teams in it. But instead, the 2015 final proved arguably the most one sided/decisive WC final in history, men & women.

despite the intricate's of the draw, 6 groups/24 teams(as you wrote about), 2015 seemed similar as US, GER, FRA were the 3 top ranked teams, if the projected path followed, we all ready knew that GER was going to meet FRA in quarters(which is what happened) that the winner would meet the US in the semis(which is exactly what happened).

the correct draw should of had US/GER final(which proved to be a much more memorial/competitive game, yet most of the casual world tuned i for the final instead. which turned out to be ridiculously lopsided)

 

I think you're putting too much emphasis on the fact that the 2015 final turned out to be lopsided and ignoring how evenly the "expected" results should have gone (as well as maybe showing some GER favoritism) - and the fact that 2015 was NOT random for the seeded teams.

First, don't forget that Japan was right up there with USA, FRA, and GER - they were ranked #4, and had been in the 2011 WWC and 2012 OG finals as well. They weren't (statistically) a pushover by any means. (Not to mention USA was #2 going into the 2015 WWC, so #2 vs #4 wasn't a big gap either - at least less than a #1 cs #4 would be.) And even if the game ultimately was lopsided, it was still a very good match to watch. I would personally say it was better than the USA/GER game, which IMO was marred by more thuggish play from both sides.

Also, the six seeded teams were NOT randomly assigned to group in the 2015 draw. That was one of the biggest complaints about 2015. Most people criticized FIFA for A) giving hosts Canada an incredibly easy path, and B) making sure that USA's two biggest competitors met each other before meeting the USA. So 2015 is an argument FOR randomization, not against it. (Or, at the very least, for a more equitable setup of pre-set group assignments for the pot 1 teams. But that's moving in the wrong direction for most fans' opinions.)

 

even if it's against the u.s?

how many times have they beaten the u.s?

 

Yeah, she has a minimum target on a semi-final. I think it is two or three times as one of the game is counted by the FFF but not US Soccer.

 

... while losing about 6 times since 2011 from what I can find.

semifinal is the goal regardless of which opponent they face in the qf?

 

aren't you forgetting, they destroyed Ellis at the 2017 SBC as well as tied this year, They've had two different coaches in those matches. I personally liked the 2017 one; he now coaches PSG to an almost identical record(just two points behind) to the way more stacked & heralded Lyon(who the geniuses of FIFA voted as having 6 of the world's 10 players).
The newer coach is trying to implement the same, 'lay back, seek/ruse out weaknesses in the opposing defenses & counter swiftly' of their men's side. , though it's going to be hard for the women to do since their the home team and you would think most will bunker on them.

I think they'll probably going to beat the US in the friendly next month; their players are in season ,plus they're really good 'friendlies & mini tourney team' because of the built in chemistry from starting so man, players from the same club team(usually 6-8 from Lyon) but have flopped now in 4 straight major tournaments. In my humble, outsiders opinion, they need to change their training from the current fairy tale castle like setting of Clairefontaine training grounds

. to something like maybe to the filth & grime streets of Philly?

 

Yes indeed, but as it is a political appointment, things might happen, but as I said :

Bini lost QF Euros sacked
Bergeroo lost QF WC ( stayed on because qualified for Olympics)
Bergeroo lost QF Olympics sacked
Echouafni lost QF Euros sacked

The full history USA 17 draw 3 France 2

• A 28/07/1988 Etats-Unis-France 1-0

• A 05/04/1991 Etats-Unis-France 0-0

• A 18/05/1991 France-Etats-Unis 0-4

• A 15/04/1995 France-Etats-Unis 0-3

• A 26/04/1996 Etats-Unis-France 4-1

• A 29/04/1996 Etats-Unis-France 8-2

• A 24/04/1997 Etats-Unis-France 4-2

• A 27/04/1997 Etats-Unis-France 2-1

• AC04 14/03/2004 Etats-Unis-France 5-1

• AC05 09/03/2005 France-Etats-Unis 0-1

• A 20/01/2006 Etats-Unis-France 0-0

• AC06 13/03/2006 Etats-Unis-France 4-1

• CM11 13/07/2011 France-Etats-Unis 1-3

• JO12 25/07/2012 Etats-Unis-France 4-2

• A 14/06/2014 Etats-Unis-France 1-0

• A 19/06/2014 Etats-Unis-France 2-2

• A 08/02/2015 France-Etats-Unis 2-0

• AC15 11/03/2015 Etats-Unis-France 2-0

• SBC16 06/03/2016 Etats-Unis-France 1-0

• JO16 06/08/2016 Etats-Unis-France 1-0

• SBC17 07/03/2017 Etats-Unis-France 0-3

• SBC18 04/03/2018 Etats-Unis-France 1-1

 

who's the dude at the far left? kinda looks like an bearded, bloated version of Elton John without glasses! lol
surprised at the mention that Shuang was named Asia player of the year(last year it was Sam Kerr, who I would of picked in a jeapie again over the Chinese girl)

ur kidding? the score was 4-0 after 14 minutes. The filled up sport lounge where I was watching started emptying before the match was over or channel switching

if it was played American ball(unlimited subs) I know a lot of coaches who would just gone to their bench for the remainder(well maybe not, since it was a champ. game)

 

Yes, and that doesn't counter anything I said. If anyone watched the game, it was a well-fought match for 75+ minutes. After the USA's fast start (which, btw, was 3-0 after 14' - it didn't hit 4-0 until two minutes later) the Japanese really tightened up and made a game of it.

We all know that even the best-played soccer matches can be decided by a few minutes of brilliance or mere seconds of a lapse. The USA-JPN game was, even with that fast start, one of the best soccer matches of the tournament. USA-GER was too rough for most people I know to enjoy it, and FRA-GER was one of those were the better team on the day didn't win.

 

I mean, I struggle how to see that it was a good game when Japan was under with like 3 after 15 minutes - poor defending sadly... Japan’s goals in the final genuinely impressed me though but the game was over after US scored their third lol

USA - GER is still the best match for me where a shit referee decided the game although it wasn’t unfair that US won the game at the end but still it’s a pity that the referee was the deciding factor - she should be banned from refereeing a big game again