Good summary. I also recall some rather ugly back-and-forths on twitter instigated by USWNT players that openly disparaged USMNT players. I don't remember very well who specifically was involved without digging into old threads, but I think Bedoya was one of the mens players that got involved. Even if you discard all the political stuff, the USWNT to me just came off as a group of really unlikable and shitty people. I definitely fall into the camp that is quietly hoping they faceplant in the WC.
I don't have a problem with women getting a salary rather than a match fee for playing for the national team. Jill Ellis selected the current World Cup squad on merit. She was not forced to choose from the players on the USWNT payroll. I found 3 of the WWC squad who weren't on the NWSL allocation list.
I'm not sure this is the best example. The number of salaried players has been dropping every year per the CBA. I can't remember the exact number, but it is less than the 23 person roster at this point.
Are there any good links to the soccer stories? (I actually find the discussion of compensation schemes interesting but I'm setting it aside for the games). Who are the favorite teams? Who to watch? What are the narratives?
Scene from Portugal in the Nations League: Orange march in Portugal. Expectations are that about 10000 will be on the march Sunday. I really expect the streets in France where we play to go full Orange mode
If you donot mind to use the wacky google translate function here you find alot of background info that gets refreshed when needed. It's in Dutch! https://www.ad.nl/wk-vrouwenvoetbal/
I guess you can start here. Get ready for two weeks of narrative about the presumed France-USA quarterfinal. https://www.si.com/soccer/2019/06/05/womens-world-cup-2019-predictions-picks-knockout-bracket-winner
FOX should assign Stu Holden, Tony Meola, Alexi Lalas and Rob Stone to the June 16th broadcast for Father's Day. Thx, Jay!
With respect to Dr. Joe Machnik, it is very refreshing to have an actual active referee (with top-level VAR experience, no less) on the broadcast as rules analyst.
Opening game, France v South Korea. There was just a terrible VAR reversal of a goal be France for offsides. Nonetheless, France is up 1-0 and clearly the better team. South Korea’s wings are getting torched and France is showing very good ball control in tight areas through midfield.
It was technically correct tho.. Her foot was offside. If that goal had been against the US and it wasn't called offside, people would be bitching about it being a horrible VAR.
I disagree. Her foot may have been 6” offside, but her body/torso/center of mass was clearly in line.
HT, France 3-0 South Korea. France scored again on the last touch of the half. Not going to lie, France scares me in a potential matchup against the US. They hold their shape well and have better first touch than I’ve seen from the US in recent games.
If her foot is 6" in an offside position, the player is in an offside position. That is the way that Law 11 is currently written. Any part of the body with which the player can legally play the ball (ie anything but the arms) is considered when determining offside position. Despite the fact that any AR in the world would likely be praised for keeping the flag down, overturning the goal was objectively the 100% correct decision, as demonstrated by the "Virtual Offside Line" as they call it that the software generates for the VAR team.
Overall tournament information: This a 24 team tournament with 6 groups of four and 16 teams going on to the knockout rounds (this means that yes this tournament is doing that stupid top 4 third place teams advance thing). France and the US are the pretournament favorites. For those in the US, all games are on Fox, FS1 or FS2. The US is in group F with Thailand, Chile and Sweden. We play Thailand on Thursday, Chile
My above post got mangled. What I was trying to say was: The US is in group F with Thailand, Chile and Sweden. We play Thailand on Thursday, Chile on Sunday 6/16 and Sweden on Thursday 6/20. Sweden is our toughest group opponent on paper. Thailand the easiest. All US group games will be on Fox.