A real possibility. However France seems to gamble more on defense than needed, so they may be vulnerable there. While I’m in the group that’s a bit annoyed by the WNT recently, they’re still my national team, so I can’t root against them or get any schadenfreude from their failures.
Are they playing “Roar” in its entirety before they kick off after goals? Might help in the mercy rule department...
As far as offside goes, I think the advent of VAR just makes it more likely that people will push for the Law to be rewritten to be more lenient to the attack. Anyway, speaking of Laws being rewritten, there should have been a dropped ball there towards the end when the ball struck the referee and resulted in a change of possession. Didn't matter, but worth pointing out. Had Korea been able to score from it, I would have to assume the VAR would recommend it be disallowed.
One of several rule changes approved by IFAB, to be implemented at the start of the next competition after 1 June 2019 in whatever form that takes (so MLS waits until next March, La Liga until August, and the WWC now). Summary of the changes here from IFAB.
http://www.theifab.com/laws/chapter/29/section/79/ New change to Law 9. "The ball is out of play when: ... it touches a match official, remains on the field of play and: a team starts a promising attack or the ball goes directly into the goal or the team in possession of the ball changes In all these cases, play is restarted with a dropped ball." Both of the bold criteria happened, definitely the latter.
Interesting. I knew about the Goal Kick rule but didn't know about this one. Though the last time I was certified as an official "Goal kicks are no longer indirect" was the newest rule change, so it's been a while.
Super fired up for this. Some of the phony righteous stuff the US Women pull annoys the crap out of me, it's makes it worse when they've convinced themselves it's authentic, and I hate that people casually buy it. They're not at all diverse enough and they come across as entitled princesses and most people don't get how advantaged they are competitively compared to the US Men's team, and given that advantage they still rely on brute athleticism too much rather than some kind of American jogo bonito. But they're AWESOME. I'm fired up to watch them play. It's entertaining soccer, and I want them to win the whole thing. They're great for our sport and they're great for humankind. And the women's game is getting better like, by the month. Go USA! Oh yeah, and FIFA making them play a World Cup on turf was total bullshit. But it's hardly out of line for FIFA to experiment with events, esp if they think there's a revenue ave to explore.
I love the jingoism that infects otherwise (supposedly) politically-enlightened American soccer fans every time there's an international tournament. It's only a game.
Any signs of change in this? Once you come across an opponent that makes you chase the ball Barcelona mode, you're done.
Good piece about Marta and her impact on the game. https://www.sbnation.com/2019/6/7/18650468/marta-brazil-womens-world-cup-2019
. . . During her time in the United States, Marta was a member of two of the best club teams in the history of women’s soccer. The roles she played in each of them showed off how complete a player she is. On the 2010 FC Gold Pride squad, Marta was the unquestioned star and acted like it, scoring 19 goals in 24 matches en route to a WPS MVP award. A year later, her and FCGP teammate Christine Sinclair joined forces with Alex Morgan and Caroline Seger for a Western New York Flash side that looked more like an all-star team than a salary-capped organization. She was more unselfish with the Flash, scoring 10 fewer goals than the season prior, but was still the best player on a championship-winning squad . . .
If it were that simple, soccer would stop evolving. I see the men's game becoming more big, fast and vertical again, kinda obviously.
It's more a matter of soccer philosophy, plus putting a team together that matches that philosophy. The time a certain style dominates other styles has more to do with the "failure" of finding the right players for your style.
Yeah I love it too, clearly. Love the World Cup, and enjoy it more than Champions League anyday. Yet I have no problem with the UN. Or reasonable local pride. Or the Gubmint. As far as personal cognitive dissonances go, this soccer/nationalism thing isn't real taxing.
Hot take from someone who's way too arrogant and knows way too little about women's football to say this (didn't even watch today's game lol): France or England wins this WWC. There. Said it.
Apparently it was Korea who hit the ref so possession didn't change, and in that position on the field, it's too doubtful to call it a promising attack. I really thought it was France who kicked it. *shrug*
Are they using VAR to get the "correct" call rather than simply overturning obviously incorrect calls? If they need the virtual offside line to decide if someone is onside or not, then the call on the field isn't obviously incorrect no matter which way it goes.
Yeah, they decided that an offside call has no objectivity to it. It's either offside or not offside.
First 100 fans who attend tomorrow morning’s #FIFAWWC Viewing Parties will get FREE tickets to our match at 12:30pm! #VamosSJ pic.twitter.com/jDOqaGHoGv— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) June 8, 2019
But there are stylistic trends. Netherlands killed Tiki-Taka in Group Stages of the 2014 WC. The nail in the coffin for possession football officially died when Germany crashed out of the groups last year, getting picked apart by Mexico and South Korea on the counter. France didn't try to out-possess opponents and instead absorbed with sturdy defense and countered brutally. Liverpool, also, isn't a possession team. Teams are going to emulate those styles more, just as everyone was in awe of Tiki-Taka from '08-'14.
What's the attendance expected to be like for games not involving France or the US? I was expecting a German invasion of France, but I see empty sections.