France FIFA U-20 Women‘s World Cup 2018

Of course, in these FIFA short highlights there are a ton of Japan's chances that are missing.

How I miss your much more substantial highlights, @Lechus7, despite the fact that they were sometimes torn apart by internet fun policy.

 

They obviously didn't consult with my analysis on Japan for that match.

 

Premature Evacuation, of the Germany vs. Japan match?
They evacuated that one quickly in determining who was going to win.

 

Nice, so World War III takes place at the 2018 U-20 Women's World Cup.
We should have known all along.

 

And we now get that opportunity.
A new nation will officially win a U-20 Women's World Cup for the first time ever.

Will it be Japan?
Will it be England?
Will it be France?
Will it be Spain?

 

Of course, remaining we have two allies one mostly neutral and one axis.

In this case my general pick is the winner between Japan and England wins it all and to be more specific I think it will be Japan.

I think Japan beats England and Spain beats France and, in a rematch from the group Japan gains a measure of revenge and soundly beats Spain to complete their dominance over the decadent occidentals.

Of course I "could" be wrong, but I don't think so.

 

The Allies would crush the Axis in women's soccer overall though.

The Allies have USA, England, and France.
That's enough firepower right there alone.

 

And you may like this thread from a few years ago:
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/if...-side-would-they-be-on.2002200/#post-29793753

 

So, I'd like to see everyone's predictions for the semis.

 

For the quarter-finals, I didn't get a single exact result right, but I had all the four correct teams advancing:

Now, for the semis, I say:
Spain 3 France 1
England 0 Japan 2

(For a repeat in the final of Spain-Japan from group stage, hopefully with a different result ).

 

At this stage I can't see high scoring games; the teams left are just too good IMO.
Maybe a couple 1-0 or 2-1 results at best, me thinks.
So, I'll say:

France 2 - Spain 1
I have to give the hometown team the advantage. Spain finally run out of steam, I'm guessing.

Japan 2 -1 England
I really like this England team a lot, but I underestimated this Japanese team, and I don't like to make the same mistake twice.


In general, I think all the teams remaining are good enough to get at least one goal.

 

even though Spain got the top player in the tourney in Guijarro, I don't think they got that much depth in the rest of the team like France got. The French got such a strong balance of athletic & technical players. France has had super youth teams before, their major problem is they have a hard time turning their youth stars into strong/bona fide adult players; looking back at the 2012 u17 WC, which France won, looking at their lineup though only M'Bock has proven consensus starter for their current senior NT,
https://us.women.soccerway.com/matc...p/france-under-17/korea-dpr-under-17/1305370/

I'll take Japan over England; they seem to play with a lot of chemistry, where as England's a 'two man team' with Stanway & Hemp, though that red headed GK does stand out, lol

over all, too much heavy handed coaching in this tourney(with LOW-many's Meinert loosing her mind, lol) when you wish the players could play more to their natural abilities

 

I looked at that thread and I have to say the basic premise is absurd and several of the alliances suggested even more so. ex. Saying that China and Japan would willingly team up about anything is rather absurd and placing France willingly with Germany (or much of anyone else) is almost as absurd.

Actually I was pretty much trying to, pretty badly I guess, show how different the world is today than it was in my parents time.

Of course WWII was the last war we (The US and many of the allies) were actually allowed to win so there is a bit of nostalgia there.

Soccer is NOT war, it is much more important than that.

 

Some excerpts from JFA (Japanese Football Asssociation) offical report from U-20 WWC:

"After the final whistle was blown, the Japanese players went over to embrace the German players who all went down to pitch"
(the photo below is from FIFA U-20 WWC official website)



That's one of the reasons why I like so much rooting for Nadeshiko Japan. It was one of the main lessons Aya Miyama had for youngsters when she was captain of Japan Senior NT: "before celebrating, show respect to your opponents". She had gone as far as comforting her former team-mate (in LA Sol) Hope Solo after 2011 WWC final before celebrating with her team-mates, to the point that Solo had told her: "For heaven-sake, Aya, you just won the World Cup, go celebrate!!!".

Also, quote from Jun Endo:
"Before today’s match, I have only been able to record an assist, so the fact I managed to score a goal gives me great confidence. I haven’t been able to score a goal for a while, and it has been a disappointing stretch for me, so I am very happy that I finally got the goal".
Not sure if it's Endo's modesty or a bad translation from Japanese, but before yesterday she actually had three assists in a single game! Oh, well, at least I am relieved too that, after being women of the match, she regained some confidence!

 

I really like and respect this philosophy.

 

You know my daddy fought in WWII in the Pacific theater and he said that once you got past the propaganda and scare tactics that were used to try a demonize the Japanese (and also probably the Germans as well) the Japanese proved to be just "people" and generally more honorable than most.

It is pretty deeply ingrained in their culture that "respect" is one of the most important things there are.

It is a VERY complex culture and therefore it is VERY hard to even understand even the basics but once you penetrate the formal structure you find that it is very normal for the Japanese to be better than expected.

It does not surprise me to hear that the Japanese girls were willing to try to console and support the Germans. In fact I would be surprised if they did not.

 

that wasn't Sam Kerr? she would of been 10 years old, lol

guess the next line would be;

old soccer fans never die, they just fade away

 

Respect! 🙌🇯🇵#U20WWC #DareToShine #LeMomentDeBriller @jfa_nadeshiko pic.twitter.com/8GJeOw43ae

— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) August 17, 2018

 

I contributed.

 

It might comfort you to know that Silvia Neid (former German head coach) picks Japan to win it all. Here's an excerpt of an interview FIFA did with her recently:

 

I will restate what I said earlier:
I think Japan beats England in a pretty high scoring match 4-2 or so.
I think Spain beats France in a low scoring possibly extra time match. 1-0 France's home advantage will just not be enough to overcome Spain's defense and they do not have the athletic ability to wear Spain down.

Then in a rematch of their group match Japan turn's it around and steps on the gas and scores at least 4 while allowing 2 or less. Japan does have the athletic ability to wear Spain down. It would not surprise me to see Japan score 3 or so after the 75th minute.

The third place match will be, as many third place matches are, a very forgettable affair but England will prove to be too much for the French 3-1.