50' 2-0 Italy longball into Giacinti's stride through 35m arc left. Wu Haiyan runs step-for-step with her, overtakes from 1 step behind to 1/2 step ahead at 5m mid-left, clears into near touch. Great footrace, and Wu has wheels in her oh-crap mode Neither team has rotated their line-up much, so everybody's legs have a lot of minutes by now. 57' 2-0 Li Ying leads a counter to 30m center, Linari stuff-blocks ball off her foot and goes the other way. Bartoli dribbles into 15m 6-left, shross headed down back to her, up and off her hand.
They are technically and tactically superb, as befits their Italian football pedigree. You can feel the Juve, Inter and AC Milan influences. The rest of the world should be very, very scared. I don't know if conditioning will be as much of a factor if/when they face any of the other powers. We will see.
60' 2-0 LB Liu Shanshan joins the attack across circle top box left, pass right to Li Ying at box top right. Li cuts inside to 14m mid-right and shoots left instep, Linari blocks with chest. 61' 2-0 Li Ying cross from 12m wide right, Linari chests it away. Wang Shuang shoots left instep bend from 23m arc right, way high wide left. 61' 2-0 China subs in: - (2 of 3) #15 Song Duan for #11 Wang Shanshan - (3 of 3) #21 Yao Wei for #13 Wang Yan. 63' 2-0 Italy subs in (2 of 3) #18 Ilaria Mauro for #2 Valentina Bergamaschi.
I can't help but think, doesn't any of these Chinese players ever think about faking a shot? They've had so many chances in good positions, but every shot looks telegraphed.
65' 2-0 Han Peng dribbles to 20m box right, slips a pass to Wang Shuang at arc right. Wang Shuang goes down and shoots left roundhouse (through Cernoia's left foottop), medium roller up centerline, Giuliani smothers. Cernoia stays down, stoppage. She was swinging to clear and got grazed/raked. 66' 2-0 Cernoia resumes? Mauro holds up at 25m center, passes to 18m arc left for Bonansea. Bonansea cuts past Han Peng(?) to 12m mid-left, slides down and shoots wide right -- and stays down momentarily. 68' 2-0 China pressure in box mid-left earns a corner. Left ck outswings to 12m 1/4 right, challenged header goes wide left and bounces over endline.
You could make an argument with regards to overall talent of teams that Euro 2017 was the most competitive women’s tournament ever. It’s definitely benefited the Euro teams.
71' 2-0 Italy subs in (3 of 3) #6 Martina Rosucci for #11 Barbara Bonansea. Rosucci's 1st WWC cap! 72' 2-0 Zhang Rui receives at arc top mid-left, shot blocked by a body. 73' 2-0 China pass to Song Duan unmarked through box top mid-right to 13m. Soft cross toward spot headed away. 74' 2-0 China left ck, headed away to Han Peng at 24m mid-right. Peng half-volleys with no power to 3m center, Giuliani dives and catches low.
It's not to mock the Chinese, but they perform really poorly in so many (traditional) team sports out there. It holds true for both men and women.
77' 2-0 Song Duan plays a give-and-go with Li Ying, chases down wide right to 6m. Cross to 8m 6-right, Gama clears. 78' 2-0 Mauro fouled down by Wei Yi at circle back left. 78' 2-0 Zhang Rui chests ball down to back left low, quick longball bounces behind Linari at 24m arc right, Li Ying chases through box top mid-right. Li pulls up and shuffles feet, Linari recovers across her front and blocks ball away, Li fouls her. Sigh! This is China in a nutshell ...
81' 2-0 Li Ying receives to 14m mid-right, Linari pokes over endline right. 82' 2-0 Song Duan long serve from 35m box left to 12m 1/4 right, Zhang Rui glance-heads wide right low. There's that quintessential China long cross from nowhere to somebody ghosting in -- but they took too long to start connecting on it. 84' 2-0 Cernoia cross from 12m wide right to 12m left post, headed away. 84' 2-0 Wang Shuang touches to 25m 6-right, shoots left instep bend high and wide left.
After 84 minutes, yes. But if they make 2 of these numerous shot opportunities into something lethal, they deserve extra time. Let's see...
There is some truth to that. What Im still not sure about is how big the home field advantage must be given the games are held in France.
87' 2-0 China #_ chest-traps at 9m mid-left, spins down to 3m mid-left, shross to 3m left post, Giuliani falls on it. 87' 2-0 Wang Shuang jumps into Galli's back at 30m left post, foul. 89' 2-0 Mauro chases to 12m left touch, cross toward spot headed into near touch. Bartoli left throw-in, to 6m mid-left, deflects over endline for a gk.