I played intramural indoor in college just to play. We were getting crushed by a clearly superior team, they and their fans (who has fans at these things) were celebrating everyone of their 10+ goals on us like they just won the world cup. To me it was completely classless. I didn't mind them continue to score, but celebrating everyone like it was the world cup game winner, just pissed me off. So I started thinking the same in this situation...you dont need to celebrate the 13th goal like that. But this argument you made is the crux for me. These women, like a lot of us, grew up dreaming about playing in the world cup. You better believe if I scored any goal in the world cup, no matter the scoreline, I'd go wild. It would have nothing to do with anything else. So good for them for enjoying the moments (all 13 of them).
this argument loses weight when it's a player in their 3rd world cup scoring their 2nd or 3rd goal of that game.
Playing down a level (like it appears the team in the intramural example did) and celebrating like that is different than just being better. Softball leagues often have a homerun limitation on teams in B, C, and D leagues - pass the limit, and it's an out no matter how far the ball goes - to prevent such things. Local parks and rec, and Intramural leagues often struggle with teams selecting the rec league when they ought to be in the competitive divisions (the quest for the championship t-shirt is apparently all-encompassing). Those teams celebrating is disingenuous, clueless, and kind of sad. The World Cup is the pinnacle, and there's no "playing down" there. Once in grad school we had a pretty relaxed sort of team in the rec softball league at Wazzu, and this team of all-stars played down in our division. Every player could hit the ball as far as they wanted, whenever they wanted, and they did. So I took over pitching duties (slow pitch so no biggie) and started using a league rule where you could just say "intentional walk" or so indicate, and it was done, the better to speed up the game. So I started walking three guys at a time - "I walk you, I walk you, and I walk you" - and pitching to the fourth guy, who invariably hit a homerun. They were pissed off and said I was ruining it for them, but they had already ruined it for everyone else - and I liked them being frustrated too.
With a team on the field composed largely of reserves the USA women are eating up Chile in the first half.
The Chilean goalkeeper is excellent. She’s the only reason the score is similar to that of the Thailand game.
Endler is her name; she plays for PSG. And she stopped Christen Press three times, two of them on very good shots. Most impressive.
PS the Royals won 1-0 yesterday. Vero went out injured, and down all of the World Cup players plus LaBonta still suspended, even the last place team was going to be a challenge.
I attended the match - my first of 2019 - and the product on the field was better than the 2018 version of the Royals, even with the missing players. A healthy ARod is definitely helpful in that regard. It was too bad Vero went down injured as she was the most creative player on the pitch. The best player in the game, though, was Raquel Rodriguez (number 11) for Sky Blue. She was smooth on the ball and was the best outlet for Sky Blue to break down the Royals press. Honestly, the game should have ended in a draw. If not for some good goalkeeping and some honestly really bad finishing by Sky Blue, the Jersey side would have got at least a goal.
Wow! Japan was clearly better than The Netherlands. It wasn’t even close. Yet they win in the 88th due to a ‘ball hits the shoulder called handball’ penalty. I feel sorry for the Japanese women. It’s an all Europe quarterfinals except for the USA.
VAR has been incredibly frustrating this tournament. The rules need to be changed. VAR is killing the game for me.
What VAR should do vs how it's being done is disconnected. It was always going to take time, but it's becoming frustratingly slow and nuanced. I also think the way this sport defines handballs has become so bizarre that nobody honestly knows anymore what is and isn't going to be called. Defenders are essentially punished for having arms. The Soapbox did a pretty good write up on the frustrations of VAR yesterday. I'd recommend checking it out just for the PRO video segment alone.
Three Royals started today's WWC semifinal against England. This game is fantastic so far, and Press scored the first goal. One of the best soccer games I've watched in a long time.
It's twice as fun to watch with a Brit! I'm loving this game, too. It's so lovely seeing our local players getting the big time attention.
great gameplan from the English, especially after halftime. The offside call was minimal and, while correct, didn't honestly give White much of an advantage. it was just inches of being in the wrong place. The pk, on the other hand, was bullshit. The point of VAR is to review "clear and obvious" errors. I'm still not convinced Becky made contact, or anything warranting a pk, on that play. Proud of the national team. They've shown some real heart in this tournament and an ability to be the lesser side for long stretches but still play smart. That's kudos to Ellis - something she doesn't get much of. Curious how the other side of the bracket will go. Nothing about Sweden or Holland really seems as much of a task for the USNT. France was a beast and England (on short rest) really pushed the team to the limits. With an extra days rest and, at least from what I've seen, a lesser opponent, this is all for the taking.
I lean towards it being a PK but a pretty weak one though. I think Becky did get a touch on her leg as she was in motion to strike the ball but the only possible way to tell was with VAR. Thus the soccer gods stepping in to make things right.
It looked to me like Becky's contact with her leg is what caused her to whiff on the shot. I thought it was a fair use of VAR, especially with the close offside call earlier.
I thought the offsides call on the goal was iffy at best and that the penalty kick was the ref throwing England a lifeline for that call. Unfortunately, England whiffed the penalty. Since it looks like the US will walk all over either Sweden or the Netherlands, it doesn't matter who will win between those two.
Rapinoe didn’t play? Did she take a knock against France? It’s impressive that we could win this one without her.
Yes she told grant wahl she tweek her hamstring late in the France match. If you recall she got subbed off in the match