[R] 2008 Peace Queen Cup , Korea

Anyone know of any links to read about match reports etc. from the Queens Cup going on right now (in English)? I've googled and come up empty.

Thanks,

Mace

 

Sunday June 15 (Matchday 1 of 3, 2nd game)
Group B
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Brasil 2-1 Italia
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06' 1-0 Erika Santos(?) header (didn't see it)
45' 1-1 Zorri PK (didn't see the cause -- from match reports, truly hilarious)
77' 2-1 Maurine, cleaning up a scramble, point-blank

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00. I attended live in Suwon. My notes on the 1st game (USA 2-1 Australia) are here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=14895084#post14895084 (except that I had Boxx instead of Wambach for USA's 2nd goal).

01. During the 1 hour gap between matches 1 and 2, we watched Brasil and Italia warm up. Here's a cultural difference:

16:15 Brasil and Italia enters field in warm-up uniforms
16:18 Brasil's non-GKs are scrimmaging 9 v 9 ("That is stretching" -- Brasilian wag)
16:22 Italia's warm-up is 5v5 handball keep-away -- they throw and catch the ball with their hands Does this, say, improve their coordination in tight spaces?

02. Attendance swells to about 300 people. Several "true" Brasilians showed up, including one guy wearing Brasil's flag like a cape. I say "true" because apparently the organizers invited local Suwonese to create two separate cheering sections, for which they bribed them by offering a free t-shirt: dark blue with "Italia" across the chest, or canary yellow (of course!) for Brasil. (For match 1, they had free USA and AUS t-shirts, too. Enterprising families assembled a complete set of 4 t-shirts. All that, and a double-header, for $5! No, I did not get any -- I was too sl^H^H^H^Ham above that sort of thing.)

Brasil's "fan" group took over the west endzone, and filled about 10 rows of 10-15 across. (This is easily arranged just by carrying the boxes of free t-shirts there -- wherever the boxes stop, that's where the fans sit ) Next to them, a group of ~15 Korean drum hobbyists, aged 45-60 (not kidding), set up, and started their traditional drum cadences. If you've never seen a Korean drum performance, search on YouTube or similar -- it's quite impressive, and easily dominates any other cheering -- the fan block was reduced to clapping their inflatable ThunderStix in unison. (It sounded particularly good from the opposite endzone, but I suspect that's a natural acoustic effect of any elliptical concrete bowl.)

03. As a fairly atypical American sports fan, I happen to know the anthems of both Australia and Italia. (No big deal -- I was curious, Googled them, spent a few hours each to memorize the lyrics.) I coulda sung all three, but you wouldn't want to hear that. Ironically, Suwon Stadium's loudspeakers are ill-suited to push sound to the endzones, so we could barely hear the anthems, and most of the Brasil block didn't even notice Brasil's anthem until it was 2/3 through.

04. The west endzone is in the shade of the Jumbotron in the afternoon -- probably why the Brasil block chose to sit there. The downside is that you can't watch the Jumbotron. I eventually walked alone to the east endzone to get closer to the action, as I expected Brasil to overrun Italia's half.

05. Brasil brought a B lineup -- no Cristiane, Marta, etc. Overall, Brasil's players are more physical than Italia's: taller, heftier, faster. Surprisingly, Italia's players showed better ball skills in tight spaces (hmm!), team cohesion, and tactical awareness.

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06' 1-0 Erika. Early action is mostly in Italia's half. I am still in the west endzone, watching a bunch of 50-year-old Korean women carrying the double-ended hourglass drums, doing the cool cross-over drumming technique, with synchronized body swaying and hip rotations -- these are probably mothers who would normally be doing this in a park somewhere on a Sunday afternoon. Suddenly, the fan block roars, and the Brasilians players are doing a group hug at box top right. Apparently, Erika buried a header ...

06. I stroll over to the east endzone. En route, I pass the Italia fan block, sitting roughly at midfield -- they can't outshout the drums. I watch a bit from midfield.

07. Compared to USA-Australia, Brasil shows more urgency, and more tactical awareness. Their major weapon was the long inside-out diagonal ball ahead of a sprinting winger. Their strength was in doing this on the fly, using many different combinations of players -- i.e. everybody's on the same page, anticipating the same thing. It's either from their system, or it naturally fits their mentality. Maybe that's the way men's soccer is played in Brasil, and they've all been watching it for years? It was a bit like watching a gridiron run-and-shoot offense with 4 interchangeable QBs and 4 wide receivers -- so Italia couldn't ever shut it down by stopping any 1 player.

08. Given the difference in pedigree between the two countries, the early goal, and the apparent physical mismatch, one might have expected Brasil to win in a blowout. It never materialized. I waited for the shoe to drop (so did Brasil!), and instead Italia regrouped and clamped down. Surprisingly, Italia showed tremendously agile and inventive dribbling techniques in tight spaces, with toe pullbacks, back-foot dragbacks, spin-and-drags, outside-foot flicks, and other moves I don't have names for -- all done instinctively, at full speed, in very tight spaces, to win and keep possession. Brasil seemed slightly flummoxed at this, and kept crowding Italia in midfield, as if expecting the ball to just pop loose -- and not only never got the ball, but later Italia was able to thread passes and wade right through midfield, all the way to Brasil's box top.

09. Italia showed tremendous savvy in advancing the ball. Their strength is very subtle to quantify -- I'd say they excel in making decisions in time. Their short passes are accurate, their first touch is good (enough), but most importantly, the ball-carrier always made the next action (pass, touch-and-chase, turn-and-hold, etc.) just in time, before the defense could swarm her. They knew where each other were (i.e. they knew in which directions they had support/numbers), they made the right runs off the ball, and they made the ball do the work. Overall, they looked like a hive mind with one brain wearing six shirts, or something. Hence, even when tightly marked, Italia could regularly construct 5-10 pass sequences right through the heart of Brasil's congestion. Brasil was probably faster than Italia in every 1-v-1 matchup on the field, but when Italia got into their groove, they had Brasil chasing imaginary rabbits.

45+1' 1-1 Zorri (pk). I catnapped right through the incident. Apparently, Brasil gave up a PK for the ages -- a harmless ball was rolling out over the endline, and a Brasilian defender picked it up with her hands too soon. Blooper reel!

10. At halftime, I crawl under the huge 20-row-tall banner at the east endzone, and doze off until 61'. At some point, Brasil subs in #16 at right midfield (short, stocky blond, very fast), and #18 at right back or nearby. #16 experiences the usual travails of a winger -- she's lonely open in a big empty space, and Brasil doesn't get the ball to her ...

77' Brasil finally plays #16 into some space on the right. She feeds #18 sprinting past her, overlapping up the right sideline. Two Italia defenders converge on #18, she backheels to #16, who turns on jets, squeezes between them and the right sideline, and carries to the corner. From there, she crosses hard low inside the 6. Italia's GK Chiara dives to smother/block as the first Brasilian raider slides in to poke, they pile up in the middle of the box, the ball pops loose to the far post. #15 Maurine is second in pursuit, blasts in from about 2 yards, sprints to the bench, and gives her coach a flying hug.

11. Italia goes back to their need-a-goal desperation mode. They are quietly scary when they do that -- out of nothing, e.g. pinned behind their own box top and "trapped" 2-on-3 by Brasilian pressure, they sometimes just pass-run-pass-run the length of the field, pierce Brasil's last-stand wall at their box top, and end up with a 2-on-0 cross and shot in the box. Including the first half (that I saw ), Italia did this about five times! Sadly, they blasted each of those opportunities onto the track -- out of gas? And Brasil's 3-defender wall broke up ~20 other chances that reached the top of Brasil's box.

12. Summary: Brasil runs faster, Italia thinks faster. Maybe this is Brasil's second tier of players, who lack the on-ball excellence to get themselves into their A pool. I dunno how close this is to Italia's best team.

 

Group B Brasil-Australia
(live streaming on Pandora TV, "Etc" channel)

52' 0-0 Aus free kick 35m left, into box, Salisbury (a center back!) drives a header low right, caught by keeper, momentum + frustration carries Salisbury into the netting.

Funny: They can't both wear their yellow jerseys, so today Brasil is in dark blue upon white.

 

60' 0-0 Daiane receives short pass across top of Australia's box, in a tight hole between 4 defenders, spins and shoots from exactly 18 yards, just wide left. Burgess subs out.

63' 0-0 Another AUS free kick from 35m right, into box, Salisbury (again!) back-of-skull header, off crossbar, cleared out.

 

66' 0-0 Brasil #2 crosses from right, just behind AUS's line of defenders, to unmarked #19 Pamela at penalty spot, she stumbles over ball , can only weakly flick with outside of right foot, it rolls harmlessly to Barbieri. Three AUS defenders flail their arms in consternation.

70' 0-0 De Vanna puts on an air show at midfield, as she comes back down the left side to collect a 51-49 ball, her first 3 touches keep dumping the ball into another 51-49 with another midfielder, she outsprints her to the ball, repeat. De Vanna weaves her way across the field right through half of Brasil's team. After her 4th escape (into open space up the right side, and she's going to leave about five of them in her dust), they foul her with a hip check.

 

85' 0-0 Salisbury clears #17's left ankle with the ball just gone, yellow card.

 

87' 0-0 Garriock crosses to De Vanna in box, defender jams her leg, she shoots a slow roller directly to the keeper.

88' 0-0 Brasil turns it over in their backfield, Garriock feeds Simon, she shoots into keeper.

89' 0-0 Brasil #19 Pamela crosses from right, AUS misses lunging header clearance, #10 volleys at far post, just misses.

90' 0-0 Brasil at top of box mid-left, quick shot to upper right 90, just high.

 

91' 0-1 Long ball to Simon at top left of box, she spins her back to goal and lays off to Garriock, who one-touch hip-checks ball back into Simon's path, she steps in awkwardly, flicks with outside of right foot to near post, keeper dives but can't save, goooooooool

92' 0-1 Brasil cross into 6-yard box, Barbieri rushes to smother shooter's foot, she volleys way high, missing even Barbieri.

93' 0-1 AUS makes two subs. Full time!

 

But no fairy-tale final for the Matildas:

USA 2 Italy 0 : two goals to Wambach on either side of HT.

Final will be a repeat of last PQC : USA vs. Canada

 

U.S. wins again the Peace Queen Cup in Korea defeating Canada 1-0 on an excellent goal by Hucles who received the MVP trophy.

 

Erin McLeod, bless her heart; she must be feeling like the worst keeper in all of Canada right now.

 

Excellent goal???

Toepunt, it's hard to believe how twisted your posts are.

There was nothing excellent about the goal - McLeod blew what would have been a very routine stop for an average club keeper.

The real story was how well Canada played after the last 6-0 whipping. This was a game that could have gone either way. It was a shame that Canada lost on such a soft goal.