WoSo fans in Poland are demanding now heads of Fed's cronies. Few hours before the match UEFA said that only 14 Polish players will be allowed to play in the match. Someone in Polish FA f...d up and send wrong lists. Coach had time to call only one player an hour before match. Finally Poland had only 4 subs on the bench and a lottery on the field with players playing out of position while their team-mates watched from the stands. Head's gonna roll in POL FA..
half hour to go & it's still Wales 0, England 0. great crowd though here's the usual spam filled link http://sportlemon.top/footy/england-w-vs-wales-w-sl97je0?l=1825573608
Impressive... Wales manages to hold England to a scoreless draw - in England! I mentioned in the rankings thread a while ago that Wales' undefeated record in the group wasn't hugely impressive yet, having only beaten minnows and drawing Russia... But drawing England is quite good for them, and it's certainly worth pointing out that Wales are not only undefeated, but they're done with their away schedule. England, OTOH, hasn't played a single away match yet, though they do have a game in hand over Wales. Wales, interestingly, leads the group with just 3 GF (and 0 GA). Fun times in Group 1! A draw between Poland and Albania give even more daylight to Switzerland on top of Group 2. Scotland currently on the outside looking in, but have a game in hand over Poland. Netherlands and R.o.Ireland both win today, keeping it quite the tight race for the top spot in Group 3. Norway may have a hard time keeping up, but they haven't played Ireland yet at all. Iceland regain the top spot in Group 5 with an away win over Slovenia. Portugal comes out of an amazing Algarve performance and manages an away draw to Belgium, which means Italy's win over lowly Moldova puts them even farther ahead of the group, a full five points over Belgium. Unfortunately for in-form Portugal, their home-and-away against Belgium is now complete, meaning if they want to make up the 6pt gap between them, they'll need to do well on a mostly-away remaining schedule and get help from other teams in slowing Belgium down. Spain opening up a good gap on top of Group 7 with an away win of their own over still-second-place Finland. Finland and Austria have yet to play each other.
Tonight's action: GROUP 1 England 0-0 Wales GROUP 2 Poland 1-1 Albania Daleszczyk 2 - Morina 74 GROUP 3 Netherlands 7-0 Northern Ireland Martens 9,17, Miedema 27, Spitse 42(p),76, Van de Sanden 63, Simpson 90+3(og) Rep. of Ireland 2-1 Slovakia Kiernan 69, Barrett 87 - Hourihan 73(og) GROUP 5 Slovenia 0-2 Iceland Jonsdottir 15, Hönnudottir 37 GROUP 6 Moldova 1-3 Italy Toma 43 - T.Cimini 8, Colesnicenco 30(og), Giacinti 76 Belgium 1-1 Portugal De Caigny 90+1 - Dolores Silva 90+3(p) RC: Philtjens 90+3 GROUP 7 Finland 0-2 Spain Paredes 11, Garcia 50 RC: Hyyrynen 86
The same thing happened to us a couple of seasons ago. They had to use the previous validated squad and ended up with 3 subs as well because one of the admin did not email the list on time.
Sitting in front of the screen with pop-corns did pay! This means that Italy could even afford to draw their home-match vs Belgium on Monday and still keep the 5 points margin. But if we could get away with a win, I guess we could say that we'd basically kill the fight for 1st place in the group. Actually I wasn't literally in front of the screen , so I didn't watch the match, but those final minutes had to be real drama, with two goals after 90' and a Red Card! I assume Philtjens will be disqualified vs Italy, thus giving them even more advantage? Anyway, props to @SiberianThunderT and @Bauser, for excellent comment and recap.
here's high lights of the England v Wales game. The Lioness out shoot their opponent 23-3, win corner kicks 16-1, but Wales came closest to scoring early on & probably England got saved that there was no goal line technology for this game. 2nd half; if you ever want to learn how to 'park the bus' then look no further than a better teacher than Wales, double decker style! In this learning package should include a phenom but unknown GK named Denise O'Sullivan & CB's that weren't going to be beat in the air, by the shorter English players. Neville star keeps is dimming; he keeps insisting on the lone striker pattern, Taylor in the 1st half, White in the 2nd, Keeps trying to make Kirby, a natural fwd, into the #10, Only uses that's now the top player in the WSL, Beth Mead, for a spare ten minutes. Then late in the game, helps a Wales players who's leg just cramped, but which is a definite no-no(since it looks more like the impression that he's thinking this player's wasting time late in the game) http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/43609019
Judging from these highlights, she was really outstanding!!! She sure let her signing on this draw. After Wales had been demolished by Italy by 3-0 in Cyprus Cup, I didn't believe it was possible for them to stop England: back then they had seemed to me just a bunch of players randomly running around Fishlock, who was uselessly try to give them some order. I have to wonder if this 0-0 was more a result of their performance or of England under-performing. Probably somehwere in the middle, I guess.
I just watched from the late 1st half on, Fishlock seemed like just one of the regulars & actually flubbed the one & only counter attack they had in the 2nd half. Wales playing that condensed 5 back-line, another 4 line by the penalty line that kept the English at bay/thus virtually safe guarding any of the passing/penetration lanes) I would say Sampson was by far the better technical coach, as so far Neville seems to be only interest in playing the old but underwhelming English style of just getting it their lone striker/and in this game, without the benefit or fast breaks(due to Wales parking the bus)
How often a player scores a poker at these levels? Especially as the only goals of the game, not as part of a 10-0 pummeling of some minions.
Lea Schüller is something special... 8) Whether she’ll be a new goal scorer a’la Prinz, Grings or Sasic remains to be seen but a very very very talented player
Can't think of any off the top of my head, actually. Here is Lea Schüller's viererpack against the Czechs:
Yeah, she caught an eye in WWC U-20 in PNG. It's well worth to watch how she'll develop her skills comming WWC in France..
All the debates about "deliberate" hand-balls that took place on other threads from this boards are put to shame by the flagrant "save" Philtjens made in the final minute of Belgium-Portugal! I guess we can agree that this double-hand-ball was quite "deliberate". Or does anyone claim it was a "reflex"? Anyway, it's a shame Philtjens will be disqualified for tomorrow's match vs Italy: we could have used her... goalkeeping skills (or better: goelkeeping-while-giving-away-a-penalty skills). Dolores Silva's goal from PK keeps Italy's hopes very alive. Even just a draw could be a good result for Italy tomorrow, but of course a win would basically kill the competition in Group 6. And, since I don't think Belgium can afford to settle for a draw, they could end opening spaces for fast players like Bonansea or Girelli to exploit. I see Italy very well positioned ahead of tomorrow's match!
If Philtjens had only fallen on the ball like Supergirl (with both palms remaining flat on the grass), maaaaaaaybe no penal. But she clearly lifts the gate with both hands, making a little fence for the ball
Tonight's action: GROUP 1 Kazakhstan 0-3 Russia Danilova 59, Smirnova 70,90 GROUP 4 Croatia 1-3 Hungary Zigic 90+4 - Vago 43,84, Jakabfi 72 Denmark 1-0 Ukraine Troelsgaard 79
2nd part of big farse from Polish FA today. Like an hour ago Polish WNT flight for tomorrow SCO-POL match was still delayed by 7h. All cuz PZPN (Polish FA) went cheap on Women's team booking lastminute tickets in cheap airlines. (Even Poland men's U-20 NT for example is flying air charter). No training session today for Pajor&Co. Perspective of spending all night changing airports or flying tomorrow three hours before the match. No words ..
I’m already a bit worried with Phil Neville. His tactical plans and overall decisions have been poor and he really needs to stop playing the likes of Duggan or White in wide roles. Like hotjam I don’t like Kirby in this 10 role either. Leaves too much space between midfield and attack and the play of the ball is so slow. Fair play to Wales but the pace of the play was too their advantage. England might well have similar issues as against Bosnia as they will also be ultra defensive. I’m not a fan of Parris starting against these type of teams as she is limited on the ball and struggles to impact if there is no room to get behind a defence.
I just finished watching Italy-Belgium on TV. It was a little harder than I thought, because Belgium went ahead from PK in 1st half, but Italy managed to come back from behind and win by 2-1. It was a very well deserved win (Italy attacked for all of the 2nd half and also hit a post with Giugliano) and filled me with confidence that Italy will finally manage to qualify for WWC after 20 years of absence. Now we have an 8 points advantage over Belgium. They have a game in hand, that's true, but a win vs Portogal at home or a draw in Belgium will be enough to top the group. But even more than the result and the consequent advantage in the rankings, it's the performance itself that persuaded me that this time Italy won't fail. Everything fell into place: from Giuliani's saves to Gama's defensive play (her anticipations actually reminded me of Franco Baresi in the '90s), from Giugliano commanding performance in the midfield and from set pieces to Guagni's and Bonansea's runs from the wings. And the quality finishing from Rosucci and Girelli was the final icing on the cake! GROUP 4 Italy 2-1 Belgium Rosucci 42', Girelli 80' - Cayman 37' (PK)