Group A, have at it.... But don't forget to read the Mod Warning. And don't forget, there will be results discussed, so if you want to watch the match later, but maintain the suspense, please don't read this thread until later.
Injury news from France : M'Bock Bathy will miss the South Korea game with a knee injury Henry back injury unknown return date Le Sommer Gluteus maximus injury should be training tomorrow Majri hamstring injury should be back training tomorrow.
The France manager said today all 23 players are fit. I would take it with a pinch of salt. Mind games imo.
a bit of nostalgia before today's game. this was the score sheet for their last major tournie bout where they lost to England in the 2017 Euro quarter finals. They actually dominated the stats(15 to 6 shots), but gave up the goal due to a turnover from ENG high press UEFA Women's EURO 2017 - History - England-France – UEFA.com the French were a bit unlucky cause they went into the game with Majri injured and Renard & Perisset were out due to cards. Abily & Thomis might of been on their last legs as they retired from soccer shortly after. We'll soon find out what in a cheepie what a new & improved France can do!
Not sure: I'll comfortably watch it on TV on a public channel at home (they're going to broadcast at least the first match), so I am not likely to interect as much as usual, but I'd be game for both individual threads or discussing the whole group here.
I mentioned elsewhere, either myself or somebody else can create. I've been tied up for most of the week, and the same will be for most of the day. I actually encourage somebody to do it as it appears there is more interest. Just created, but poor by my standards (been busy for most of the week and will be again today).
I know that Mina Lee plays in the same position as So-yun Ji, but surely they need to have their best technical players on the pitch in order to hold onto the ball?
I'm puzzled myself why Korean coach didn't send all his best players on the pitch? All three subs were quality players that Korea should start with. Was this game a "calculated loss" from the start? I would like to believe it but... I saw too many unforced errors from Korean players in this match plus (as you pointed out elswhere) tactical errors like - no defenders covering the posts during set piece. Koreans didn't caught even simple ruse with three balls played on Mbock on following three CK's. 4th time they did run to cover her in numbers...leaving wide open space for Renard to attack from deep. Oh, my seriously? Well... at least it's clear for them now - only 4 points or more will get them to advance from the group.
Also not closing down players quickly enough further up the pitch. In the women's game players tend not to defend corners with players by the posts. But as the skill level gets better I think smaller teams might have to think about it a bit more. Of course let us not forget that France are a very good team and really should go very close to winning the whole thing. But I think South Korea could have made it a bit more difficult for them. Maybe it was calculated, because I expect them (South Korea) to be a lot better. I think they will play better in the other games. But it was a tough first game for the Koreans and the perfect one for the French. I am curious to see how the French defence goes against the Nigerians. I am sure they will handle them, but I am curious to see if Nigeria can rattle them a little bit.
What was/is Korea's Fifa ranking coming into this game? I read that it was 14--is that right? Whatever it was, Korea's dire performance is proof positive that the World Cup does not need more teams. I thought Korea would be halfway respectable, at the least, but they were dismal.
Either they were playing for a loss anyways(hence why they didn't start their best players), their best players are injured(didn't notice anything wrong with them), or they just plain need to change managers because heads are scratching.... France is a very good team but Korea Republic plays sooo much better than that.
While I agree it should not get bigger (yet), I don't think it is helpful in judging the womens' game across the board based on a single match in which the host and one of the favorites was playing.
In addition to what the two posters before me said, I'll add that South Korea went 1-1-2 at the previous WWC. They had a bad performance yesterday but are not a bad team.
After tonight, I am curious to see if Norway can cause any serious problems to France. Of course, they could choose to play for a draw to top the group and work on goal difference in the last match-day.
xG (expected goals) analysis of Norway/Nigeria doesn't show much of an edge to Norway despite the lopsided score. I wasn't terribly impressed with Norway but I didn't see all of it. I thought their speed of play/speed of thought/speed of decision-making on offense was underwhelming. I suspect their offense will largely appear stagnant or missing against a really good team like France, although they'll battle for possession well enough to make a game of it. Michael Caley is a good source to follow for xG analysis and general commentary. xG map for Nigeria - NorwayThis game was not the blowout the scoreline suggests, at least in the middle of the pitch. Norway's superior finishing and goalkeeping were the difference. pic.twitter.com/7c3WuVh9wZ— Caley Graphics (@Caley_graphics) June 8, 2019
Along with "Norway's superior finishing and goalkeeping", I'd mention sub-par defense from Nigeria: with decent defenders, they could have probably made a game of it.
With the comment on superior Norwegian goalkeeping, you get the impression that Norway's goal was bomdarded with efforts, which is very far from the truth. Nigeria had a bunch of bad crosses probably counted as "shots". I see Caley Graphics had Germany-China as a statistically quite even game too (1.0 vs 0.9), which shows football and mathematics not necessarily go hand in hand well. But it's good for entertainment. Having said that, it wasn't exactly a world-beater performance from Norway against Nigeria, but for a team that has been in a media storm at home with Ada-gate, Euro 2017 fiasco and footballing identity crisis, last night's result was a step in the right direction and enough to create a tiny bit of optimism before the France game.
France v Norway will send the winner of this game through. France should make one change as Gauvin who was dropped for being late twice in training is likely to come back in.
I like this kind of discipline in a team, no carelessness allowed. I suspect this could be the reason why Katoto hasn't been even called.
The second goal by Nigeria, scored by Lamina Oshoala, is my candidate for Goal of the Tournament so far. Not only was the counterattacking move by Rita Chikwelu superb, but the finish had a high degree of difficulty, from a very tight angle. The foot work for the shot was great. https://cc.sporttube.com/embed/W5fCCCG/no-preload