This is for all the non group-specific news and discussion. Please discuss attendance or best player or media coverage or anything else that might not be specific to a particular group or team. As always, please read the mod note: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/world-cup-posting-mod-note.2103058/
I found a GREAT LIST to share especially with casual fans. 2019 women’s World Cup teams, ranked by how much fun they are to watch by Kim McCauley for SB Nation It's what casual fans need. That and the video that's out there somewhere that someone posted last year. It was captioned something like "Dutch girls doing Cruyff turns like it's 1974"
Why Lieke Martens is crossing her fingers in this pic? Doesn't want to be jinxed by the notion of "fun team to watch but actually not winning"?
Interesting summary of youth to watch: Three weeks today, the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup kicks off in Paris.To get you excited, here's a thread of just *some* of the exciting young (21 and under) talent that will be on show.In no particular order... 👇 #FIFAWWC— Ameé Ruszkai (@ameeruszkai) May 17, 2019 Got the question to our French friends: is 10th June a bank holliday in France?
Well that was interesting for sure. Not one single player from the U.S. made the list of 30 players. There were 2 Canadians and one from Jamaica; though, you could argue they played at U.S. colleges. Doesn't bode well for the best team in the world that they don't have a single up and coming youth player playing in this year's WWC. These lists are a joke. LOL!
Not sure I agree that Australia’s defense “sucks”. It might not be their strongpoint, but it’s not “that bad”. AND.... nobody mentions Devanna...in the games I’ve watched this year, her pace is still top notch, and if anyone is a secondary scorer to Kerr, it’s her
It's a nice, short rundown of teams & their entertainment value, a good conversation starter. I agree Devanna still looks good but maybe not a 90-minute player anymore in a grueling tournament like the World Cup.
Unfortunate news about referee Carol Anne Chenard. She's been diagnosed with breast cancer and is out of the World Cup.
Wow! I must have missed something: Ada wanted to play for 2019 WWC but the coaching staff left her behind and did not try to work things out with Ada - really? Who is Kim McCauley? She is entitled to her own opinion but not her own facts. Total dump on Norway. GREAT LIST according to Kolabear - really? Poor training and tactics - I have not heard the other Norway players indicate this (unless they are all afraid to say this out loud) - really?
Best wishes for a fast and complete recovery to her. Does anyone know if she will be somehow replaced or if the matches she was scheduled to direct will be re-assigned to other referees already on the World Cup team? What about her ARs?
I don't know, but it reminds me I meant to remind people about the thread on the Referee Forum. If you have serious referee questions during the World Cup, you might want to post a question there as there are many referees who might comment on or answer your questions. (But remember the moderation rules are stricter there - they're not interested in typical fanboy or fangirl whining about the officiating)
It's an opinion piece and , as such, it's great. Great conversation starter and introduction for the casual fan. Serious fans like us really are clueless about how to make the game accessible to new and casual fans.
Yes but here's the thing - when writing about the state of women's soccer, journalists, even the dedicated WoSo ones, will bury Portland's success a 10 or 20 paragraphs into the story. And most "serious" fans are okay with it because Portland is old news to them. There's always some injustice somewhere, some unequal pay or unequal treatment story that we can cover somewhere in the world which is "new", which we haven't talked about, whether it's Norway or Jamaica or the USA or Afghanistan. What's more important to the "serious" fans of women's soccer? That they get fresh examples of old grips, something they haven't heard about before? - or that potential new fans find out what's fun about the game, what's working, what's successful, what's wroth being a fan about it, whether it's for the 4 weeks of the World Cup or something more permanent? We fans of the game - and most of its dedicated fan-journalists - are silly about that
Well, I to me there are three-ish groups. 1 - Those who follow women's football, whether the WSPL (or college), France, the WCL or elsewhere. 2 - Those who know the game, and know who is good, and know about professional women's soccer, but don't follow it like category 1. 3 - Those who are casual fans, who know something of football and something of the World Cup, but other than every 4 years or when their daughter or niece has a game, don't follow. The biggest thing about following the women's game is simply keeping it alive and growing. As a born and bread yank, with two yank parents, and 4 yank grandparents, I started watching football in 1982 (World Cup), as a youngin' and was attending matches pre MLS and pre-1994 WC. I have watched the level of fan interest grow as MLS has continued to grow. Women's pro soccer needs to continue year after year for there to be new and casual fans.
There's a 4th category - sports fans. People who like sports, lots of sports, and they may add women's soccer to their list if they're introduced to it the way they are with other sports - tips on which games to watch, what players to watch, what to look for and appreciate. Also, in your category 2, there's lot of room between those who "know about it" but don't "follow it" - and it would be nice to help them become more of a fan by helping them to discover who and what to watch. I'm not asking much. I'm asking that a sport be covered by sports journalists and talked about by fans the way other sports are: as sports. Sports with stars. Sports with highlights.
Some (American or even other) non soccer fans will watch the World cup until their National team is eliminated, mostly the Olympics effect.
CNN has a good article focusing on Lyon and Olympique Lyonnais' key part in the growth of women's soccer in France.
To me, that is the every 4 years category. Like those who watch women's hockey or track and field (athletics) or curling. That category really was meant to include those who will watch at a bar or when flipping stations, but not plan their day around a match, or have it marked on the calendar. Oh, absolutely. There is a lot of nuance in all 3 of my categories which we could discreet and pick apart. For example, if you know who Alex Morgan is, and what she does a profession, does that mean you know the game? They were meant to generalize...still, it is a good question to discuss. Yup. But, further, in the not-do-distant future, I can see a dedicated women's sports channel. Might be a bit like ESPN was back in the early 1980s at first, but there are enough professional women's sports around the world that I can see it happening.
Came across this today. Not really 2019 news, but a nice bit of history and the struggles at least the English team had. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/extra/LNoYd7se8m/the-lost-lionesses And can you image being 16 and playing in front of a sold out Azteca?
Shanice van de Sanden met haar WK-kapsel. © Screenshot Instagram Shanice van de Sanden Shanice van de Sanden has her hair specially fixed for the WC with a panther skin pattern making a statement she's ready for the hunt. Mmmm, not very lionesque.
Wonderful piece of work by the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/07/sports/soccer/world-cup-survey.html