No you don't! The fact is that was NOT deliberate handball! Not in a million years, you tell me that she handled that ball deliberately and I'll call you a liar! That ball was booted at her from directly in front of her! There is a reason why VAR didn't persue that further, if you can't see the difference between that and what Maradona did all those years ago then I really don't know what to say.
This has to go down as one of the more bizarre posts I've read. Elite players at both the men's and women's level get hurt and miss matches all the time. Because of their physiology and biomechanics, women tend to suffer more cruciate ligament injuries than men. Fitness can help recovery but it seldom keeps someone injury free (I see Paul Pogba who is as fit a player as any just suffered a meniscus tear and is out four months).
If her hand was not there the ball goes into the goal for a score. It makes no difference if something is deliberate or not, it has to do with whether the hand is in an unnatural position causing an obstruction to play. It's clear that you have no concept of how a match should be called. Had this happened to England, you would be shouting to the heavens "it's a had ball! we were robbed!!!" This concludes the discussion with you. You can go over post your blather on the Referee forum and see what kind of response you get.
You don't seem to understand the handball rule:- https://www.premierleague.com/news/2204759 And I quote:- "If the ball strikes that arm, particularly if it is blocking a shot on goal, there is a greater likelihood we will penalise that." The proximity of the player whose hand or arm makes contact with the ball to where the ball was struck from will still be an important consideration for officials when making a decision to award handball or not. She did NOT move her arm into an un-natural position!! She had NO time to do so! The ball was hoofed at her from 2 feet away! If you tell me she 'saved' that ball with her hand I'll call you a liar.
Yes the extra exposure is a wonderful thing for the sport and, in general, Europe and most of Asia and Africa it seems that women's football is well received. However there are still a number of areas, like CONCACAF (except the US and Canada), where women's football is far from supported. Many of the CONCACAF champion ship matches were attended by less than 2000 people and even the final had many empty seats. Mexico has started a women's league and it is pretty well attended but that does not translate to their national team or to the quality of play. In fact Mexico is proof that simply having a well attended women's league does not necessarily make the soccer good . Most Mexican women's matches are quite unwatchable. While women's soccer has come a long way, in much of the "macho" world it still has a very long way to go.
I think women's football has been 'big' in the US for decades hasn't it? Wasn't it more of a women's game than a men's game 'over there'?
The thing is referring decisions have been questionable for as long as I’ve been born and when it goes against England it’s been LOL, tough shit, get on with it etc without any honest assessment so I’ll take this dubious hand ball to be honest.
I just saw the possible handball replay with Williamson. It rather does look like handball. I thought the handball might be on another play: at just past the 100' mark (101, if we want to be soccer technical), first OT, Germany has a free kick: Ball goes into the box, is deflected out and a German players welps the ball at goal--and it looks to me like a handball on England's Jill Scott--who half jumps and has both arms out from her body, and it looks like the ball hits her left arm. But there was no call, no replay, no mention of handball--and so hard, even stopping my stream at the moment of contact, to tell exactly where the ball hits her--but to me, it also looks like she shakes her left arm reflexively immediately after the ball hits her. Would be nice to see that in slo-mo.
Ain't that the truth! It wasn't handball anyway..........which is why the referee didn't give it AND VAR didn't give it either!
In my opinion, there is almost never a "deliberate" handball and to suggest otherwise is crazy. Players move and often extend an arm reflexively when a ball is belted at or toward them. It's an involuntary reaction/reflex--not deliberate, IMO--but usually called handball.
Yes, at least sort of. The USWNT matches have always been well attended but matches between two non-US team are not well attended. I remember near empty stadiums at the '99 WWC and at the '03 WWC. In other words the US people support women's soccer if the US is involved. We are just as nationalistic/jingoistic (in the bad sense of the word) as anybody else. If I were a female soccer right now I would rather live in Europe or England that in the US or Canada or any place in the half of the world generally called "The West."
I think there are plenty of deliberate handball's, a few blatant ones too, Maradona, Suarez, Henry are a few 'infamous' ones, handball should never be given when the ball is kicked from 30 inches away though. There is a HUGE difference between handball and ball to hand.
They had some English national team women players from the past on the TV talking about nobody knowing anything about them, this team will be the first womens team to experience some real fame, attendance records have been smashed at this tournament, I have a feeling womens football in Europe is about to take off - its the players just coming through and the next generation that will reap the rewards.
LOL...at anybody having a problem with Lena Oberdorf. She is the natural progression of women`s football. Such a talent. So all future opponents in the midfield....better get those extra pair of shin guards. Oberdorf ist just getting started and enjoys being the player your favorite team loves to hate. Hungry like a wolf looking for it`s next prey.
So this Euro is for Europe and England a lot like the '99 WWC in the US. With the addition that European soccer is starting from a "higher" place. If the US wants to remain in the ascendancy of women's soccer they will have to somehow make/allow/encourage the rest of CONCACAF to actually improve and not just, as has been done, pay lip service to the women's game. One more thing: The Women's U20 World Cup will start soon and it is hosted in Costa Rica which is in CONCACAF. I bet the average attendance is less than 1000/game. Costa Rica is part of the "macho world" and few macho men will "degrade" themselves by watching women's soccer except to make unwanted comments.
Actually, watching just after this play, while Germany was readying to a throw-in, I noticed that the big screen made mention of a VAR check being completed. Maybe they did take a look and it didn't hit Scott's arm but another part of her body.
How supercilious to consider that the only font of knowledge is referees who happen to post in the Referee forum on BigSoccer. That merely makes the huge assumption that both all referees that post at all on BigSoccer post on that forum and that referees are the only ones that have a valid opinion. I will also presume that the VAR officlals are both referees and don't post on that forum.
Enjoyed the game today. As a USWNT fan, both of these teams scare me for the World Cup. Maybe (maybe?) we have more skill across the roster, but the hard edge these European teams will have coming out of this Darwinian struggle of a tournament worries me.
Agreed. Comparing it to the Suarez handball is just... bizarre. She was incredibly inconsistent, especially in her use of cards.
I believe that the referees that post on BigSoccer or Twitter or any other anti-social media are the very ones that should not be refereeing at all. If a referee needs her/his ego stroked and they choose to flaunt knowledge (mostly just opinion anyway) is not looking to improve the game but mainly looking to feel better about all the horrible calls that are made. Referees are like politicians in that anyone that seeks the position is unsuited to perform the job.
It would be interesting see some stats on that. The two biggest attendances in this competition (by a long way) were England's opening game and the final. Of course, the latter woould have been sold out regardless of the finalists. I do remember going to a couple of the '99 (?) WWC games in San Jose that were very well attended and didn't feature the US.
The only "game" I attended at the '99 WWC was the final. But my attendance, even way back then, was rarely without problems. I did watch most of the games on TV and there were a number that seemed to have half empty stadiums. I am also convinced that in California the problem of poor attendance at non-US women's matches was much less than in other less progressive areas of the country. But the '99 WWC had the advantage of being a "gimmick" and we, in the US, love our gimmicks. Women trying to be "real" athletes is just gimmicky to many in the male community. Plus it is very very hard for daddy to say no to their little darlings. The so called "Ponytailed hooligans" were a real phenomenon and they drove a lot of the attendance figures. It was not just one factor that drove the attendance in the '90s and early 2000s but a combination of things. Lastly I must admit that the US attendance was largely, or at least partially, driven by various "free" tickets issued to many people and organizations. I wonder if some of this Euro's attendance was driven by "free" tickets. I think not but you never know unless you are told. But I did see several "men" in the stands with their daughters or wives looking bored out of their minds. The girls did not look bored however.
Men:Football’s coming home!! It’s coming home!! IT’s coming!!Women, 60yrs later: … FFS I’ll get it myself. ⚽️💪🏃🏻♀️— Amy Wright (@QEMrsWright) July 31, 2022
I feel a bit for Steph Houghton tonight. It must be tough to be a mainstay for a NT for, what--close to 10 years? I don't know for how many years she was a starting CB, but it was a long time. And I believe she was the captain for a few years as well. Then to get injured earlier this year, not get picked for the Euro roster (no doubt a bitter blow) and then see the team finally win a major title without you? 'm sure it is a very bittersweet moment for her--both happy and sad. But such is sports, and even if she had not been injured she would have lost her starting spot to Williamson, who's a significantly better player at this point in their respective careers.