this would be my prediction 1 Brazil 2 USA 3 Australia 4 France quarter finalists Germany Canada Sweden New Zealand btw...........anybody knows how to start a poll?
click on post new thread. scroll down the page to post a poll, and enter question, possible responses, etc.
I also think New Zealand squeaks in by beating Colombia (who won't have Rincon). Colombia will not play with the same "heart" as NZ in their head-to-head match, and that will be the difference. I think China and South Africa will draw each other, essentially eliminating one another. China will also draw Sweden, but both China and South Africa will lose to Brazil. China with 2 points as a 3rd place team will fall short of New Zealand's 3 points from the other group. Therefore, China is out as the worst 3rd place team from the 3 groups. The 8 teams that will advance: USA, France, NZ, Germany, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Sweden USA and Brazil will eventually face in the knockout round. It will go down as the most dramatic, controversial, and exciting game in the history of soccer. Already had a dream about it. It makes the 2012 Semifinal against Canada look like chopped liver. Carli Freaking Lloyd, unbelievable.
21016? FIFA won't even exist. USA men will have won a WC. No clue who will be women's HC. Global Warming will be awful, though.
Even with them hosting, no way I see Brazil making it to the final, much less winning. They've been on a slow slide downward ever since 2011. Here's what I think... Advancing from the groups: E1 China E2 Sweden E3 Brazil F1 Germany F2 Australia G1 USA G2 France G3 *coin toss* Place those teams as appropriate in the bracket, and I'd say QF *G3* QF Brazil QF France QF Sweden 4th China 3rd Australia 2nd Germany 1st USA
It's going to be a BOOM or BUST tournament for Canada. They'll either pull off the unthinkable, by getting a result against Germany, or they'll bomb out completely. You just get that feeling about them. They'll either over-achieve, or under-achieve.
I would pick Germany higher, but their own posters have said that the Olympics isn't a big deal to them, and even coach Neid has been low key, with just one friendly(vs light weight, Ghana) before the tourney starts. But who knows, if they do win, all of a sudden the Olympics will be the greatest thing to them since the discovery of leder hosen! USA there's too many iffy's! it usually takes 9 months minimum to come back from an ACL and that would put Pinoe's recovery date only in September. Lloyd, Brian & Heath all going through lighter injuries, and me just not liking Horan & Pugh as starters Brazil is likely the team that's going to want this the most. after the non stop failure of the men's NT, this is the most opportune time they'll ever have to fight machismo and put women's soccer on the map in their own country, Christiane was the French League's 2nd leading scorer last season, Marta is still going strong,. they got now a way more versatile midfield with Andressa & Alves, as well as a tougher defense than even before with Poliana, Monica, Souza & their more athletic gk, Barbara. But if they put Erika again back there, all bets are off! well if they don't medal at least a bronze, then our Olympic medalist, Lauren Sesslemann will get the last laugh!
My predictions: Advancing from the groups: E1 Brazil E2 Sweden E3 China F1 Germany F2 Australia F3 Canada G1 USA G2 France (New Zeeland and Colombia is to close to each other and to far from US and France so E3 and F3 will have better GD and possibly more points) QF: Brazil-Canada USA-China Germany-France Sweden-Australia Semi: Brazil-USA Germany-Sweden 3rd: Brazil-Sweden Final: USA-Germany USA takes another Olympic gold
if the US wins it will be than the most dominating team in history as nobody before has win the WC and follow up with Olympic gold. That cliche the world is catching up will be permanently discarded. Don't think it's particular good for woso too have one country win everything. We've all ready seen on this message board purist fans loose interest in the International scene after the US won last year's WC. Only one NT stands between them, born from the ashes of the destroyed Spanish men, the French have their own version of the ticky tacky(beignets not included)
My predictions E1 Sweden E2 Brazil E3 China E4 South Africa F1 Germany F2 Australia F3 Canada F4 Zimbabwe G1 France G2 USA G3 New Zealand G4 Colombia QF: France vs. China Brazil vs. Australia Germany vs. USA Sweden vs. Canada SF: Sweden vs. France Germany vs. Brazil 3rd Sweden vs. Brazil Final France vs. Germany
The title of the thread is indeed quite awkward: can't a mod change it? I chime in just to say that I agree and that I'll strongly root for France in Rio, for a boatload of reasons that would be too much long for writing them all here. Well, I didn't even want to spill a single one, because it would be unfair to all of the other reasons, but I can't resist: Louisa Nécib would deserve it, for the whole of her career. I somehow see her as what Sawa has been for Japan in 2011: it would be a shame, should Nécib leave the game without winning a major tournament.
brilliant goal by 18 year old Jessie Fleming as Canada beats China 1-0. The Canadians take on France tomorrow in a friendly another surprise, scoring wise, Sweden's rather easy victory over Japan, 3-0, yesterday. I'll try and find highlights of that game. It would surely help if I can read Swedish though, lol
Strong Japan in the first half with a lot of possession but struggling to create chances. Sweden better in the 2nd half when Asllani and Schelin came in. Solid defense from Sweden all throughout the game and very good game from Fridolina Rolfö as the new center forward.
thanks, strong performance from Sweden and showing that their very deep in talent. Wonder if Schelin's super sub role will played out as well at the Olympics? The switch of Rubensson from fb to mid must be paying off dividends? Sweden must be considered one of the favorites, their excellent record vs the US means that the latter would like to avoid them at all costs. i think their only problem might be playing with only 3 mids is going to be hard against vs the likes of Germany & France, who usually like to dominate the midfield by throwing in way more numbers
Rubensson did go back to playing fullback in the 2nd half when we scored the goals so difficult to say where she should be playing. While defending against Japan it looked more like a 5 player midfield with Rolfö as solo forward and that will probably be needed against the stronger teams in the Olympics too. Pia Sundhage has finally realized she needs a strong defense. It only took four years.
here's Germany's whole sale destruction of technically deficient Ghana. The score at ht; 9-0 very, very odd about Ghama; they came in unbeaten since 2014, only loosing out in various qualification games due to away goals from ties. But take a look at their roster; they got only two players in their twenties, two in the 40's, and the rest are in their 30's!. What does that mean, they hey have a competitive or pro league in their country that keeps them going to such a late age? http://us.women.soccerway.com/teams/ghama/ghana/5972/
Doubt it, if they had a competitive or pro league there would be younger players up to replace most of the old ones around 30 or so. Pure guess from me but I would say that WNT composition indicate that they have a residence system where the WNT players are paid living wages, that means they are motivated to stay playing and the girls outside the WNT isn't pro so have hard to compete or stay playing until they are good enough to compete.
my pick for gold puts their stamp on this one with a strong game against #5 Australia. Though not shown in the highlights; the Matildas had a 1-0 lead until their captain, Gorry gets red carded for arguing with the ref. But you got to hand it to the Brazilians, all their goals come from beautiful, deft touches with the ball. Particularly their 2nd one, where Raquel lobs it over the gk in traffic
here's highlights of the final major tune up for France & Canada, before Rio. Despite winning the game,1-0, France seemed out played by Canada, especially in the midfield/ it was the zealous fouling that gave way to one too many free kicks from dangerous areas that did the Canadians in. That and that they are in serious need for a goal scorer too, as even though she was set up so well, Sinclair is continuously looking a step too slow. Too their credit, the French didn't play their usual starting 11, but still, their gk, in one play(not shown in the highlights) looked simply atrociously awful as she came way out of position. If they play like this in Ro, I don't see the French winning a medal in Rio. For Canada; Ashley Lawrence proved to be the best player of the game. Even though she just played left bak, she's pretty much dominates the highlights(when CA is atttacking), but without a decent target player, their hopes will pretty much go up in smoke as well btw.........the name, Necib, is no more, it's Cadamuro. Oh Louisa, why couldn't you pull an Alex Morgan and just stick with your old name?
Hotjam knows his stuff. Brazil is going to be a force in these Olympics. And they have the right recipe (ingredients) to give the USWNT fits more than any other team. Marta always plays at her best against the USWNT in big tournament matches, or on home soil in Brazil. Now she's combining both of those in the same tournament. The USWNT vs. Brazil match in the knockout stage will be the most epic match in the history of soccer. It takes two to tango, and the Samba Queens will be awesome to watch in this tournament.