Norway v. England All due respect to @Gilmoy, I need to start the threads going forward due to the nature of the conversation. Y'all, please consider your tone in discussion, and that most of you are not regular visitors to this forum. Please lower your hostility and aggression (yes, I have seen it increase). But, I will note that this is largely surrounding officiating decisions. Thus, I have set up a Ref discussion thread here. Please take all ref discussions/opinions there. And, as a reminder: Please read the the Mod Warning.
England have their two centre back doubtful for tonight. Bright with a virus and Houghton with an injury sustained by the Cameroon player who kicked her badly in the previous game.
As I have a few days off from work I’m going to my local pub to put it on and see what kind of support there is for The Lionesses. ( The place is mostly an old man and a dog type pub but we shall see if there is any passion left in these people)
The BBC showed footage of the squad playing games on a beach near Le Havre during half time in the coverage of Japan v The Netherlands. Houghton certainly looked fit if you can judge that from a brief clip where she was running and jumping. The reported virus is much more concerning, especially as players will be desperate to play and thus may underestimate its effects. The temperature in Le Havre is expected to be around 27 celcius (80 farenheit) at kick off time. Around 62% humidity. Against many nations a lower temperature would be better for England. Against Norway it may be an advantage as England have had a high percentage of possession. I'm glad it is not being played in a more southerly city experiencing the full brunt of the heatwave. Intriguing match. I've been impressed by Norway. I've also been impressed with a lot of England's play except when passing the ball around at the back. I'll make allowances for the mistakes against Cameroon as the circumstances of that match could have understandably rattled the players. However, they haven't been convincing in possession at the back in any of the matches. Neville has heaped praise on Norway. He has said that they have been the surprise of the tournament and that he has really enjoyed watching them play. Of course there could be tactical reasons to say this but it is good to hear in any case. I certainly agree with him. I really hope that England win today as this tournament is achieving a great deal for the women's game in my country. Perhaps I should say that the players are achieving a lot for the game. A run deep into the tournament would have a great impact on women's football in England. I make England favourites but only at a 55:45 ratio. Even then I'm biased!
Norway is a very good team; they have a very real chance of beating England today. I'd say it's a pretty evenly split match, but also for me no team has been a bigger (pleasant) surprise than Italy.
Really have no idea who to root for in this one. England is always a familial choice (after the US), but Norway has really won me over this tournament with their play and team spirit. Looking forward to a great one.
I'm pulling for England as Norway already was a title. That said, it will be difficult to beat the US, I think...so really, I kinda want both teams to win.
Sigh... Three hours to go! #NORENG 🇳🇴🏴#DareToShine pic.twitter.com/nGHb21fcQa— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) June 27, 2019
My experience is there are two types of managers. The type who say we're ready to rock when they're broken, and the type who say's we're broken when they're ready to rock. I think England are ready to rock. The bookmakers have made a clear favourite in each game: Germany, Netherlands, England, and the USA. Will we see an upset in one of these? It will take some very good luck, fortunate inches around the woodwork, the stars and VAR lining up, and a weak performance by the favourite.
Identical. Våre elleve utvalgte🇳🇴 Se Norge-England på TV 2 fra klokken 20.30! #sterkeresammen pic.twitter.com/E92DY8DO2z— Fotballandslaget (@nff_landslag) June 27, 2019 Stokes for Greenwood. (Houghton [foot] and Bright [virus] both cleared to start) Here it is. Click to reveal the starting team for tonight vs 🇳🇴C'MON #Lionesses pic.twitter.com/8mVClx3FZD— Lionesses (@Lionesses) June 27, 2019 TEAM NEWS | #NORENG 🇳🇴🏴How do we feel about the Starting XIs? #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/5eJTguNQjI— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) June 27, 2019 This match is actually Q45, where Q = quarterfinal. (The 1st letter is significant, not merely a placeholder.) After that, we have S49 and S50 for semifinal, and finally Th51 and Ch52.
Maria Thorisdottir spells her own name with no accents above the vowels, so I'll do what she does. Bottle trick! (somebody show this to Heath) Stemningen i troppen er på topp, og jentene og støtteapparatet stortrives i Le Havre😀Mandag kveld ble den første treningsøkten der gjennomført, selv om de med 120 knalltøffe minutter i beina fikk hvile for å være best mulig forberedt til kvartfinalen mot England om tre dager💪🇳🇴 pic.twitter.com/yOUomLzIIH— Fotballandslaget (@nff_landslag) June 24, 2019
All three of the England players who were under suspicion of not taking part are suited and starting.
Yes, and I didn't buy one of them for my Fantasy Football team because she was in doubt! I just hope she doesn't go to score.
Last game with Cameroon, England was not playing well at all. 3-0 scoreline is very misleading...I'll give Norway an edge to win today
Stade Océane, Le Havre. 26°C = 79°F, 60% humidity. Ready ! #FIFAWWC #NORENG pic.twitter.com/xelpxFSjSZ— Benjamin Durand (@ruedesmusees) June 27, 2019 Which way will that shadow creep? Another day, another stadium. Stade Oceane, you’re a looker 😍 #NORENG #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/kzzSTRBYO4— Liana Buratti (@lianaburatti) June 27, 2019
I'm picking England to take this one. I just think Norway overall is a little too young and inexperienced to go past this stage.
Here's what you really need to know about Norway: in an expose prior to the 2015 World Cup, the Norwegian women admitted they suck at football. So nice to be able to roll this out again (tee-hee!) Meanwhile, using the official ratings: England (official 2049) has expected odds to advance of about (.684) over Norway (official 1915) Using performance ratings since 1/1/2018: England (performance rating 2025) expected odds to advance about (.605) over Norway (performance 1951) Either way very competitive match which calls for Big Soccer expert analysis. Injuries, fatigue, lineups matter and remember, kids, Styles Make Fights
This is one of the things I detest about fantasy leagues. I’ve put my druthers aside and am just looking forward to a thrilling match.
I had watched it already back then, but of course worth rewatching! Such an humorous team would actually deserve to advance! Meanwhile, BBC showed the caterpillar celebration from old times: @Bonnie Lass where you are???
The main problem with this match is thinking of some music for Norway. I guess I should've explored the Norwegian death metal scene before the World Cup. Otherwise, I guess it's Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor, which is a pretty brilliant concerto though not World Cup-ish. Sweden will also present a problem except a different problem. You can think of something. You just can't think of how to get away from it. (ABBA)