I wonder how/why it is that every Brazilian women's team can get away with such rough play and "almost" committing cardable fouls but have few fouls called. They seem to just be a bunch of little angles in the eyes of many referees. I am not saying they foul intentionally or even a lot more often than others. It is just that they "ride the edge" a lot and they get away with it.
Japan is playing like a tired team. But they are not much more tired than Brazil. Overall the whole match has slowed down a lot. Now, if the match is to end before PKs, the goal will probably come from a "tired" mistake and both teams are now showing signs of fatigue.
Japan scores off yet another 'keeper mental mistake. I also question her defense's organization. The Japanese player was wide open between the two central defenders. 2-1
2-1 final. It will be a Spain vs Japan final a very very very interesting final. The third place match, Brazil vs The Netherlands, should also be quite interesting.
Second straight U20 WWC final between Spain and Japan. The sheer number of quality ballers that the two countries will release into the futbol market in the coming decade is almost frightening.
This time I don't have excuses, so I'll try to wake up at 4:00 am for the final. Don't ask me to watch the 3rd-place match, though!
FINAL Spain vs. Japan - Tactical Preview (full article) "Sunday's FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup final between Spain and Japan promises to be a fascinating encounter between two teams that have demonstrated strong tactical awareness, and the capacity to execute game plans in a very controlled and cohesive manner. Both teams bring physicality and athleticism and have players who can change the game. Two contrasting styles will clash and this will be a very tactical game. It will be enthralling and a final that will highlight the incredible multi-faceted growth in U-20 women’s football that has been evident during this tournament." - Technical Study Group
The referee for the third place match is excessively meddling in the match. In particular she gets in the way and unnecessarily asserts her authority. The Dutch are showing that they are really not that good. They gave up a corner and then gave up a goal. Brazil may well score 7 or 8 if Holland does not improve there defense and if their goalkeeper does not get into the game soon.
The Dutch score. 1-1 Horrible defending and goalkeeping now by Brazil. Both goals are the result of defending that looks like a U10 rec league.
One more case of bad defending and Brazil gets a PK and then the kick is HORRIBLE. It will go down as a save but in reality the shooter hit the keeper. The keeper dove but she did not need to move much at all. For as good as this match was on paper it is proving to be little more that a comedy of errors. I have to keep reminding myself that this is U20 but this is supposed to be two of the top four U20 teams in the world but they are surely not playing the match at the level I would expect.
Boy, the defenses have truly become lazy. Brazil give up a PK for stupidity and VAR asks for a review. It takes entirely too long but it is overridden. The hand was next to the body and that seems to be enough to cause the referee to reverse her call. VAR has no place in soccer. Even though I agree with the call it takes much much too long.
A Brazil player is intentionally flagrantly fouled from behind during a strong attack the ref calls the foul but the ref is too much of a coward to card the player.
Get to know your favorite commentator (though I'm guessing he's probably not the one the complaints have been about?) “I’m sure we’ll see a number of these players at the #FIFAWWC next year.” 🏆Chief commentator John Helm discusses his lengthy career and what it's been like to cover the #U20WWC in wonderful Costa Rica. https://t.co/ll0MJWxXiu— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) August 28, 2022
While he is the best commentator for this tournament I find links to twitter and any other "pictures" to be more that a little irritating, They make loading pages a LOT slower and they slow down scrolling and other navigation functions.
That's because this forum automatically embeds the whole thing, seems to be nothing that can be done about it
Then do not post them. There are media threads all over and it is not needed that all the crap gets scattered in real threads. Just place the crud into those and they do not clutter up regular threads. It should be noted that there are many many links posted that do not have the whole link exposed. Maybe if you just insert a link using the tool provided it would not clutter the thread.
Both teams are not playing well at all. There is a lot of action but it is like watching a littler of blind kittens playing. Neither coach made any real changes and their talks must have been extremely boring.
There are some yellow cards that should be red. In particular I believe any intentional foul from behind to stop an attack should be red. The Dutch got away with one of those in a very stupid occasion. But Brazil punishes Holland and goes up 2-1. I do wonder if either team will actually play good defense at any point before the end.
A Dutch player gets called for a handball for hitting the ball with her breast. It never touched her hand at all.