Even with calculating out the time for the substitutions, the incident with the goalkeeper( I don`t know why it took so long for VAR/referee as the goalkeeper needed less than 3 minutes treatment) and another injury there were more than 11 minutes added. Is FIFA finally punishing time wasting like running to the corner flag?
The Paraguay-Chinese Taipei match tonight was wild. * Chinese Taipei was coasting up 2 goals in the 80th. * Paraguay then scored in the 80th & 81st (a bad defensive error) * Go into ET tied 2-2. * Paraguay score in the 1st OT, but it's chalked off for offside. * At the start of the 2nd OT, before the ball has been kicked off, the Paraguay keeper goes down in incredible pain. They showed the video and she was just setting up her goal before the KO and then went down, with no obvious reason for injury. She looked really bad and keep squeezing her right hand, even after treatment. She stayed in the game and finished the match. * A Paraguay field player went down, but they had no more subs. They played with 10 for the rest of OT. * The ref called a PK on Paraguay in the 120th minute for a foul at the edge of the box. Chinese Taipei horribly skied the PK. * On to PKs. Chinese Taipei missed their 2nd. On the 4th round, the Paraguay GK saved the kick, but was judged off her line. The GK saved the retake. * Paraguay won the shootout 4-2.
I thought Paraguay got lucky with all the late errors and missed chances including PKs made by Taiwan. I favor Panama in their playoff finals against Paraguay.
FT Panama 2-0 Papua New Guinea Highlights https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/watch/583yqP4MIvR2WQWXwcv40j They still lost to Panama but I was impressed by how much PNG has improved since they lost 1-5 and 0-9 last December in Australia to the Philippines.
Chinese Taipei switched off for a minute or two and lost the match they'd otherwise had comfortably won. Officiating by ref Mukasanga is another story. I do feel for any team that will get her at WWC. My lasting impression about this ref is of a future FIFA administrator/politician who atm is using officiating as a stepping stone to further her career at FIFA. Imo she has no real feel for the game, her positioning during the match is often dubious, her calls (beyond errors) show lack of consistency which leads to the perception of double standards. By any means I woulnd't call her biased... rather poorly skilled.
I really hope that Paraguay has the fuel reserves to go all the way in... Panama's win on some random goal would've been so... anticlimactic ...no to mention of possibility of another loopsided results at WWC with them playin against France and Brazil.
Six teams remain, three #FIFAWWC spots... Who will be taking them? 👀— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) February 19, 2023
Chinese Taipei are such a bizarre team. Looked dominant but extremely vulnerable at the same time. Shame they are out.
Who thinks this format should be reviewed for the next world cup?. Because the crowds are really small, and traveling thousands of miles to just lose one game is quite rough.
I don't think anyone was expecting large crowds here, so that's not a concern. Also, every team technically is getting two games in this format, even if friendlies account for some of them, so it's not all that different from the old home-and-away ties. Importantly, unless they want to increase the playoff window to include a third matchday, it's going to stay as-is. Changing it while sticking to two matchdays would require the bring fewer teams involved, and FIFA doesn't do contractions.
I am a little disappointed that Chinese Taipei is out... I was really hoping they would qualify this year and break their FIFA-record drought for women's teams that have already qualified at last once, far more than any other WNT
NZL 0-2 ARG Definitely not a good look for hosts NZL, and I'm guessing there's not much hope for the second ARG match either. NZL is going to drop dangerously close to a 1700 rating after their three friendlies, though IDK if they will actually cross that threshold... And, interestingly, ARG started their three friendlies far enough below 1700 that they won't surpass that threshold either even after their three wins.
I do believe Chile will beat Haiti tomorrow. These is a large Chilean community in Auckland (NZ as a whole) that should get them over the line, probably like the Jamaica vs Haiti game in Concacaf W.
HAI pummeled SEN in the previous round. As a reward, its next match will be called by the Rwandan referee S.Mukansanga . http://refereeingworld.blogspot.com/2023/02/fifa-womens-world-cup-2023-qualifiers_20.html Poor HAI does not know that it lost its final match already. FIFA is truly the gift that keeps on giving.