Looks like the French national team is unraveling. https://theathletic.com/4248197/2023/02/24/wendie-renard-france-world-cup/
Kelly is still a dangerous player even if she’s off not scoring goals. Her ability to find space and make passes and crosses would allow the players at her club to take the goals. James is with Chelsea and they have too many good players that can score goals. At least James can dribble pass and score goals herself.
I accidentally posted most of a column by Andrea Canales and Jonathan Tannenwald in the Inquirer a couple minutes ago. I mean to select a few quotes and put them here but until then I'm deleting most of the post https://www.inquirer.com/soccer/she...anson-morgan-dunn-womens-soccer-20230227.html USWNT lessons from SheBelieves Cup: Some great play, and some flaws [deleted]
Just want to bump a post from February. Many observant fans saw the writing on the wall. I shouldn’t have hedged about Spain taking over the US spot a top the world, but at that point…the US hype and confidence was still pretty strong.
Spain didn’t take over the top spot, Sweden did. Neither team defeated the USA, except that Sweden tied the USA and won the shootout. so maybe you should be extolling Sweden’s rise to the top instead of Spain’s rise to .63 points above the USA. Now let’s see how long they hold it. The writing on the wall for me was the performance of the coach and an unbalanced team selection.
With all due respect to whatever rankings you are referring to…the same Sweden that just lost to Spain? If they meet in the next Euros…who will be the favorite? How big of a favorite will Spain be when they get all their players back? If you like Sweden in that match up, what kind of odds can I get from you and what’s the max wager I can place? Sweden had a great run and matched up well against Japan whose Achilles heel was their lack of size and vulnerability to set pieces…Sweden’s absolute strength. They played poorly against the US, some of it can be attributed to the US pressure and their sense of urgency, but Sweden gave away possession so many times on very straight forward easy passes. I’d put Sweden in top 3 for sure, but not 1.
Sweden did in fact take over the top spot in the FIFA rankings. Spain is now second and the US third. FIFA's rankings represent the entire history of the programs, not just the most recent team fielded, and Spain hasn't been good for all that long. If you want to fight about how it is done, fight with FIFA, not the folks who are paying attention...
I get it and understand how the rankings work. IMO…Spain, the current WC Champs, are on top of the women’s soccer world. Not only did they win the big trophy, but they just beat the FIFA #1. Current u17 WC Champs. Current u20 WC Champs. “A Top the world” mean different things to different people I guess. We can agree to disagree.
It's a reasonable opinion to consider Spain the top team in the world, while recognizing that Sweden is the #1 team in the ratings. The FIFA rankings (or ratings) is a tool to assess or measure the strength of teams, but as someone who works with the ratings (on a purely back-of-the-envelope basis of course!), the ratings aren't meant to replace or invalidate people's opinions or judgments, just temper them. For instance, we know there is, for good reason, a lag in the measure of a team which is rapidly improving. That good reason is most teams most of the time are going to revert to a mean after going on a little hot streak or a little cold streak. But Spain has been on a steady rise. From the end of the 2019 World Cup to the start of this one, Spain's rating rose from 1899 to 2002, just over a 100 point rise in just about 4 years. Spain defeated the US in the friendly last year while missing 15 + 2 of its top players in the turmoil between its players and the coach and Spanish Federation. It's a perfectly reasonable opinion to apply the eye-test to the ratings and conclude this is a case where Spain's rise is no fluke and its rating lags behind the team's actual growth — barring the loss of 15 + 2 + another 50+ players now threatening to refuse to play. I haven't done the back-of-the-envelopes, but it's safe to say Spain's performance rating (using the FIFA measuring sticks and applying them to games over a certain period) in the last 4 years would b unquestionably the best of any team, hence its gain of over 150 points in the official ratings since the last World Cup. *** It was understandable for some of us to cling to the doubt that Spain could break through despite the undeniable talent and string of successes at the Under-20 and Under-17 level for years. It's a bit silly now to use the FIFA rankings to deny that they have indeed broken through and have proven they are a force to be reckoned with, barring their Federation and its president (Rubiales) screwing it up. It's a misuse of the ranking as a tool for fans to use. *** ADD — perhaps I should add Sweden is not an undeserving #1. They've had a very strong last 4 years, winning bronze at the last World Cup, winning silver at the Olympics (which Spain unfortunately didn't qualify for), only losing to home team and eventual winner England at the Euros (as did Spain), and only losing to Spain at this World Cup