Australia sent the U23 women's national team to the AFF Championship(regional championship for ASEAN Football Federation) in July and not the full seniors. Those results therefore did not affect the FIFA rankings. The senior Australian team actually won 4-0 over the eventual AFF Championship winner Philippines in the Asian Cup 4 months earlier.
Portugal will be a tough opponent for the USWNT, much harder than the 2019 group, and only top 2 is good enough to progress
here's highlights from yesterday's massive battle between #2 Germany & #3 Sweden. Sweden looking the way more dangerous. If my projections are correct(USA & Sweden both win their groups & proceed through the playoff eliiminations( they should meet in the semi finals. Despite an older squad that could have as many as 10 players 30+ years old, they still come with a cast that looks fit & very experienced. Their frontline of Rolfo, Blackstanius & Jacobsson make one of the deadliest scoring trios in the world
WOW Kelly alone got a season’s full of highlights wrapped up in just one game. What’s amazing is that England’s doing this with upfront; four brand new starters from their Euro squad. Those four(Russo James Kelly Toone) are looking actually better than the Euro champs starters(White Mead Hemp Kirby) willing to bet half of their roster belongs to their Benfica club(which currently unbeaten the Portuguese league). This gives them the extra chemistry that other NT’s just don’t have. But letting one club dominate it’s NT doesn’t always work out that well once the opposing all-star based squads go through their pre tourney camps; previous one club dominant Barca/Spain & Lyon/France look great for most of the year, but usually flop in major tournaments
Big news out of France; team captain Wendie Renard has resigned from their NT, citing irreconcilable differences with the highly volatile coach, Diacre. Right after that, two other major French players(Diani & Katoto) resigned in support. Due to previous spats Diacre kicked, Henry & LeSommer off the team. The French soccer fed is having an emergency meeting. Last time something like this happened(in Spain) the feds sided with the coach. This time, unlike Spain, I don’t think France has the sufficient depth to replace those missing
here's FIFA Game Pro's all-star team, with Alexis Putellas winning another mvp. A few notes; Renard, Putellas, Mead & Endler might or not even play at the upcoimng Wolrd Cup . England leads to 4 players on the list , their WSL leads in leagues with 5
The European bias is heavy. It is hard to take that award seriously when last year Kerr was a top 3 FIFA player yet she did not make the Fifa 11 team. This year Earps wins top goalkeeper but Endler is on the top 11. Similar oddity in the men's side this year too. Casey Stoney posted about it yesterday on her IG story asking how they heck this happens.
People shouldn't be asking how it happens because the process is well-known. The Best awards are voted on by three people per country (NT coach, a player, and a media rep) while the FIFPro XI is voted on by the whole pool of FIFPro players. Not super surprising if differences arise.
Its more than that. How can you be one of the top 3 players up for player of the year, but not make the top 11? How can you win the top GKer honor but not be in the top 11 team?
the problem is that you keep thinking it’s the US vs Europe, when it’s not; it’s actually US vs 20+ individual Euro countries. Back in 2019 I predicted the US would win the World Cup, cuz no other country could put 23 actually paid professional players on their squad—as even heavyweights like France & Germany only had 2-3 pro clubs in their entire 1st division system. Euro champs Netherlands basically had an all amateur league. But if you combined some of those Euro countries; for an instance an all Scandinavian team(still pop. less than 30 mill), or if only England played as UK, then the 2919/US squad could of been defeated(UK would of had Little & Fishlock on that squad that lost in the very close semifinal) So with this list, US should only get one player in it/England does have way too many, but that’s cuz their been unbeaten in now 26 games now as well Euro champs & an win over the US(though both we’re missing quite a few players). I still see the US doing well at the upcoming WC(with now 12 professional teams to choose from, how could you go wrong?) but not enough to get them passed the semis
Update, seems like Diacre has nine lives; due to the rebellion of several players, an emergency session was held yesterday with a prediction that the embattled coach will be fired. But the French Fed president resigned instead. Diacre still keeps her job/the rebellion continues…
It's not "more than that". The FIFPro awards and the Best awards are entirely two different pools of decision-makers - including for the shortlists, so the Best's "top ten" shortlist isn't going to align with the FIFPro final best XI results. What each pool thinks is never necessarily identical, and the sets of votes do not affect each other at all. All you're seeing when the two don't "line up" is that different people have different picks for who they think was the best that year. Also: it's been well-documented before that the Best awards voting pool often lags actual performance, and many people get votes based on name recognition and previous years' performance. This is entirely due to the voting structure and the awareness of the voting pool, which has a small percentage of actively high-level players, coaches, and media. Not that the FIFPro voting in infallible either, as the demographics of professional players obviously biases to UEFA, but it's usually better than the Best voting is.
But they are both FIFPro awards. So you have to admit it makes them look bad. When Casey Stoney is calling it out for being embarassing and odd on both the men's and women's side I would say that says something. Perhaps they should align their decision makers if they are going to announce the awards in tandom, because it looks really bad.
Never did I say the US was shorted. I said Eurpoean bias. You assumed I meant the US. Alex Morgan had no business being on that list in my opinion. She is nowhere near our best player.
As has already been explained, they are not both FIFPro awards. The Best XI is by FIFPro, the Best is by FIFA (and was formerly the World Player of the Year award). They might be announced at the same gala, but it's from two different organizations and two different voting bodies.
Ok but they create that confusion by announcing at the same gala and both calling themselves FIFA awards. Even Casey Stoney agrees as she posted about it.
Don't read too much into friendly results. Germany is still very much a prime contender to win this year's WWC, even with the recent news that Marozsan is retiring from international football. There are several reasons why I see them as one of the top favorites: 1) They are a world power but one which has not won a WWC since 2007 so they seem due, 2) They have a very easy group where Colombia and South Korea don't figure to pose that much of a threat which will allow Germany to rest players and have them in peak form for the knockout stages, 3) They will be motivated to return to the top after coming up just short in last year's Euro final and 4) They don't have very many key injuries or coaching turmoil like some of the other favorites do. As far as England goes, it was great to hear that Beth Mead's first surgery was successful and her recovery is going well but I still question whether she will be fully 90 minutes match fit by July. Hoping for the best but if not then Wiegman may have to use her as a late substitute instead of a starter which will hurt England's chances against the quality opponents they may end up facing in the knockout stages.
if both win their rather easy groups & round of 16 match, then England & Germany will meet in the quarterfinals, I would pick England to win. England’s is the one country that’s incredibly improved an a whole since the last WC; I mean at the NT level, they bought arguably the best coach in the world in Wiegman/signed the 2919 USWNT conditioning trainer/spend money hosting the Euros & the Arnold Cup(earlier in the year). At the club scene; their WSL league is honestly the only full 12 club woso professional league in Europe. Its league not only got most of UK’s best, but also signed a significant number of top Swedish Norwegian Australian & Dutch NT’s as well(definitely on par with what the Premier League in men’s soccer) Currently the Lioness are unbeaten in 26 games, and they’ve done that even while experimenting with new lineups & tactics. They got no problem replacing injured or retired players as their new front line & CAM(Russo, Kelly, James Toone) look more dangerous now than their starting lineup at Euros(White, Mead Hemp Kirby) Germany has taken advantage of a new Golden Generation of players. They do have an excellent ‘school of soccer’ system in producing top notch youth players, but cut often feels like they peak at a rather young age. They only got 3 fully paying woso professional clubs in their 1st div Bundesliga. Most of the talent has drifted to Wolfsburg & then Bayern(not always a good sign when you out all your marbles in one bag). Their NT coach(abbr name, MVT), can show signs of brilliance, but often forgets what worked in the first place(I would call her a demented genius). So far it’s Wiegman 4, MVT 0 in prior matchups between theses coaches. England’s slight problem is they’re going to face stiff competition already in the round of 16 when they probably will either take on Canada or Australia(whoever 2nd from their group). But fair to say whoever winner of that quarter final match, will emerge as an favorite to win it all _______________ in updated news; France finally fired their hated coach, Diacre. This should open the way for popular players like Henry & LeSommer. Despite missing several important players(like their explosive striker, Katoto), France was still able to make into the semis at Euros. So they should be even stronger for the upcoming WC
I don’t have a link but Sarina was on TV this morning saying if Mead can’t play then James will be the direct replacement. Is she saying that to scare the other teams? If so, it’s likely to work. Any news on FrankHerby?
England's new front line may be putting up impressive numbers in friendlies and other lesser competitions, but I am still not convinced that they will be as effective at a major tournament as their starting lineup last year was. Even the greatest women's coach in the world right now, Sarina Wiegman can only do so much without a talismanic talent like Beth Mead (if she is indeed omitted from the squad or plays a very limited role). Russo is the real deal as she proved at the Euros and should be an automatic starter at the WWC but I think Kelly is better coming off the bench than as a starter. Sure, they have a ton of squad depth and plenty of other options in Mead's position but none are truly a like for like replacement for Mead. I rate MVT highly as a coach as well even though she has not yet won a major tournament. A lot of people were predicting Germany to crash out early at last summer's Euro and they ended up making it all the way to the final. The final outcome may have been different if Popp had played. Both Wolfsburg and Bayern are very strong clubs so if the majority of their players are based from those two clubs then I see that as a good thing. England at least has Denmark as legitimate competition in their group- Germany's group is definitely easier. If France hires the right coach to replace Diacre and all of their players are on board, they have the talent to beat anyone. However, history shows that teams that undergo coaching changes just a few months before a major tournament usually don't fare that well because it takes time for a coach to really implement their tactical system and have everyone buying in especially at international level.
Concerning winger’s, with only 4 spots available(2 starters/2 subs) Wiegman got a lot to choose from/she’s already tried Mead Hemp James Kelly Parris Galton Park Robinson I would worry about Mead though; injured players are taking a lot more to return than the supposedly 9 month recovery period, but if so, that would only bring her back at mid August(which is when the playoff eliminations already have begun). It be better to have someone that’s at 100%—-especially going through what’s got to be an rigorous pre tourney, training camp(if remember—last time—-then coach Neville, put them through military boot camp, lol) could add battle brewing for striker, spot, for sure it be Russo & Daly, but with one striker spot still available , it be either be Beth England or Ebony Salmon. Guess NWSL fans would pick Salmon with all the goals scored in that league, but Beth was looking great at Chelsea till Kerr came along, and been sitting on the bench ever since