They better show the other 2 goals in the Australia/Russia match. Good chance here for Ghana coming up.
As long as Ghana can keep breaking up the play, they seem to be taking their time - ball control is helping them.
Full credit to Ghana, they're holding up quite nicely. Not entirely sure about the wisdom of giving Sun Wen copious amounts of time with the ball on her feet, though. Sounds like a great atmosphere at the Toolbox.
Holy crapcakes Batman! What does this mean? Ghana is that good? China has issues? Or both? Lets face it.. The China goal was as much skill as it was luck. That goal was the only mistake Ghana's keeper made.
Good stuff. Full credit to Ghana. They never looked like scoring but they really surprised me: I though it would be 3, 4 or 5-nil against. China may only have won 1-0 in a game they should have breezed, but they did what they had to do and they look the biz to me. Nifty teamwork. They have three or four remarkably cute players too, if you're a bloke watching! But North Korea, Germany, Japan, and of course #1 ranked US all impressed me (with their football) in this excellent opening weekend of WWC 2003. Fun, enthusiastic crowd - always nice to see and hear a happening atmosphere on these shores, even with the ground nowhere near full. Some exhilarating goals, especially the USA's first, wow. Roll on Tuesday: Spurs at Coventry in the league cup and then more WWC midweek and Thursday. I'm hooked. The knockout stage should be brilliant. Have a good week, all.
Crapcakes? Is that like cowpies? I don't want the dessert menu, thank you! To me, China played less than what they are capable of playing at. Many teams played tons of warmups until last week, so I wonder if fatigue set in and China underestimated Ghana. I also think that Ghana has shown huge strides in improvement over the last 4 years. They were more composed, agressive without fouling a lot, playing their game and keeping to the game plan, looked confident with the ball, looked confident playing against China, and intercepted passes. They were far from perfect on shooting. By the result, Group D could still be wide-open pending Thursday's matches. However, China will make the needed adjustments to secure the group.
China might've been a little flat, especially after dropping a touchdown on Ghana last time they played in a WWC. It has to be said, though, that Ghana's defense held up and, if not for their keeper whiffing on a very good cross, a point wouldn't have been undeserved. The Chinese do have issues, to be sure. Whether or not Russia or the Matildas have the ability to take advantage of that, though, is another matter.
Re: Good stuff. A Calspurs sighting ... how 'bout that? -------------- The one real knock on Ghana was exactly that - their defense withstood most of what China threw at them, but there wasn't much in the way of consistent offensive pressure. Alberta Sackey needs back-up if Ghana want to stick around past the group stage. Funny ... reminds me of another 1-0 World Cup win for an established world power about a year ago.
What a weird game. Oddly compelling, though. Ghana's keeper, Sulemana, looks like an unmade bed, but she made some amazing saves. And one howler. She really should have been able to smother the cross that China scored on. I would have selected Sulemana as player of the match (rather than the defender Baidu). Without her, Ghana loses this one at least 4-0. The Black Queens' defense cracked at the seams at least four times that I could see, but the Chinese either couldn't put it on frame or couldn't beat Sulemana. And there was no comparison between the clinical passing of the Chinese and the clumsy buildup of the Ghanaians. But the African side was within a lucky break of gaining a point against one of the tournament favorites. China looked shaky. They have too much talent not to improve their form as the tournament wears on. But I can now see how the North Koreans have been beating them in the big Asian tournaments for three years now.
From Randy Harvey at the LA Times - excerpt covering the game: I think it was Don Shula who once shrugged off a loss by saying, "One billion people in China don't care." That's the difference in pro football and women's soccer. In women's soccer, 1 billion people in China do care. A good many of them no doubt would have attended the 2003 Women's World Cup scheduled for China, hoping to see their team avenge the loss to the United States four years ago, but the tournament was moved because of the SARS outbreak. A small but exuberant group of Chinese fans in Carson tried to make the team feel at home. They also provided a World Cup atmosphere for the second game after a more subdued opener, won by Russia, 2-1, over Australia in front of a mere 8,500. They were thrilled by Sun Wen, who is the Mia Hamm of China. Like Hamm, Sun, 30, has announced that this is her last World Cup. She tied for the lead in the last one in scoring and was named most valuable player. She, also like Hamm, has critics who say she since has lost a step, but Sun was imposing, scoring in the 29th minute.
Atmosphere At HDC There were a lot of Chinese fans there at the HDC last night and they were very loud, but it was actually quite difficult at times to tell whether they were chanting "China" or "Ghana." Tsunami and I were sitting near Ghana's bench with a group of fans from Ghana (one had a niece on the team) and had a fun time supporting the "Black Queens" who played a very determined match. I really look forward to the Russia - Ghana match on Thursday.
I enjoyed the game, and thought that there were more than 10,000 in attendance. China really did look uninspired and/or tired; while Ghana was full of energy and quickness. Has anyone heard anything about the extent of the injury that Pan Lina had? Nordby1 and I were sitting right behind where the Chinese trainers were working on her and we & others sitting there wondered how they could send her back in after the type of treatment they had to perform on her knee. I felt sorry for her, trying to go back into the game after the original injury, and collapsing on it again after less than two minutes.