Game 1 saw Mexico and Argentina play to a scoreless draw, and it sounds like it was very much a draw that feels like a loss for Mexico: dominant in the stats and even awarded a penalty in the first half, but never found a goal. USWNT is currently up 2-0 over DomRep early in the second half. Could very well be up much more, but still feels comfortable
If you told me one of COL-PAN and BRA-PUR went 6-0 and the other went 1-0, I would've been incredibly confident as to which was which and I would've also been incredibly wrong. I wasn't able to watch either - can someone dish on the BRA-PUR game??
Brazil dominated. PUR keeper had a good game and the defending was stout. Shots were 35 to 5. Brazil finally got one in the 80th minute.
Disappointing attendance numbers for the Gold Cup so far. Weather and midweek timing certainly have not helped the poor campaigning from CONCACAF. Mexico v Argentina = 2,521USA v Dom. Republic = 3,242Panama v Colombia = 815Brazil v Puerto Rico = 935Total of 7,312.— SHE scores bangers (@SHEscoresbanger) February 22, 2024
Well I honestly blame it all on Concacaf. This was supposed to be a summer tournament, but the move to February was made late in the game and it wasn't advertised well at all, as the tweet said. Not that surprising the attendences are sh!t Honestly just another symptom of how WoSo is an afterthought to Concacaf. They rarely give tournaments good lead time or good billing. I mean, we're supposed to have the first Women's Champions League this year, but no announcement yet. I would put good money on saying that, if the tournament happens at all, it'll be announced in a random press release about two months before it's supposed to happen, and everyone will be left scrambling to attend and to reschedule league matches.
PAR 1-0 CRC, and the four guest nations are 3W-1D-0L so far. I started watching CAN-SLV but stopped when CAN went up 3-0 by the 28th minute
I live in San Diego and didn't know this thing was going on until tonight. Gonna try to go on the 6th, whoever winds up playing. It's been a minute since I've gone and seen any NT woso.
Puerto Rico ranked #107 in world vs. Brazil #9, and it takes Brazil until the 80' to score a goal. Credit to Puerto Rico: they give up a lot of possession but they are well-organized defensively, work hard, close on the ball and their keeper is solid. They were big underdogs to Haiti as well and held Haiti scoreless.
In modern football it is not at all unusual for the much stronger team to take the much weaker team for granted. They tend to assume that the poor team will just roll over and give the match away but that is often not the case. We've seen the same thing from the USWNT as they sometimes seem to look past the weak teams and suddenly those weaker teams play a good disciplined match and the intensity from the "better" side is just not there. Often when that happens the "better" team finally figures it out late and scores a goal or two. Costa Rica did the same against Paraguay but they never woke up (and they are not at Brazil's level) and Paraguay got the late goal. Of course it is very hard for the better teams to get "up" for matches in tournaments like this as even one win will, most probably, will cause advancement. (three teams from each group will advance except one.) With the combo of easy advancement and weak teams I am not surprised that some teams, like Brazil and Costa Rica, have problems in some matches. This tournament is, mostly, worth watching but the group stage is not going much like most people think it should. There will still be other upsets or near upsets. There is also a good possibility of some big blowouts. I guess that is what makes for an interesting tournament.
I am watching on Paramount Plus in English. It is only $5.00 per month and you get a LOT of women's soccer on there.
MD2 now fully complete A - MEX 8-0 DOM A - USA 4-0 ARG B - PUR 2-1 PAN B - BRA 1-0 COL C - CAN 4-0 PAR C - CRC 2-0 SLV PUR pull of the surprise of the round, though at this point maybe it's not a surprise based on their play-in match and MD1 result - they are absolutely riding high at the moment. A - USA 6(+9), MEX 4(+8), ARG 1(-4), DOM 0(-13) B - BRA 6(+2), COL 3(+5), PUR 3(=0), PAN 0(-7) C - CAN 6(+10), CRC 3(+1), PAR 3(-3), SLV 0(-8) USA already through to the QFs based solely on group standings, BRA and CAN through to the QFs based on no possibility of being the worst 3rd-place team. No team is mathematically eliminated yet, though DOM has the worst outlook both because of their woeful GD and because PAR plays SLV in MD3. Oddly, MD3 matches are NOT simultaneous
MD3 matches cannot be simultaneous. @AZUL GALAXY already mentioned it: BRA pulled the good ol' rope-a-dope on COL yesterday, after toying with PUR on MD1. - COL had zero shots on goal against BRA: https://www.espn.com/soccer/matchstats/_/gameId/693462 - PUR had three SOG vs BRA, despite having much less attacking power than COL: https://www.espn.com/soccer/matchstats/_/gameId/693456 That is how things go when BRA decides to either take care of business, or have a scrimmage match in the middle of a tournament.
Well, USA losing by 0-2 to Mexico will sure raise some eyebrows. Also, I guess this is a definite bye-bye to any vague plan to re-gain the 1st place in the FIFA rankings?
What I find funny is the Gold Cup is the Concacaf finals tournament and given the status by FIFA so it includes player release by club etc. But not for the Conmebol teams who have to abide by the normal dates in this window. The 4 teams are at a disadvantage. Colombia did not call up Ramirez from Chelsea because of it and Man United mentioned they could bring back Geyse early as they are allowed to. The normal international window finishes on Thursday morning 29 Feb while the Gold Cup finishes on 10 March.
The FIFA match calendar has a note on the W Gold Cup that says: "As per the decision of the FIFA Council dated 14 March 2023, the mandatory release of players...applies to all participating member associations." Why would "participating" not include the CONMEBOL teams?
There is a sub chapter in the RTSP about the ruling applying to the teams from the hosting confederation only.
Last time Mexico won with USWNT in 2010 in qualifiers for WWC 2011. 14 years and 16 lost matches later...
Can someone explain how the QF matchups/brackets will be determined? Am I correct that this has not been predetermined in the traditional (preordained) way (something like 1A v 3B or 3C; 2A v 2B, 1B v 2C, 1C v 3A or 3B)?
Nope, no such thing this time. The teams will be seeded in the quarters based on total points during the groups with the tie breakers being pretty much the same as the group tie breakers. I " think" there are provisions to make sure teams from the same group do not play each other in the quarters but, aside from that I understand the quarters will be totally reseeded.
Circling back to take a stab at the brackets (separating teams from their fellow group members): 1 Canada 8 Argentina or Puerto Rico 4 USA 5 Colombia 2 Brazil 7 Costa Rica or Argentina 3 Mexico 6 Paraguay * anticipating Group C results tonight ...
If you already assume CAN would be #1, then they have to beat CRC, and as such ARG couldn't be #8 because C3 would necessarily be at most 3pts (and B3 is already 3pts) to ARG's 4pts I do expect PAR to beat SLV, but it would be very interesting if we get another upset to get a 3pt C2 and ARG suddenly becomes QF6... But that's definitely unlikely