I think Canada matches up REALLY well, the British commentators from the Brazil game were already looking at the semi finals lol. UK don't have Sinclair Just need to get her on the ball in the final third more.
Haha. Just like all bl., um.. yeah I'm guess the journalists are trying to get used to writing about TeamGB; having rough time at it, too.
Ah, what I would give for a time machine. I want to go back a week and put some money down on Melissa Tancredi (hereafter known as he Greatest Women's Striker in the World (TM)) as the leading goalscorer after group play. If I had wagered a hundred on that, I could have retired in ease. surely it would be too greedy to make a parlay on Tancredi to lead and Steph Houghton to be second
good thing you didn't. Abby is second on fewer minutes played. http://www.fifa.com/womensolympic/statistics/players/topgoals.html I dont think assists are right. i think at least two of Tancredi's goals are off Sinclair assists on headers, arent they?
Japan tied to avoid France in the quarter and the USA in the semi, and the latter more importantly. FIFA Fair Play Code Rule #2: "Never set out to lose. If you do not play to win, you are cheating your opponents, deceiving those who are watching, and also fooling yourself. Never give up against stronger opponents but never relent against weaker ones."
Well they didn't set out to lose. They certainly didn't cheat SA as SA were grass-rolling the whole time to get the draw as well. They certainly relented though.
i'm fairly certain i've seen Sinclair assist twice; possibly three of the 6 GF. but they only list six players in the tournament as having assists so i'm sure there are others being incorrectly shown with zero assists.
Well, considering England beat Japan 2-0 last year at WWC, and Japan crushed a Marta-less Brazil side in april, I guess it's not that bad a pairing, for the effort. For sure they wanted to avoid France. And a some hours travel to Glasgow. Oh, by the way: today it was Kaihori in the goalmouth, and not Fukumoto, as it's been said here.
“It was the coach’s instruction that we wanted to stay in Cardiff and come second in the group, so I knew that the bench were getting information about the other match and I had been told,” Japan defender Azusa Iwashimizu said. “It is something we needed to do in order to get a medal.”
Eight badminton players booted from Olympic tournament for throwing matches http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympi...ooted-from-olympics-for-throwing-matches.html
If these quotes are true about Japan purposely throwing matches I've lost respect for them and I believe they will pay the price in the end when they face the US. I'm going to quickly email and tweet this information about Japan purposely throwing games to avoid the US to USWNT spokesperson, Hope Solo, team captains Christie Rampone and Abby Wambach, and coach Pia Sundhage. US play a physical game that doesn't look the prettiest at times but at least they set out to win their games like a team is supposed to IMO. If you ask me, Japan are not likely to win the Olympic tournament and this US team will make sure of that.
I don't like it since it's not sporting behavior, but in light of what happened with badminton, it really rubs me the wrong way. It's the nature of pool play. The US doesn't get the best shot of top teams in men's basketball after a couple of quarters. They want to see how they stack up and they chalk it up to a learning experience for deeper in the tournament.
lol, I'm sure they need you to inform them of that. Pia has already been interviewed on the matter. Anyway Japan didn't "throw" the game, they played for a point which is very common in soccer. If Japan needed 1 point to advance and tied on purpose I doubt anyone would complain. Another thing is, Japan never said they wanted to "avoid the US". In fact, they would've still avoided the US if they had finished first. They clearly stated they wanted to avoid traveling to Glasgow, which would tire them out and take away valuable practice time. Organizers even admitted the format is screwed up with all the travel and they need to rethink it next time. That being said, I'm sure Japan would have been glad to take first if it guaranteed a spot against a 3rd place team like New Zealand. Anyway, I don't think Japan expects to win gold, and I don't expect them to either. I think they can get a bronze at best, but even that will be tough with the Brazil match.
Yeh, I saw that. Notice the difference between "lose" and "draw". I know they are both 4-letter words, but they are quite different.
No, if DPRK had won with 1-0 or 2 to 4 goals, France would have won the group with USA second (thus becoming teh oppenet from the f groups winner).
Hahaha, I guess they have this in every sport. Personally, I didn't see it when I played American Football. They should tell the NFL teams this when they tank games at the end of the season for playoff position. People are crazy if they think these teams have any interest in a semi or qtr match with the USA. That doesn't make sense from a strategy standpoint. You'd want the USA in a final match with all the pressure on them, as in the kicks during the world cup. They melted down and couldn't even hit the goal posts. It will be no different if the USA and France meet in the finals. The pressure will be incredible for the USA to kill France again. France will come off as the weak side and the underdog, which has the makings of upset.
Last night I heard the team was warned, but nothing was was going to happen because they didn't try to lose although they were instructed not to score goals.
Yeh, and even that was only in the last minutes when the other match got tied. Before that, it looked like they were trying to score but the 2nd string players just weren't good.
I highly respected Japan because I had every reason to believe they would never pull stunts like this. They always play the sport beautifully and play to the best of their abilities every tournament match. However this information is both disturbing and disappointing to me. I am not sure if players can collectively stand up to their coach and tell them this doesn't sound right, but I would have liked somebody from that team to stand up and take some leadership. I guess for me, Japan stood for heart,overcoming tragedy and beautiful football. Now to me, they disrespected their country by only wanting a tie or loss in a major tournament just so they can get a medal. To me, they don't deserve a medal for that kind of behavior, they don't deserve to play for their country after this. All their fans that attended their game against South Africa, paid money to see a world champion Japan, not to see them intentionally lose....
This is about winning the Gold, not playing "love me." I wouldn't play for a semi or qtr game against the USA either, if I didn't have to. France, Japan and Brasil are in the best position. One of them comes out that group well tested vs the USA having a cake walk. Unless they have a memory lapse as usual and play one of their left-footed games, they should beat NZ and GB soundly. That makes them a mega favorite in the final again. A lesser team just needs to keep it even in the last 20-30 minutes and let the extra pressure work on them. Kudos to Japan's coach!