I would agree that we are not ready if the team was at the same as at the end of the world cup last year. The fact is there has been an evolution in those 12 months and there was an improvement and you can't rely on year old results and not look at what happened in the interval.
I would say that is true for several teams, including the US. The fact is, nobody is standing still. Let's hope it is a great tournament.
Backward from where? They never existed until a few weeks ago. Don't underestimate the crowd power of a home squad. They could shock anybody. I expect they will shock somebody, it's the Olympics.
What i've realized in past few years is that home advantage means nothing if the other team really brings their game, and it means even less in female football.
Also I have attended a few England women's game, the crowd noise is minimal... Err Team GB = England +2 : same players, same coaching staff, same tactics except they have Little and Dieke as a player upgrade over their English equivalent.
It can go either way depending how a team deals with the increased pressure. The USA players fed off home crowds. Sweden got Silver when they hosted a Workd Cup. Germany imploded from the pressure.
I hope certain people watched the France vs. Japan game... Compared to last year, I'd say France has improved and Japan and Sweden has declined a bit.
Coming off our beatdown, and France's convincing win, Japan is suddenly looking very ordinary. Will the real Nadeshiko show up?
You really think Japan is on the decline? There there 10-3-2 since the WWC playing 15 officail games. Were(USA) 16-1-2 playing 19 official games. Only 2 of Japans losses were by 2 goals or more.
I don't think they're in decline (at least now how I believe you're using it). I think they're not as good as they were last year. That is, I'm comparing the team they are now vs. the team they are last year, not necessarily against other opponents. I still think they're a very, very strong team, but play Japan 2011 vs. Japan 2012 team and IMO, the Japan 2011 team would win. Last year, Japan was in amazing form with players healthy and ready. It's more due to the fact that other teams have had new players step up and assert themselves as challengers to starters, but Japan's had problems with the injury bug. Some players will be missing the tournament and some are still just returning from injury (or vertigo) so are not yet in game shape. I think Ogimi's improved since last year but I'm not sure that that improvement outweighs the injuries.
i really don't think a hold and counter, undersized team with no TRUE super forwards is a recipe for dominance or a dynasty. they had a nice little run and national motivation to win the world cup. long term, germany, france, brasil and the usa will knock them off in major tournaments. like i said, they had a cinderella WC, and the cards fell in place vs a left-footed USA in the final to give them an upset. Germany should have beat them, let them stay in the game and basically lost on a late counter. No hating on them, but i'm still not impressed and even less after the France game, but I know their coach will say that game didn't count too. It's amazing in the loses to the USA 4-1 and Germnay 4-3 he found excuses.
A team in red who played Fabregas up front ? I think they were still very much jet-lagged having arrived 2 days earlier from what I understand.
You're saying this as if they barely beat teams by luck to get to the finals, they simply played the best football to get to the finals. It's true though that if the US wasn't so wasteful in the finals, they could have confortably won the game after the 1st half alone. With that been said, it seems to me that they remained on the same level as they were last year, while teams like France and the USA became even better.
newsouth, no team simply flukes a once in every four year WC. Only traditional football nations, strongly backed, or well run football programs, compete for the international games top prize. On the back of impressive football, Japan finished 4th at the Olympics, going on to beat Germany, Sweden, and USA, on route to lifting the WWC on foreign soil. There's a lot more going on there than a simple fluke my friend . As past Olympic results have shown, little is gathered moving forward, if performances aren't evaluated correctly. Norway win gold, no WWC success. Germany win bronze, and find unparalleled WWC success. Japan come in 4th only showcasing good football, but win the WWC. Brazil guarantee silver, but can't overcome second place, leaving the USA as consecutive gold medalists, but... Coming from UEFA, France, Sweden, and GB, can't even guarantee future Olympic places without major WWC success, so do they enjoy the moment looking towards WC progression like Germany, or do they attempt to win at all costs, even though they have another major regional event just around the corner? So when you talk about Cinderella stories, and talk down what's taking place right in front of your eyes, I think your missing the bigger picture of women's international football right now. The gold medal is great if you can get it, but it often has little bearing on you being part of the best team in the world, if you haven't got at least one eye towards genuine progress.
bronze to "unparalleled success" is just 2 places higher. this argument is essentially meaningless because you left out examples in the other direction. germany do nothing in wwc in '99, but get 3rd place in the following olympics norway find "unparalleled success" in the '95 wwc, but fall to bronze in the '96 olympics
all of this is a waste because japan was a Cinderella story, driven by a natural disaster and nation. it happens in sports all the time like the saints winning the superbowl and being driven by a city. japan was o-22 vs the usa, so where did their long football history come from? dominance? great football? how about nice run going into the wc? that momentum is dying a bit and so is their hold and counter game, which can't win multiple tournament and rule the football world against the big girls. yeah, they could win the olympics, but it will take a good draw with the usa and france picking each other off or brasil imploding. sweden - another one who turned into a world power but isn't winning anything but 3rd place game against an off (put their money and emotion into that usa battle) and necib- less france.
The last time I checked, FIFA don't put large gold crests on jerseys for Olympic gold, and no serious FA/Fed in their right mind would commemorate such an achievement with an extra star on a jersey either; well not if their team were already holding the tittle of world champs, so..... Like what? What other major example is there that the Olympic football tournament isn't a stepping stone? I mean what nut job coach would prep his/her team to peak for a do or die run at the Olympic's, with the World Cup as the after thought . I did say Brazil were the best team in two straight Olympics, and could still only produce a second place in the WWC, but obviously you didn't like that example, so if you can find one which suits your needs better, do tell. UEFA can't be bothered to have a separate qualification tournament for the Olympics, the AFC hold their's as soon as the WWC finishes just so they can get it out of the way, with CONNMEBOL not even deeming the tournament worthy of clear separation from it's 4 year world cup cycle . So by do nothing in 99, do you mean going out to the tournament hosts and eventual winners by 3 goals to 2? Only to use the Olympics as a stepping stone towards making amends for that WC defeat, producing an emphatic 3-0 reversal of fortunes 3 years later... NO, unparalleled would be wining the WWC back to back, in two very different ways, while retaining Euro domination, still remaining focused enough to claim Olympic medals at the same time too. Norway won the WC on home soil, just like USA would do 4 years after them. So tell me, what was so unparalleled about that? If your target is to rise towards the highest pinnacle of the sport with World Cup glory, how in the hell can you fall to an Olympic Bronze . You already did the toughest job by preparing correctly towards the goal of winning the WC, and until FIFA says different, Olympic football will remain the bonus tournament for confederations, and the nations involved, to use as they wish.
Here's an informative, detailed preview of all 12 teams participating in this year's tournament, from Women's Soccer Express: http://wsocexpress.com/2012/07/24/olympics-team-previews-overview/
why in the hell does CAF get two allocations? have they ever had a team in the top 20? have they ever had two teams top 45? complete lunacy.
Why complain? They took the initiative and qualified for it, so let them play. CAF's underdogs will be lucky to see the same thing come WWC qualification, so why can't they use the Olympics for the exact developmental reasons FIFA allows the women's tournament to operate with an open age category? It's not their fault the regions best programs didn't bother to show up for Olympic qualifying, but don't worry, in just 3 more years, we'll get Nigeria and Ghana to come back for the WWC, so they can lose in a more competitive fashion .