I like that Cameroon, being down 1-0, hasn't just bunkered until the last 10 minutes or so. I like their players pushing forward and them subbing in time for better chance for subs to have a positive effect.
69' 1-0 Cameroon go down box right, Enganamouit wins a corner. 70' 1-0 Akaba right ck, to 6-top left post. Meffometou runs on from deep, jumps unmarked and heads down, just wide left. Almost a carbon copy.
73' 1-0 Zadorsky clears, Cameroon dumps ball back to box top mid-right. Enganamouit receives facing away, spins ccw and takes Chapman down box right, Chapman pokes into far touch. 74' 1-0 Cameroon right throw-in at 12m, to Enganamouit's chest at 10m box right. Enganamouit reaches left forearm across Beckie's throat fighting for position, Beckie goes down in a tight heap. Foul, yellow card on Enganamouit -- R1 pantomines an elbow, but she didn't swing an elbow, only the entire arm 75' 1-0 Canada subs in (1 of 3) #6 Deanne Rose for #15 Nichelle Prince. Young speed for young speed
78' 1-0 Lawrence is way up past circle top right touch, inexplicably stops as if for a whistle with ball half-over right touch -- it's still live! Cameroon push her down as ball rolls out, quick throw-in up wide left, Buchanan has to fill her gap and fires a long backpass. Labbé comes out to 11m 6-(her)right, clangs ball away to 15m mid-right, chases it and blasts it upfield just in time. It's a perfect longball dropping over Rose's shoulder, she chases the bounce and hops a slide-poke try, catches up at 2m wide right and crosses to 4m 6-right. Sinclair, on her rare sprint up centerline, flick-heads(?) wide left, nobody else in box. 82' 1-0 Cameroon fk at circle top right, sent long to 10m 1/3 left. Labbé comes out bravely and punches away above Enganamouit's head. Offside, replay confirms: Enganamouit was leaning 1/2 step past the high line. 82' 1-0 Cameroon subs in (3 of 3) #13 Charlotte Meyong for #10 Jeanette Yango.
84' 1-0 Rose fires a through-ball past Sinclair down mid-right, too strong. 86' 1-0 Canada longball down box left, Sinclair sprint-races Ndom coming across to 5m box left, Ndom gathers and Sinclair hops aside. 87' 1-0 Canada show some early-tempo passing and zero-rebound traps, work ball left to right. Fleming squares to Beckie completely unmarked at 24m right post, Beckie half-volleys right foottop and slices it wide right through 6-right foot. 88' 1-0 Rose toasts E.Johnson down wide right, cross to Sinclair at box top right post, low half-volley blocked by Awona, just wide left.
89 1-0 Beckie left ck, to 6-right foot. Schmidt heads back into Sinclair's chest at 4m 3-right, Sinclair lunges at the high bounce and knees ball into Ndom's chest. Ball squirts to 1m left post, Zadorsky lunges in and Meffometou meets her at the goalline, both go down backward from the collision and ball goes wide left and over. +2'. 90+1' (of +2') 1-0 Beckie shoots left instep bend from arc top mid-right, directly to Ndom.
Man, that was really disappointing to me. If Canada can’t score more goals, their not gonna win this group. Lawrence/Beckie/Fleming/Rose need to actually shoot the ball more rather then trying to get that extra pass to Sinclair.
FT 1-0. Cameroon couldn't link midfield and attack, but their defense was tough, and GK Ngo Ndom is sharp and active. Canada dominated the final 10', but their pell-mell crossing attack does tend to end their possessions rapidly. Canada 16(4)-(1)5 shots(sog), 10-4 corners, 3-3 offsides, 65%(!) possession, 10-12 fouls, 8-20 clearances, 469/583 (80%) - 101/189 (53%) passing. That 80% is partly because Canada really are very good at making passes in time and receiving without rebound, so they don't lose passes right away -- but also they kept making those safe passes, which ultimately produced only long shots or crosses. They had zero through-balls for clear chances, and rarely had anybody making those runs, except Sinclair.
That second half was a lot more exciting. Cameroon’s striker really plays with an edge. I feel like Canada is taking their sweet time getting up to speed in this tournament.
I still think Cameroon can take out New Zealand and possibly advance to the knockout round again. Canada's easily getting beaten by the Netherlands.
Duuuuuude, I just said not to post that stuff (okay, I was more specific). But that stuff is illegal, so we really shouldn't promote it
their defense(back line + GK) might be the best in the business! but the quality falls at mid & fwds. Then apparently takes a nose dive for the bench as to why on earthdindt' they sub more? NZ is eerily similar, top 10 defense, but nothing really else
Yes, tomorrow may be difficult for The Netherlands because NZ is pretty strong defensively and they have a good goalkeeper. I hope it is not difficult, mind you, I hope the Dutch score a goal somewhat early and thus open up the game! That would help a lot.
CB's. Ercig got an NWSL championship ring around her finger, so does Stott(though the W-League) FB's Riley been playing for top Euro clubs for years. Percival for a long time with Bundi's Jena club/ GK Naylor's one of the best & conqueror & remember earlier this year, conqueror of the Spirit(apparently nobdy else can, lol) but after that they rarely got an offense since Amber Hearn retired & former Tennessee standout Hannah Wilkerson got a slew of injuries, So this is one team that will definitley bunker I know one thing; ewith Canada, I;m willing to bet they'll switch Lawrence to the right to deal with the currently van de Sanden, Buchanen will mark Miedema, Chapman be stuck with Martens, with Zandowski probalby keeping an eye on van de Donk
This is the Canada that has gone undefeated this year. Opposing team scoring chances were limited and had a lots of ball possession but not enough clinical final passes or kicks to unlock a defense. It's an ideal style for tournament football but not always interesting to watch during friendlies. It's a better team defense than NZ as Canada didn't lose 5-0 to the US or allowed a goal from Mexico or would have lost 1-0 to Wales. KHM has been stingy with his subs even during friendlies. Though, in this match, unless someone was tired or injured, it wasn't really needed. The subs have actually brought a dynamic offensive style in the friendlies as some of the slower paced players such as Schmidt, Scott & Sinclair are moved out. Of note, great understated ad Nike just released for today's match befitting Sinclair: Make a nation believe.@Nike @nikefootball #CANWNT pic.twitter.com/bZFgVk8xGn— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) June 10, 2019
Why don't you post it in the "World Cup commercials" thread? Seems really worth mentioning it there, to me!
I was at the game, and didn't see Canada players failing to shoot the ball when they had opportunities. They simply didn't have good opportunities. Thus your post got me to thinking about this: We simply were watching with the fans around us. We weren't hearing any commentary from TV announcers. Were they talking about Canada players not taking shots they should have taken, or in the pre-game did they hype Sinclair and talk about the likelihood of players giving up their own shots in order to get shots for her? If they were talking that way, is it possible their commentary was affecting viewers' perceptions? On another note, I'm pretty sure this wouldn't have been covered in TV commentary: Although the pitch itself looked good, the stadium itself was not good. It's due to be replaced, in a different location, in a couple of years. From a fan perspective, it's not not a worthy World Cup venue. Perhaps that's why Montpellier is down on the tickets-sold list -- maybe the French know it's not a "fan-enticing" site. In case they didn't announce it, attendance was a little over 10,000.
The broadcast i was watching didn't hype anyone or talk about Canada not performing well or anything else of that matter. I think its more of people personally had expectations of Canada walking all over Cameroon being Canada is high ranked and Cameroon is not and when those expectations didnt get met they have doubts now. Canada is a great team, they will go far...it's only group stages. On the attendance issue, i havent heard any talk on attendance, probably wont until later in the tournament...but by watching you can clearly see attendance has been poor throughout the matches so far (didnt watch the opener due to schedule, unsure on that match) Attendance will probably be poor until knockout stages start and will pick up. Unless the home countries team is playing attendance tends to be low in group stages, its been like this for both mens and womens WC's. I dont think condition of stadium has much to do with attendance, though i'm sure if the condition was bad enough that a few people entering could cause a collapse might sway opinions.
in my book, Lawrence is one of the top ten players in the world, but along with limited depth, Canada just don't get a strong enough midfield, maybe Ashley needs to be moved up to mid