Women's World Cup Open Thread

[zyzzyva980]

The United States kick off their run for the FIFA Women's World Cup today RIGHT NOW. They've got a pretty good chance of winning. Show your patriotic spirit here, or discuss why you're rooting for another country. If you're not interested in soccer... well, now's a great time to get into it. The women's game is great.

USA! USA! USA!

[bernard]

A post with "FIFA" that isn't spam...

[John Richardsim]

A post with "FIFA" that isn't spam...

No such thing exists.

But that^ that up there^ thank you Bernard.

[bernard]

Screen Shot 2015-06-08 at 6.06.20 PM.png (22.83 KiB) Viewed 2879 times

[AlphaTauri]

Group D is shaping up dangerously for sure. Nigeria were impressive against Sweden, and USA aren't doing as well as they could be. I think they can still finish top of the group if they organize themselves better for the next two matches, but it's going to be tough. Also thought some of the calls from that USA-AUS match were kinda iffy; pigeon, the ref from North Korea who did Sweden v. Nigeria was officiating way better.

Also, this from Japan v. Switzerland.

Great run down half the field, goes around or barrels through like half the Japanese team, aaaaand... slips and falls. Whoops >.>

[EastStroudsburg13]

The ref had some questionable moments. However, the first half was definitely a source of some concern from a team perspective. It seemed like Australia was actually playing soccer, whereas the US was doing a lot of kicking and running. They're lucky they weren't in a deficit entering halftime. The second half was a bit better, and the possession looked a lot better after Tobin Heath came on, but I'm not sure how much was due to her presence or due to the lower stamina of the Australians. In addition to possession, a lot of our first touches were really heavy and allowed Australia to recover. That margin for error is going to be even smaller against Sweden, a team who won't decrease in stamina as much as Australia.

Sweden and Nigeria's defenses both seemed pretty porous in the first game, but the US is really going to need to keep possession a bit better in order to take advantage of that. We really need to get first in the group, because second likely results in a knockout game against Brazil, which is not an enticing prospect. I think our defensive pairing will be better now that we have one game under our belts (if Johnston could cut down on those unnecessary half-field clearances with nobody around her), it's just a matter of creating more.

Speaking of creating, Megan Rapinoe was boss. Nearly every major chance involved her in some way, and for quite a large portion of the game she was the only American interested in creating anything. Some of her long-range shots may have been questionable decisions, but without her we don't win that game.

[Fibonacci924]

The United States kick off their run for the FIFA Women's World Cup today RIGHT NOW. They've got a pretty good chance of winning. Show your patriotic spirit here, or discuss why you're rooting for another country. If you're not interested in soccer... well, now's a great time to get into it. The women's game is great.

USA! USA! USA!

America's women soccer team is one of the best in the world.

[EastStroudsburg13]

The US plays Sweden today at 8 pm EDT. A win would be huge. Let's hope they're improved from the first game.

[zyzzyva980]

Considered buying Swedish meatballs at the store today.

DIDN'T.

BECAUSE I'M AN AMERICAN.

[AlphaTauri]

Well, kind of disappointing, but not the worst thing that could happen, I guess. We still have a pretty fair chance of topping the group. Either:

a) guaranteed to top the group if we win against Nigeria
b) still atop if we tie Nigeria, and Sweden/Australia tie or Sweden wins by 1
c) we lose by 1, but Sweden/Australia tie
d) we lose by more than that, which results in further weirdness that I don't feel like figuring out

But sheesh, we really need a better strategy than "Megan Rapinoe does pretty much everything"