Open Thread: Women’s World Cup
I’m not a huge fan of open threads, as it’s a bit weak of a blog writer just to make his readers do all the work. But I really don’t have much to say about the Women’s World Cup, and I’m very curious as to what everyone else thinks about it: interested? apathetic? passionate? And if so…Why?
I’d actually like to be interested in it myself. I’ve got plenty of respect for women’s soccer, though saying that in itself does reveal I have some residue of a patronising attitude towards it. Somehow, though, perhaps because of the time difference, perhaps not, I’ve yet to watch a game — even though the TV coverage in the U.S. seems to be pretty good.
So for those interested, which teams and what games should someone who hasn’t seen much women’s soccer be sure not to miss?
Let me know your thoughts on this event, from whatever your perspective is.
why, why why is this being played at 5am??? you people and your tivos, you make me sick.
I care about as much for women’s soccer as I do for the Stanley Cup playoffs. It will undoubtedly sound bad, but I just don’t care about watching women play the sport.
It probably comes from my bad memories of watching my high school’s girls’ soccer team during every home game for four years. At least I got paid for that.
The timing is largely unavoidable for tournaments played in Asia, assuming that one wants there to be at least a chance of people coming to watch the games live.
The early rounds can be tedious, because the gulf in quality between the top four to eight teams and the rest is so large, but I would suggest giving one of the later round matches a chance. The Germans, in particular, play a very attractive passing game, and have a genuinely lethal finisher in Prinz.
I’ve never been a fan of the women’s game for all kinds of reasons. I am for example, resentful of the fact that here in England, the FA and the BBC have been trying desperately to get it into the mainstream for years with little or no success. What galls is that this drive has been largely driven by political correctness rather than by any reason relating to the game but more importantly, it diverts much needed funds away from other, more deserving areas of the game.
But equally I have always felt uncomfortable watching females playing a game that is essentially a contact sport. Call my old fashioned if you like, but I prefer women to be feminine rather than kicking seven bells out of each other.
However, in the interests of fair play I did find find myself watching the England versus Japan match yesterday. It was like watching one of those movies that is so bad, you keep on watching because you hope it’s going to get better. Sadly, it didn’t and that’s my main reason for disliking the female game. In terms of quality, it simply isn’t very good.
In Canada, the women’s team is several leagues ahead of the men’s – frankly, the only time we’re ever going to see a Canadian team in the final is on the distaff side. So I’m on board. Or would be if my TV was currently working.
Also, the best goal ever scored by a Canadian was at the U-17 women’s world cup a few years ago, when Lang scored almost from half-way (this was when she was a winger, before her conversion to a centre-half).
That said, the slower pace of the game takes some getting used to. And Urs is right about the huge gulfs in quality – there are at most ten teams worth watching. But more teams do seem to be climbing into the higher-quality zone. It used to be just China, US, Norway and Germany (plus Sweden and Canada on good days). Brazil’s women’s team was not very good eight years ago but is quite handy now.
If Japan’s free kick to get a draw in injury time wasn’t “very good”, Mr. Brimson must have very high standards.
With respect, even the most mediocre team or player will throw up the odd moment of quality. For example, I was never much of a player but I once hit a pile driver from the half way line which flew into the net like an Exocet missile but that doesn’t make me David Beckham.
Absolutely true. I still remember THE perfect volley almost 40 years ago.
And I can’t really take issue with your description of the quality of the game as a whole.
If one is paying any attention at all, the thing to do with the group games seems to be to wait for the highlights. A remarkable percentage of the goals so far have been either appalling keeper errors or very well executed free kicks. The Germans have been the only team I’ve seen so far that can really string together passes and organise attacks consistently.
Spot on sir. I very rarely watch any game on TV all the way through in real time. I find they are far less boring in fast forward!
I just watched the first half of USA – N. Korea. I don’t know if I should feel national embarrassment or ethnic pride.
1) The US squad is playing like a high school team. It’s true they have some quality players, but I haven’t seen them string together passes more than a few times. They’re trying to bypass the midfield in offense — what is this, the 1950s? It says a lot when they’re playing Wambach like Mourinho plays Drogba, in the “battering ram” position, and they’re not playing their best playmaker Aly “Valderrama” Wagner.
2) N. Korea, on the other hand, is playing smooth like butter. Their defense on set pieces is atrocious but they’re moving the ball well, have the US chasing at shadows, and are shooting well from distance. And this is on a wet pitch and after losing their main playmaker to injury. A team to watch this tournament for sure, it’s like they’ve been watching contraband total futball videos (and the US has been watching the NFL.)