The womens world cup

[BR0B0T]

sorry if this has been covered before, but pretty sure I heard Jonathan Pearce ask his summariser "who's your Man of the Match" last night.

I'm sure he meant to say 'Lady Man of the Match' as he really isn't into all that macho bullcrap!

[Sanguine]

Uh oh.

The mask is slipping.

yeah because defending myself against a vicious attack means it's slipping....

Yeah, I mean it isn't like you've been insinuating Ian is gay because he did a Drama degree or anything...

I'd like to retract by statement on AE that DD was currently in sensible mode.

[Snowflake Royal]

Bbc sport are pissing me off a bit. Ramming bang average saves down our throats on the socials like the wimmin are Georgina banks.

The improvement in the keepers has been absolutely enormous in the last 4 years. You’d have to be blind / ignorant not to see that.

Fyi, he's not blind.

There have been some pretty impressive saves.

[Snowflake Royal]

Uh oh.

The mask is slipping.

yeah because defending myself against a vicious attack means it's slipping....

Yeah, I mean it isn't like you've been insinuating Ian is gay because he did a Drama degree or anything...

Tbf, The odds aren't in his favour but they're higher than the general population rate.
I think 15 out of 55 of us were male, of those 15 2 were out at the time + 1 bi, another 2 came out since I think, so that's 33%

[Snowflake Royal]

Shocking penalties from Australia. Mind you thought they could have had two pens in real time and the red was harsh.

Norway two beautiful efforts to hit the woodwork on the other hand. Graham-Hanson is some player for them, touch of the Eriksens.

[Muskrat]

Oh Scotland. Letting in 3 goals in the last 20 minutes? WTAF!? That is the worst bottle job since the US men needing just a draw to qualify for the 2018 WC lost to Trinidad & Tobago. **shakes head**

True that they totally shat their knickers but from a purely chauvinistic English point of view, what a result! Scotland and Argentina eliminated on the same night!

[Ascotexgunner]

What a disgusting team Cameroon are. I sincerely hope FIFA take action over their behaviour and some to their players.

VAR again a shambles. Clear penalty to England. I get the feeling the referee was too scared to give it.

[Deadlock]

Awful play from Cameroon. Poor refereeing. England need to improve.

And it's a bit mean to make Jordan Nobbs stand next to Dion Dublin.

[Muskrat]

That offside decision for their goal was harsh though. Back end of a heel when moving away from goal. Hmm

[Royal Rother]

All the very blonde women except for Houghton were terrible,

Duggan, Millie whatever and Geeenwood, although her goal was excellent, hardly placed a pass to an England player.

Very shaky and I struggle to see us getting a result against Norway who looked excellent last night.

[Snowflake Royal]

Sloppy performance, but I'd put that down to shenanigans. I've seen Kirby twice now and she just ponces around in the hole contributing nothing. I hear she was good against Argentina though.

I thought VAR got almost everything right. I'm also not sure what people expected the ref to do to get Cameroon to kick off (or stop kicking off lol). The captain was actually doing her job listening and trying to get them going (at least the first time) and I don't think yellow carding the other 10 (one being a second yellow) would really help or be proportionate. Would almost certainly have escalated things and added to the persecution complex. Better for FIFA to get involved once emotions calm.

[facaldaqui]

It was like a team of Bikeys out there.

[Libertine]

As a neutral the VAR decisions were correct. Cameroon were lucky not to have three players sent off (the elbow on Parris, the foul on Kirby in the box and the rake of Houghton's ankle). All 3 incidents were as clear red card offenses as I have seen. The ref was horrible. She lost control of the game that descended into farcical territory with the crowning moment of ignominy being when Cameroon refused to resume playing after a VAR ruling went against them. And don't get me started on the spitting incident...

That being said England cruised to another unimpressive victory. They will need play better than they have so far when they face Norway or their tournament will be over.

[Sanguine]

Not sure what Rother was watching, but Duggan was brilliant - albeit 'Millie whatever' somewhat sums up RR's approach to the women's game, I fear.

Agreed on Kirby though - she's a bit of a star of the women's game, in England at least, scored hatfuls for Reading and Chelsea, but she always seems on the periphery when I watch her play. Bit of a Michael Owen.

[Sanguine]

As a neutral the VAR decisions were correct. Cameroon were lucky not to have three players sent off (the elbow on Parris, the foul on Kirby in the box and the rake of Houghton's ankle). All 3 incidents were as clear red card offenses as I have seen. The ref was horrible. She lost control of the game that descended into farcical territory with the crowning moment of ignominy being when Cameroon refused to resume playing after a VAR ruling went against them. And don't get me started on the spitting incident...

That being said England cruised to another unimpressive victory. They will need play better than they have so far when they face Norway or their tournament will be over.

Agreed on the referee, albeit (as professional as we must expect our referees to be) I don't blame her for the yellow card at the end. She lost control after England's second goal, where she should have immediately booked the Cameroon captain for remonstrating, and continued to caution players until they retook their positions.

[Royal Rother]

Not sure what Rother was watching, but Duggan was brilliant - albeit 'Millie whatever' somewhat sums up RR's approach to the women's game, I fear.

Agreed on Kirby though - she's a bit of a star of the women's game, in England at least, scored hatfuls for Reading and Chelsea, but she always seems on the periphery when I watch her play. Bit of a Michael Owen.

Duggan was brilliant? I might just as well block you now because I will never take a single thing you say about football seriously again. She was absolutely awful.

And as for my approach to the women’s game I’ve been one of the very few consistently positive voices on here for the last 15 years. Tragically, after a few pints yesterday, Ms Bright’s surname escaped me at the time.

I’m not looking for Messi style ability in the women’s game just yet but as performances, fitness, organisation and skill levels have risen, so expectations have risen in sync and my observations reflect that. That should be seen as a huge compliment to them.

[Sanguine]

Not sure what Rother was watching, but Duggan was brilliant - albeit 'Millie whatever' somewhat sums up RR's approach to the women's game, I fear.

Agreed on Kirby though - she's a bit of a star of the women's game, in England at least, scored hatfuls for Reading and Chelsea, but she always seems on the periphery when I watch her play. Bit of a Michael Owen.

Duggan was brilliant? I might just as well block you now because I will never take a single thing you say about football seriously again. She was absolutely awful.

And as for my approach to the women’s game I’ve been one of the very few consistently positive voices on here for the last 15 years. Tragically, after a few pints yesterday, Ms Bright’s surname escaped me at the time.

I’m not looking for Messi style ability in the women’s game just yet but as performances, fitness, organisation and skill levels have risen, so expectations have risen in sync and my observations reflect that. That should be seen as a huge compliment to them.

RR you haven't taken much interest in other people's views here for 20 years, I don't expect you to change now.
Duggan was great on the ball, a real attacking threat. In my view.

[Victor Meldrew]

Haven't watched much of this so far but caught the second half last night.
It looked to me like a non-league game where players are trying their best to copy what the professionals do.
The passing looked ok and considered as was England's 3rd goal from the corner.
The Cameroon keeper was dreadful in her judgement of when to come off her line and when to stay.

A couple of good forward bits by the Cameroon forwards but for me where the women's game (admittedly having not seen much) is poor is in and around the box where there is little imagination or power.

I did see the Americans in another tournament and they looked to be more like a men's side but that is probably because "soccer" is big over there for the girls and presumably that is why they are favourites.

[Sanguine]

I think you're doing the team a disservice there Vic - there was nothing amateurish about England's third goal, for example, corner fizzed in low and met with a first-time finish. Likewise our opener, free-kick slotted home in the only space available on the line.

Sure, it's not world-class stuff comparable to the men's game, but it doesn't pretend to be. Weakness imho still in the goalkeeping, although that makes the 'proper' keepers, like Norway's Ingrid Helsmjeth, really stand out.

[The Enfield Royal71]

Im going out on a limb here and putting my neck on the line but....

This entire women's world cup has been utterly shambolic in every way. Football, refeere, var, fans, coverage. Nothing about it screams to me that womens football is on the up. Which is very unfortunate because i would like it to be.