Women's World Cup

So anyway, is anybody following the Women's World Cup? I watched the Brazil-USA contest on Sunday from start to finish and I don't think I've been so shocked and amazed by a soccer match in my life. I mean, Brazil pretty much didn't score a legitimate goal all game, and they nearly made it through, but then Rapinoe lofts in that great long ball to Wambach and BAM! New life!

And then France put up a decent fight for a while but then the US dropped the hammer. I'm like a little girl again just all giddy watching this team play...hope they beat Japan on Sunday and win it all!

On another note, shame for you DKX, Sweden was playing really well. They beat us earlier in the group stage and were leading Japan for a while before they lost. Hope they win the 3rd place game at least!

I do follow it. Shame, because the Swedes really collapsed when the Japanese got their pressure game going. Really, it looked like the Swedes couldn't do anything from the 10th minute (when they took the lead) to the 75th, when Japan led in shots 11 - 1 (and 3 - 1 in goals). At least Sweden got trhe spot in the 2012 Olympics (yes, the WC functions as qualifying for the Europeans - Sweden and France joins Britain as the representatives for the Women's tournament, which has prestige unlike the Men's).

Well, Japan - USA looks to be an interesting final. I'm not sure where to place my bet, even though USA and Wambach looks like the safer horse. Wonder how you will cope with the Yamato game.

I saw some of Japan's game against Germany, and I was surprised at how well their back line played against Germany's frontline players, especially Grings and Garefrekes, who looked like they were 4 or 5 inches taller than any of the Japanese backs. So the US has that to contend with along with their strong scorers like Sawa and Maruyama, though I think the US defense has been pretty good overall. Sweden exposed the center backs a bit but one of the goals was on a wild, unfortunate deflection.

DKX, can you explain to me why the women's olympic tournament is important and the men's is not? Do certain mens players not play in the olympics?

I saw some of Japan's game against Germany, and I was surprised at how well their back line played against Germany's frontline players, especially Grings and Garefrekes, who looked like they were 4 or 5 inches taller than any of the Japanese backs. So the US has that to contend with along with their strong scorers like Sawa and Maruyama, though I think the US defense has been pretty good overall. Sweden exposed the center backs a bit but one of the goals was on a wild, unfortunate deflection.

DKX, can you explain to me why the women's olympic tournament is important and the men's is not? Do certain mens players not play in the olympics?

The women's do get the best players - while the men's are U-23. I don't know why (probably because the men already have bigger tournaments to worry about) but that's how it is.

So Japan won it all... 2 - 2 after 120, 3 - 1 after penalties. That late equalizer by Sawa and that missed chance to seal it for the US did it for the morale, I think. Still, it was a great game, certain to increase interest as Canada 2015 will see 24 teams.

In totally unrelated to this topic thread, 2011 hasn't been kind to Brazil. The men's side, competing in the Copa América in Argentina, played 0 - 0 against Paraguay in the quaterfinal, and went on to MISS ALL 4 PENALTIES. No, seriously. Watch it all here. And with the hosts Argentina being eliminated against Uruguay in the quaters, that turns out to be an interesting tournament... (And yes, both Brazil and Argentina had their best teams.)

That was a very unfortunate ending to the game, but in a lot of ways, Japan beat the US at their own game today. They played a crisp possession game and never panicked once behind. And just as in earlier games in the tournament when the US looked beat and came back with indomitable spirit, the Japanese did the same thing today. What a great victory for them, especially in lue of all the disasters, death, and destruction that country has gone through over the past four months.

No shame for our ladies, they played their hearts and guts out today...they clearly lost to a team that was blessed...you could say destined, to win, given the timing of their goals when it looked like for sure they were going down in flames.

And I agree wholeheartedly with this final match result, and the whole tournament in general being a great thing for women's soccer. This tournament saw teams like England, France, Sweden, and others make big strides forward in addition to Japan, obviously. I believe that the next tournament will see more teams, and we'll see one of two things. Either the traditional powers like Germany and Brazil will rise back up again, or we'll see a third tier of new teams, like Italy, Costa Rica, South Korea, and others who didn't qualify for 2011 come out and make a splash in the next tournament. One thing's certain from the level of play in this event, it's time to make the jump to 24 teams. Good on FIFA to do that.