Tag: Nigeria

Nigeria threaten sit-in protest over unpaid bonuses

Posted on by Backline Soccer

Nigeria’s tournament came to an end on Saturday, but they weren’t eager to leave France. Instead, the players threatened to stage a sit-in protest at the hotel, claiming they were owed unpaid bonuses dating as far back as 2016. 

The players told ESPN that they were owed two bonuses from games against Gambia and Senegal. They were owed two million naira, about $5,600 USD, and had only been paid about half that amount. 

“They paid us 1 million [naira] and said that is all,” one player said. “We want them to pay the balance.”

“Before the World Cup, we asked them for a meeting so that we could discuss our World Cup bonuses, like they did with the men’s team last year. They ignored the letter and nobody said anything about it until now.”

At first, the Nigerian federation claimed that they had paid the players everything they were owed. But according to the BBC, the players succeeded in getting a meeting at their Grenoble hotel with Aisha Falode, the president of the Nigeria Women Football League. 

After hours of deliberation, the federation agreed to pay the money owed. Five players have been given their bonuses, and more money will be released in bits. They will also receive their money from FIFA for this tournament later this year. 

Nigeria has appeared at every edition of the Women’s World Cup. This year, they qualified for the Round of 16 despite being put in a difficult Group A. Cameroon also qualified for the Round of 16, marking the first time two African teams were in the Round of 16. Nigeria exited the tournament after suffering a 3-0 loss to Germany. 

This is not the first time Nigeria has had to protest for their wages. After winning the 2016 Africa Cup of Nations, they staged a public protest in the city of Abuja over unpaid allowances. In 2004, following another Africa Cup of Nations win, they staged a sit-in at their hotel for three days in South Africa to settle their allowances. 

Women’s World Cup Daily: June 22

Posted on by Backline Soccer

Round of 16, Day 1

Germany 3 – 0 Nigeria

A comprehensive victory for Germany, who continue to roll through the tournament despite the protestations of pundits on both sides of the Atlantic that they haven’t looked great. This was by no means a perfect performance, but they absolutely bulldozed Nigeria in the middle of the field, and controlled the game accordingly.

It was particularly notable how physical they were, consistently descending on any Nigerian player who had the ball and often directly dispossessing them, or at least forcing them into a hasty pass. Considering that Germany’s big problem game so far came against a China team who unsettled them with physical play, this was a significant improvement.

The only real worrying thing is that all three of their goals had some degree of fortuitousness involved. A better team would be unlikely to let the ball drift to the head of Alexandra Popp standing flat-footed in front of the box. A better team will be less likely to give away a penalty needlessly. A better team won’t accidentally pass the ball to your lethal striker directly in front of goal.

But this is the game of soccer. Most goals come at least in part from defensive mistakes. And yet we still see plenty of goals, because defending is exceptionally hard. Perhaps a team like the US or France might not make those precise mistakes, but they are likely to make some. And Germany has shown the ability to capitalize. The third goal, for example, was a gift. But it also took a perfect finish from Schüller to actually score it.

If there’s an area to focus on, it’s translating their dangerous possession into genuinely good shooting opportunities. That was the only real missing piece today. Repeatedly, they unlocked the first line of defense and found themselves with the ball in space, moving forward with speed, and looking for chances. But also repeatedly they were stopped by a Nigerian defender stepping up, or their cross sailed over the heads of everyone, or they simply let the ball get too far away from them and lost their angle.

Of course, this is precisely where Dzenifer Maroszán could be critical. She made the bench today, after missing the past two games entirely with a broken toe. If she can make a full return, she will be the exact sort of player Germany have been missing—the connecting force who can receive the ball near the top of the box and take the final touch or make the final pass which generates a clean chance.

For Nigeria, the World Cup ended here, in a frustrating game against a team who gave them very little to work with. They certainly weren’t completely shut out, and were able to produce a couple decent chances that might have swung the game back in their direction. And as discussed above, the goals were all definitely fixable mistakes rather than examples of being truly outmatched. At the same time, it also took some exceptional defensive recoveries to keep the margin where it was, and while VAR is certainly annoying, it did get all the calls right.

Norway 1 – 1 Australia – Norway advance on penalties (4-1) 

This was an absolutely bonkers game, which contained just about everything you could hope for in a soccer match, with the one exception of ‘good teams playing well.’ But if you could just accept that it was going to be a wild and crazy, end-to-end explosion of emotions then it sure was a lot of fun.

The openness didn’t really feel like a plan by either team. It was just a game played at a crazy tempo without a huge amount of execution. There were plenty of beautiful passes, wonderful touches, great tackles. But there were also plenty of misplaced balls, terrible touches, confusing decisions, crosses to no one in particular.

On balance, Norway were the better team, but it wasn’t by a huge margin. They did get the early goal and held the lead for most of the game. But they weren’t especially comfortable in the process, and seemed to drop back into a crouch far earlier than they probably should.

Australia’s hopes generally rise and fall with Sam Kerr, and she wasn’t able to get a whole lot going here. But that was less do with poor play from her than it had to do with Australia’s frailty in the middle third of the pitch. In my preview, I suggested that Norway might try to clamp down in that space to starve Kerr of the ball, but that’s not actually what happened. Given the quickness of play, no one was clamping down on anything. The Australian midfield just couldn’t find her, and the Norwegian defense generally stuck close enough to keep her under wraps once she did get the ball. All that said, Kerr was given enough to work with that you’d probably expect her to have found a goal somewhere. But she didn’t. And so once Kennedy was sent off for a Denial of a Goal Scoring Opportunity, Australia were reduced to hanging on for dear life to go to penalties.

And then once they got there, it all fell apart.

I feel awful for Kerr, who really is the best in the world – or at a minimum one of the two or three best – and deserved more chances to show what she’s capable of. But unfortunately for her, the Australia team has kind of fallen apart in the past six months, so it’s hardly surprising at this point to see them go out.

I’m sure there will be more written about this Australia team, and some serious questions asked about the relentless schedule that these players have followed over the past few years. But for now, we unfortunately have to say goodbye to the Matildas.

Notes

The subtle racism with which commentators describe African teams really went into high gear today, with all the subtlety wiped away.

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A brief summary of today’s awfulness is here. I’m sure more will be written about this, but if you want a quick breakdown of what goes wrong when you engage this separation between ‘tactics’ and ‘athleticism,’ above and beyond the laziness and stereotyping, check out this thread from Michael Caley.

The long and short is that the way Fox commentators have discussed teams primarily composed of black players is absolutely shameful and it’s frankly appalling that they haven’t publicly apologized and specifically reprimanded the people who keep saying this stuff.

Tomorrow’s action

Tomorrow we’ll see England v. Cameroon in the early game and France v. Brazil in the late one. Remember that you can check out my preview of each game in this round here.

I will unfortunately be leaving France for a couple days. I have a conference in Newcastle, and won’t be back until the first quarterfinal in Le Havre on the 27th. That does however mean I’ll get a chance to watch England tomorrow in England. Hopefully I can find a good crowd to watch with.

Women’s World Cup Daily: Previewing the Round of 16

Posted on by Backline Soccer

Tomorrow begins the knockout stage. While we all take a break today, here is a preview for each match. If you want a bit more detail on a couple of the most tantalizing games, head over and check out our own Allison Cary’s post on the Top Three Matchups in the Round of 16.

Germany – Nigeria (22 June, Grenoble)

Germany will be heavy favorites, but it would be a huge mistake to write off Nigeria. They were after all one bizarre penalty retake away from earning a draw against France. And their strike force has the speed and intelligent movement to wreck the fragile Germany defense. The big question will be whether Nigeria can do enough to harass the German midfield. If this turns into a training ground exercise sort of match, with Nigeria endlessly chasing, I have faith in Germany’s ability to pick off the defense and score the goals they’ll need.

Norway – Australia (22 June, Nice)

One of the most exciting matches of this round. If you subtract Sam Kerr, Norway has arguably the stronger team in all three lines right now. Of course, add Kerr back and the equations start to change pretty rapidly. Not only is she arguably the best striker in the world, her mere presence warps games and forces the other team to re-organize to accommodate. It will be fascinating to see how this plays out. In theory, this should be a high-scoring thriller, with Norway using their ability to attack directly to pose all sorts of troubles for Australia’s cobbled-together backline, and Australia firing back with Kerr and Foord up top. But it could go very much in the other direction. If Norway decide to focus on controlling the midfield and starving Kerr of chances, this might end up a tedious 0-0 decided on penalties.

England – Cameroon (23 June, Valenciennes)

England went three-for-three in the group stage without quite kicking into full gear. This could be more of the same, against a Cameroon team who has proven to be quite difficult to play without posing nearly as much attacking threat as anticipated. As with every England game, one big question will be who Phil Neville chooses to play. It’s a squad with a huge amount of depth, and with five or six spots where you can make compelling arguments in multiple directions about who to play. Will he go with experience or youth? Pace or precision? Volatility or dependability? I’m particularly curious to see whether Georgia Stanway might have done enough to play herself into taking over the role of creative midfielder from Fran Kirby.

France – Brazil (23 June, Le Havre)

This is the glamor tie of the round, with two of the great names in world soccer. But these are very much two teams moving in different directions. France is a co-favorite for the tournament, while Brazil is an aging team trying to eke out one more result before their key players shuffle off the stage. Still, for all their struggles coming into the tournament (nine losses in a row!), Brazil managed six points in the group stage, including a solid performance against Italy in their last game. But for all that Italy has been great, they’re no France. Brazil will need much better from Marta (who hasn’t really contributed much, to be honest) and will need flawless games from the likes of Thaisa and Andressinha. That’s certainly possible, but if they expose any cracks, that midfield is going to get absolutely run over by France, and that will probably be the game.

USA – Spain (24 June, Reims)

If this game feels familiar, it should. The US played Spain just five months ago. It was a 1-0 game for the US that day, but Spain earned plaudits for their excellent possession and ability to control the game for long stretches. Expect some of the same this time, but probably to a lesser extent. The US were in their off-season last time, with Spain right in the middle of their season. That’s not true now, and it’s hard to see this version of the US conceding any space for Spain to play. The main question for the game is whether Spain is able to exert enough control in the middle of the pitch to dictate play, or if the US can overload the wings and bring overwhelming force to bear against the center backs before anyone can get back to help them. I’m betting on the latter, and would be surprised at any result other than a comfortable win for the US.

Sweden – Canada (24 June, Paris)

This has been widely billed as a boring tie between two teams that play hyper-defensively. Which is a good test of whether folks have actually been watching Sweden. Because this version of Sweden is hardly the stolid defending team that rode a series of drab games to the Olympic final three years ago. They may not be scoring much, but it’s not for lack of trying. They’re not going to say damn the torpedoes and go full leather into the attack, but this shouldn’t be a completely cagey match, and has at least some potential to be genuinely interesting. Both coaches have the ability and willingness to adapt, which could make for some fascinating chess as the game progresses.

Italy – China (25 June, Montpellier)

Italy were the surprise winners of Group C and as a reward got a game that certainly looks easier on paper than their groupmates. But in practice, this looks like precisely the sort of team that Italy will hate to play. China showed against Germany that they have the ability to play an aggressive physical game which depends very little on doing anything constructive. But Italy’s success so far has largely come from two things. First, picking at the weak spots in their opponent’s setup and then ruthlessly exploiting them. Second, using their physicality to disrupt the opposition, riding their luck a little bit to avoid getting tossed into the sin bin. Will they have the same results against the chaotic bundle of energy that is China? On the opposite side, will China look to play at full tilt like they did against Germany, or will they sit a bit deeper and ride their luck like they did against Spain. The former was far more successful than the latter, so I’d be surprised to see anything else here. Let’s all say a brief prayer for the lower-body health of Italy’s forwards.

Netherlands – Japan (25 June, Rennes)

On paper, this looks like the most exciting match of the round. Two teams with a lot of attacking potential, but in very different styles. The Dutch will look to spread the defense, to create spaces for Miedema to work in, and to give their wide attackers targets to ping with crosses, and create room for slashing runs. This relies on a great deal of technical ability but is fundamentally about vertical movement. Japan, by contrast, are all about triangles. They’ll hope to move the ball quickly through the middle. So far, Japan has been more potential than reality, and my gut tells me that will continue here as well. The Netherlands are absolutely exploitable, but I’m not sure Japan has enough firepower to match the goals they’re likely to concede. At the risk of invoking the pundit’s curse and ensuring this ends up 0-0, I’d expect goals—quite a lot of goals—here.  

Women’s World Cup Daily – June 17

Posted on by RJ Allen

June 17: Matchday 1

China 0 – 0 Spain

I was hoping against hope this would turn out to be an exciting game. Instead, it played mostly as expected, with Spain trying somewhat fruitlessly to score and China trying somewhat effectively to earn the scoreless draw that advanced them to the next round and protected them from the United States.

But it wasn’t quite as dull as that sounds. Spain couldn’t score, but they did actually create quite a bit. They had a period of about twenty minutes in the first half when they were totally in control, and building very coherently and effectively down the left side. It didn’t produce any goals, but they came close enough to feel pretty good about their approach. Things quieted down significantly to start the second half, as they succumbed to their usual tendency to pass and dribble themselves into oblivion rather than just taking a shot. But with the final twenty minutes they came back to life a bit, and actually put quite a significant amount of pressure on China. In the end, it didn’t produce any goals, but that was more to do with an outstanding performance from Peng Shimeng in China’s goal. But on another day, Spain could have won this 2-0 or 3-0.

What to make of all that really depends on what you think Spain’s fundamental problem is. If it’s a general lack of self confidence and belief, a 0-0 result against a pretty mediocre China team wasn’t the thing to unlock their potential. But if it’s an inability to actually take the shots that would turn all that possession into something useful, well they did actually demonstrate some progress here. That’s something they can build on.

Of course, there’s also a third problem, which is that Spain also suffers from the basic lack of a clinical finisher. They can create plenty but there’s never anyone there to put them away. And there frankly isn’t really anything they can do about that.

For China, this is pretty much the exact result they wanted. And they got it without doing much to hinder their chances in the round of 16. I anticipated a more physical performance from them, really looking to get in Spain’s faces (and shins, to be honest) and make life difficult. But they mostly didn’t play that way. Presumably, it’s because that style requires a lot of work, and they didn’t want to burn the energy. And that style also exposes you to a lot of risk of bookings – which could trigger suspensions of key players.

So instead they backed off, defended a bit deeper, and just hoped that they could hold out. It was actually quite surprising to see them play a fairly lackadaisical style, since energy and athleticism is kind of their whole thing. But it worked, albeit with a bit of luck.

None of this is to suggest that China was actively trying to throw the game. They were attacking, just not a whole lot, and not in any significant numbers. If one of the chances had gone in, I’m sure they would have celebrated a big win over a good team and taken their lumps in the knockout stage. But this was clearly not a team trying everything they could to win a game.

South Africa 0 – 4 Germany

I only caught tiny glimpses of this one, since it was on simultaneously with the China-Spain game. But from what I saw, Germany dominated, and maybe shut up a few of the critics who had started wondering if they were actually any good. At the same time, this was a rotated South Africa side, so Germany certainly should have been expected to dominate, so one doesn’t want to read too much into it.

They’ll certainly be happy to have notched a few more goals for some key players, but the really important thing is that they topped their group with the full 9 points, and secured themselves a spot on the other side of the bracket from the top two teams in the world. Well, probably. It does still depend on the US not losing to Sweden.

For South Africa, this wasn’t the final result they’d have hoped for, but for a first-time team in a very tough group, there were plenty of positives here. A great goal in their first game and a hard-fought game against China are both fantastic points to build from.

As with many new entrants to the tournament, it remains an open question whether this will actually be a foundation on which more support can be layered, or whether their institutions will let them down and the team will fail to scale these heights again.  We’re all certainly hoping for the former.

Nigeria 0 – 1 France

South Korea 1 – 2 Norway

I couldn’t watch either of these games because I was on a train with no wifi coming back from Le Havre. From what I can tell, they both more or less went according to expectations, with France dominating but unable to find a goal, and with a fairly even game between South Korea and Norway.

The big controversy was obviously the penalty that determined the game in Nigeria-France. I haven’t seen anything but screen shots, but this is yet another example of the problem we’ve been discussing ad nauseum. The rules of soccer are not well-equipped for the burdens we are placing upon them, and it’s causing a lot of problems. I won’t dwell any further on the point now, but it’s absolutely something we’re going to need to come back to again.

These results put France through in first place, as we all expected, meaning that they have fulfilled their part of the bargain and slotted themselves in place to set up that quarterfinal showdown with the US. They’ll still have to get through the round of 16, of course, and the US may yet slip elsewhere. But it’s looking more and more likely.

Norway are through in second place, and booked a round of 16 match against which of Australia, Italy, and Brazil finishes second in Group C.

And Nigeria have been very hard done-by. The rules have been followed, but in text far more than spirit. And now they’ll have to wait on results in other groups to see if they will advance. They still have a good chance, though not a great one. They are behind China, and will almost certainly trail whoever finishes third in Group C. That means they need two of the following three things to happen:

  • A draw in Scotland-Argentina
  • A draw in Cameroon-New Zealand, or a 1-0 victory for New Zealand
  • Chile to win by two goals or less, or draw, or lose (unless they lose by 15 goals)

These are predicated on the assumption (which I think is accurate) that would lose on the fair play tiebreaker if they end up equal on points, goal difference, and goals scored with any of these teams. But yeah, it’s a complicated process, and I’m sure the next couple days will not be fun for the Super Falcons.

Notes

– This was another great game from Mapi León, the Spanish center back who is a boatload of fun to watch play. Her aggressive ball-playing from the back would be incredibly dangerous on many teams, but it really works for Spain who love having an extra body in the midfield to start attacks. And she had quite a few excellent defensive stops and clearances that cut out potentially dangerous attacks. I called her out as a player to watch in my Group B preview and I’m feeling pretty good about that one.  

– I commented on this during the game, but one major issue with the China-Spain match is the system in which 16/24 teams advance. It’s an inelegant setup, and one which makes it a little too easy for teams to advance. Any system is going to end up with dead rubber matches, or games where both teams are happy with a draw, but they’re more common when three-quarters of a group can advance. The worldwide dispersal of talent probably isn’t there yet to truly justify going to 32 teams, but I’m not sure it would be that big of a drop, and 32 is the obvious, objectively correct size for a tournament. Again, the talent probably isn’t there yet, so you’d likely end up with a bunch of groups with the top two teams both beating the bottom two teams and going through easily, which would hardly be more interesting. But I don’t think we’re that far away from this being a reasonable move.

Tomorrow’s action

Two games tomorrow, which will sort out the fate of Group C. This is certainly the most volatile group, with real potential for any of the top three teams to finish in any order.

  • Jamaica – Australia. Jamaica are pretty much only playing for pride at this point, with no realistic path to the knockout rounds. But there has been a lot of positives so far, and they do have a foundation to build from. Australia will be looking to win, and win big. They could still top the group, and secure a spot in the easier half of the bracket, but it would take a big win, and some luck in the day’s other game.
  • Italy – Brazil. Italy have been potentially my favorite team of the tournament so far, and this will be another test for them. Any result and they top the group. Even a one-goal loss would potentially be enough, since Australia would need to score five on Jamaica to pass them. But a two-goal loss would drop them below the Brazilians, and could even leave them stuck in third place.

If I had to guess, Italy-Brazil feels like a draw, leaving Italy to top the group, Australia to finish second, and Brazil third. But I really wouldn’t be surprised at any order here.

 

Women’s World Cup Daily – June 12

Posted on by RJ Allen

June 12: Matchday 6

Nigeria 2 – 0 South Korea

So far, the World Cup has mostly been games with clear favorites trying to overcome plucky underdogs, with only one or two real exceptions. This game was something different: two solid teams, with different styles of play, and no obvious advantage. Before the tournament, I think I said that South Korea might just beat out Nigeria, but certainly not by much. Nigeria have good attacking options, but their direct approach didn’t seem particularly well-suited to handle the collective defensive work that South Korea could bring.

I therefore anticipated a cagey match, with South Korea controlling possession, and probing carefully, always with an eye toward protecting themselves from the counter. And that’s more or less what we actually got. The problem was that South Korea made a huge mess of one attack, with a missed clearance finding its way into their net for an own goal, and with a wonderful bit of strength and skill from Asisat Oshoala – who had up until that point actually been pretty terrible in the tournament.

For South Korea, this is just about the end of the road. Despite having a team with a fair bit of potential, they just weren’t able to find their rhythm. And now, given other results, they’ll either have to beat Norway by four goals (very unlikely), or beat Norway and make up 5 goals on Nigeria – who are playing France so it’s possible.

Germany 1 – 0 Spain

This was an enjoyable game in many respects, but also a very frustrating one. It was enjoyable because we got to watch two very talented teams start to build toward their true potential.

Spain possessed the ball well, unsurprisingly, but also managed to produce more incisive passes and direct movement than in their first match. It didn’t produce any goals, and they couldn’t really sustain it, but through the opening half hour, they looked like the version of Spain that we all tipped as a genuine dark horse.

Germany showed that they can play well without Dzsenifer Maroszán – albeit in a less exciting style. They were mostly content to cede possession, and to attack directly when they could force a transition. It was a fairly measured defensive performance – not much in the way of true pressing – but it was enough to keep Spain relatively at bay and generate enough chances. They were able to convert one of their two or three clear chances this produced – about par for the course – and it was enough to take home the three points.

It was a frustrating game, however, because we only saw glimpses. Spain produced some good work in the opening 30, but really struggled otherwise. The two Garcias looked lively in the buildup, but failed in either their touch or shot once they got into the box. Hermoso did some good creative work pushed back in the #10, but it’s not clear she did enough to justify taking her away from goal. Especially since the shift pushed Alexia Putellas out wide left where she was a relative non-factor. The underlying problems are all still there for Spain. They can possess the ball nicely, and there are flashes of brilliance. But it never quite comes together.

For Germany it was frustrating because this team has so much more potential. A squad with this kind of midfield talent shouldn’t struggle so much to keep the ball. I’m a big fan of Sara Däbritz (a Däbritz Believer, as I named myself today), but she was extremely restrained in this game. In fact, I tweeted this exact point:

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And then approximately twenty seconds later, she scored:

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Still, the goal had little to do with her creative work, and more to do with cleaning up a loose ball at the end of a nice attack down the right. Which is where the vast majority of Germany’s attacks went. They had clearly targeted Corredera as a weak link in the Spanish defense, and found a lot of success down that wing, with great work from Gwinn at right wing and Hendrich at right back.

The biggest concern for Germany going forward has to be their center backs. That’s nothing new. They were a problem against South Africa, and a clear weak link going into the tournament. But this game potentially showed how that weakness can be managed. The biggest problem is their movement in space and skill on the ball. With a high defensive line, those are both very exploitable. But they are both reasonably strong defenders with their backs to the wall. If allowed to set up deeper, they’ll be solid. That does, of course, mean conceding quite a bit more space. But this game showed that the German midfield is probably good enough to generally cover that ground. It will mean playing a lower-possession game, but that’s not necessarily a problem.

France 2 – 1 Norway

A wonderful game, possibly the most entertaining of the tournament so far. That’s partly because each of the goals was a delight in its own specific way. And partly because the level of play was exceptional throughout. France were clearly the better team over 90 minutes and certainly deserved their victory. But Norway were no pushovers. They did excellent work to police the midfield and keep from getting overrun, while their wide players struggled but (mostly) held out against the waves of attack.

The key match-up in the game was on the French right wing, where Diani showed off her pace and skill, regularly beating the defense. However, she never quite managed to make anything of the crosses she was able to send in. So despite the apparent danger, the eventual goal actually came from the other wing. And what a wonderful goal it was. It started with the French counterpress which recovered possession quickly. A quick pass to Henry found her with a mile of space in front of her to run at the Norwegian defense. As they closed ranks, Henry slid a quiet ball wide left to Majri who now had plenty of time to pick out her pass into the box. As the ball bounded in, Thiney held off her defender and shielded the ball, allowing it to reach Gauvin, who then buried her shot.

All together the whole move took maybe 13 or 14 seconds, and involved six or seven French players. It was a wonderful team goal.

Then came the bonkers Wendie Renard Own Goal, or ‘But Contre Son Camp’ (CSC) as I have learned they call it in France. It was a colossal mistake, of course, but also a demonstration of what happens when you force defenders to make point blank decisions while facing their own goal. Renard simply couldn’t know what was behind her and had to try to put the ball out. She missed, and the game was even.

But France eventually found their winner through a penalty. On that point, I won’t bother to rewrite what I already said on twitter, I’ll just link to it here, and reiterate the crucial point: defending in the box is supposed to be hard because we want to incentivize good attacking soccer. In the case of the handball rule, we’re probably going to need to change the rule or interpretation. In the case of these ‘would be fouls anywhere else’ calls, the change is going to come from defenders changing their behavior. And that will make soccer better.

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For a brief moment, it seemed possible that France might not win this group. But they’re now virtually locked in. Which means they’ve held up their half of the bargain, and that fatal showdown between the US and France in Paris on June 28 remains very much in the cards. I know I’m excited!

Notes

– I’m going to try not to say much more about the US game against Thailand. It’s mostly there in the piece I wrote last night. But the key thing I want to come back to is: I’m not looking to cast blame. And I don’t think there’s any definitive right answer to these questions. But I just wish people (myself included) were more willing to take a look at what they take for granted, and consider whether it’s really something they want to endorse. I know most of the conversation on this subject has been standard talking head stuff, but I feel like a little bit has seeped through at the edges which really has me (and hopefully others) reflecting a bit on what responsibilities we all have to be good humans as well as sports fans.

– This piece from Kim McCauley convinced me that I probably understated the genuine strategic value of the US going all-out.

– If you’re not following Katja (@applessquabble), you’re really missing out on learning about the Scandinavian teams (and plenty of others as well).

– As my twitter followers know, I’ve become a huge Miranda Nild fan – she’s a Bay Area girl (go Bears!) who just played her first World Cup match against her home country. Check out my quick thread on her comments after the game last night. For a very emotional moment, she comes across really well.

Tomorrow’s action

I’m previewing these games over at Stars and Stripes FC tomorrow, so take a look over there at some point fairly early in the AM eastern time to see my thoughts.

But the tl;dr is that Australia-Brazil is a HUGE game, much more significant than we were anticipating, while South Africa – China is another between two teams with zero points who need a win. It’s in Paris, so that’s the one I’ll be at.