Tag: South Africa

Women’s World Cup Daily – June 13

Posted on by RJ Allen

June 13: Matchday 7

Australia 3 – 2 Brazil

This game was completely bonkers, and a lot of fun to watch. But hardly an impressive display from either team. The big questions going in were: ‘can Australia improve on their mediocre start’ and ‘is Brazil actually better than we all thought?’ The answers to both were unfortunately ‘no’ and ‘no.’

But before dwelling on the negatives, let’s talk about the positives. This was a wild, open game, especially in the first half, with both teams going full blazes. Australia found very little in front of goal, sending in a bunch of weak crosses, but at least they were moving the ball with some purpose, especially down the right flank. The decision to play Steph Catley (one of the top left backs in the game) at centerback was mostly successful. She injected some pace, and they were finding enough joy from Carpenter at right back that the loss of Catley’s attacking force down the left wasn’t a huge problem. But then we saw the limitations of play Catley in the center, as Debinha sent in a cross and Catley was simply outmuscled by Cristiane who powered it home. That, along with Marta’s penalty, put Brazil up 2-0.

But then came the comeback. A superb ball in from Logarzo found Foord. Then Logarzo got on the scoresheet herself on a bizarre ball that seemed aimed for Kerr in the box. But the two defenders and goalkeeper were so focused on blocking out Kerr that they didn’t actually stop the ball, and it bounced right in. Then came the coup de grace: an own goal under truly bizarre circumstances. I’m not going to get into analyzing it here, since I’ll have a more developed piece out tomorrow. But it counted, which is the important thing, and Australia had their lead.

In the end, it was enough. There was a late penalty shout from Brazil for what looked like a rugby tackle by Kennedy in the box, but it wasn’t called, and Australia had their victory.

It was a famous comeback for Australia, and Kerr took at shot at their doubters after the match. Which, count me as one. Because while Australia won this game, they looked pretty awful in the process. The defense is in shambles, and the midfield was completely overrun by Brazil – not a particularly strong team in the midfield, to be honest. For a team that looked like genuine contenders pretty recently, Australia has kind of fallen apart. Polkinghorne has been a disaster, and Kennedy only a little better. Catley as a makeshift centerback worked okay, but wasn’t great. Kellond-Knight was bad at fullback, and Carpenter is still a very limited player. And there’s almost literally no one behind these players in the depth chart either.

Meanwhile, the midfield can barely play the ball, since the only two credible ballwinners they have (Kennedy and Kellond-Knight) are stuck in the backline.

Any team with Sam Kerr is going to be a terrifying opponent in a knockout game. But unless Australia figures the rest of their business out, and soon, they are going to get steamrolled the first time they play a legitimately good team.

South Africa 0 – 1 China

A thoroughly professional showing from China, who dominated the game from start to finish, and effectively shut down South Africa across the board. They possessed the ball very nicely, and while the finishing left something to be desired in general, it only takes one. And what a one it was. Li Ying had an impressive game, and her goal is one of the prettiest of the tournament.

I wasn’t thrilled with the way China played against Germany, but there’s no denying it was effective. They probably won’t get away with it to the same extent again, but even if they’re significantly more reined-in, that kind of disruptive performance could be enough to really threaten any team in the tournament. But it was nice to see them go wholly in the other direction this game, with lots of quick passing and movement. They were still physical – and made it extremely difficult for South Africa to ever settle – but they came to play, and it was a lot of fun to watch.

One player who particularly impressed me was Lin Yuping, the 5’11 central defender who was absolutely dominant in the air, shutting down basically every single ball that South Africa tried to play over the top, and thereby neutralizing one of their only attacking weapons. Lin is 27 and only has 15 or so caps to her name, so has clearly been a late-bloomer. But I really know nothing more than what I saw here. Would love to know more about her story.

For South Africa, advancing from this group was always a long shot, and it’s now probably impossible. They put in strong efforts against two excellent teams, and now get the reward of playing Germany. Ouch. But even so, they should be proud of what they’ve accomplished.

Notes

– The atmosphere in the Parc des Princes for South Africa v. China was fantastic. It was only about half full, which is less than ideal. But the 20,000 who were there made up for it with enthusiasm. At many times, there were three or four different songs or chants all competing to be loudest. And the corner of the stadium that was taken over by the traveling Chinese contingent was L.O.U.D. Really wonderful to be there.

– Kerr didn’t score today, but her mere presence led directly to two of Australia’s three goals. On Logarzo’s, they were so distracted trying to prevent Kerr from scoring, they failed to actually stop the ball. And the own goal was clearly a product of fear about Kerr lurking behind. It hasn’t been a great tournament so far for Kerr, but even without a gaudy goals-total, she’s still making a difference.

– I’ve been thankfully protected from the Fox coverage of this tournament for the most part. But I have heard what’s going on. And I have to say: the lazy, racially coded stuff about black teams being physical and athletic is pure trash and thoroughly embarrassing. Please be better.

Tomorrow’s action

  • Japan – Scotland. This should be a fascinating tie. Japan were frustrated against Argentina, but may have gotten over their nerves a bit. Scotland played well against England, but not well enough to earn a result. They’ll both still feel confident in their ability to advance. But what lessons will have Scotland learned from Argentina? Will they follow the same strategy: play tight and hope to spring them on the break? If so, having weapons like Cuthbert and Little could be enough. But Japan will also be ready to adapt. So Scotland may prefer to come out more aggressively and apply pressure high.
  • Jamaica – Italy. Italy got a surprise win against Australia, which puts them in great position here. They will certainly be favored against Jamaica, and a win would guarantee them a spot in the Round of 16. Prepare for a game with a lot of running. Neither side are particularly strong in possession, and would prefer to attack with pace more than precision.
  • England – Argentina. Can Argentina work another miracle? I certainly wouldn’t bet on it, not against an England team that should be far more prepared to simply overwhelm their defensive structure. But I wouldn’t have thought they could hold out against Japan either. Look for England to get their clever midfielders a lot of time on the ball, spraying passes and forcing open channels for the forwards to run into, and for their fullbacks to get very engaged in the attack to put pressure across the whole spectrum and limit Argentina’s ability to provide covering support.

I’ll be traveling to Reims to see Jamaica v. Italy, which I’m really excited about. I’ve really enjoyed following Jamaica ever since CONCACAF qualifying back in Texas last October, and Italy’s performance last week was one of my highlights of the tournament. Can’t wait to see this one.

Women’s World Cup Daily – June 8

Posted on by RJ Allen

June 8: Matchday 2

Germany 1 – 0 China

This was not a very good game, and most of the blame for that falls on the referee (see below). But obviously the teams themselves played a big role. China came out ready to kick the German players, it not necessarily the ball. And it certainly set the tone for the game. In the opening fifteen minutes, Germany was in relatively firm control, and carved open a few very nice opportunities. But as the game progressed and the kicking grew more intense, the German team started to lose control of things a bit. By the end of the half, China had sprung a couple attacks of their own – most coming from extremely poor giveaways by Sara Doorsoun in the German defense – and it was only dumb luck for the Germans that kept the match scoreless.

The second half settled a bit more into a normal level of physicality, as the referee put a slightly firmer hand on the till. And once Germany found their goal, the match more or less petered out.

Many commentators seem to think that this was a colossal failure from Germany, and are already back to dismissing them as serious contenders. I’m happy to wait and see what happens. They are unlikely to face a team willing to commit to such cynical tactics again or a referee who allows it. And this will also have been a wakeup call for them, which may be sufficient to get them into gear.

For China, they were probably not really expecting anything here, and while they’ll rue having missed their chance to nick a result, even a 1-0 loss won’t hurt them too badly in a tournament where goal difference could be an important tiebreaker. They have Spain next, who seem like precisely the sort of team that might wither under this kind of relentless physicality. It will certainly be interesting to see if they try it again, and if it works.

Spain 3 – 1 South Africa

This was a weird and wild game, that very much belies the final scoreline. Spain came in as favorites, and left with a seemingly comfortable victory, but it certainly didn’t come easy. In the first half, Spain almost played as a caricature of themselves: passing the ball relentlessly through the middle, barely ever working it wide, and finding (to their apparent surprise) that the center was often clogged and impassable. Meanwhile, while South Africa found little time on the ball, they made the most of their rare chances, generally looking to spring Thembi Kgatlana in a wide left position. This was quite effective because Spain’s right-sided players – Torrejon and Sampedro – seemed as uninterested in defending out wide as they were in attacking there. Kgatlana’s goal came after it looked like the attack had fizzled as Spain was able to set, but she followed the play in, received the return ball, and then launched a perfect ball into the top corner.  For the rest of the half, Spain looked flummoxed. They continued to control the game, and weren’t completely toothless, but kept looking to pass rather than shoot, and kept exposing themselves to counters.

After halftime, Spain came out with renewed energy. They actually started using the entire pitch and began to look for more direct attacking moves. This produced a few solid chances, though as the minutes ticked on and they couldn’t find a goal, they started to lose their calm and began flailing a bit. But then came the goals – two in rapid succession – each from a penalty, and each bringing its own controversy.

The first was a handball at the top corner of the box. By the letter of the law, it was clearly the correct call. But it was of the variety that makes neutrals grimace with frustration. Still, the equalizing goal was probably a fair reward for Spain, who had produced enough chances to justify a goal.

The second came from a dangerous challenge, once again in the far corner of the box. Watching live, I saw absolutely nothing to this. Vilkazi won the ball, and play continued. But then VAR reared its head, and play halted while they looked. And what they saw was a studs-up, crotch-level kick. Clearly dangerous play, clearly a booking, and since it was in the box, clearly a penalty. And as a second yellow, it also left South Africa playing with just 10 for the final minutes. That was a hole they were never going to dig out of, and it was no surprise when Spain, finally discovering the space to operate thanks to their player-advantage, produced a beautiful goal to seal the game.

It was a wonderful start for South Africa, and in a slightly different world, could have been a truly famous victory. But it wasn’t to be. And so Spain got their three points, in spite of having a miserable time for a big chunk of the game, against fairly weak opposition. They’ll need to harness some of the energy of the second half if they expect to advance any further.

Norway 3 – 0 Nigeria

I was on a train with no wifi for this entire match, so can’t speak about any of the events. The result, however, leaves us with four games and zero surprises. In all four, the team that was expected to win did so. Obviously, the expected winner should in fact win pretty often (that’s why they’re expected!) but a tournament is no fun without a few good upsets along the way. Tomorrow has some real promise on this front, with three games where the underdog has every chance of finding a result.

The other big story here was Ada Hegerberg’s non-presence. This is a legitimate issue to discuss, but the conversations around it have been very frustrating. I’ll have a full article on that subject available tomorrow, so stay tuned for that.

Assorted thoughts:

Refereeing

We spend a lot of time talking about refereeing decisions, for better and (mostly) for worse. There certainly was a lot of that today, especially with the two penalty calls and the sending-off that so completely defined the Spain-South Africa game. But for all the controversies about those sort of calls, I think the bigger conversation needs to be about how referees set the tone for the game. It’s an important skill, and goes a long way to ensuring enjoyable games.

The referee in Germany-China, the Canadian Marie-Soleil Beaudoin, failed at this job miserably. China came out to kick hard, and maybe play the ball once the kicking was done. It certainly did seem to rattle Germany, and in that sense was obviously a successful strategy. Which means it’s hard to blame Jia Xiuquan, precisely. They sought an advantage, and found one. And you can also frame this as a problem with Germany. They are the better team, and should have done something to address the situation.

But ultimately, this is coming at the wrong way. This is essentially a story of a referee who allowed rough play to go by with little or no punishment, and thereby incentivized that sort of play. We don’t leave it up to everyday people to enforce the law, and it shouldn’t be up to soccer teams to enforce the rules, either. I’m hardly a believer in strict textualism, and understand that referees absolutely need to exercise some discretion. But that should be in the service of making the game better, safer, and more aligned with the spirit of the rules.

Apparently, on the US broadcast, Christina Unkel said that referees are loathe to hand out yellow cards for fear of generating suspensions.

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This is a terrible approach. The punishments exist for a reason, and while there can of course occasionally be injustices – nobody loves it when two nothing fouls rule a player out of a quarterfinal – the risks are far larger if you permit unrepentant physicality to rule the day. To wit:

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Fitness

One thing that weighed on my mind in Spain-South Africa: relative fitness levels. South Africa were clearly flagging significantly by the final twenty minutes, which may well have contributed to the mistakes that produced the penalties. It’s no coincidence that Spain started looking better at this point. It’s a story we’re likely to see repeat itself in the tournament, with countries like the US, Germany, France, and England – composed entirely of full-time professionals with the luxury of absurd physical regimens to keep them fit – face off against countries with players who simply can’t go the full 90 at anything close to 100%.

Tomorrow’s action:

  • Australia – Italy. A good first test for Australia. Italy are a solid team with some genuine attacking threats. Australia should have plenty to overwhelm them (my gut says this feels like a 3-1 victory for Australia), but after their rotten run-in to the tournament, they’ll want to actually prove that they are in form.
  • Brazil – Jamaica. At one point, some oddsmakers were refusing to even take bets on this game since it was expected to be such a blowout. That was always a mistake, since Jamaica is much better now than their ranking suggests (it’s amazing what a year of actual training and some new recruits can do for a team), and Brazil much worse (they’ve lost nine games in a row, going back almost a full year). And now it’s been confirmed that Marta will miss this game. I still think Brazil has enough to pull out a win, but a draw is maybe the most likely result and a Jamaica win is absolutely possible.
  • England – Scotland. A rivalry that literally goes back to the dawn of modern soccer in the late 1800s, brought to life in a new form here. England are cleaerly the superior team, but Scotland are a tough team to play, and they will certainly be up for it. This should be a cracker.

I’ll be in Valenciennes for the opener, and will do my best to catch as much of the others as I can before my train back to Paris.

Janine van Wyk Helping to Build a Bright Future for South African Soccer

Posted on by RJ Allen

Earlier this year in one of the final tune-up matches before traveling to Rio, the USWNT played the South African Women’s National Team for the first time and nearly everyone predicted the game would be a likely bloodbath favoring the American side. But on game day we were treated to a surprisingly tight game, with Crystal Dunn scoring the only goal in the 35th minute. And while Hope Solo did notch her 100th international career shutout–the most ever in the women’s game–as a whole, the match wasn’t quite the cakewalk that one might expect when a team ranked at #1 takes on #52.

One of the reasons South Africa was able to hold the US to a 1-0 game is centerback and captain Janine van Wyk. Van Wyk is the most capped South African player, male or female, with 130 senior international appearances since 2005. And her influence in the development of soccer in South Africa is felt both on and off the pitch, perhaps nowhere more evident than her work with growing nation’s youth game.

In 2012 van Wyk founded the JVW Girls Football Development Program, and recently Backline Soccer spoke with Lauren Duncan, the program’s project manager, about what has been going on in South African soccer and the JVW program that van Dyk started. 

Backline Soccer (BS): Why was the JVW Girls Football Development Program (JVW GFD) started?

Lauren Duncan (LD): The Program was started in 2012, to improve, develop and expose women’s soccer. Women’s soccer is slowly on the rise in South Africa, but more needed to be done at grassroots and school levels to give girls an equal playing chance. The JVW GFD Program started with a School League with 12 teams and has now grown to 109 teams within 5 years. The women’s club JVW FC was started a year after the School League as we felt there needed to be a stable environment for identified and talented players to play in, and potentially be able to take the next step in the sport.

BS: What are the main goals of the program?

(LD): To develop young, aspiring and talented players. To create a competitive and structured playing environment at schools level and bridge the gap between school and club players. To promote women’s soccer and raise the standard of the women’s game in South Africa. To produce top players and introduce their talent to the professional soccer world.

(BS): Janine van Wyk is the namesake and founder of the program. Does having the captain of the full NT help in drawing players to the program?

(LD): Yes, of course it does. We have a lot of young girls who look up to and want to be like Janine, and there are many girls who want to be part of the program to gain experience directly from Janine. Janine is very actively involved in the program, and gives a lot of guidance to the younger girls.

(BS): How has the landscape of soccer in South Africa changed since the program was founded?

(LD): Women’s soccer is on the rise throughout the world, and by having this program more girls are now able to play football, and aspire to be part of the program. Although the program is only running in one of the nine provinces in South Africa, more awareness has been created for the women’s game.

(BS): When bringing in new coaches what qualities do you look for to make sure they fit with the program’s ideals?

(LD): We have had coaches in the past whilst we were still testing the waters to see what worked and what didn’t work. We have now started looking at our own players in our Senior teams, to see who can add value to our Program/Club, and are looking to bring in more female coaches to grow the sport at different levels. We look for passionate female leaders in the women’s game who share the same vision for the sport as we do.

(BS): In 5 years where do they see the program?

(LD): In 5 years, we are hoping that there is a professional League for women in South Africa in which our First Team is actively participating in. However, we aspire to be one of the top women’s soccer programs in South Africa, producing elite athletes to professional clubs abroad. We would also like to branch out into other provinces in South Africa, to give other girls the same opportunities as the ones currently participating in the Gauteng Province. We also would like to be a feeder for Scouts/Varsities abroad, and give girls in South Africa opportunity to make a career out of the sport.

(BS): Anything else you think people should know about the program and South African soccer?

(LD): The Club caters to girls from as young as 9 years old, which gives them the option to participate in an all-girls club, and progress throughout the years to eventually make the first team. Our first team have currently been crowned Sasol League Gauteng Champions and are heading to National Playoffs in early December. The Sasol League is the highest league for women in the country, but it is still not considered a Professional League. We have six Senior Women’s National Team Players in our first squad, which adds a huge amount of value to the club.

South African women’s soccer is definitely on the rise with the pool of female players increasing on a daily rate, however as a country we still struggle with proper women’s soccer grassroots/development programs as the sport is still not considered as one of the fastest growing sports in the world. We feel the gap is not having a Professional League for Women, and almost all female soccer players have full day jobs, in order to play soccer.