Tag: World Cup 2019

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.

Women’s World Cup Daily – June 11

Posted on by RJ Allen

June 11: Matchday 5

New Zealand 0 – 1 Netherlands

I was only able to watch about 20 minutes of this game (see below in the Notes), but I followed along electronically the best I could. From what I can tell, this was not one of those games which requires us to ask whether New Zealand deserves credit for shutting down the Dutch, or the Dutch deserve blame for failing to create anything. Rather, it’s one of those games where the Dutch created a million chances and eventually one of them went in.

Compare, for example, these two performances:

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xG isn’t the end-all and be-all, but it certainly tells part of the story. And the story here was: the Netherlands were unlucky in their finishing. And considering the lethal strikers they have at their disposal, there’s no particular reason to think that will continue. Again, not having watched most of the game, I’d caution against assuming that the Dutch are in trouble.

For New Zealand, this was an agonizing result. To hold out for 90 minutes only to concede at the death will be frustrating beyond belief. But they didn’t really need anything from this game. They kept their goal difference down against the high-scoring Dutch, which likely ensures that a single victory will be enough to make them one of the advancing 3rd-place teams. Anything beyond that is gravy.

Chile 0 – 2 Sweden

Unlike the day’s first game, this was an example of a heavy favorite being unable to break the deadlock because they genuinely just couldn’t create enough chances. But unlike yesterday’s masterful team defensive performance from Argentina, Chile was merely solid. They set up their defensive block, and waited for Sweden to come at them. And it mostly worked.

The opening fifteen minutes were nervy, and Sweden looked like they were inching closer and closer to the goal. But instead of heightening, the pressure began to ease. By the 60th minute, it increasingly felt like we were in for another 0-0.

But then came the weather delay. After a lengthy wait for the lightning to depart, the teams came back out, and Sweden finally seemed to have developed a bit of urgency, and an understanding that going wide and sending in crosses is not a complete strategy. And so the goal finally did come, and then another to seal the deal.

It wasn’t a great performance from Sweden, but they got the job done. Meanwhile, Chile did more than enough to do themselves proud, without quite ending up with anything to show for it.

USA 13 – 0 Thailand

I talked about my thoughts here.

I have literally nothing to say about the specific content of the game. We learned no lessons, and there is nothing important here to analyze. The US got the three points they were always going to get. Time to move on.

Notes

– This afternoon, I took the train from Paris to Reims to catch the US game. It was extremely fast. I love the trains of Europe so very much.

– My plan was to get to Gare de l’Est an hour early and catch the first half of New Zealand-Netherlands in a bar or café. But I couldn’t find a single place showing it! To be somewhat fair, that was partly because TVs are less ubiquitous in Parisian establishments than in US ones. And I managed in my broken French to ask in several places with TVs if they would put it on (French friends: does “est possible de regarder la Coupe de Monde Feminin?” mean what I think it means?), but they didn’t have the channel.

– One underrated storyline: the US just played its first game of the World Cup. One day later, France will play its second. If that quarterfinal does end up happening, that means the US will have played five games in 18 days, while France will have played the same number of games spread out over 22 days. That extra little bit of rest could make a real difference.

– My official position on the Hope Solo/Jill Ellis ‘controversy’ is that I don’t care about it at all and you shouldn’t either.

– For those keeping track, these are the Official Players of the Backline Soccer Women’s World Cup daily column: Barbara Bonansea (Italy), Sydney Schneider (Jamaica), Lorena Benítez (Argentina), Miranda Nild (Thailand).

Tomorrow’s action

  • Nigeria – South Korea. The two teams from Group A that lost their first game. South Korea were blitzed by France, while Nigeria played Norway a bit more evenly. But it all resets here. In this format, though, even three points is usually enough to make the next round, so neither are anything close to out.
  • Germany – Spain. The two winners from Group B, neither of which really performed up to expectations. Both faced teams that mostly sought to frustrate rather than create, so this will be a very different test. Germany will be missing Maroszán, after the referee in the previous game allowed China to kick her to pieces, which is a big loss. But if there’s any country in the world that can survive her absence, it’s probably Germany.
  • France – Norway. This should be a much sterner test for France than their opening match. If they can brush Norway aside as easily as they did South Korea, they will truly lock down their status as World Cup favorites. For Norway, with three points in the bag, they can treat this as a bit of a freebie, which might give them the freedom to find a result.

The US beat Thailand 13-0. I was there. It felt gross.

Posted on by RJ Allen

I just attended my first World Cup game featuring the United States, my home country. A game which they won by an absurd margin. Am I happy? No. I feel gross. I wish I hadn’t been there. I wish I had gone to Rennes, or just stayed back in Paris. I wish I hadn’t been in a stadium full of Americans, cheering on – with chants of “USA! USA!” and “We Want More!” ringing out around me, while their team racked up double digit goals.

I’m not trying to lob accusations at anyone. I understand that it’s complicated. People paid a lot of money, took a huge amount of time and energy to come here. This is one of the only chances they may ever get to see their national team play in the World Cup. They want to celebrate, and they have every right to take some joy in the process. I get all that.

And still, I have a sour taste in my mouth, and my stomach is churning.

The fans made a deliberate choice to put their own joy over recognizing the pain of others

Because, in the bigger picture, this wasn’t an event to celebrate. The US obliterated the opposition, and they were able to do so because they have fifty years of institutional support behind them. Thailand was overrun, not because there is no one in Thailand with the ability to play soccer. They were overrun because there is no network of support to nurture and develop the people with the potential. There is no coaching system to train them. No resources to pay them.

That inequality is a part of the game, and there’s no way to run a tournament like the World Cup and not have it play a role. So the solution can’t simply be to throw up our hands and give up. We still want a tournament, and that means the teams with more resources are very likely to beat the teams without them.

But we don’t have to celebrate it. And the fans in the crowd stepped over that line. I am sure that none of the meant it maliciously. I don’t think they’re bad people. But as a group, they exhibited behavior that we should lament, not valorize.

The coaches made a deliberate choice to run up the score

I don’t blame the players. They kept going because that’s what they do. Maybe they could have cooled it with the big celebrations after the 8th or 9th goal, but in the moment, I completely get it. So while I wish that they had decided to dial things back a bit, I don’t blame them.

But I do blame the coaches. The US made three substitutions. Three forwards. They finished the game with five strikers on the pitch – six, really, if you count Crystal Dunn. There was no need for that.

I understand why they did it. Strikers work on confidence, and you want all your attacking options to feel like they’re in the zone. You want to give them a chance to get their feet wet in a low pressure situation. I get it.

But you could equally argue that the US would have benefited from ratcheting everything down five notches – save legs, save energy, coast to an easy 6-0 win and call it a day. The US does this all the time, and suffers no psychological problems. I’m thinking of the semifinals from the CONCACAF qualifying against Jamaica, for example.

If Ellis had subbed in three more defensive players, she would have communicated to the team: now is the time to practice seeing out a victory. That would have been a perfectly valid tactical goal, would have caused no problems with psychological management, and would have kept this in the realm of a normal thumping. Instead, she subbed on the strikers, and told her team to keep going full pelt. She told them: we want to be the bully.

And yes, sometimes being the bully works. But that doesn’t make it right. And it certainly doesn’t make it something that I personally want to associate myself with. And please don’t bring up goal difference. The US is going to blow Sweden out of the water in goal difference, and that was true by the time they scored their fifth goal.

Sometimes, feeling bad is the only good thing to do

This should have been a happy occasion. I’m at the World Cup. I just got to watch the team I’m covering win a famous victory. It should have been fun.

It wasn’t fun. It was just a sad reminder of how unequal the playing field is, and little is being done to remedy that inequality. None of it is any one person’s fault, and I don’t want to imply that US fans or US coaches caused any of this. They’re merely small parts in a huge story. Poor players who strut and fret their hour upon the stage.

But tonight a lot of people had a choice: do I do the hard thing, and swallow my sense of self just a little bit? Do I put myself in the shoes of the others out there who don’t have what I have? Do I do those things, even acknowledging that it’s going to dull the joy a bit?

I understand why everyone did what they did. No one was being unreasonable. No one was being intentionally cruel. So I hope this doesn’t read like an attack on anyone. I’m certain that I have made many similar choices in my own life. But here, tonight, it felt wrong. And it felt important for me to try and explain why. Even though it was hard.

 

The Women’s World Cup is big news all around the world

Posted on by RJ Allen

The tournament is breaking viewership numbers across Europe and in the United States. But how is it being seen elsewhere?

The Women’s World Cup is doing great numbers around the world, with a record-breaking number of viewers in several countries. Over 10 million tuned in from France (along with the sold-out crowd) to see their team open the tournament in style, more than doubling the previous record for a women’s soccer match. The England-Scotland game was the most-watched women’s soccer game in UK history, with 6.1 million. Italy also broke their record with 3.5 million viewers who saw their team triumph over Australia. Numbers are up in the US compared to similar matches from 2015 (though of course we’re still a long way from the 26.7 million who watched the final). Spain didn’t set their record (recently set by the Copa de la Reina final last month) but their 859,000 still handily beat the numbers for their men’s team who competed in Euro qualifying against France. Down in Australia, 570,000 saw the game, more than watched the Cricket World Cup match on the same day.

Clearly, something is in the air. But these numbers are all from the big, established countries, who are now apparently taking a step forward in the media landscape. I was curious how this event was being watched in some other parts of the world, where the game has less support. So I put out a call for people to share their experiences. Here are some of the most interesting responses I got:

From Argentina:

“I can report from Argentina that the WWC is getting almost no coverage. I’m obviously not watching every station all the time but I’ve seen two semifinal games in the tournament for promotion from the third league to the second, a replay of every goal scored for or against Liverpool in CL play, two different 30 minute shows on possible moves for Boca after losing in the super liga final, endless gnashing of teeth over the U20 loss to Mali along with the usual slate of major games, highlights and transfer discussions. I’ve seen one report on the Argentina ladies. They beat Long Beach State 2-1 in a friendly.

France vs. South Korea was not broadcast.

That’s the report from soccer mad Argentina. They do not care about the WWC.”

The same correspondent did note the next day that they saw “A nice 8-9 minute piece on the Argentine women’s team and then good highlights and discussion of the games today.”

More from Argentina:

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From Spain:

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From Denmark:

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From Germany:

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From Dubai:

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From Nepal:

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From Switzerland:

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From Sweden:

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From Mexico:

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From Kenya:

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From Poland:

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Women’s World Cup Daily – June 9

Posted on by RJ Allen

June 9: Matchday 3

Australia 1 – 2 Italy

This was among the wildest soccer games I have ever seen in person, and I was at one of the bonkers 5-4 games between Seattle and Sky Blue a couple years ago, so I know what a wild soccer game is like.

Australia came into the tournament as an exciting team with a chance to go far, but with a wretched defense and a lot of concerns about whether they could fix it. This game sure did not help to alleviate those concerns. Italy had the goal in the net in the opening fifteen minutes, only to have it disallowed on a very close offside call. This would definitely be a pattern.

Over the rest of the game, Australia’s high and ragged line was broken time and again by the quick Italian forwards, who raced in behind and laid waste to Lydia Williams’ goal. Time and again, those plays were called back on the offside rule. But the margins were often razor thin. Australia was clearly playing with fire, and eventually they got burned, with Italy pulling it back to 1-1 after a ghastly mistake from Claire Polkinghorne, who gave the ball away and then watched Barbara Bonansea put away the goal.

Unlike many games in this tournament, which have wilted pretty heavily in the second half, this one grew and multiplied, growing only more intense with every minute. First Australia threatened, then Italy came back. Lisa De Vanna nearly got sent off within fifteen minutes of subbing on. The Australians began falling over as soon as they entered the box, desperately hoping for a penalty.

In the end, it was Italy that found the winner, thanks to another dumb mistake from Australia, who needlessly conceded a set piece, and then watched helplessly as Sam Kerr backpedaled desperately and just missed clearing the ball, leaving Bonansea free at the back post to nod it in.

And the crowd erupted. And so did the Italian team.

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Australia is still probably fine. They’ll be favorites in their other two games, and even a draw against Brazil wouldn’t kill them, since four points is effectively a guarantee to advance under this system. By the same token, Italy is now in very good shape. A result against Jamaica is by no means certain, but that would be sufficient to advance them to the knockout stage, a big deal for a team that hasn’t been to this tournament in two decades.

Brazil 3 – 0 Jamaica

All of us soccer experts managed to talk ourselves into believing that Jamaica could potentially pull this off, but it ended up a comfortable win that the casual fan always expected. There were many factors involved. Jamaica definitely looked like a team attending their first World Cup, with quite a few nerves getting in their way. They also struggled in the midfield, as expected, and played a slightly naïve system that pushed high too often and left them critically exposed. Only a showstopping performance from Sydney Schneider in goal kept them in the match for as long as they were.

For Brazil, this was obviously a nice performance and a great way to break a long losing streak. Jamaica weren’t that bad, but Brazil dominated the game, and provided a nice template for how they should play against stronger opposition. It also built well on a set of performances at SheBelieves in February and March that didn’t produce any results but at least looked more credible than some of what we saw from them in 2018. There are still a lot of holes in this team, but they once again look like a viable player on the big stage. It’ll take another strong performance against a better team to really convince me, but the world is better when Brazil is good, so let’s hope so.

The big topic is how (and maybe whether) they should reintegrate Marta. I am a strong believer that Marta makes everyone around her better, and don’t think Brazil’s struggles had anything to do with her being in the team. So I’m entirely on the side of bringing her back in when healthy. But if nothing else, this performance gives them some runway to work with if she isn’t immediately 100%.

For Jamaica, this was probably their best chance for a result, so their odds of making it out of the group have definitely taken a hit. But it’s by no means over, and there was a lot to like in this performance. Shaw didn’t find the net, but she showed plenty of the talent that made everyone talk her up. And the team as a whole looked far more solid and coherent than they did even a few months ago. There’s still a chance for something special from this group of players.

England 2 – 1 Scotland

I missed this game entirely, thanks to poor train station wireless. But it sounds like a fun one, with England in full control for the first hour or so, only to let things slip away a bit and invite Scotland back into the game. 

It doesn’t really tell us anything we didn’t already know. But it’s nice to get some confirmation that England is, in fact, pretty good. And that Phil Neville actually does have a pretty clear idea of how he wants to set his team up – despite quite a bit of pre-tournament hand-wringing about his tinkering and inconstancy. It was also nice to get some confirmation that Scotland are a perfectly credible team, who can pose real challenges to anyone in the tournament. 

I’m really looking forward to seeing both of these teams play going forward.

Notes

– I wrote a piece for AllForXI about the Hegerberg conversations, and all the ways that we continue to harass women by demanding impossible levels of perfection and refusing to respect the dignity of their decisions. For more on the subject, check out this nice piece from Meg Linehan on the nature of resistance and different aspects of the fight for equality.

– I also wrote a piece right here at Backline about the Video Assistant Referee system, and the way it’s beginning to take over the experience of these games.

– Sydney Schneider put on a ridiculous display in one of the CONCACAF qualifying games I got to watch back in Texas last fall, and I have been a huge fan ever since. Glad to see her turn in a good game in the World Cup. And she’s still only 19! And hey, while we’re on the subject, go read this great article on Schneider.

– I find it strangely comforting that Sam Kerr is kind of rubbish at taking penalties. It’s just a nice reminder that no one, even a superhero like Kerr, is perfect at everything.

– Good news! According to Jaclyn Mahoney at Football Reference, we’re well ahead of the pace for yellow cards per match (at 2.9 this year, compared to 2.0 and 2.1 in the last two tournaments). I’m a firm believer in giving out more cards.

Tomorrow’s action

  • Argentina – Japan. This should be an easy win for Japan, with Argentina one of the weakest teams in the tournament. But it will still be an interesting test for this young Japan team. Will they put away their chance easily or make it difficult? It will also be the second game in Paris, and I’ll be curious to see how the atmosphere compares to the crackling opening night.
  • Canada – Cameroon. Again, this should be fairly straightforward. But the potential contrast in styles, at a minimum, should make it interesting. Canada is one of the most conservative teams in the tournament, scoring few and conceding fewer, while Cameroon is one of the most open. It’s also always worth watching Canada, because we’re nearly critical stages of the Christine Sinclair countdown.

VAR is Here: Be Careful What You Wish For

Posted on by RJ Allen

There was a lot of excitement when it was announced that this World Cup would feature Video Assistant Referee (VAR). This was often framed on equality grounds. The men had it, and it would have been absurd to not make it available for the women as well. But in a classic case of ‘be careful what you wish for,’ many folks have recently discovered that they’re not actually that thrilled with VAR now that it’s here.

To be honest, I find myself in that group. And it’s a little surprising.

I’ve always been a fan of integrating technology into the game to ensure that referees can get calls right. But the devil is in the details, and it increasingly feels like the details are killing us. In this case, a combination of two things I’ve always liked (instant replay and a clarification of the incoherent ‘deliberate handball’ rule) have combined to produce a monster.

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Now, with almost any ball hitting an arm in the box producing a penalty, and with the ability to catch every millisecond of play with video review, we’re going to get more and more of these penalties from a player is hit point-blank in the arm.

In fact, if I were coaching a team, I would encourage them to deliberately shoot at the arm. It’s clearly a winning strategy (Liverpool just won the men’s Champions League final this way), and it’s viable 25 yards away from the goal where the chance of creating a real goal is minuscule.

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But for all that, the real problem with VAR has been the interminable delay between an offside play and the whistle actually being blown. This is the policy because they need to let play continue to see what the result would have been.

We saw this to an extreme degree in Australia-Italy where probably a dozen plays were allowed to run out, only to be retroactively nullified by the offside flag.

The explanation for this change is here:

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The principle does make sense. They feel that a false positive is unrecoverable (you can’t recreate the state of play) but a false negative is harmless (you can just reset play to where offside infraction took place). But in practice, a false negative is anything but harmless. There is a lot of emotion and energy wrapped up in the play, and it all gets wasted for very little benefit.

That’s frustrating for the fans at home, but also for the players themselves. After the Australia-Italy match, Sam Kerr said it was “really frustrating” that plays were called back so often, breaking up the game, and also stealing time (since only five minutes were added despite all the delays) that they would have desperately wanted to try and find a late equalizer. For Italy, Cristiana Girelli said much the same: “Sometimes you score the goal and then you have to wait to check. It’s strange.”

In a pre-VAR world, the assistant referee would have flagged these plays immediately, and we all would have gone on with our business. As Kerr said, “if it’s offside, it’s offside. Just call it.” 

There were mistakes in that world, absolutely. And it’s understandable that people want to fix the mistakes. I want to fix the mistakes too. But it sometimes feels like the technology has overtaken the purpose for which it was designed.

There’s a close analogy here to baseball – my other favorite sport – where the advent of instant replay has turned something that went uncalled for 150 years (the millimeter of space that often emerges between a basestealer and the base when they pop up) into a subject for unending litigation. It’s technically true that umpires were simply missing this call for all those years, but it’s also true that no one was harmed in the process and the game is now more tedious for all that it’s technically right.

Still, the reality is that VAR probably isn’t going anywhere, and is only likely to be expanded into new zones going forward. That is unlikely to include women’s soccer in most venues, at least for a little while. But while there’s clearly an element of inequality in this – the new technology being available for men and not women – we also might want to savor the fresh air while it’s still available. And hope that the powers-that-be come up with some sensible rule changes to manage the downside here, and make the application of the technology fit more seamlessly into the free-flowing, exciting game that we’ve loved for so long.

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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.

Women’s World Cup Daily – June 7

Posted on by RJ Allen

June 7: Matchday 1

I have a rundown of the game over at Stars and Stripes FC, which is where you should go for a discussion of the match itself.

I want to use my space here to throw out a few other random thoughts about the experience. First things first: this was (by far) the best-attended women’s soccer game I’ve ever been to. I haven’t been to any of the other big tournaments, so I don’t really have a comparison, but it felt intense. I know that most games in the tournament won’t have this kind of atmosphere, but wow, what a way to start.

In terms of the game itself, the conclusions are pretty obvious: France is really good, the support from the crowd was incredible, and that has to be terrifying for anyone who will play them.

Assorted thoughts:

– Corinne Diacre rules.

– VAR. Hope everyone is ready for it because it’s going to be wild! It was nice to get the first big VAR controversy out of the way in a game where it didn’t really matter. Even if it meant losing out on a truly lovely goal. But there are a couple keys things we should all keep in mind. First, all goals are automatically reviewed. What’s more, the judgment doesn’t defer to the result on the field in the way we’ve come to expect. That’s why this particular goal was overruled. That means: no need for ‘clear and convincing evidence.’ VAR will simply assess the facts and issue a judgment.

– I keep reading pieces from (reputable) international sources discussing the #USWNT which focus on Carli Lloyd as a key player. On the one hand, this is funny. But there’s a deeper point to make here. Even with the massive expansion in resources and availability of information, the scale of women’s soccer conversations is still quite small. Which means outside a very narrow band of engagement, even relatively good sources are kind of feeling their way through the dark. Under those conditions, you grab hold of the name that rings some bells. If the name is Christine Sinclair, you’re in luck – she really is still essential. But if the name is Carli Lloyd, you’re four years behind the game.

Thinking about this, I’ve also concluded that we should probably be equally skeptical of US-based sources (even good ones) who highlight mostly veterans as the key players for other squads. Is Caroline Seger actually that important anymore? Fran Kirby was the next big thing in 2015, but is she actually essential in 2019? In both cases, I think the answer is still yes. But can I really be sure? I’m certainly going to try to be careful about this more going forward in my own assessments.

– I swung by the ‘fan village’ at Les Halles in the center of Paris today. They’ve blocked off a huge chunk of real estate in a prime location, right next to the Église Saint-Eustache (see picture). It looks like it could be a pretty nice place to watch a game. If I have the time, I’ll definitely try to catch one there.

FIFA fan village - Les Halles

– The opening ceremony was a little goofy, but a nice bit of fun as well. You haven’t really lived until you’ve seen 300 soccer dancers in motion.

Tomorrow’s action:

  • Germany – China. Germany should win. But if they don’t, this group suddenly gets very interesting.
  • Spain – South Africa. Spain have loads of potential but need to show that they have figured out how to produce some goals. Starting out with the weakest team in the group is good news on that front. But if they can’t score in the first half, things could start to get pretty nervy.
  • Norway – Nigeria. This is a huge game for both teams. No one in this group should count on getting a result against France, so taking points off each other will be essential. Norway should win here, but Nigeria are no slouches.

I’ll be heading to Le Havre to see Spain and South Africa, and will be on the train during all of Norway-Nigeria, but should be able to see some of the other game.

The Women’s World Cup is Upon Us. Finally.

Posted on by RJ Allen

Tomorrow the Women’s World Cup kicks off. Finally, no more waiting, no more wondering who will be there and who will be watching from home. Actual matches will replace mere banter being being shot back and forth.

And on the eve of this great day, on this almost-holy night, I have one thing to ask.

Enjoy yourselves.

The waiting is over. It’s time. Time to enjoy the matches and the upsets. Time to to enjoy the players on every team. Everyone dreams about scoring the winning goal in the final, but even those who play for teams with no chance winning it all, they will still get a moment of glory. Regardless of what happens in their matches, they made it to the Women’s World Cup. They made it.

It is the job of those in the media to try and tell the story of these matches–these players who have dedicated their lives to their sport, their teams, their undying belief they could make it one day, even if they couldn’t see it clearly. We will write and break down and try to put the unexplainable to words. We’ll try to explain what happened, and why.

But that’s our job, not yours. Your job is to enjoy the ride. To watch your team and hope they live up to all you want them to be. To support them if they don’t quite live up to their own promise. And that can’t happen if you get stuck in the overthinking and breaking down, the endless debates over just what outside back should Jill Ellis use today. Let us get lost in all those details while you get lost in the wonder.

Because it is wondrous.

It is a wonder to behold Scotland and Jamaica suiting up for the first time. To know Kim Little and Bunny Shaw will get to show off to the world. There is wonder in what they do with the ball at their feet and a few yards of space in front of them. There is wonder in Lucy Bronze defending or Amandine Henry directing her midfield or Hedvig Lindahl organizing a backline.

There will be upsets and heartbreak and players stepping off this stage never to return. Marta and Christine Sinclair and Carli Lloyd will likely have their last bows. And names few of us know will soon be on everyone’s lips. There is glory to be had in these games.

That is the magic of the moment. No one really knows what will happen. No matter how many matches we’ve seen or how many hours we’ve spent poring over the data, we just can’t know.

So sit back, get something cool to drink and enjoy the magic that only comes around every four years. Before we know it, the moment will be gone again.

Is Spain a Dark Horse or Overrated?

Posted on by RJ Allen

Something strange happened this spring. A team that most casual fans probably hadn’t given two thoughts were suddenly everyone’s favorite ‘dark horse’ for the World Cup. And it’s not hard to understand why. Spain has long been a sleeping giant of women’s soccer, full of potential that has never quite been realized. But in the past year, things have started to change. Barcelona advanced to the final of the Champions League, while Atlético Madrid took home their third straight league title, and drew 60,000 fans to a game in the process.

Meanwhile, the national team started to string together some genuinely impressive performances—often outplaying highly-regarded opponents like the US, Netherlands, and England—though not necessarily emerging with victories in the process.

And that’s the key thing. If Spain are really going to live up to their ‘dark horse’ moniker, they’ll need to start translating classy performances into concrete results. There’s no denying the talent on this team. The question is whether they’ll be able to make good on the potential this time around, or whether it will take another cycle for potential to become reality.

Spain is no stranger to this phenomenon. Their men’s side spent decades as a favorite of pundits who kept declaring them just about ready to take a step forward and join the inner circle. Eventually, it happened. The question is whether the women are on the cusp of a similar transition, or are merely at the beginning of a long and frustrating road.

Spain’s strengths are real…but so are their weaknesses

Spain’s strengths are obvious: technical ability, tactical awareness, smooth possession. The midfield duo of Vicky Losada and Alexia Putellas is among the very best at the tournament, and are fresh off working together to take their club team, Barcelona, to the Champions League final. Much has been made of Spain’s decision to part ways with Vero Boquete—their all-time leading scorer, and still an excellent player as made apparent by her recent performances with Utah Royals in the NWSL. But with Losada and Putellas, Spain is spoiled for options in central midfield.

Their principal target will be Jenni Hermoso, a top-level striker who has ben pouring in goals for Atletico. Hermoso is far more than a goal-poacher, and likes to play supplier herself, but Spain will probably do best if she sticks to a pure striker role, since they lack any other obvious goal-scoring threats. Their other best hope in an attacking role is Patricia Guijarro, a rising star in the game, but also someone just coming off injury, and who has not yet proved she is ready at the highest levels.

The result is a team with a lot of nice attacking options, but which won’t necessarily translate those into goals as often as they’d like. When everything is clicking, Spain move the ball with lightning speed through a series of one-touch passes, and it all looks as pretty as any nation in the world. The problem is: it doesn’t always click. And when it doesn’t, they lack the cutting edge to manufacture goals through more direct means. The result is a team that will inspire people with their beautiful play, but whose success may ultimately depend more on how effectively their defense can stifle the game.

And this is the dirty little secret of the case for Spain: even with all the beautiful passing, their greatest strength as a team is probably their defensive solidity. The key player here is Mapi León, a rising star in the global game, who was a huge part of Barcelona’s successful season. She is a superb defender, as well as an important link to the attack from her wide left position. They’ll also depend on players like Marta Torrejon, Irene Paredes, and Andrea Pereira to lock down the defense. But even with solid internationals across the back and in goal, Spain is ultimately not quite strong enough to hold off the very top teams on the ability of their defenders alone.  

That means that they’ll need to blend their strengths together—using possession primarily as a technique to deny the opposition the ball, and thereby deny them chances. The great danger is that they’ll allow themselves to be drawn forward, trying to dance the ball into the net, and leave themselves exposed.

How will Spain fare?

Spain have gone from underrated to overrated quickly enough to give you whiplash. No sooner had the ‘dark horse’ narrative begun to percolate than knowledgeable observers jumped in to push back, highlighting all the reasons to doubt their potential. All of which is fair. But at this point, the backlash might have exceeded the original claim, putting Spain right back into the underrated category.

Whether the metaphysics of their rating interest you, there’s no denying that Spain will be an exciting team to watch. Ultimately, 2019 is likely to end up being a bit too early for them. With a friendlier draw, they might well have advanced quite far, but they have very little margin for error now. If they can’t overcome Germany—one of the top teams in the world—the very best they probably can hope for is a Round of 16 draw against the United States, England, or Australia. That’s a lot to ask, and probably more than this team will be able to manage.

But don’t count them out just yet. There’s enough potential in this squad that if everything comes together, they could go a very long way.