True but I didn't see any in our match with Norway. If I'm honest I find the USA team very difficult to warm to and France did a very gallic thing of wilting under pressure. Great support from the home crowd.
What a fantastic tournament this is. Great football and the women's game really has become a house hold name. England doing superbly well, they have so far matched the men's team in making the semi finals. Can they go one further and beat the USA? Hard call. US are very strong being the holders of course. Bronze - what a player she is. Neville deserves credit for some super coaching too. Nice to see stadiums more or less full. Interest in the ladies games is increasing by the year, which is a great thing to see. I would love England to win it - show the guys up a bit hehe.
It's still obvious that the majority of football fans are comparing the men's and women's game like for like. When people can get over that hurdle then it's so much more enjoyable. In the last few years I've seen some ridiculously gifted younger players, the future women's England team is going to be so much better and soon.
Its difficult when the BBC are constantly promoting it on level footing. “X has just broken Peter Shilton’s record” etc etc. Either way in the limited amount I have seen I have seen an unbelievable number of no pressure passes go straight out of play. The standard is just too low to watch.
Me too. It was awful, park football standard, and just so frustrating to watch. The hype around England is unbearable and undeserved given it appears some of the teams have barely kicked a ball before.
Englands women doing a good impression of the mens team, plucky but significantly crappier than the better teams and **** at penalties. Also a dive there from the americans there.
I have no sympathy for a side that allows that insipid ******* band to follow them around. Playing the pathetic Gareth Southgate song at one point. ****s.
Typical England defeat - beaten by the better side with the odd moment of bad luck or self inflicted pain . Offside was unlucky but did think the penalty was a bit soft - didn't matter the end .
This. If this nonsense stopped and they treated it like a different game then my interest might be held for longer but the BBC have been fecking terrible at pretending the two games are the same.
Did Millie Bright ever manage to pass to a team-mate? She's a liability The US team is unlikeable but very good, so effective at pressing and they didn't give the ball away like we did. Despite that narrow offside decision and missed pen, 2-1 rather flattered us
Some of the ladies have some excellent skills and some of the moves are top quality. But so many times a brilliant skill is followed by a silly error I think I must be at the Vic. England not good enuff for the USA who have been playing girls ‘soccer’ for years so have had a huge pool of talent. Shame about the offside England goal (originally given - VAR against us - a toecap) which was a good move and the missed England penalty (originally not given - VAR for us). Both would have got it back to 2-2 and it would have been very interesting. A good semi-final and no doubt it will boost women’s football in the UK. The BBC hype can cool off now and concentrate on the tennis.
God I'm glad that's over. Forcing Mrs Moog to watch it and she rightly points out, it's comically poor quality. If a team gets a goalkeeper who can keep their kicks within the boundaries of the field and a striker capable of actually shooting on goal, they'd probably win the thing. The median standard is so low that just a tiny bit of quality would be a nuclear advantage.
Usual tw@tery from BBC tonight. “Houghton missed from the spot and the long wait for a senior England side to make a final since 1966 continues” Idiots.
Don't usually watch the women's game, but tuned in to watch a bit of it tonight. I was shocked at how poor the level was. It was like playing one of the FIFA games in beginner mode. Everyone gets loads of time on the ball, yet you still screw up the pass because you've not learnt how to use the controls yet. I saw the penalty, and she just about hit it hard enough to reach the keeper. Never a penalty by the way. Just hope VAR is not used for this in the Premier League next season. I'm all for women playing all types of sport, but apart from tennis or the Olympics, it's just a bit comical to watch.
Completely ignores this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/football/disability/newsid_2217000/2217084.stm
I agree, the quality is relatively poor compared to the men. But as all sides are relatively poor we had some good games and I found it quite enjoyable and exciting to watch for much of the time. I rcckon a mens National League (north or south) would hammer even the US team through strength and their technical abilities would be better too.
I suspect you'd have to go much further down the football pyramid before the US or England beat a men's team. I'm talking about Sunday football level. Even a good Sunday side would win, although it probably wouldn't be a thrashing. They would beat an unfit "Dog and Duck" type of side with ease though.
Well its going to be used for potential penalties …..so guess incidents like that will be included. Was a pretty minor touch - even the commentators weren't exactly convinced it was one. Anyway the penalty was awful - hardly reached the goalie!!!!!!!! Why didn't the striker or another attacking player take it? They lost 5-2 to an Under 15s boys college team last year!
Anecdotal but in several games reasonable u16 lads have been pitched against the woman’s senior national team & beaten them comfortably.
Doesn’t the National League embrace both north & south? I ask from ignorance. Nothing is surprising these days.