Tuesday, June 11
New Zealand vs. Netherlands, 9 a.m. (FS1)
Chile vs. Sweden, 12 p.m. (FS1)
United States vs. Thailand, 3 p.m. (Fox)
I'd rate the U.S. as a very thin favorite against Germany, England and Australia, and probably dead even against France, especially since France has the home field advantage and Wendie Renard. Renard is a very, very good player. She's also 6'2" and is generally a head taller than anyone else on the field. She is a scoring machine on set pieces. All a defense can do is surround her with its tallest players, block her without fouling her, and hope the service is a bit off target. She's like Wilt Chamberlain or Lew Alcindor back in the day when they were the only seven footers around.
Meet The 7 Openly Gay Players of the National Women’s Soccer League
Isn’t the women’s team mostly comprised of communist feminazis?
2019 Women’s World Cup debuts . . . Can’t wait . . . Sorry, but I have to watch the grass grow and paint dry.
Nobody cares about women’s soccer.
More accurately, nobody cares about soccer.
0-0 at halftime is looking good for USA because we play Sweden in our 3rd game.
Finally rain delay in 72nd minute
Been raining very hard for a while.
Still 0-0
Was fun to watch though
Any heteros on the team?
There is always room to quibble. 20/20 hindsight is cheap, but I thought Ellis should have substituted earlier, perhaps even at halftime or shortly thereafter. What you DON'T want is to be in the knockout stage, playing a peer level team, and to have players coming off the bench for their first minutes in the World Cup.
Yeah, these women are all professionals. But that doesn't mean there aren't butterflies, especially for those for whom this is the first World Cup. Scoring especially takes a certain state of mind. Ideally all the scorers would get a goal or two against the weaker opponents, just to get that monkey off their backs before it's a quarterfinal or semifinal with the game on the line, and someone is still looking for her first goal.
It was good to get Alex Morgan off to a good start, but she didn't need five goals. It was nice to see Carli Lloyd get a goal, but this is her fourth World Cup and she doesn't need minutes. I'd have gotten Mallory Pugh in earlier, and I'd have brought in Jessica McDonald instead of Carli Lloyd. Morgan Brian needs some time; she was thought to be a lock as a starter a year ago, then she almost dropped off the team, and she ended up as a surprise late addition. She needs to get back into the flow. Tierna Davidson looked like a lock as a starter before her ACL injury last year; this is her first World Cup and she needs to get some time. Get these players in now, not against France or Germany with everything on the line, and they come in for their first touches.
Quibbles. But if the next game is also a blowout, this is what I'd look for.