I went to the mens England USA game at Wembley last year and my son convinced me to get tickets with the away fans, having an american mum he has a fascination in thinking he's american, which of course he half is so that's fine.
The US fans were very weird I have to say. Funniest chant they have is "I believe that we will win". As they were singing it I looked across the barrier to see a bunch of english teenage herberts just staring giving them the wanker sign. They do like a flag bandana too.
I’ve really enjoyed this World Cup, last night was frustrating though, one or two players not up to the US teams level. As someone with a lot of links to the US and love the place I do really dislike the US women’s team though. For the most part a bunch of arrogant, over privileged, white middle class college girls. Not bitter!
I'm incredibly bitter this morning. The worst part is the narrative of USA as some kind of all-conquering untouchable team. The reality is they were OK last night, but mostly they just let us make our own mistakes, which we helpfully did. I do think that if Houghton had put that penalty away though it would have been a different story. USA were starting to find it harder to get in behind our defenders after running all game and we were finding the gaps in their lines. Scott was breaking forward more, Kirby was probing the lines and White looked like she would score if you got the ball within an inch of her foot. Extra time would have been very interesting, even though they probably would have brought Rapinoe on to challenge an oddly out of sorts Bronze. The reality is that in terms of our squad and the USA performance we will possibly never have a better chance than we had last night to get to a final, and instead we have to hear about the 'dominance' of a team we really should have punished.
Yeah don't agree with that narrative at all. One or two moments of quality from the US, and the ability to really put England off at times were all that was in it. To look at that performance, or any performance by the US since the group stage and call it dominant simply isn't true.
As I said earlier, one thing I do think the US do very well and very intentionally is stopping teams playing. And it was quite successful against France and England. But with a midfield of Lavelle, Horan, Mewis, Brian, and Lloyd (far past her best and not necessarily a midfielder) and just reducing it to a lot of running and pressing with the odd moment of quality isn't dominance and it's sort of the lowest common denominator.
While we're US bashing, that red kit is as bad as the white kit is good. It looks like a color that can't quite be seen properly by humans.
We'd all be loving america if we'd won. What was with Morgan's celebration? Was she sipping a cup of tea? She's the first woman player I've seen this tournament diving around like a man. She scored a decent header but overhyped is putting it mildly. The Beckham of the womens game. They are very athletic though.
My best mate who went to the US a long time ago on a football scholarship now lives in North Carolina and his teenage daughter has a scholarship to UNC. She's not due to go for 2 years yet but it's already done and dusted. He says she trains almost every day, fitness, team, individual, weights, it's insane and the facilities they have available to them is nuts. I remember visiting him at his college which was relatively small and the floodlights around his college teams pitch were ridiculous. I was playing in the Kent league at the time against teams like Deal, Herne Bay and they had nothing like the same facilities.
In my long career in football, mainly watching teams like Man city of now and the Brazil team of 1970, win with flair, the majority have won by negating the other teams flair players. A couple of Arsenal teams did that or this USA team who are coming to the end of a successful cycle of players. A bit Churlish not to give some credit for the goals last night even if the marking was 2nd rate.
Germany won Euro 1996 with a bang average team but stopping the other team from playing or taking advantage of the stress in the other team is game management. Neville for what ever reason couldn't get the English girls to focus for 90 minutes. We played some great football in patches but at other times we were a shambles, In all six matches we played. Brilliant 1st half against Scotland and mediocre in the 2nd. This continued the whole tournament where we won but had to rely on the other team missing Chances or VAR to show the Cameroon girl was offside because she hadn't cut her toe nail ( she was facing backwards when caught off side Sam !)
The next hurdle is letting your football do the talking. Ellen White's amazing clinical goal scoring covered up a lot of poor passing by England.
While we're US bashing, that red kit is as bad as the white kit is good. It looks like a color that can't quite be seen properly by humans.
We'd all be loving america if we'd won. What was with Morgan's celebration? Was she sipping a cup of tea? She's the first woman player I've seen this tournament diving around like a man. She scored a decent header but overhyped is putting it mildly. The Beckham of the womens game. They are very athletic though.
My best mate who went to the US a long time ago on a football scholarship now lives in North Carolina and his teenage daughter has a scholarship to UNC. She's not due to go for 2 years yet but it's already done and dusted. He says she trains almost every day, fitness, team, individual, weights, it's insane and the facilities they have available to them is nuts. I remember visiting him at his college which was relatively small and the floodlights around his college teams pitch were ridiculous. I was playing in the Kent league at the time against teams like Deal, Herne Bay and they had nothing like the same facilities.
I’ve really enjoyed this World Cup, last night was frustrating though, one or two players not up to the US teams level. As someone with a lot of links to the US and love the place I do really dislike the US women’s team though. For the most part a bunch of arrogant, over privileged, white middle class college girls. Not bitter!
I'm incredibly bitter this morning. The worst part is the narrative of USA as some kind of all-conquering untouchable team. The reality is they were OK last night, but mostly they just let us make our own mistakes, which we helpfully did. I do think that if Houghton had put that penalty away though it would have been a different story. USA were starting to find it harder to get in behind our defenders after running all game and we were finding the gaps in their lines. Scott was breaking forward more, Kirby was probing the lines and White looked like she would score if you got the ball within an inch of her foot. Extra time would have been very interesting, even though they probably would have brought Rapinoe on to challenge an oddly out of sorts Bronze. The reality is that in terms of our squad and the USA performance we will possibly never have a better chance than we had last night to get to a final, and instead we have to hear about the 'dominance' of a team we really should have punished.
Yeah don't agree with that narrative at all. One or two moments of quality from the US, and the ability to really put England off at times were all that was in it. To look at that performance, or any performance by the US since the group stage and call it dominant simply isn't true.
As I said earlier, one thing I do think the US do very well and very intentionally is stopping teams playing. And it was quite successful against France and England. But with a midfield of Lavelle, Horan, Mewis, Brian, and Lloyd (far past her best and not necessarily a midfielder) and just reducing it to a lot of running and pressing with the odd moment of quality isn't dominance and it's sort of the lowest common denominator.
I think the USA played their game and England let nerves affect them and they were at around 85%. I don't have an issue with us losing the ball, we had more possession than them so won it back alright. What stopped us beating them was a poor penalty at the end of the day. Not even a measurable margin in terms of performance. I thought Daley was ineffective, Bright was her usual self - she just isn't a footballer sadly. But above all, what cost us was Houghton had a very rare off game.
I get that women and men’s football shouldn’t really be compared but unfortunately the reality is that it is.
It is the agenda of the BBC to try and make the women’s game into something it is not and to make it seem as you are sexist if you don’t buy into women’s football
Yes a lot of people have watched the games but 5.7m people watched the GB Women win gold at Curling in the Winter Olympics. We get behind our national teams.
It is the agenda of the BBC to give coverage to women’s sport which it has neglected for most of the BBC’s existence if it wasn’t part of a big event like the Olympics.
Taking penalties have Never been a lottery, taken during or after 120 minutes.
The fact that we scored 25% of our penalities in this WC and so many were missed and retaken in a couple of instances means the women are still struggling to overcome nerves in these big tournament.
The Aussie forward Kerr who scored 5 goals took a shocker when the Aussies lost a shoot out.
In men's footie it should be 9O% for your main taker, can't see why it's not at least 80% in the women's game. So many nervy pens in this WC. I have supported and been an apologist for this WC but I don't do bull shit and felt disappointed that Steph as Captain felt the need to volunteer.
Parris, White or Kirby should have stepped forward, I wonder why they didn't ?
Houghton normally hits a good dead ball. I presume it was pre-determined that Parris wouldn't take them anymore and Houghton would be one of the players you would have expected to take it. She got a poor connection and that is generally nerves. She looked very nervy the whole game which is very unlike her.
I went to the mens England USA game at Wembley last year and my son convinced me to get tickets with the away fans, having an american mum he has a fascination in thinking he's american, which of course he half is so that's fine.
The US fans were very weird I have to say. Funniest chant they have is "I believe that we will win". As they were singing it I looked across the barrier to see a bunch of english teenage herberts just staring giving them the wanker sign. They do like a flag bandana too.
A Palace fan is currently watching this on YouTube thinking thats a brilliant idea ahead of the next season
In all seriousness I hope that Seattle bloke doesnt do it all game... Must be bloody annoying if you sit next to him and he's coming out with the same two lines the whole time - Although I hope he doesnt have to pay an entry fee as clearly dont watch the game
England's defending had been chaotic throughout the tournament, Milly Bright especially ropey but our midfield and forward play had been more than good enough to outscore the opposition. All of this with a career defender as head coach. America have been diligent, supremely athletic, conservative, with a smattering of quality through the spine of the team. Last night Bright, Houghton and unusually Bronze gave the ball away relentlessly. Keira Walsh in midfield thrashed the ball around in apparently blind panic. Yet USA were never truly comfortable until well into the 2nd half. First half I thought England looked leggy as well as nervous. Had they been overworked or had most of them been bricking it for days? Nikita Parris emerged with great credit. Beth Mead's withdrawal in favour of Fran Kirby was baffling when Walsh had been so erratic throughout. England are probably the 2nd or 3rd best team at the tournament, the gap to USA is fairly small.. Last night was not the time for 3 key players to have stinkers and the manager to make his first mis-step and yet the margin of defeat was so slight. My greatest concern is the obvious lack of a willing penalty taker.
Houghton normally hits a good dead ball. I presume it was pre-determined that Parris wouldn't take them anymore and Houghton would be one of the players you would have expected to take it. She got a poor connection and that is generally nerves. She looked very nervy the whole game which is very unlike her.
You may be right, because Steph scored a great goal when she had 11 defenders on the line against Cameroon from that free kick. A shame she couldn't beat just the keeper.
Taking penalties have Never been a lottery, taken during or after 120 minutes.
The fact that we scored 25% of our penalities in this WC and so many were missed and retaken in a couple of instances means the women are still struggling to overcome nerves in these big tournament.
The Aussie forward Kerr who scored 5 goals took a shocker when the Aussies lost a shoot out.
In men's footie it should be 9O% for your main taker, can't see why it's not at least 80% in the women's game. So many nervy pens in this WC. I have supported and been an apologist for this WC but I don't do bull shit and felt disappointed that Steph as Captain felt the need to volunteer.
Parris, White or Kirby should have stepped forward, I wonder why they didn't ?
It was decided the day before Houghton would take them.
Taking penalties have Never been a lottery, taken during or after 120 minutes.
The fact that we scored 25% of our penalities in this WC and so many were missed and retaken in a couple of instances means the women are still struggling to overcome nerves in these big tournament.
The Aussie forward Kerr who scored 5 goals took a shocker when the Aussies lost a shoot out.
In men's footie it should be 9O% for your main taker, can't see why it's not at least 80% in the women's game. So many nervy pens in this WC. I have supported and been an apologist for this WC but I don't do bull shit and felt disappointed that Steph as Captain felt the need to volunteer.
Parris, White or Kirby should have stepped forward, I wonder why they didn't ?
It was decided the day before Houghton would take them.
Did Neville confirmed that ?
If so I guess they hoped she could replicate her free kicks despite hardly ever taking pens in matches.
While we're US bashing, that red kit is as bad as the white kit is good. It looks like a color that can't quite be seen properly by humans.
We'd all be loving america if we'd won. What was with Morgan's celebration? Was she sipping a cup of tea? She's the first woman player I've seen this tournament diving around like a man. She scored a decent header but overhyped is putting it mildly. The Beckham of the womens game. They are very athletic though.
My best mate who went to the US a long time ago on a football scholarship now lives in North Carolina and his teenage daughter has a scholarship to UNC. She's not due to go for 2 years yet but it's already done and dusted. He says she trains almost every day, fitness, team, individual, weights, it's insane and the facilities they have available to them is nuts. I remember visiting him at his college which was relatively small and the floodlights around his college teams pitch were ridiculous. I was playing in the Kent league at the time against teams like Deal, Herne Bay and they had nothing like the same facilities.
UNC is historically probably the best uni for soccer, and a damn good academic one as well. She must be very good, congratulations to her.
My son and daughter played D3 college soccer over here. Their facilities were unbelievable. Beautiful grass fields with floodlights. They also got a great education.
A cracking finish wins the semi final for Holland after a dour semi final where the real winners were the USA who will have an extra day to recover and would have enjoyed seeing their Dutch rivals go to ET.
Fate decided we were in the other half of the draw. Both these teams looked beatable for England, But they made less mistakes so no guarantee we would have won.
USA v Netherlands final. Those of us ITK predicted this, BUT small margins, made this come to fruition. IF Bardsley who is a World class keeper with her hands had better feet she wouldn't of tweaked her hamstring after poor control in the QF. Lucy Bronze knew the attacker was behind her as she looked but made an error in judgement and a pinpoint cross found the head of Press who finished well for their first goal.
Despite being critical of PN in a couple of his decision he has helped to turn a hard working forward into a clinical finisher, Ellen White would run the channels but was hit and miss with final shot. So if Neville's call, well done for that.
What was patently obvious was over 90 minutes in all 6 matches was the sloppy passing. Ok Bright was worse but both Bronze and Houghton were guilty as well and Walsh is a great young talent but for every killer pass like the 30 yard ball to Mead for White's equaliser, simple errors were made.
In future I would like to see Bronze the powerhouse player in midfield, alongside Walsh, Scott and Jordon Nobbs who was sorely missed despite Walsh playing decent. Daley is a good RB but was limited as a forward.
England for the 3rd tournament running are on the Cusp of big things But basics are still letting them down.
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That said, this is the sort of thing you would do to the Germans. It would be funnier and more clever, absolutely, but are we really so different?
The US fans were very weird I have to say. Funniest chant they have is "I believe that we will win". As they were singing it I looked across the barrier to see a bunch of english teenage herberts just staring giving them the wanker sign. They do like a flag bandana too.
As I said earlier, one thing I do think the US do very well and very intentionally is stopping teams playing. And it was quite successful against France and England. But with a midfield of Lavelle, Horan, Mewis, Brian, and Lloyd (far past her best and not necessarily a midfielder) and just reducing it to a lot of running and pressing with the odd moment of quality isn't dominance and it's sort of the lowest common denominator.
My best mate who went to the US a long time ago on a football scholarship now lives in North Carolina and his teenage daughter has a scholarship to UNC. She's not due to go for 2 years yet but it's already done and dusted. He says she trains almost every day, fitness, team, individual, weights, it's insane and the facilities they have available to them is nuts. I remember visiting him at his college which was relatively small and the floodlights around his college teams pitch were ridiculous. I was playing in the Kent league at the time against teams like Deal, Herne Bay and they had nothing like the same facilities.
Germany won Euro 1996 with a bang average team but stopping the other team from playing or taking advantage of the stress in the other team is game management. Neville for what ever reason couldn't get the English girls to focus for 90 minutes. We played some great football in patches but at other times we were a shambles, In all six matches we played.
Brilliant 1st half against Scotland and mediocre in the 2nd. This continued the whole tournament where we won but had to rely on the other team missing Chances or VAR to show the Cameroon girl was offside because she hadn't cut her toe nail ( she was facing backwards when caught off side Sam !)
The next hurdle is letting your football do the talking. Ellen White's amazing clinical goal scoring covered up a lot of poor passing by England.
We peaked 3 months ago in the She believes cup.
The fact that we scored 25% of our penalities in this WC and so many were missed and retaken in a couple of instances means the women are still struggling to overcome nerves in these big tournament.
The Aussie forward Kerr who scored 5 goals took a shocker when the Aussies lost a shoot out.
In men's footie it should be 9O% for your main taker, can't see why it's not at least 80% in the women's game. So many nervy pens in this WC. I have supported and been an apologist for this WC but I don't do bull shit and felt disappointed that Steph as Captain felt the need to volunteer.
Parris, White or Kirby should have stepped forward, I wonder why they didn't ?
In all seriousness I hope that Seattle bloke doesnt do it all game... Must be bloody annoying if you sit next to him and he's coming out with the same two lines the whole time - Although I hope he doesnt have to pay an entry fee as clearly dont watch the game
America have been diligent, supremely athletic, conservative, with a smattering of quality through the spine of the team.
Last night Bright, Houghton and unusually Bronze gave the ball away relentlessly. Keira Walsh in midfield thrashed the ball around in apparently blind panic. Yet USA were never truly comfortable until well into the 2nd half.
First half I thought England looked leggy as well as nervous. Had they been overworked or had most of them been bricking it for days?
Nikita Parris emerged with great credit. Beth Mead's withdrawal in favour of Fran Kirby was baffling when Walsh had been so erratic throughout.
England are probably the 2nd or 3rd best team at the tournament, the gap to USA is fairly small.. Last night was not the time for 3 key players to have stinkers and the manager to make his first mis-step and yet the margin of defeat was so slight. My greatest concern is the obvious lack of a willing penalty taker.
;-)
If so I guess they hoped she could replicate her free kicks despite hardly ever taking pens in matches.
USA weren't great but held out.
Fate decided we were in the other half of the draw. Both these teams looked beatable for England, But they made less mistakes so no guarantee we would have won.
USA v Netherlands final. Those of us ITK predicted this, BUT small margins, made this come to fruition. IF Bardsley who is a World class keeper with her hands had better feet she wouldn't of tweaked her hamstring after poor control in the QF.
Lucy Bronze knew the attacker was behind her as she looked but made an error in judgement and a pinpoint cross found the head of Press who finished well for their first goal.
Despite being critical of PN in a couple of his decision he has helped to turn a hard working forward into a clinical finisher, Ellen White would run the channels but was hit and miss with final shot. So if Neville's call, well done for that.
What was patently obvious was over 90 minutes in all 6 matches was the sloppy passing. Ok Bright was worse but both Bronze and Houghton were guilty as well and Walsh is a great young talent but for every killer pass like the 30 yard ball to Mead for White's equaliser, simple errors were made.
In future I would like to see Bronze the powerhouse player in midfield, alongside Walsh, Scott and Jordon Nobbs who was sorely missed despite Walsh playing decent. Daley is a good RB but was limited as a forward.
England for the 3rd tournament running are on the Cusp of big things But basics are still letting them down.