England vs France

[Crusoe]

Good god, how tense was this game?

 

France battered England throughout — I saw a stat of 33 shots — and England were down to walking wounded, with Kelly Smith limping around the pitch and most of the rest looking knackered. Descended into mad clearances and long balls towards the end; France definitely the technically better side.

 

And now it's penalties.

[Crusoe]

Ah, poor Faye White. Harsh way to go out. (If entirely predictable and in keeping with the men's team.)

[PlayItLivo]

I thought we were gonna do it when Kelly Smith smashed that penalty home.

[Ackey]

Cracking game. But the better (and hotter) team won.

 

I'm starting to enjoy women's football, for all it's flaws. It's got a purity to it.

[rudemedic]

Few things

1.) Hope Powell was touted as a possible replacement for Penney (although that might have been by me)- on that display I'd have preferred the bastardisation of Penney and Ronnie.

2.) The officiating was poor, especially in the penalty shoot-out as our goalie was off the line every time (I'm not sure she ever started in the right place).

3.) Kudos to Faye White you could see it in her eyes she didn't want to take a penalty but I reckon we only had 4 volunteers and as captain she went for it- related to that I reckon if FIFA keep the TVs on during the penalty shoot-out in stadia someone will work out a way to take advantage as I could work out which way the French were going to go most times.

4.) Some of questioned the standard of GK in the women's game but their equaliser was pretty good and Bank's himself wouldn't have stopped it.

[Crusoe]

I thought the French play was much slicker and more fluid than the English game. Jill Scott was hurling herself about usefully and generally breaking up the French attacks, but her passing was all over the shop. Carney and Fara Williams were the trickiest of the England players, but for every two or three passes, feints or touches they'd give the ball away at least once. And sadly Yankey was anonymous.

[Ackey]

I thought the French right back was outstanding (in context). She was first to everything both attack and defence.

 

I thought England lacked a toughness and really didn't have it in them to win the 50/50's in the midfield. To be fair to White and the other defenders they were much more willing to get stuck in.

 

It's never nice to lose on pens of course, but England were a credit in extra time. They were the weaker team throughout but they never once gave up on it. Never turned on eachother and can lookback over time and feel proud of their efforts - especially both the White's (that sounds wrong! ).

 

As for the keepers - I agree that it was an excellent strike but to try and use that game as an example of them being good is a bit arse over tit. The England goal was awful goalkeeping and whilst the French equaliser was well hit a male keeper would got a hell of a lot closer.

 

The reason for that is that whilst it was well placed it lacked any power at all - as does most of the women's games shots - and so good footwork would get a keeper to that 9/10 times.

[rosa]

Few things

1.) Hope Powell was touted as a possible replacement for Penney (although that might have been by me)- on that display I'd have preferred the bastardisation of Penney and Ronnie.

2.) The officiating was poor, especially in the penalty shoot-out as our goalie was off the line every time (I'm not sure she ever started in the right place).

3.) Kudos to Faye White you could see it in her eyes she didn't want to take a penalty but I reckon we only had 4 volunteers and as captain she went for it- related to that I reckon if FIFA keep the TVs on during the penalty shoot-out in stadia someone will work out a way to take advantage as I could work out which way the French were going to go most times.

4.) Some of questioned the standard of GK in the women's game but their equaliser was pretty good and Bank's himself wouldn't have stopped it.

1) i like Hope Powell but she's made some VERY odd decisions this tournament - the decision to waste the last 2 subs pissing about with the defence, at 1-0, cost them the game in hindsight. And the penalty takers were equally strange - why let Rafferty (a kid with relatively little international experience) take a pen ahead of Fara Williams and Ellen White?

2)The officiating's been poor throughout the tournament,and i'd hate to think that people will judge female refs on the basis of the world cup, because it's been embarrassingly awful, and whenever i've seen female officials in the EPL/Football League, they've been far better than this.

3)I can only assume the penalty takers were worked out before the shoot-out - possibly before the game - because Faye White could barely walk,and i'd have put good money on Ellen White being the 5th penalty taker.

4)Bardsley was the WOTM and put in a superb performance, didn't deserve to be on the losing side. I remember David James commenting during the last Euro championship that people need to remember that goalie is a specialised skill, and specialist goalie coaches are a relatively recent phenomenon in the men's game, and the women's game is still essentially semi-pro, so it's no wonder that female keepers aren't exactly world-beaters, but the standard of goalies at this world cup has been noticeably better.

 

Now that England are out, does that mean the end of the BBC's coverage? I was looking forward to the semis, fancy Japan or Brazil to win it now.

Edited July 10, 2011 by rosa

[rudemedic]

Re the penalties I think Fara Williams missed one which cost her side a big game in the last few years, so ala Waddell she didn't fancy it. There was no way those penalty takers were decided before hand you could see it in the way Powell was speaking to her team and counting on her hands and it took them a while after the French were ready to be ready- possibly because of her 5 first choice penalty takers 2 had been subbed (Yankey and Scott).

 

GK for the women's game is poor but I think that's a size issue- Bardsley is good but she's over 6ft tall, if you play with a full size net and your GK is only 5ft7 its going to cause some issues. I was making the point that sometimes the skill of shot means no matter how good your goalie is its going in but in the women's game it seems some are too eager to pin the blame on the GK.

 

Re the officiating I think some of it is down to FIFA wanting officials from all over the world officiating at the world cup and so whilst officials from the top european leagues are sitting at home as only a limited number can go some from footballing backwaters with officiaiting to match are officiating in some big games. Now England are out it wouldn't surprise me if Sian Massey (or A.N other female official with experience in the English men's football leagues) was reffing the final and from what I've seen of them they might do well.

 

I'd expect the Beeb to have the final on online/via red button but as for the remaining games I wouldn't put money on it.