General Footy Discussions

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Man City withstood a bit of pressure in the closing stages... only to be expected really. But they held on to win. I don't get the impression it was their greatest performance.

[Charger]

I think Man City needs to send Lukaku a fruit basket for that save! It pretty much secured their win!

[Vyn]

This is the first one for Man City, if I recall what I read? They've got to be stoked beyond words.

[Jack the Stripper]

Anyone been taking an interest in the Women’s World Cup currently being played in Australia?

Looks like most of the top nations will get through to the knockout phase except Olympic champions Canada who were thrashed 4-0 and knocked out by Australia and possibly Brazil who are needing a win against Jamaica in their final group game to get through.

Japan have impressed the most so far as well as England, and Australia managed to top a very tough group without their star player and one of if not the best women players in the world Sam Kerr.

Favourites USA have been unconvincing in the tournament so far but managed to scrape through finishing 2nd in their group.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I've been following in passing, and may take more interest once the group stages are over.

Many of the games take place over night or early morning here, but today they were later, but as I was out I didn't see England beat China 6-1!

[Jack the Stripper]

Brazil could only manage a 0-0 draw against Jamaica so are packing their bags home. Jamaica only needed a draw to get through to the final 16. That’s quite the shock!

[Vyn]

Haven't watched any but have caught a headline here and there. Relatedly, the world's first stadium dedicated to women's professional sports is being built right now nearby where I live. It's for the Kansas City Current, their team in the National Women's Soccer League. Was a pretty big deal leading up to it, and should be done and usable by next spring. It's more than just a stadium, though. I don't know what all it will have, but the area around is being called "Women's Soccer Village".

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I'm not really sure who are the big teams in women's football. I know the USA have been good, and England are the European Champions, but outside that I can only think of Germany who have been consistently good. Logically Brazil should be good and Jamaica should be "also rans", but I don't know if that is the case in the women's game! Nice to see Australia progress as a co-host, New Zealand not so lucky.

I see Italy and Argentina have also gone out at the group stages, but again I don't really know if that's a shock.

[Jack the Stripper]

Here are the FIFA rankings
https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/women?dateId=ranking_20230609

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Interesting rankings. Canada and Brazil going out are definite surprises, and Australia I thought were a good team, I hadn't realised they were a top 10 ranked team!!

[Charger]

Haven't really followed it much due to the time zone issues.

As long as the US team gets knocked out early I'll be happy.

Other than that I have no real favourites...England is good and that one Swiss girl is quite hot indeed.

[Jack the Stripper]

And the biggest shock of the tournament has just happened. The #2 Ranked Germany has been knocked out after only managing a draw against Korea Republic while Morocco upset Colombia to jag the 2nd spot in that group.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
I just saw that result, it really is a shocker.

[Jack the Stripper]

Round of 16 results so far. Japan beat Norway 3-1 and Spain hammered Switzerland 6-1

Todays matches Netherlands vs South Africa and Sweden vs USA

Expecting both the Netherlands & USA to win but the way the US has been playing in this World Cup an upset is not out of the question.

[Jack the Stripper]

Sweden USA couldn’t be separated 0-0 after extra time. And in one of the more extraordinary penalty shootouts you’ll see, Sweden won 5-4 by virtually a millimetre.

USA is out