FIFA Women's World Cup 2023

[gunnar hendershow]

Oh dear that was a complete mess at the back.

[therockbox]

Get in, Hemp's been brilliant.

Got to make a couple of subs now and start controlling thing. Stop giving the ball away.

[Adam]

Lauren Hemp has been brilliant! That might do it.

Australia have struggled with Hemp & Russo all night long, and what a pass and finish that is.

[Twist]

It's coming home.

[gunnar hendershow]

Fresh off two should've been equalizers for Australia that happens. A really great match (best of the tournament?) assuming England can finish this off.

[therockbox]

Hemp put on an absolute clinic, miles above anyone else.

Chloe Kelly is a proper shithouse, brilliant.

[gunnar hendershow]

Feel like the squad selection for Sunday is advantage England. This entire spectre of what to do with Putellas is quite the wrinkle for Spain.

[Plubby]

Fuck England.

 

All my homies hate England.

[therockbox]

[Lineker]

Sunday can't come soon enough!

[Malenko]

21 hours ago, damhausen said:

Feel like the squad selection for Sunday is advantage England. This entire spectre of what to do with Putellas is quite the wrinkle for Spain.

In my opinion she shouldn't start and if she does it's based on name alone and I don't mean because of what happened in the semis. I've watched every match this world cup. She came in as a sub in all but the last where they started her. She didn't add anything and Spain played amazingly without her. When she finally got into the starting 11 she didn't have a good game either. She is a great player and definitely (one of) the best Spain ever had but she's been injured and didn't play a minute of football for a whole year(!) before this tournament. There are better options there.

I understand there's also the problem of her and the coaches not seeing eye to eye and maybe she's being benched because of that too, I won't deny it, but the truth is the team as a whole has been better without her this WC.

[gunnar hendershow]

21 minutes ago, Malenko said:

In my opinion she shouldn't start and if she does it's based on name alone and I don't mean because of what happened in the semis. I've watched every match this world cup. She came in as a sub in all but the last where they started her. She didn't add anything and Spain played amazingly without her. When she finally got into the starting 11 she didn't have a good game either. She is a great player and definitely (one of) the best Spain ever had but she's been injured and didn't play a minute of football for a whole year(!) before this tournament. There are better options there.

I understand there's also the problem of her and the coaches not seeing eye to eye and maybe she's being benched because of that too, I won't deny it, but the truth is the team as a whole has been better without her this WC.

I would agree with this. There's been a ton of success bringing Salma Paralluelo on as a sub, and so I could see an argument of having Putellas play the first 60. But generally I think planning out your subs before the match even starts is a fool's errand, outside of knowing who you will sub on (but not knowing who you'll sub out).

England have been in some very physical matches and have also been largely the aggressor so to speak. I'm wondering if this impacts the squad selection beyond Putellas, trying to trot out a starting XI that meets England there. Lot of signs pointing to a general advantage for England, there's only so many matches in a row you can have miraculous late winners if you're Spain.

Also - shifting gears. Andonovski has "resigned" as USWNT coach, opening the door presumably for Tony Gustavsson.

[Lineker]

Quote

The Football Association will “100%” reject any offers for Sarina Wiegman, its chief executive, Mark Bullingham, has said in the build-up to the Lionesses’ first World Cup final, against Spain on Sunday.

After the USA were eliminated at the last-16 stage of the World Cup, American fans and journalists have argued that US Soccer should go all out to recruit the back-to-back Euros winning manager Wiegman to replace Vlatko Andonovski, who resigned this week.

“We’ve seen lots of rumours, and look, she is a special talent. We know that,” said Bullingham. “From our side, she’s contracted through until 2025. We think she’s doing a great job. We’re obviously huge supporters of her and I think hopefully she feels the same way. So she’s someone we’d like to have with us for a very long time.”

Asked whether that was the case at any cost, Bullingham said: “Yeah, it is not about money. We are very, very happy with her and we feel she is happy. I think that is the answer.”

Conversations over Wiegman’s contract will take place after the World Cup. “We’ve always said we’d get to it after a tournament,” said Bullingham. “We’ve had good conversations after the Euros and there will be an appropriate time to do it.

“We’ve got a bit of time because obviously she’s contracted til 2025 and she’ll obviously want to have a decent holiday after this. But all I’ll say is we’re massive fans of her. We believe she’s happy, and we’d love to continue working with her for a long time.”

Bullingham said it was “disrespectful” to imply that eventually replacing Gareth Southgate would be any kind of step up for Wiegman, but added that they would always consider the best “person” for the job.

“Firstly, I think it’s a bit disrespectful of the Lionesses to project it as a step up. People always say ‘it is the best man for the job’ or ‘the best Englishman’. Why does it have to be a man? I think our answer is always: it’s the best person for the job. We think Sarina is doing a great job and hope she continues doing it for a long time. I think Sarina could do anything she wants in football.

“Do I think football is behind other sports in terms of lack of female coaches at the top level? I do. I think that has to change and also, do I think Sarina could do any job in football? Yes, I do. I’m really happy with the job she’s doing, and I hope she stays doing that job for a long time. If at some point in the future she decides she wants to move into the men’s game, that would be a really interesting discussion but that’s for her, right?”

If the men’s job should not be viewed as a step up, then it could be argued that Wiegman’s contract should match that of Southgate’s in terms of salary. Wiegman has lost only one game in four major tournaments – Euros and World Cups – in charge of Netherlands and England.

“I think over time that’s where you’ve got to get too,” said Bullingham. “If you look at the disparity in the market and the income coming in, that’s why you’ve got a difference. We don’t talk about people’s remuneration. I would say that Sarina is, within the market she operates, well-paid. And if you look at the comparison in the men’s game, it’s a different market. I really want those markets to merge, over time, and I think that’s where you’ve got to go, but we’re not there yet.”

Bullingham also said that there is no change in the discussions on bonuses, which were paused at the start of the tournament, because of the Lionesses reaching a World Cup final.

“They had a very strong case before, a very strong case after, but the reality is, there’s a discussion to be had,” he said. “There wasn’t a lot of time before the tournament, Fifa announced the prize money very late and it was a completely different model that led to a different type of discussion so it just means there wasn’t a lot of time. It’s more time being an issue, rather than anything else.”

The FA CEO added that it has permission from Brent council to install a statue to honour the recent successes of the women’s team outside Wembley. “It’s something we are looking at post Euros, we’ve made progress on that, and it would be right to have something to commemorate that success outside Wembley,” he said.

 

[gunnar hendershow]

Paralluelo starting for Spain. James has been left on the bench for England.

[stokeriño]

For the first time ever I have willingly switched from the BBC feed to ITV, because hearing someone's other-language commentary in the background of the BBC's audio was driving me nuts. 😅

[therockbox]

Spain looking a lot more composed on the ball in the first 10 mins. England just hitting it long to Russo.

[Bobfoc]

9 minutes ago, stokeriño said:

For the first time ever I have willingly switched from the BBC feed to ITV, because hearing someone's other-language commentary in the background of the BBC's audio was driving me nuts. 😅

They've sorted it out now.

[therockbox]

Bet the commentators can't wait for Caldentay to underhit a pass.

[Adam]

Far too loose with the ball there, and we're punished. Good, composed finish.

Hope this wakes England up now.

[therockbox]

Spain have been getting the better of our fullbacks since the start so why Bronze felt the need to go walkabout is baffling.