2023 FIFA Women's World Cup

[jeremyp]

Let's break the rules and get pissed


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66532694

I'd rather not have to contend with drunken twats in Bristol city centre on Sunday afternoon, please. It is possible to watch a football match  without imbibing large quantities of alcohol, believe it or not.

[jeremyp]

I'd suggest the publicity from attending such a reception  would be positive, with little downside. Allowing the team to become politicised, in particularly party politcised which this would do, seems useless in a game looking for universal appeal.

The way out would be for the King to host a reception or William and Kate. That's the kind of thing they are there for.

[jeremyp]

I think we should start referring to the other one as 'The Men's World Cup', otherwise the implication is that that's the standard one, and the WWC is secondary.

Alexa already thinks that.

I should note that I asked Siri when England will be playing Spain and she knew to look at the women's schedules. But this is after the story about Alexa broke.

[Nearly Sane]

William apologises


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66559702

[Steve H]

William apologises


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66559702

"Go out there and enjoy yourselves"? Odd thing to say. Why not "...and win"? Sounds as though he doesn't expect them to.

[ProfessorDavey]

"Go out there and enjoy yourselves"? Odd thing to say. Why not "...and win"? Sounds as though he doesn't expect them to.

I thought that was a really odd comments too - not so much that he doesn't think they'll win, but how patronising it sounds. These are elite professionals playing at the very pinnacle of their sport, in the biggest competition in the world - they aren't some team having a fun lick around on a Sunday morning.

But again shows how tone-deaf they are.

There has been some polling - by a marking of two to one (excluding don't knows) people think William should be there as president of the FA.

Also I think both Cleverly and Frazer are flying out from the UK so the carbon footprint argument is also moot as that could just as easily have been William (or Charles) and Sunak.

[Nearly Sane]

I wonder if given the success of Sarina Wiegman, a federation might pursue her to manage their male team.

[jeremyp]

I thought that was a really odd comments too - not so much that he doesn't think they'll win, but how patronising it sounds. These are elite professionals playing at the very pinnacle of their sport, in the biggest competition in the world - they aren't some team having a fun lick around on a Sunday morning.

But again shows how tone-deaf they are.

There has been some polling - by a marking of two to one (excluding don't knows) people think William should be there as president of the FA.

Also I think both Cleverly and Frazer are flying out from the UK so the carbon footprint argument is also moot as that could just as easily have been William (or Charles) and Sunak.

Iit's not just a case of booking a ticket on a plane and going, you know.

Both Sunk and Prince William will need serious amounts of security. Perhaps they should have made contingency plans to be there, but it's too late now and if England hadn't made it, and any money at all had been spent, you lot would be whining about the colossal waste.

[ProfessorDavey]

Iit's not just a case of booking a ticket on a plane and going, you know.

Both Sunk and Prince William will need serious amounts of security. Perhaps they should have made contingency plans to be there, but it's too late now and if England hadn't made it, and any money at all had been spent, you lot would be whining about the colossal waste.

sure - they’ll need security. But then they always do for all sorts of engagements many of which seem rather less important to me. And Cleverly as foreign sec also will have significant security brief.

And the whole event will have huge security anyhow - don’t forget that the Aussie PM and Spanish royals are there. No idea how many other high profile security risk people are also there.

[jeremyp]

sure - they’ll need security. But then they always do for all sorts of engagements many of which seem rather less important to me.

You understand there's a difference between attending something in the UK and shipping yourself and an entire security detail half way around the World, an exercise that requires nearly two entire days on a plane for you and your entire entourage?

And Cleverly as foreign sec also will have significant security brief.

Not nearly so big as the head of state or the prime minister. He's not nearly so valuable a target.

And the whole event will have huge security anyhow - don’t forget that the Aussie PM and Spanish royals are there. No idea how many other high profile security risk people are also there.

For the Aussie PM that's not such a big deal. Presumably, the Spanish royals had the foresight to plan ahead. They were probably planning it before the semi final.

Honestly, I'm quite happy that neither Sunk nor any major Royals are going. It's a lot of tax payers' money at a time when the government finances are under severe stress.

[ProfessorDavey]

You understand there's a difference between attending something in the UK and shipping yourself and an entire security detail half way around the World, an exercise that requires nearly two entire days on a plane for you and your entire entourage?

Sunak is currently (or certainly has just been ) in California with, so presumably, his overseas security brief.

[Nearly Sane]

Spain looking good value for their 1 - 0 score at halftime.

[ad_orientem]

Never really watched womens' football before, but now that I'm watching this final I'm getting quite into it.

[Nearly Sane]

Congratulations to Spain!

[Steve H]

Damn, blast and buggeration! 

[Steve H]

Time for all the usual cliches - "They did us proud", "They can hold their heads up high", etc., which are true, but don't take away from the disappointment.

[Nearly Sane]

Time for all the usual cliches - "They did us proud", "They can hold their heads up high", etc., which are true, but don't take away from the disappointment.

The comments on this report are filled with people, many of them apparently English, who are overjoyed at the result.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66561827

[Aruntraveller]

Can I just say I'm delighted with the result. I didn't watch the match. But I could not have stood the sycophantic nationalistic circus that would have followed from England winning. I dread this every time an England team comes close to winning a competition.

[jeremyp]

Can I just say I'm delighted with the result. I didn't watch the match. But I could not have stood the sycophantic nationalistic circus that would have followed from England winning. I dread this every time an England team comes close to winning a competition.

No, instead we'll have nationalistic wailing and gnashing of teeth because the England team is a failure. People will have to be sacked because we lost in the final.

Sometimes I despair. It's sport. There's nothing guaranteed in sport.

[Steve H]

And of course it was a "nail-biting finish", according to the BBC. Major sporting events are one big cliche-fest. I look forward to the first sighting of "roller-coaster of emotions".

[ProfessorDavey]

All in all, Spain were just the better side. They were technically superior - much better able to keep the ball with neat one touch stuff. In a way it reminded me of the men's team all too often - lot's of effort and energy but ultimately coming up short through a lack of technical quality.

That's said Spain should have been down to ten players for the final part of the game as kicking the ball away as Paralluelo did should surely have been a second yellow.

[jeremyp]

All in all, Spain were just the better side. They were technically superior - much better able to keep the ball with neat one touch stuff. In a way it reminded me of the men's team all too often - lot's of effort and energy but ultimately coming up short through a lack of technical quality.

That's said Spain should have been down to ten players for the final part of the game as kicking the ball away as Paralluelo did should surely have been a second yellow.

Agreed Spain were the better side and deserved the win but you don't get to the final by lacking technical quality.

[ProfessorDavey]

And of course it was a "nail-biting finish", according to the BBC. Major sporting events are one big cliche-fest. I look forward to the first sighting of "roller-coaster of emotions".

I know the cliches always come out - but any game going into the final minutes with just a one goal difference is going to be pretty tense - although I thought nail-biting was reserved for situations where the 'preferred' team (for our media England) hold on to win.

[Steve H]

The comments on this report are filled with people, many of them apparently English, who are overjoyed at the result.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66561827

Well, I don't know about "overjoyed". I didn't read many, but they seemed more to be generously congratulating the Spaniards as the better team on the day, etc.

[ProfessorDavey]

Agreed Spain were the better side and deserved the win but you don't get to the final by lacking technical quality.

Commenting on your point about technical quality - well it depends. To progress you simply need to be better than the team you are up against in each knock-out round. In its most simplistic terms you either come up against a team better than you and you get knocked out, or you never do and you win the tournament.

So you can potentially progress a long way even with significant technical limitations provided the draw unfolds kindly for you. The flip-side is also true - you may have a high quality team but come across an even better side in the quarter finals and out you go.

And actually England had a really easy route to the final once they'd progressed from the group stages - I think in the round of 16 they played a team ranked 40th in the world, in the quarters they played a team ranked 25th and in the semis a team ranked 10th. And actually they didn't really breeze their way through those stages, being behind to Columbia and Nigeria taking them all the way to penalties. The equivalent for Spain was 20, 9 and 3. Spain had a much tougher route to the final.

So I think the technical limitations were actually there all along, albeit England were able to progress as the rather low ranked teams they were playing had greater limitations. But in the final there really did seem to be a gulf in class between the two sides technically - Spain were just so much better at the neat one-touch passing stuff while England, when they were able to string together a set of passes, too often looked as if (and often did) they were simply going to lose the ball.

This isn't really a criticism and the team did brilliantly to reach the final, just being honest.