womens world cup final England V Spain; The world cup final

[shefcanary 2,444]

Not sure about Weigman's substitutions today, unless Russo's was due to injury. The lack of a target striker meant a lot of what James and Hemp attempted was always going to go nowhere.

[littleyellowbirdie 2,582]

25 minutes ago, canarydan23 said:

You're using 3rd/4th place playoffs matches as data? Have you ever watched one?

Spain having 20% extra recovery was a big, big advantage. It just was, no amount of hair-splitting, comparison with games that are virtually meaningless friendlies or pointing out that a team won a final when they had to play a few hours later as opposed to a whole day, will change that.

It doesn't make it impossible to win, clearly. Like I said, I mentioned that it happened in the men's World Cup in 2010. And prior to that, it happened in 2002 as well. But sports science has come on massively in recent years and that extra 20% is absolutely huge in the context of modern competition, and likely to become even more significant.

It's a sop to the TV companies to allow this massive advantage to exist, it needs to stop.

I hadn't thought of the recovery time bit, but the way we faded much earlier than the Spaniards in the 2nd half definitely fits with that argument.

[hogesar 9,724]

From the bits I saw, Spain looked a much better side in possession,  but we had created a couple decent chances in the first half.

Glad I switched over to the Norwich game as soon as it started! 

[TheGunnShow 5,987]

1 minute ago, littleyellowbirdie said:

I hadn't thought of the recovery time bit, but the way we faded much earlier than the Spaniards in the 2nd half definitely fits with that argument.

Not always. Spain having 60% possession is a much more telling matter, especially when Spain were consistently able to beat the press.

Happened plenty of times under Farke in the Championship, hence our proclivity for second half goals under him.

[littleyellowbirdie 2,582]

2 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Not always. Spain having 60% possession is a much more telling matter, especially when Spain were consistently able to beat the press.

Happened plenty of times under Farke in the Championship, hence our proclivity for second half goals under him.

That became more the case as the game progressed. Towards the end, we were far more frequently slower to the ball and passing was far sloppier. All shouts fatigue.

First half was a much more even affair.

And there should have been a Spaniard sent off for kicking the ball away after it was out of play when she was on a yellow. Referee was rubbish.

Edited August 20, 2023 by littleyellowbirdie

[TheGunnShow 5,987]

Just now, littleyellowbirdie said:

That became more the case as the game progressed. Towards the end, we were far more frequently slower to the ball and passing was far sloppier. All shouts fatigue.

Which summed up England's performance, hence why they went long more often in the second half as they got desperate - Spain just wore them down with their possession and movement.

Better team won on the day. Fair play to them. Not that surprising that a team largely composed of Barcelona players (2023 Women's Champions League winners) were better drilled as a unit and were able to play things around at a higher pace, and more accurately.

[littleyellowbirdie 2,582]

1 minute ago, TheGunnShow said:

Which summed up England's performance, hence why they went long more often in the second half as they got desperate - Spain just wore them down with their possession and movement.

Better team won on the day. Fair play to them. Not that surprising that a team largely composed of Barcelona players (2023 Women's Champions League winners) were better drilled as a unit and were able to play things around at a higher pace, and more accurately.

Spain were better on the day, but CD's right that recovery time has to be a consideration in why we went from properly in contention in the first half to performance visibly deteriorating. Definitely think you're wrong to discount the recovery time factor.

[daly 507]

16 hours ago, littleyellowbirdie said:

I've decided I'll watch the England game tomorrow and check in on the Norwich game at half time and full time.

To be honest, I'm a little angry on behalf of the lionesses with the degree of contempt their achievement is being treated with by those with most influence. The PM won't be there; no senior royal will be there; domestic football is carrying on regardless.

These women have worked hard to generate as much interest in the women's sport as they have, but they're getting virtually no support at all from any of our leaders.

I'd be quite pleased to see Sir Keir Starmer there tomorrow. It'd be a great opportunity for him to show he can act like a leader when nobody else is inclined to.

Nice freebie at the Tax payers expense 

[TheGunnShow 5,987]

9 minutes ago, littleyellowbirdie said:

Spain were better on the day, but CD's right that recovery time has to be a consideration in why we went from properly in contention in the first half to performance visibly deteriorating. Definitely think you're wrong to discount the recovery time factor.

Except I'm not discounting it as the notion of an extra day's recovery isn't wrong in essence. I'm saying that with four days recovery, there are a litany of more important factors that appear much more likely long before the idea of recovery even gets into the equation. Spain's possession, the fact that many play for the same club, and the players England were missing would be the first factors to bear in mind.

He'd have a point about recovery being an issue of import at three days, and it would definitely be key at two.

EDIT: As @Robert N. LiM IMO rightly noted, this was about Spanish tika-taka. Chasing the ball is bloody hard work.

Edited August 20, 2023 by TheGunnShow

[Indy 3,314]

To be fair apart from the Aussie game we struggled through this tournament and just haven’t grown into it like Spain. They were better and tactically better in every position! We looked years behind them, nerves or pressure who knows but wasn’t pretty! This picture sums it up!

[canarydan23 4,060]

5 minutes ago, littleyellowbirdie said:

Spain were better on the day, but CD's right that recovery time has to be a consideration in why we went from properly in contention in the first half to performance visibly deteriorating. Definitely think you're wrong to discount the recovery time factor.

The fact that I think in 5 out of the last 6 World Cup finals were won by the winner of the earlier semi final is massively telling.

Spain dominated possession, but it's easier to do that with fresher legs.

England were miles from their best; part of that was undoubtedly Spain handling the occasion far better, that much was evident, but another part was that Spain looked much sharper and fresher, a benefit bestowed upon them by the fixture scheduling.

The best team on the day won. But I'm not convinced they would have been the best team without that advantage. And it was an advantage set by TV companies, not any sporting or meritous reason.

[canarydan23 4,060]

Still, there is a lot to be excited about. Bar Earps, Daly and Bronze, all the regulars are likely to still be in contention in four years time. Bright and Greenwood will be 33 so possible question marks, but there's so great defensive talent behind them; Esme Morgan, Wubben-Moy and Niamh Charles would get in a lot of other national teams. Russo, Stanway and Walsh be reaching their prime, Hemp and James will only get better and better. Need to get Weigman on a four-year deal and let her leave having done the Euros/World Cup double.

[Robert N. LiM 4,471]

4 minutes ago, canarydan23 said:

Still, there is a lot to be excited about. Bar Earps, Daly and Bronze, all the regulars are likely to still be in contention in four years time. Bright and Greenwood will be 33 so possible question marks, but there's so great defensive talent behind them; Esme Morgan, Wubben-Moy and Niamh Charles would get in a lot of other national teams. Russo, Stanway and Walsh be reaching their prime, Hemp and James will only get better and better. Need to get Weigman on a four-year deal and let her leave having done the Euros/World Cup double.

what about Mead and Williamson? They got another WC in them, assuming they make good recoveries from the injuries? I'm not sure how old either of them are?

[Capt. Pants 4,274]

Spain much the better side, no complaints.

The winner today was Sky. Sky Bet ticker around the stadium every 30 secs.

Money talks. Those who think the priority was Norwich need to think again. SKY and money won today.

[canarydan23 4,060]

21 minutes ago, Robert N. LiM said:

what about Mead and Williamson? They got another WC in them, assuming they make good recoveries from the injuries? I'm not sure how old either of them are?

Mead will be 32 and Williamson 30. Williamson will almost certainly be a shoe in, but hopefully James and Hemp can be even better by 2027.

[Ted Mackie Dee 5]

Sky grrrrr

 I watched first half of England game and then went to Norwich first half while recording England game. At half time I watched 20mins of England game but when I returned to the start of Norwich second half I turned sound off so I didn’t hear anything about the England result but there across the screen was “England lose final” grrrrrrrr

Edited August 20, 2023 by Ted Mackie Dee

[Robert N. LiM 4,471]

7 minutes ago, Ted Mackie Dee said:

Sky grrrrr

 I watched first half of England game and then went to Norwich first half while recording England game. At half time I watched 20mins of England game but when I returned to the start of Norwich second half I turned sound off so I didn’t hear anything about the England result but there across the screen was “England lose final” grrrrrrrr

There were weirdly no updates of the Norwich-Millwall score during the BBC's coverage of the second half of the  World Cup final. Typical BBC bias.

[Foxy2600 305]

5 hours ago, FenwayFrank said:

If they had gone everyone would be moaning about private jets and climate change, they can't win with this one

But nobody minds a cast of hundreds of BBC pundits and hangers-on having a ‘jolly’ to Oz at taxpayers expense - never mind the Carbon Footprint 

utter hypocrites

Sir Tim Davy “ C’mon guys, you’ll need to be out of Oz by Friday because ITV are covering the Final” 

 

[Capt. Pants 4,274]

Glad to see Delia was late getting back to her seat for the 2nd half of Norwich, although Wynnie wasn't. 

[Foxy2600 305]

25 minutes ago, Capt. Pants said:

Glad to see Delia was late getting back to her seat for the 2nd half of Norwich, although Wynnie wasn't. 

Mobility Scooter issue?

[Newtopia 519]

3 hours ago, littleyellowbirdie said:

That became more the case as the game progressed. Towards the end, we were far more frequently slower to the ball and passing was far sloppier. All shouts fatigue.

First half was a much more even affair.

And there should have been a Spaniard sent off for kicking the ball away after it was out of play when she was on a yellow. Referee was rubbish.

I thought Spain did deserve to win, the referee struggled there was a lot of breaking of the play and rolling around on the floor to manage, I suspect most referees would have struggled.  England were to negative and once they went behind Spain controlled the game.

[daly 507]

3 hours ago, Capt. Pants said:

Glad to see Delia was late getting back to her seat for the 2nd half of Norwich, although Wynnie wasn't. 

You don’t leave half a bottle of Sherry to go to waste

[SwearyCanary 1,179]

Proud of the women. One step too far against an excellent Spain side and key players out. 4 years time and it’s ours 

[daly 507]

Sweary want a small bet that USA don’t blow it again