OT: Soccer - USWNT Loses 1-0 to Japan; U-20 W Romp Again
In the final game of group play in the Algarve Cup, the USWNT fell 1-0 to Japan on, of all things, a corner kick (Japan's only one) in the 84'.
Germany beat Sweden 4-0, so they'll play Japan for the Cup, we play Sweden for 3rd on Wednesday morning.
Highlights video (linked here, will embed below).
What looks to be an early US goal was waved off due to offsides. Also in the first half Alex Morgan gets a ball over the top, holds off her defender, and rips a shot off the post. In the second half there are a couple shots over the crossbar, and Morgan cuts inside of a slide tackle, but her shot goes wide left. I think it's sub Stephanie Cox who got beat on the goal. I'm rather annoyed that the shorter Japan scored on another corner against us.
The U-20 WNT rolled to a 6-0 win over Cuba Sunday afternoon. Katie Stengel (4', 36') and Maya Hayes (25', 29') scored two goals each, and Vanessa DiBernerdo (51') and Chi Ubogagu (84') finished the scoring.
Panama is up next Tuesday @ 7:30 PM ET on concacaf.com.
Japan highlights.
Japan reactions
Cuba highlights
Cuba reactions
Is it just me or does it seem like there are only 4-6 viable women's national teams around the world? Every tournament comes down to a pool of Sweden, Japan, China, the US, Germany, and maybe Brazil? I'm no expert, but it seems just like women's basketball, where the "elite" are FAR and away better than the rest of the competition. Didn't the USWNT just beat the Dominican Republic (or some other Caribbean island nation) 14-0? A varsity soccer team shouldn't be able to beat a freshman team that badly...
for women soccer players, from childhood to professional play. Note how your list is dominated either by big countries (population-wise), liberal democratic ones, or both.
True, but just to test your theory, there are also many big and/or liberal democratic countries with poor women's national teams. It just seems strange that such a select minority of nations dominate. Is there great disparity in funding between nations? Obviously Senegal probably doesn't have the resources to devote to a women's team, but what about large European countries like France?
France, I think, will be in the mix - they finished 4th in the last World Cup. They played really well, and I was concerned they could beat us. Fortunately, we won 3-1 in the semis.
China surprises me. They were a power in the 90s, but seem to have fallen quite a bit. 18th in the last (12/11) rankings, behind Japan and the two Koreas. Edit: and Australia, to include another team in their region.
Edit 2: Quaterfinals teams from the last two WWCs:
2011: England, France; Germany, Japan; Sweden, Australia; USA, Brazil
2007: Germany, NK; USA, England; Norway, China; Brazil, Australia
I'd say necessary but not sufficient condition at the moment. Obviously things can change...
I think this meme is played out. When Women's soccer really kicked off at the international level in the 90s, it was the US, China, Norwayand Sweden. That was it. The big four and the rest of the world.
Since then the Germans have come very far. The Brazilians are doing unbelievable things with zero support from their federation. The Japanese came out of NOWHERE the past few years.
The international stage has seen the French and Nigerians come along too.
So, we don't see parity in the international game such as something like the NFL -- any given Sunday ya know. But women's international soccer started with basically 4 elite sides. Now, a lot of the world is definitely catching up.
p.s., those blowouts will always happen... see the "island" nations. Or don't. The soccer is horrible.
There are also only 4-6 viable men's teams at the World Cup. The stronger ones don't beat the weaker ones by as much, but there are only 4-6 teams that have a real shot at winning it.
The number of viable teams has actually gone way up in the last few years. Japan, England, France, and Sweden can all hold their own against the big 3 of the US, Germany, and Brazil now. Norway and Australia are also competitive, and even Mexico is improving. China has gone completely off the rails, though. They used to be the best team in the world.
is very good. Think she'll be a bona fide star at some point in her future.
You say that about being annoyed about allowing a short team score on a corner kick, but height isn't everything. IIRC, Japan had multiple corner kick (or possibly headers off of free kicks that were basically corners) goals in the Women's World Cup. Some teams are just really good at moving and getting people open for headers.
Obviously height isn't everything, but it is a significan advantage, and I consider it poor marking when a 5'4.5" player scores a header on us, especially on a far post cross.