Monzanator

Neah, Sweden vs USA in the group stage was handled by a Russian ref, Canada vs Netherlands by a French one.

France vs USA should be Bibiana Steinhaus as ref since it's the non-German QF half as well. Anything else would be totally suspicious.

[hide] Knockout RoundJune 22nd - July 7th, 2019 16 Nations, Round of 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Third Place Match and Final Quarterfinals Date & Time (GMT +2) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 June 27th 2019, h. 21:00 Norway 1 0 England June 28th 2019, h. 21:00 France 1 2 United States June 29th 2019, h. 15:00 Italy 1 2 Netherlands June 29th 2019, h. 18:30 Germany 1 0 Sweden [/hide]

Netherlands controlled the first half but Japan were better in the second half. Penalty was obvious since Kumagai extended her body width. The problem with Netherlands is they play with the same squad for like 3-4 years now so everyone knows what happens. I predicted a 2-1 win for the Dutch so that was no surprise. Italy only exposed how weak China is right now. If USA beats France then all UEFA QF winners will qualify for the Olympics.

[hide] Knockout RoundJune 27th - July 07th, 2019 8 Nations, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Third Place Match and Final Quarterfinals Date & Time (GMT -3) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 June 27th 2019, h. 21:30 Brazil 2 0 Paraguay June 28th 2019, h. 16:00 Venezuela 0 1 Argentina June 28th 2019, h. 20:00 Colombia 3 2 Chile June 29th 2019, h. 16:00 Uruguay 2 0 Peru [/hide]

Olympics is business. Professional sports is business. China & the oil-power countries can afford to invest money without looking at revenue, hell, China has followed diplomacy thru sports for decades. Europe has suffered an economical nosedive in the last decade and people are unwilling to spend public money on Olympics anymore. It's not viewed as a window to the world anymore unlike some of these Middle East or Far East countries that basically hosted nothing in the XX century. Qatar & China are piling money into hosting big events in particular, the Western world is counting every penny instead. Even the Nordic ain't doing much and in some traditional winter sport countries there is no public support for this at all. So we get the snowy land of China instead, I can almost foresee how repulsive the alpine skiing venues will be there.

This happens when you only follow winter sports since what, 5 years? It's rather clear you don't follow short track that much then. Btw, de Fabbiani would be a dark horse for a medal and not exactly a sure thing tbh.

Nobody builds around 38yo anymore, Sinclair was totally ghosted in this game. I understand she's two goals away from Wambach's record but it was a joke. I bet 3/4 of other teams would have played Huitema to elbow the notorious Swedish defenders around. Sinclair was unable to do anything physically. I learn Lindahl saved Sinclair's PK in Algarve Cup but c'mon, you're the leader and you're scared to take responsibility? That's weak. The 18yo full-back brought some pace but why in the 84th minute? It should have happened at least right after the missed penalty when you had to chase the score anyway. Sweden rested 4 players for the USA game, Canada only rested Prince for the Dutch game and she was the first one taken off tonight anyway. Why don't rest Sinclair for the Dutch game in first place? It was a stretch they would beat them in first place. Not to mention Canada played like the whole tournament with the same 11 + 3 subs plus Huitema getting the rare start vs Netherlands. It's all way too puzzling for me.

Arianna Fontana is a world class talent though. She's won 8 of Italy's 15 Olympic medals in these "newer" events (incl. three relays). So they don't depend on newer events, they have one athlete who elevates the whole event. One athlete, that's all (safe to say no relay medals without Fontana IMO). They have won the most medals in cross country but it's a one-nation show these days and they have basically one legit medal hope in Pellegrino.

That's rich coming from a country that relies heavily on short track too? I see that Canada has scored ca. half of their medals in the non-traditional events as well? Guess that doesn't bother you so why should it bother Italy?

Sweden beats Canada 1-0 after dominating most of the second half. Canada had a penalty saved but looked very bleak on offense. I have no idea how playing a 38yo Sinclair as your main weapon helps your cause anymore? Why a midfielder swap in the last 10 mins when you're trailing anyway? This kid Huitema could have done sth but the Canadian coach opted otherwise. Sinclair didn't even take the penalty either.

It all comes down to funding, hosting OG basically makes you spend money and you're actually in debt by the time it's all history. Italy have a huge national debt last time I checked so they don't really care about that, they just go with the flow There was an official Zakopane bid for 2006 and then Krakow/Poprad in Slovakia for 2022 was a late withdrawal. The biggest issue in Poland is there's like one road connecting Krakow & Zakopane and the 50km drive is notoriously jammed all year long here. The entire world would get stuck in Krakow if it came to hosting the Olympics here

Second penalty for USA and it's 2-1.

I'll take Italy twice in 20 years over frickin' Beijing! I mean that will be all artificial snow down there, right? Sadly Olympics have been all about money and countries which can't afford hosting the show. It's amost a miracle Doha hasn't been chosen as host for the Summer Games but that's maybe down to women taking part. Can you imagine beach volleyball in Qatar? That would be awkward!

Yes! Cortina is sooo much better for alpine skiing than Are! Well done, Italy!!!

Epic blunder from Sauerbrunn and Spain scores a goal!

USA takes the lead via spot kick after 7 mins.

Home team usually puts the best athletes, I suspect most of the others enter juniors or second or third tier names in most events.

France will be hard-pressed to topple the Americans tbh, the full-backs look vunerable as heck and of course the keeper is very howler-prone. Nobody has shown me anything so far to stop USA other than park the bus Sweden-Olympics style and hope for a 0-0 penalty kicks miracle.

The Cameroon offside was okay but what I meant was that the US & AUS goals should have been ruled out. Both Kerr & Lloyd were clearly moving towards the ball while being offside and affected the defenders hence the entire play. Those were two horrible calls IMO which underlines how poor the refereeing is at this tournament IMO. At least they were both consistently horrible.

Brazil with their best performance of the tournament so far. 1-1 after 75 mins.

I wouldn't read English media who are always biased in favor of England anyway. Given how Australia & USA goals were allowed to stand at this tournament the fact that a player was actually running away from the goal when she was flagged for half a boot offside. That's really harsh. And it seemed like every VAR decision went against them. The referee almost took pity IMO when she waved off another penalty clain for England (ball was played back to another player before the foul) and only issued a YC instead of red right at the end. Cameroon looked like an amateur team with little knowledge of rules but the Chinese referee was absolutely the worst out there. She completely lost control of the game from the opening period. She should be banned from any future FIFA competitions, that was worse than Thailand's 0-13 massacre. In general I think VAR isn't the main issue here, it's the piss poor quality of some (majority) referees. Meanwhile the most qualified of them all Bibiana Steinhaus has had only one game at this tournament so far. What are they saving her for esp. with Germany about to go deep in the tournament? She is missing on the R16 sheet so I can imagine she will do the QF in the non-German half (ENG vs NOR or USA vs FRA if things go to plan). But that could be it if Germany reach the last four. She should be doing like 5 matches at this WWC and she will most likely only do two while the other German ref Hussein has had three already. That's complete nonsense IMO.

I doubt anyone has noticed but Karol Hoffmann is a triple jumper by trade. He tore his Achilles a while back and still isn't in full shape. No wonder his 1,90m is a HJ PB

France scores a goal with the shoulder but VAR takes it away

Maybe it's time to bring back make officials to the WWC? This Chinese woman has completely lost it too. Allowing hissy fits to stop matches. This is absolute shambles of a game. Worst kind of advert for the women's football. England go 3-0 but it's basically irrelevant at this point.