Monzanator

[hide] Knockout RoundJune 22nd - July 7th, 2019 16 Nations, Round of 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Third Place Match and Final Semifinals Date & Time (GMT +2) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 July 2nd 2019, h. 21:00 England 1 2 United States July 3rd 2019, h. 21:00 Netherlands 2 1 Sweden [/hide]

Germany lacks offensive star with Marozsan compromised. They literally had nobody to pose a real threat in this game. Beating Nigeria is one thing but Sweden proved too difficult with such a toothless attack.

Polish commentator said Barbara Bonansea earns 40k per season? Talk about cheap labour

70% of Russia is basically Siberia which lies in Asia. There's literally nothing there to create the sporting success. Russia has been historically tied to Europe since the medieval times. Likewise with Turkey who has strong ties to Europe since the Roman Empire.

First half pretty boring but Netherlands has turned up the wick in the 2nd so far.

Bus trip from Kosice to Krakow costs like 7 euro Come visit us in four years time

Rugby is a Commonwealth sports. There's a reason why so few teams actually excell at this and they are the same nations over & over again. Same applies for cricket which is like played in one country in Europe, lol. Olympics is a global sport, rugby & cricket are no global sports by any means. Rugby sevens appeases the unknown tbh. It's a waste of an Olympic spot IMO.

It happens all the time in events where the "home nations" enter as separate teams. Scotland is only eligible to represent GB in curling as well. If you look at Olympic history, GB hasn't done so good in team sports other than football (when entering) and some of the classic team sports at this stage are non-existent in GB at world class level (minus field hockey). You ain't gonna see GB qualify in handball, volleyball or basketball whatsoever. These sports are DOA in the UK.

Kenya was a part of the British Empire. Froome is like the last living proof in pro sports that colonialism was actually a thing. Btw, why are we talking Froome in a football thread?

Well, the penalty against Scotland vs Argentina and against Japan vs Netherlands looked as much as this non-give here. Zero consistency IMO. As for French it has to be said Gauvin looked totally lost out there. Should have rolled the dice with Cascarino much, much sooner, maybe at half-time already. This feels like a total waste for the hosts. Nobody has really taken the game to the USA across all 90 mins so far. Maybe England will be different? Both these teams have a knack for scoring early goals which sets up the rest of the game their way.

Handball penalty against US waved off... seen them given at this World Cup...

Renard heads in from the free kick. Game on?

2-0 for USA and the French goose looks cooked.

USA teakes the lead in the 5th minute from a free kick shot across the face of the goal. That was very soft to begin with but can't see France doing all that much anyway.

Norway has been completely useless.

[hide] Knockout Round June 29th - July 7th, 2019 8 Nations, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Final Quarterfinals Date & Time Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 June 29th 2019, h. 19:00 (GMT-5) Haiti 1 0 Canada June 29th 2019, h. 22:00 (GMT-5) Mexico 2 1 Costa Rica June 30th 2019, h. 17:30 (GMT-4) Jamaica 1 2 Panama June 30th 2019, h. 20:30 (GMT-4) United States 3 0 Curaçao [/hide]

If USA wins every other semi-finalist will be European hence the UEFA Olympic quota will be set. It's been previously announced Great Britain will field a women's team in Tokyo if England becomes of the three best UEFA teams at this World Cup. If USA loses, the bronze medal match will be also an Olympic decider.

Mikaela Shiffrin said something like this: "Olympics are for fans, World Championships are for athletes". You can't fight the IOC policy, some of the best athletes/teams in the world will always miss the Olynpics due to the nations quota or limited team events pool. That's how it works. Look at the Olympics wild card thread, none of the traditional multi-medal countries have been awarded a single one while powerhouses like Bolivia, Nepal or Marshal Islands have been awarded multiple ones.

Yeah, I just put the 'verletzt' in google and it's news from like 2 hours ago. That explains it. So I guess Frappart & Staubli for the German side QFs and Umpierrez a likely front runner for the final IMO.

Karolina Koszewska (ex-Lukasik, 69 kg) & Sandra Drabik (51 kg) into boxing semi-finals! Women's boxing is one event we send our best athletes

Lucila Venegas (Mexico) for vs and Kateryna Monzul (Ukraine) for vs Either Steinhaus is injured or else I have no idea what they're up to. No way they put her in the German QF side. Claudia Umpierrez should be in there or she's saved for the SF.

That someone is IOC and they always promote continental diversity over strenght of the event. That's why table tennis has only two athlete per nation quota for instance, otherwise China would have send like 5 men (who are all ranked in Top 7 of the world rankings) and then it would be a medal sweep one Games after another. Yes, UEFA is the strongest football federation but it doesn't matter. IOC will never allow 8 UEFA teams, 2 CONCACAF & 2 Asian just because it's the strongest potential line-up.

It's safe to say coverage will be better in 2023 when Krakow hosts it? Then again, one medal for Poland in 4 days is pretty weak? I seem to recall Baku provided more success? But we've openly punted away most events esp. athletics. I can imagine Krakow will be better. Rowing/canoeing finals tomorrow? Guess that helps us a little?

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.