Monzanator

So much for the "new Usain Bolt"

@heywoodu@LDOGThe situation has happened with one host tournaments and fewer teams as well, most notably during 1994 World Cup when Brazil & Sweden played in group stage and later the semi-finals.

wins 2-1 after extra time. Very much deserved but their striking has to improve if they want to reach the final. did nothing for 90 mins except a voided penalty call and the vd Gragt strike that forced extra time. Beerensteyn rallies is all they had and that was very predictable.

Spain back in the lead in extra time!

Van der Gragt goes all Miedema and scores in 91st minute

86 minutes and Pays Bas have their first shot on goal. Straight at the keeper

Clear handball from van der Gragt right at the box line but VAR still had to bail Frappart out. Caldentey scores the penalty off the post in 81st minute!

Stupid shove from Paredes in the box, Frappart gives the penalty but VAR calls her to check it and she takes it back. That looked like a clear shove though and Paredes got away with one.

Spain scores but it's offside on VAR. Netherlands ride their luck again...

Spain hit the post twice in three seconds. Redondo really should have scored there

Kamila Żuk suffered a fall in training and will be out several weeks with what looks like a cracked tibia.

If Poland only wins one combined medal in the hammer that will be quite a let down Worse still, that could be the only event where we actually win some medals

You come from a country where there isn't any national governing body to a large degree (the closest to being one is NCAA). Majority of most popular US sports are run by billionaire owners and most popular Olympic sports are focused on the so-called stars that pull the rest of the team & even the entire sport. The same way CFB football brings revenue for college volleyball, lacrosse or whatever other sports are played on campus. You clearly don't understand that in most countries even the most popular sports are short on funds and rely on government support. Poland's biggest athletics star of the last decade is Anita Włodarczyk and pictured below is her club stadium where she started - ruins dating to mid 60s. Could you imagine Oregon, USC or Ohio State producing world class athletes on such junkyards? Of course not but I don't blame you that you live in US sporting bubble and don't realize how much other countries are struggling with sports like athletics which is globally important but also dominated by a few selected countries that take majority of the shares.

Lauren James has been given a 2-match ban for red card so she will also miss the SF if England get there. Quarterfinals start tonight with Spain vs Netherlands being the first at 3:00 am CET (obviously this early since this is the USA group winner slot).

But those athletes could easily be banned by national committes if they refuse to represent their countries and I can't see how WA or any governing body would side with some individuals (no matter how successful they are) over national sporting bodies when it comes to global or continental championships.

Meanwhile in Carabao Cup - Bradford vs Accrington Stanley PSO...

@hckošiceI'm still shocked Slovakia doesn't try to follow through on the men's throwing events especially the hammer? It's the lowest hanging fruit since USA, Caribbean and Africa are non-factors almost by default for decades here.

There'a a plot twist in Adrianna Sułek missing the World Championships. Turns out she is pregnant

Wozniacki beat Birrell 6-2 6-2 so the score was more or less what would be expected before Wozniacki's 3.5 year retirement

[hide] Knockout Stage August 5th - August 20th 2023 8 Nations, The Winners of each Quarterfinal will qualify for the Semifinals. Quarterfinals Date & Time (GMT +10-12) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 August 11th 2023, h. 13:00 Spain 2 1 Netherlands August 11th 2023, h. 19:30 Japan 3 1 Sweden August 12th 2023, h. 17:00 Australia 1 2 France August 12th 2023, h. 20:30 England 2 0 Colombia [/hide]

Japan looked like the best team so far but Spain's 70% possession will be a problem for anyone unless they can't score like they did vs Japan. It would be curious if we have a rematch in SF since I can't believe Spain would allow four goals on five shots again

Iga Świątek won the Warsaw 250 the previous weekend and Prague has had even more rain the following week so the second SF had to be finished on Monday before the final where lucky loser Nao Hibino beat Linda Noskova 6-4 6-1 which is quite a shocking result tbh. WTA 1000 in Montreal starts today, also the comeback of Caroline Wozniacki who drew Kimberley Birrell in R1. That's a soft draw as it gets but some of these Q placements in Main Draw have long been suspicious anyway

I have to say I was more impressed with South Africa among the minnows. And we'll see how Colombia does in R16. The decline of German women's football isn't anything new, they truly have no plan B if "give the ball to Popp" plan A doesn't work. USA was a bunch of old timers and ancient celebrity storylines. Excluding the amateurs from Vietnam they scored one goal in three games vs the "real" teams. And that was from a corner. The future looks shaky, the infusion of money into European clubs has dramatically closed the gap and basically USA should be left behind really soon if this World Cup doesn't serve as the official marker anyway.

It was a goal by literally 1 mm