Women's World Cup Lookback

This post was full intended to be written quite a while ago but things got busy and it kept getting shelved.  The good news is now I can write about the WWC with a bit of distance and hopefully give a more assessment but lets face it no matter how long I wait it will still be my own skewed view. 

The first thing that I have to say is that this summers Women's World Cup is the most enjoyable FIFA event outside of a men's world cup that I have ever watched.  On top of that I will even go as far as to say that on the whole it was every bit as good as WC2010 in South Africa.  That might seem like a huge statement for me to make but this WWC really did have every single thing you could ask for in a football tournament.  It had some fairly big upsets, it had great story lines, and underdog champion, and most importantly it had a whole lot of quality playing. 


The Women's world cup was not plagued by all kinds of blowouts, the worst scorelines were 4 goals wins including the one that France got over Canada, and it did not have the issues with diving and simulation that so often destroy the credibility of the men's game at the highest levels.  So me the Women's game may be at a slower pace, the shots may be less powerful, and in many cases the keeping is not as great but this year that did not ruin it for me.  It was nothing like watching women's hockey, which is something I can only do every four years and then only Canada's games, in fact I found myself trying to catch every game possible.  For the first time in my life I was watching rebroadcasts of games that did no involve United which is saying a whole lot since I normally cannot stand watching a game at all if I already know the score.  The games were good enough to keep me interested long after Canada were eliminated and in fact the success of this World Cup is going to keep me coming back to the Women's game for years to come.

Another positive thing about the WWC is that it satisfied my need to dislike many of the traditional soccer powers as well as my constant desire to cheer against the Americans.  The fact that Germany and Brazil did not make to the finals made me quite happy and even if the US went all the way to the final watching them lose to Japan was so satisfying.  Yes I would have loved the event even more if Canada had done better but I think I actually enjoyed it more this way, once I overcame the crushing pain of once again seeing Canada come up short, as I was able to just sit back and enjoy the games and just appreciate the skill on display.

Speaking of Japan, them winning the WWC was a storyline that you could hardly even dream up.  They are of course a very good side and would have been among the contenders to make it to the semifinals for most knowledgeable fans but picking them to win it all would have been quite a long shot.  Japan was a country in need of a good storyline after a really rough year from which they are still struggling to recover and their women's team delivered.  Just their showing in the final match against the United States shows that they were a side driven to succeed and every time the US wasted a scoring chance you just got that feeling that Japan were somehow destined to win the game.  Then each time they fought back I could not help but support them.  By the time the match made it to penalties I had gone from cheering against the USWNT to cheering for Japan and the only way I could have been happier with the winner would have been if it had been Canada.

With all that praise I do have to add that their is still a long ways to go in the Women's game.  The quality of the players is only going to continue improving, the depth of the competition should keep getting better (it has to with the tournament field expanding for 2015).  The other area where the game is going to need to see improvement is officiating.  For the most part it was good during the tournament but there are a few terrible moments that are going to stand up as glaring marks on the event.  The handball that was not called in the Australia match will be one of the moments that most people will remember but I do hope that with a little more time people who watched the event forget that some of the reffing was poor and instead only remember this event as being something special and great fun to watch.

I can hardly wait for 2015 now when with any luck I will be going to at least a couple of matches.  I can now safely say that I am a supporter of Women's soccer and that is a big statement for someone who has once been accused of being a sports sexist.

Women's World Cup Underway

So if you live on twitter like many of us seem to do these days you have probably noticed that for the past 2 days the name Christine Sinclair has been trending and for good reason.  In case you are the one person out there who would be reading this and not already know about her performance I will fill you in.  On Sunday Christine proved that she should be the captain of Canada as well as being considered as one of the best players in the world.  She proved that she is capable of taking a free kick with as much skill as anyone in the world regardless of gender.  The free kick goal is only one part of what made her performance so memorable as she also broke her nose and then was seen waving away the trainers and returning to the field as quickly as possible.  There was no rolling around on the ground in pain, there was no calling for a sub, there was only a clear desire to return to play and do anything should could to help her team out.  There is no question that Sinclair would have been within her rights to take the rest of the match off with her nose broken and her team down 2-0 against the best team in the world but that is not how Christine Sinclair goes about her business.  After she returned to the field Sinclair was also seen telling one of the German's to get up off the ground after she went down as she wanted to keep the game going being desperate to get Canada back into the match.

Sinclair's free kick goal was a late effort that gave Canada an outside chance of stealing a draw but it was not to be.  The fact that it had been over 600 minutes since the German team had conceded a goal in the Women's world cup only makes the goal all the more impressive but for me it is all about the heart that she showed.  She led the team into a hostile environment against a team that was clearly favoured to win the game, and possibly the entire tournament.  Germany were the better team in the game and they controlled much of the chances but Canada proved that they belong playing against them and it was because of the efforts of players like Sinclair.

I do not want to make this post about the men's team but I feel that I would be remiss if I did not point out the fact that the men's team is lacking any sort of leadership and heart like Sinclair showed.  I am not going to question the commitment of the men because they are all giving a lot to be able to represent their country and I respect them for that but none of them seem to show the heart and hustle that Sinclair shows.  Would anyone in the men's team break their nose and then stay on?  I somehow doubt that.

The game on the whole was a decent showing for Canada and the fact that they only lost to the German's 2-1 is going to be good for them going forward.  The French team did not look great in their opening match so unless they improve in the coming matches Canada should be in a good position to get a crucial win.  Even if Canada settles for a draw against France they will be in a decent position to possibly take second place in the group based on goal difference since I think it is safe to say that neither France or Nigeria is going to stay within 1 of this German team.  Let me make one thing clear though this game against France is where the tournament really kicks off for Canada and they absolutely must get a result if they hope to move on.

The German team proved to me why they are the favourites to win this thing and why some people are calling them the best women's team of all time.  They had world player of the year nominees coming off the bench, there is just so much depth and talent in that side and the 2-1 scoreline might just be the closest that any of their games end in this tournament.

I am looking forward to seeing more of this tournament because in a lot of ways it is a more pure form of the game then the men's game has become.  It is not uncommon to watch a game and not see a single yellow card which is refreshing for myself as I get sick of seeing players picking up cautions all over the field in the men's game.  There is no diving problem running rampant and in the 3 games I have watched so far I constantly felt that the players out their were all giving their very best and that is great to see.  The game itself is hard to compare to the men's game because of the differences in physical abilities and technique but I do think it is possible to enjoy both of them for what they are.  This Women's world cup is definitely worth a watch though.

Oh and here is the goal:

Women's World Cup 2011: Roster Unveiled

In case you are still feeling sad about Canada being out of the Gold Cup it is time to turn that frown upside down.  In only 10 days the Canadian National Women's team will be taking to the field against Germany to kick off their World Cup campaign and as I will try to show to you in this post we have every reason to be excited about them.  This is a very good team and many experts have them as a team with the potential to make a push into the knockout rounds.  Who knows maybe they will do one better then they did in 2003 when they finished fourth, can dream right?

Last week the Canadian women's national team competed in their final tuneup game before this months World Cup kicks off.  The ladies claimed a comfortable 2-0 win over Korea DPR but once again fans were left wondering where the goals were.  The team has shown a vast improvement in terms of quality, fitness, and performance since Morace took over as head coach 2 years ago and now she has the team in a great position to turn some heads at the World Cup.  There is a clear sense of unity and confidence coming from the ladies on the team that can be seen in something as simple as the tweets that many of them are sending congratulating one another on major milestones and sharing their excitement for this tournament.  I for one have never noticed the ladies team being a closer knit bunch and more positive then they are now and that is thanks to the efforts that Morace has put in.

Morace now has the ladies up to an all time high rank of 6th in the World and with a good showing that is a ranking that could very well improve coming out of the World Cup.  There is no reason to not consider this team as a potential semifinalist.  Morace has had the team over in Europe already for a number of weeks with the ladies training in Rome which I expect will pay off in improved bonds between the players which should translate into them working better together during the games.  Morace has changes the entire culture around the team and taught them a new way of playing the game that is based around keeping possession of the ball and working to build chances.  That is a drastic change from the team that used to rely on hitting the ball long and hoping to take advantage of the great goal scorers we have had in recent years.  Morace's hard work has already paid some dividends in the form of a CONCACAF championship for the ladies as they did not concede a goal in their 5 matches in that tournament.  The win over North Korea also improved their record on the year to a very impressive 10-1-2.  So when the news came out last week that Morace would be staying around until at least after the 2012 olympics it was a move that only made good sense.  There is no reason to think that this team will not preform at the World Cup and by keeping Morace on they have ensured that there will be continued stability and growth.

Today Morace unvielled her 21 woman roster for the World Cup which Canada will open against the host, and world number 2, Germany on June 26.  Her roster came with very few surprises and contained a nice mixture of youth and experience.  It is clear that the team will look for a lot of veteran leadership Sinclair (159 caps, 116 goals), 31 year old keeper LeBlanc (in her fourth World Cup), Brittany Timko (100 caps in defence), and Diana Matheson ( over 100 appearances in the midfield).  With these ladies the team has a core of experience all over the field but the addition of some fresh faces make the team more exciting then it has ever been.

Here is Morace's 21 woman roster:

Goalkeepers: Karina LeBlanc (Unattached), Erin McLeod (magicJack), Stephanie Labbé (Piteå IF)

Defenders: Emily Zurrer (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Robyn Gayle (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Candace Chapman (Western New York Flash), Brittany Timko (Unattached), Marie-Eve Nault (Ottawa Fury)

Midfielders: Kelly Parker (Atlanta Beat), Carmelina Moscato (Unattached), Kaylyn Kyle (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Rhian Wilkinson (Lillestrøm SK Kvinner), Diana Matheson (Lillestrøm SK Kvinner), Desiree Scott (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Sophie Schmidt (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Chelsea Stewart (Vancouver Whitecaps FC)

Forwards: Christine Sinclair (Western New York Flash), Melissa Tancredi (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Jodi-Ann Robinson (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Jonelle Filigno (Rutgers University), Christina Julien (Ottawa Fury)