World Cup appreciation thread - starts Sat June 6th

Bit late to the party, been wondering where there may be a thread!

Fabulous displays so far by the lionesses - just wish they could remember to play for the full 90 mins! Tactics have been spot-on haven't they? Laboured initially but that first half against Columbia was a joy to watch - one touch, slick, lots of movement and supporting each other. Steph Houghton at the back is a rock.
And no rolling around as if they've been taken out by a sniper when tackled.

Thanks, Canadian. That's interesting and annoying in equal measure about Moncton (and shows that the financial arguments are not as clear cut as FIFA might be pretending they are).

Last night's game (well, yesterday afternoon's second game for you I guess...) in Moncton was interesting to watch. At one stage one of the Mexican players went on a last ditch attempt to keep a ball in play, ran off the edge of the pitch because she was running full-pelt, and her momentum carried her off the edge of the artifical turf onto an odd patch of some other surface - you could see her really struggling to keep her footing when she hit this sudden slippery patch.

FIFA explained by saying it wanted all games in the tournament played on the same surface, and that surface would be the predominant one already in place in Canada.

So why go with artificial turf in the first place? Because in most cases, that's what was there. Many outdoor stadiums in Canada have artificial surfaces because the climate is so harsh for much of the year and the facilities are used for other sports, like American-football, where the difference between natural and artificial isn't considered as important a factor. Every Canadian American-Football League team currently plays its home games on artificial turf.

Perhaps most galling to the players is that one of the six host venues, Moncton Stadium in New Brunswick, opened in 2010 with a grass field but was forced to install FieldTurf last year to play host to World Cup games. Though that $1.5 million artificial surface meets FIFA requirements, it would prevent some other competitions, such as Paralympic track and field, from being held at the stadium. So the city of Moncton spent $500,000 to install a new grass field adjacent to the stadium for the other athletes affected by the change.

www.goal.com/en-us/news/12162/womens-world-cup/2015/06/03/12372022/womens-world-cup-turf-war-lingers-as-tournament-begins

Great game - great to watch, some really impressive skill out there. I was very taken with Kirby too. Both great goals even if there was more than a hint of offside about the second!

(Embarrassed noises... my ex always said he thought I was a closet England fan, and much as it pains me to say it, I fear he may be right... I really got quite excited when Kirby's goal went in).

Back to the question of the pitch - even my 7 yo DS can see there's something really unfair about forcing the women to play on artifical turf (he was getting pleasingly outraged about it earlier). I presume the official reason was that it would just be too expensive to maintain real turf in Canada at this time of year... but how much of it comes down to Blatter et al just being sexist dinosaurs?

really pleased for Kirby. I thought she was England's best player throughout. Direct in good way and full of energy.

I know, she seemed to be pretty close to the near post. She was flat footed and didn't get off the ground. Even half a step then a dive. It wasn't struck with any great power and from a long way out. She should have had plenty of time to pick it up

I was wondering if she was unsighted when it was struck, she seemed to react so late. Also seemed to have a wicked swerve on it.

Bardsley (I think that's our keeper), had a mare for the goal we conceded against France. She didn't react and barely dived any distance. A shot from that distance she could have taken 1 or 2 steps to her left and saved it or maybe caught it. It was disappointing for her and the team but anyway onward and upwards.
I also noticed she was stuck a bit on the goal line, rather than narrowing the angle, is this because the goals are too big and Bardsley is worried about being chipped when she's off her line.
In general the games have been pretty good. I'm liking brazil, but the goal keeping in the games I've seen is really poor.

We're loving the little catch ups on iplayer, the kids are getting a digestible overview everyday which is nice. Disappointed that even keen football fans at work seem to be only vaguely aware of it.

DD1 went to her first football after school club yesterday and came home demanding football boots, shinpads and knee high socks. I think she enjoyed it . Just wish they had a girl only session so it hadn't taken a year to persuade her she'd enjoy it (she loves playing football with her big boy cousins).

Disappointed as two french players deserved to be sent off, the leading elbow and the head butt. Still considering the ranking that France have in the world it could have been worse.

Disappointed to see the commentator refer to someone playng under her maiden name as though she will become someone's possession at the end of the tournament. The football matters not a name or marital status.

You're so right about the artificial turf, Scallops - I remember the initial publicity about this. I don't know quite why the lawsuit was withdrawn, but you can definitely see the difference in the style of play. It's bloody awful stuff to play on.

I think the boys might have, I would embarrass them if I collected stickers.

Have to say the Sweden Nigeria match was fantastic but it did highlight the issue with the pitches seeing the number of injuries and niggles players are picking up. I hope the teams over here were watching the Nigerian forwards as they showed pace and skill but lacked mainly in the area of decision making which comes with more experience. Was strange hearing that players in the Nigerian team were already playing abroad so money must be good in other countries.

I am not surprised that the US won, I would have loved to have watched it but I would still be in bed if I did.

Just seen this on Twitter. It's awful about the artificial turf being used:

thinkprogress.org/sports/2015/06/08/3667111/concerns-mount-artificial-turf-hits-120-degrees-womens-world-cup/

Thanks Yonic, I'll be watching.