Anyone watching the womens world cup?aibu to..

[mayorquimby]

to think this seems to be following exactly the same pattern as the mens team and the U21s in the euros. Absolutely outclassed and completely bereft of any technical abilities when compared to continental teams.

go Kelly!

daren't watch. The ghostly memories - Southgate, Pearce, that other one. Wherever redwhitenblue is worn, all changed, changed utterly. A terrible cockup beauty is born...

Painful.

There's an awful lot of ranting going on in this household atm and the dc are hearing words they are probably too young to know. Dh beside himself.

oh dear. Such efforts and guts.

What guts?

What drivel.

I cant believe they give air time to such shit and I cant believe I've just wasted 30 minutes watching appalling football. England were shite and deserved to lose. My 11 year old plays better more technical football.

Most of the England players spent their time rolling around on the pitch.

I;m glad France went through, they were the better team but, honestly, what a waste of time.

guts? Well, it looked dreadfully physically and emotionally draining for the women playing. Of course France deserved to go through - they were the better team. But to play at that level for 120 mins took guts and resilience.

No comment on quality of play, but surely it was a bit newsworthy that it gotmoved from redbutton to bbc2 - so why on page 10 of Guardian which as usual gives max publicity to F1 and cricket (men)

There's simply not enough interest in it to make it worth papers while to prioritise it.
There'd be much more interest in the F1 and cricket. On F365 it has constituted two of the main stories on the main page since yesterday and in the f365 forum there was a lengthy enough thread going on.
As for the BBC coverage I thought it was abysmal as BBC coverage of football consistently is. I thought the condescending attitude and paying of blind platitudes did the womens game no favours and only adds to the weight of people who don't take it seriously. If you were a football fan watching it yesterday you knew the performance was shit, the commentators knew it was shit, the pundits in the studio knew it was shit so don't try and tell us it's good when we can see for ourselves that it quite clearly isn't.
A proper constructive criticism and analysis of the teams failings would have garnered far more respect for the game and for the BBC and their coverage than blindly telling us how well they played etc.
This is not confined to the Womens game, they too often overlook the mens teams failings also.

I know it's not Pele, but the women are on £16k pa, and have ft jobs so it's no wonder there's a fair difference. If you compare the speeds of male & female 100m over the past 50 yrs, the gap has narrowed dramatically; maybe footie would be likewise with more equal facilities? Publicity would be a first step.

Trying to talk the women's game up us just pissing in the wind. It's bloody rubbish! Why won't anybody admit it??? Even at international level it's like watching young boys play at times.

I love footie and an watching the womens world cup but in all honesty the standard of football is'nt that good. It is slow and i have seen better levels of skill in our youth league.
It is a bit like scottish football slow and pretty boring.

The women have even less bottle then mens team do. Those last 2 penalties were horrendous

Just on the guts and bottle point Hope Powell has come out today and criticised the cowardice of the English players as they failed to volunteer to step up for penalties.
Personally I'd see this as a damning condemnation of the team but more than that as further evidence of her failings as a coach. She displayed abysmal tactical acumen and the fact that she did not have the line-up for her penalties until that point shows a lack of preperation.

"Three times I had to ask [for volunteers] before anyone stepped forward. 'Where are you?' I was thinking, and then a young kid is the first to put her hand up. And Kelly Smith was dying on her feet but she stepped up and took one. You've got to want to take a penalty, but other players should have come forward and they didn't. That's weak, it's cowardice."

www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/powell-attacks-cowardly-players-and-considers-her-england-future-2311691.html

Casey Stoney made similar comments.
"Casey Stoney, White's central defensive partner who scored from the spot in Leverkusen, was also disappointed by the lack of volunteers. "When Hope asked who'd be prepared to take a penalty no hands went up," she said, "but then Claire Rafferty volunteered and after one of our most inexperienced youngsters had stepped forward I felt it was my responsibility as a senior player to do the same.

"I was surprised and a bit disappointed that more players didn't volunteer. Kelly [Smith] couldn't even walk but she stepped up, took our first kick and smashed it in ? that was inspirational. When I took mine it was the longest walk I've ever had to take, but I'd made my mind up where I was going to put the ball and thankfully it went in."

However how she fails to see the hypocrisy of her comments is beyond me. She's essentially saying "I'm disappointed more players didn't volunteer, except me who also didn't volunteer until I felt guilted in to it and only then did I step up when I felt forced to, but don't focus on my failure to volunteer.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jul/10/hope-powell-england-women-world-cup

I agree entirely with the last speaker. Alledging cowardice indicates she has no paln to be around with any of these players in the future. I would abhor her for that comment if I was one of the players who battled against a better team for 120 mins.

How did I miss this thread? I watched this and France deserved to win. I was at Hope Powell for the substitutions and the hoofball instructions. Why are women goalkeepers all rubbish? I honestly don't remember a good one ever. Never mind, the next one is only 4 years away.

just a bump to see if anyone is watching the final at the moment.

yep, just watched Japan win. Great Game.