cracking World Cup to date, no real hidings, teams looking competitive through the draw
been a few, Norway putting 6 pass the Philippines, Australia winning 4 nil against Canada same for Brazil v Panama, Japan and Spain thrashing Zambia 5 nil each. Then Japan beating Spain 4 nil. England winning 6 - 1 against China and the dutch thrashing Vietnam 7 - 0.
cracking World Cup to date, no real hidings, teams looking competitive through the draw
been a few, Norway putting 6 pass the Philippines, Australia winning 4 nil against Canada same for Brazil v Panama, Japan and Spain thrashing Zambia 5 nil each. Then Japan beating Spain 4 nil. England winning 6 - 1 against China and the dutch thrashing Vietnam 7 - 0.
But no double digit smashings like in France last time, and a lot of those were in dead rubbers at the end of the groups
The teams I would want to avoid the most are The Netherlands, Spain, Japan and the United States. We avoid all of those until we get one in the final of course, should we make the final. France are up there and Australia could get a head of steam but playing one of those two in the semi is a good as you could hope for.
I wouldn't want to hear it from the England camp but whilst I'm sure the games will have their challenges, Nigeria then Colunbia or Jamaica is a dream path to the semis for us. It is the World cup so the semi final and Final are going to be against the best. It has definitely opened up for England though.
Is it normal in tournament football that teams from the same group go into the same half of the draw?
I'm sure that in the mens world cup, the group winner goes into one half of the draw and the runner up goes into the other half.
Seems strange that you could meet a team you already played in your group, again in the semi final.
It’s definitely more common to split them rather than be in the same half. Think the last time this happened in the men’s was in 2002 which was also hosted across two countries in Japan / South Korea.
All of the clubs in the top half played their group matches in NZ and all in the bottom half in Australia. All knockout games (besides two) in the top half are also in New Zealand. Spain or Japan could get all the way to the final without ever leaving NZ for example.
My guess is that it’s to help reduce travel distances for players and to be as environmentally friendly as possible in the process.
It also helped ensure that New Zealand, if they made good progress, would play all their games (final aside) in their home country.
Just watched Germany getting Knocked out. Hard to get my head round how a team wins 6-0 in their 1st match and gets KO. Or Morocco losing 6-0 and reaching the last 16.
Canada (Olympic winners) Germany ( two time WC winners) Brazil (South American winners) have all gone home.
The better teams that have gone out have struggled against inferior but well organised teams that get bodies behind the ball. You would have put England in that category before the China game and it was true against Haiti but the new formation has made a massive difference. Watching England in pre- tournament games and the first couple of games in this tournament, I think they were making too many passes that did not progress their position. If you make a misplaced forward pass against most opponents you are going to get it back soon enough and it was nice to see us having more players higher and being generally more positive and less risk averse when attacking in our last game.
France are a great team and Australia would be difficult to beat in a semi final on home soil…
BUT that’s very kind given some of the really good teams in the other half of the draw including Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Japan and USA.
I don't think Australia are great, but they really seem to be growing into the tournament on home soil. I think France are inconsistent, but I wouldn't bet against Harve Renard at a tournament. If I'm England, neither of them scare me.
Even without Walsh, the way England played the other night, they should fancy their chances to go deep into the tournament.
Comments
Pretty incredible for Morocco to bounce back from a 6-0 loss and then win both games to go through.
Colombia v Jamaica
Nigeria -> Colombia/Jamaica -> France/Australia -> ?
France are a great team and Australia would be difficult to beat in a semi final on home soil…
BUT that’s very kind given some of the really good teams in the other half of the draw including Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Japan and USA.
Spain - Netherlands
Japan - USA
Australia - France
England - Colombia
I wouldn't want to hear it from the England camp but whilst I'm sure the games will have their challenges, Nigeria then Colunbia or Jamaica is a dream path to the semis for us. It is the World cup so the semi final and Final are going to be against the best. It has definitely opened up for England though.
I'm sure that in the mens world cup, the group winner goes into one half of the draw and the runner up goes into the other half.
Seems strange that you could meet a team you already played in your group, again in the semi final.
My guess is that it’s to help reduce travel distances for players and to be as environmentally friendly as possible in the process.
It also helped ensure that New Zealand, if they made good progress, would play all their games (final aside) in their home country.
Or Morocco losing 6-0 and reaching the last 16.
Canada (Olympic winners) Germany ( two time WC winners) Brazil (South American winners) have all gone home.
Last 16 awaits.
Spain v Netherlands
Japan v Sweden
France v Australia
England v Jamaica
Even without Walsh, the way England played the other night, they should fancy their chances to go deep into the tournament.