WWC 2015 - Quarter-final - June 27 - Canada vs. England [R]

[Blue and White Army]

PRE-MATCH VENUE: Doolin's Irish Pub (654 Nelson St, at Granville). Doors open 11:30am.

• website
• menu
• 23 craft, domestic and imported beers on tap

MARCH TO THE STADIUM: Will leave Doolin's at 3:15pm sharp.

• Route is across Granville St, then down Robson St.
• If joining the march from the Fan Zone, be at the corner of Robson and Cambie shortly after 3:15pm.

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MATCH OFFICIALLY SOLD OUT

 

if buying tickets:

1) Rear of section 402 (single-letter rows preferred)

2) Front of section 402 (single-letter rows preferred)

3) Rear of section 406

[beachesl]

Good  work there! Wish I could join you.

[king1010]

Canada really has a favorable draw. They have a chance against england forsure.

Too bad one of france/ germany has to go out at the quarters.

Canada playing the semis on canada would be one of the most amazing experiences ever.

[Mapleblood]

See you at Doolin's.

 

Are there any festivities Friday night?

[Vic]

Something to be wary of.  England are very good in the air.  You would never think you would watch a Norway/England game and say it but England were better.  And then there is Steph Houghton who didn't even have to leap because she out-muscled two defenders for her goal to get them back in the game.  She also had her hands on the back of every single Norwegian throughout the game every time she went up for a ball and didn't even get warned.

[Mapleblood]

Vic.

 

Quite right about Houghton on the goal.  She pushed off of the shoulder on the defender immediately in front of her. 

 

Defenders on the shoulders of forwards was noted as a problem in Germany 2011. 

[gwsmith63]

Vic.

 

Quite right about Houghton on the goal.  She pushed off of the shoulder on the defender immediately in front of her. 

 

Defenders on the shoulders of forwards was noted as a problem in Germany 2011. 

 

All talk of pushing and shoulders would be immaterial if the Norwegian defender assigned to the post had stayed on the post. 

[Vic]

For sure, and luckily she scored their goal to keep her +/- even.  How many goals have you seen because of no defender on the post?  At every level; men's, women's, club, international... you wonder how something so basic get's executed so poorly.

 

Houghton is a monster.  She's danger off the foot and in the air to net and is a one-man wall at the other end.  I think she could out-muscle half a team to get to a ball.  In the middle of the field on open-headers she has hands on back a lot.  It was odd to see it never called.

[Mapleblood]

dsqpr

 

My claim is based on viewing slo-mo of the goal, many times.  Part of how "she gets there" is by using her hand on the shoulder of the defender.  You are wrong, but it does not stop her effort from being impressive.

[paul-collins]

Mapleblood is correct.  #6 Mjelde is fouled / dragged backwards.  Houghton has her by the scruff of the neck during the entirety of her charge into the header.

 

(#3 Skammelsrud is not fouled on the play, maybe you're looking at her?)

[Vic]

It's funny, watching it in the stadium from good seats I thought it was clean, but watching it here I can see the controversy.  She definitely spins her and pulls her to ground but it's after heading home.  How that's called I have no idea, and less care, it's not really important at this point.  But my point of how she challenges is ironically valid even here where I didn't think it was.  She frequently has her hands high on the back over the back when she challenges for the ball.  You try slam dunking a ball with a meat hook over your shoulder.

[The Ref]

Having your hands on or over the back is not a foul unless you are holding or pushing though. Good refs know that football is a contact sport and players often have their hands on each other as they jockey for position, either at headers or during normal play, but that is not a foul.

 

It's too bad we can't all look at it together because I can see no argument whatsoever for a foul and I've watched it several times from all four angles on a 50" TV in super slo mo. The only possible conclusion is that we have different opinions of what constitutes a foul (the referee, the commentator, the Norway players, and the authors of all game reports that I have seen all agree with mine !)

 

The only thing I see is that the Norway player is pushed up against Steph as they jockey for position and as Steph comes down from her jump her arm is over the Norway player's shoulder but the header is long since gone and that is just normal incidental contact after a header. I hope that's not what you guys are calling a foul!

Correct that position of the hands is not a foul in itself, after all hands have to be somewhere. Players like to stay in touch with the opponent by touching him/her with their hands to sense or anticipate movement.  However as an official when you are on the field you can see intention from the players expression, force of their movements, persistency in using a bit too much physicallity, hear their tone and last but not least retaliation from a previous foul or plain getting mad and frustrated from their own shortcomings.

[Vic]

Players often touch and have their hands on each other to feel their presence, not over the shoulder and not extending their arms to hold players away when going up for headers which is her signature.  She had her hands over the top of Mjelde's shoulder in the run-up, not after.  I have 3840x2160 4k

 

I'm fine with it not being called but I wouldn't complain if it was.  But regardless, she does use her arms to gain an advantage when she plays.

[Vic]

Sorry, I thought unfair advantage was evident but on reading it now I can see it wasn't.  Good answer from how it was written though.

 

I have no problem with difference of opinion here...

[Vic]

I'd agree on Bardsley, she's pretty clunky but then so is van der Sar.  Perhaps she's coming into her own.  Kirby was useless in the Norway game and got pulled early.  She looked like a touch player who was out of rhythm.  Carney wasn't much of a factor.  I was kind of surprised because I thought Sanderson would play.  Perhaps not a coaches favourite again?  Other than the strike out of the blue and the header, England didn't really create a whole lot.  What they did really well was absorb the Norwegian pressure.  Jill Scott played well and is trouble on set pieces.

[Vic]

That was... "Players often touch and have their hands on each other to feel their presence, not over the shoulder and not extending their arms to hold players away when going up for headers which is her signature."  That's my opinion, or rather IMHO FWIW.

[king1010]

And her legs Vic, and her body, as do all other players, some more effectively than others! There is no rule against using your hands to gain an advantage!

Well if you grab a player its a foul. If you jump for a header arms extended and wack someone in the face its a foul. If you put your arms on someones back and use them as a base to propel yourself its a foul. If you extend your hand to block a ball its a foul.

Just like there are many fouls given using your feet. Your feet and hands can be used to gain unfair advantages, and when they are used in that manner, a foul should be given.

[Vic]

Uruguayan crew.  Claudia Umpierrez (great name for a referee) did the US/Australia and Swiss/Cameroon games.

[red card]

It's been too quite at the stadiums when Canada plays that the players have done this vid to get people off their feet, sing, chant etc...

 

https://twitter.com/CanadaSoccerEN/status/614476740765683713

[Trillium]

Yeah that vid is going to motivate a crowd, I would be shocked if any of these players have ever stood for 90 minutes in a KOP...Vuvuzuelas, seriously ask least ask for moose calls, horrible fail by CSA marketing folks to let this one out.

[Admin]

That video makes me so sad.

 

A world cup quarter final game in my home town. 

 

20 years trying to sell this game and have to watch a video like that when it could have been so different. 

 

If only they helped us.  Just don't know what else I could have done except take insane financial risks.

[red card]

TSN article about the quietness of the crowd in Vancouver.

 

Perhaps Canada’s ordinary play in the first half caused some nervous energy. More likely a new-to-soccer crowd finds itself in need of cues to get off their hands and cheer. Locals point to the reserved Vancouver-way; a more timid crowd lacking the initiative to bring the noise, unprompted. It all made for a flat occasion for what should have been an insanely partisan crowd for the biggest soccer game on Canadian soil.

 

Don’t get me wrong, the reaction to Josee Belanger’s game-winning goal was another level. But that’s not enough. It was shocking to see head coach John Herdman and various bench players over the course of the match, on their feet, distracted from the game, imploring the fans to rise to the occasion.

 

http://soccer.tsn.ca/news/wheeler-canada-needs-more-support-less-distraction

[rob.notenboom]

In a number of ways, organizers have dropped the ball in this World Cup. It's not just unfortunate for us, although we may feel it quite acutely.

If there isn't a serious stock taking about the event as well as the state of development of the women's game (and the men's for that matter) then there will be many more disappointments in the future.

[rob.notenboom]

We just have to face the fact that the CSA are an ineffective organization. Until that changes, nothing will change.

I would say they are finally doing a few things right. That doesn't mean that they don't have a long way to go.

Was talking to a friend from Winnipeg about issues there. On one hand it was frustrating as many of the difficulties seemed obvious to anticipate and easily surmountable. On the other hand it made me think that the Voyageurs' issues were just part of a much larger group of mistakes.

Then again, I am not in the LOCs or a volunteer, so hard to know for sure what their hurdles were.

[Sport Shaman]

@dsqpr and rob  - I would venture to say that the CSA are really trying to improve their relationship with the Voyageurs and I say that based on numerous EMail conversations that I have had with various people from there over the past year and a half. The good intentions are a great start to build on but there is still a ways to go until they all translate into tangible actions.

 

In the current case I think that there is more difficulty dealing with the FIFA NOC and some of the LOCs because CSA is not in charge of this tournament. Yes, they are the soccer federation of the host nation but it does not allow them to dictate much to FIFA. The question is why is it difficult to deal with some of the LOCs and the NOC? Part of it is because it is a one off event. Many of the staff and volunteers are inexperienced and learning as they go and many of them have never supported soccer so they come at this from the generic event management perspective. I suspect that the LOCs are operating somewhat in isolation without clear direction from the NOC or even collaboration between the various LOCs and therefore lots of inconsistencies from venue to venue.  And of course a part of it is that they are FIFA and, to a certain degree, they think they are too smart to listen to advice from anybody.