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2018 FIFA U17 Women's World Cup Uruguay ( Nov13-Dec 1 )

tc-in-bc

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Vic Newbie

Vic

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11 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Spain-N Korea was a boring match, a tough match with no flow... At least positionally and tactically it was well fought and high quality, in the sense that sometimes games that are not attractive to watch are like that: two good teams driving each other nuts.

Well described.

I'm wondering if this isn't the new world of women's soccer. Other examples would be Japan/NZ and a lot of the EURO including the runs of Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands (and the elimination of Germany, France, England, etc).

Is it finally becoming more like the men's game? With teams in the 10-30 range capable of knocking out the top 10 on their day? This was never the case in the women's game before.Top 10 teams waltzed teams in the 10-30 range like clockwork.

Perhaps teams in the lower range are now capable of solid defensive organization and bagging on the counter against quality defensive setups. In the men's game you have magicians who are capable of delivering masterpieces in crowded boxes. Or going on a 1v4 run. You also have men who can head a ball off a corner or a cross and place and drive it into a corner. True you have quality defenders in the men's game to upset that, but the observation is you have very little of that type of attackers in the women's game.

Historically the top 10 have fed off the underlings by things like disorganized defending, weak goalkeepers, better ball movement, more pace, etc. More team skills than individual skills like 1v1 or 1v2. That type of skill exists in the women's game but it's much rarer than on the men's side.

Spain are actually the antithesis to it all, they have a lot of skill comparative to the women's game. But even they were knocked out by Austria in the EURO.

At the youth level it would be more apparent as the skill level compared to senior is noticeably lower. And so a result like the Ferns is still and always a stunning upset, but when you factor changes in the women's game and the age it becomes less of a surprise.

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Japan was in a mess going into WC. Coach was let go for some issues dealing with a staff member. Replacement coach played all different line ups and everybody in the four matches. He was the u20 coach, so maybe more interested in seeing players for next u20 team?

And just watching Japan in their first match vs Brazil, they looked off. So, loss is an aberration as they have won almost everything else in the past year including u20.

NZ didn't look impressive other than being organized. They were in the weakest group which helped them advance for the first time. I didn't see anything where they have put a system in place to make this success repeatable. They really shouldn't be getting an auto bid for all the youth WCs.

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Unnamed Trialist Grand Master

Unnamed Trialist

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9 hours ago, Vic said:

Well described.

I'm wondering if this isn't the new world of women's soccer. Other examples would be Japan/NZ and a lot of the EURO including the runs of Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands (and the elimination of Germany, France, England, etc).

Is it finally becoming more like the men's game? With teams in the 10-30 range capable of knocking out the top 10 on their day? This was never the case in the women's game before.Top 10 teams waltzed teams in the 10-30 range like clockwork.

Perhaps teams in the lower range are now capable of solid defensive organization and bagging on the counter against quality defensive setups. In the men's game you have magicians who are capable of delivering masterpieces in crowded boxes. Or going on a 1v4 run. You also have men who can head a ball off a corner or a cross and place and drive it into a corner. True you have quality defenders in the men's game to upset that, but the observation is you have very little of that type of attackers in the women's game.

Historically the top 10 have fed off the underlings by things like disorganized defending, weak goalkeepers, better ball movement, more pace, etc. More team skills than individual skills like 1v1 or 1v2. That type of skill exists in the women's game but it's much rarer than on the men's side.

Spain are actually the antithesis to it all, they have a lot of skill comparative to the women's game. But even they were knocked out by Austria in the EURO.

At the youth level it would be more apparent as the skill level compared to senior is noticeably lower. And so a result like the Ferns is still and always a stunning upset, but when you factor changes in the women's game and the age it becomes less of a surprise.

Great post, I agree with most and think the questions you pose are the right ones too. 

The key to the women's game, I think, is that indeed it is getting more like the men's in some aspects. Fitness, obviously; then positional play; then pure passing skills. Obviously, the frequency of dumb errors, by defenders or keepers, has dropped dramatically in the last decade even. We are seeing errors that are the kind you see in all top level football matches, the ones that come from being under pressure or when the speed of a play makes you flub. Even here, at u-17, with keepers who are often 5' 8", the net is being properly covered, which is pretty impressive. And goal kicks are really long, none of these 30 metre kick outs anymore, they all pass the centre line. 

What is missing, apart from what you say about headers, is that bit of nastiness when marking, that edge going in for the tackle, both at this level and at the senior women's. Though we are seeing more of it lately, even in this tournament: players bashing each other, or targeting the opposing keeper, as they prepare for a corner or free kick. A few cynical tactical fouls. For this to increase, I think, we'll have to see refs tolerating a bit more gamesmanship, or maybe I should say that as players do it, women's game refs will have to put up with it more. For those who argue they prefer the women because it is cleaner and there is less on the edge play, well I think that "virtue" will fade out a bit too. 

In many games at this level, it is clear that the age of the players does affect their capacity to create tension all over the field, which requires both fitness and very strong positional coaching. So in the poorer games, players have the ball for ages and can diddle daddle around. But what I complained about earlier was not there in the Sp-N Korea, there was tension at every spot, in every place, every attacking player was matched by a defender. Even defenders who were slower or weaker than their mark found ways to try to hold their own. Which is why it was like a unattractive men's game played at a high level. 

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Unnamed Trialist Grand Master

Unnamed Trialist

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We are not only holding our own, but look equal. But make some weak decisions in the attacking third, when we could well be up a goal by now. Not only that, we look fitter and more aggressive, good to see. 

Also have to say we are well-coached, at least today we have a plan and you can see it. So nice, both defensively and in attack we make sense.

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Unnamed Trialist Grand Master

Unnamed Trialist

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Just now, Joe MacCarthy said:

Wow. Jayde Riviere just smoked past a Jerry.

First half over, Canada looked good

Agreed, very promising. Though they had their chances, our defensive anticipation was good, our double DM works well, we need a bit more wide play in attack. I honestly think that, on the basis of that half, we look more talented even. 

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Unnamed Trialist Grand Master

Unnamed Trialist

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Frustrating to see us blowing passes in the attacking third, we are close, but either dribble or don't make the standard pass to break open to goal. We are wasting a lot of our possession, and our good defensive work, and not getting anything dangerous on the German net. Apart from that, pretty good. We saw with Germany they are more clinical attacking, with less play they get more chances on goal. 

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