WWC Non-Match Chat: politics, money, non-game stories...

[Unnamed Trialist]

Let's use this one for anything not related to a match in particular, like politics, money, society, fashion (shirts), other anecdotes.

[Soro17]

Well, I thought the TSN pre-match panel before the NZ match was pretty dreadful. I guess all their talent is on the ground in Oz, because Laura Diakun and Erin McLeod were meh. 10 minutes moaning about the CSA (again) for no discernible reason. 

[SthMelbRed]

I snuck into the VIP section of the CSA's Soccer House event last night for a couple of pints. Well, more walked in casually than snuck, to be fair. The players' families were all in there. Charmaine Crooks introduced herself while I was waiting at the bar for my beer. I told her that I wasn't even supposed to be there, and she insisted that I was welcome. I'm going to take that as an invitation to go back next week!

[red card]

Pic of Matchday 1

 

[Shway]

4 hours ago, SthMelbRed said:

I snuck into the VIP section of the CSA's Soccer House event last night for a couple of pints. Well, more walked in casually than snuck, to be fair. The players' families were all in there. Charmaine Crooks introduced herself while I was waiting at the bar for my beer. I told her that I wasn't even supposed to be there, and she insisted that I was welcome. I'm going to take that as an invitation to go back next week!

...where's the rest of this story lol
Started off strong, but I was expecting some juicy news or something.

[red card]

Team nicknames as per Fox. But they didn't bother doing much research for Canada. And for Brazil, they went with the generic option.

 

[red card]

No album quantity of songs as released for Qatar. Just the official song and now the Walkout Anthem - Bring It On.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGd-zYCxNhM&ab_channel=FIFA

 

[red card]

World Cup match refs get a decent payday for being selected.

Match refs get US$70k while assistants get US$25k. 

Match refs then get 3k per group stage match selected and 10k for knockout matches selected. Assistants/4th official make 2.5k & 5k respectively. VAR make 3k and 5k respectively.

Pay scale is 3x higher than for UEFA Champions League.

https://en.as.com/soccer/how-much-do-referees-make-per-game-at-a-womens-world-cup-in-2023-n/

[narduch]

 

 

[red card]

4 hours ago, narduch said:

 

 

Canada doesn't have a national league unlike 30 nations in the World Cup. But you can't say Canada doesn't have a pro league unlike 30 nations in the World Cup which Davidson references a couple of times.

At least half the leagues of the nations in this WC aren't fully pro. Some clubs in a league may be fully pro while the rest are semi-pro to amateur. Another FIFPro report says only 40% of the players involved in WCQ consider themselves pro.

 

 

[red card]

In terms of the Kit World Cup, in Qatar, only 6 nations weren't supplied by Nike, Adidas or Puma. Nike lead with 13, Adidas at 7 and Puma at 6.

In Australia/New Zealand, Nike also leads with 13 but Adidas is close behind at 10 while Puma trails badly at 2. 7 manufacturers are supplying one nation each.

Zambia's KoPa is an in-house manufacturer. But going local meant the kit is often ranked the worst of the 32.

Ireland went with up and coming Castore. Adidas used a fashion designer to help design the Jamaican kit. Sweden remains inspired by a design dating back to 1994. Hummel used English & American 50s ads, cartoons & visual arts inspiration for Denmark.

France's light blue shirt is influenced by abstract art from the 1920s which is when the first women's teams formed in France. Similarly, the English shirts are informed by the 1920s art deco movement.

 

[gigi riva]

The games I have watched have been decent . If there is one minor complaint I haveis with the attendance with the games it seems to be not all that great 

[kacbru]

5 minutes ago, red card said:

France's light blue shirt is influenced by abstract art from the 1920s which is when the first women's teams formed in France. Similarly, the English shirts are informed by the 1920s art deco movement.

Yes, exactly what I thought when I first saw their kits...

[kacbru]

Watching the Germany - Morocco game and the commentator mentioned that Morocco Football Federation has invested heavily in the women's game.  A fully professional, two division pro/rel league where the Federation pays for the salaries of all the clubs.  The premier division has been running for 20 years, but only making their first WC appearance.

Dare to dream.

[Soro17]

6 hours ago, kacbru said:

Watching the Germany - Morocco game and the commentator mentioned that Morocco Football Federation has invested heavily in the women's game.  A fully professional, two division pro/rel league where the Federation pays for the salaries of all the clubs.  The premier division has been running for 20 years, but only making their first WC appearance.

Dare to dream.

Interesting. From what I could quickly find, it looks like the federation is paying 70% of wages, which average $500/month. 

[red card]

Australia/New Zealand break Canada 2015's attendance totals. They have reached 1.5 million while Canada was 1.353 million.

Average match attendance will be at least 30.3k which is higher than 21.8k for France and the 26k for Canada (with group stage matches being double headers).

By country of residence, 865k+ sold to Aussies and 344k+ to Kiwis, Outside of hosts, Americans dominate 10-1 with 100k sold, then 10k to English and undisclosed number to Germans. Tickets have been sold to residents in 182 countries. 

So, Americans expecting to meet people from all over the world are instead meeting people from Tennessee, Kentucky and Idaho. 

 

 

[Cadeau]

Ive found the matches to be entertaining...Im a little sick of the "inspirational" "narrative-shattering" commercials. 

[BearcatSA]

I can't see Spain being too popular amongst the locals in attendance when they face Japan:

https://awfulannouncing.com/soccer/palmerston-north-spain-fifa-womens-world-cup-espn.html

Edited July 31, 2023 by BearcatSA

[kacbru]

34 minutes ago, BearcatSA said:

I can't see Spain being too popular amongst the locals in attendance when they face Japan:

https://awfulannouncing.com/soccer/palmerston-north-spain-fifa-womens-world-cup-espn.html

Sounds more like someone trying (successfully) to create news out of nothing...That being said, I wouldn't recommend Palmy as a tourist destination.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/2023-fifa-womens-world-cup-espn-journalist-behind-report-of-spain-controversy-speaks-out-about-the-international-incident/NCSU5F3YFJFNHDAOROKBRZDKIY/ 

[BearcatSA]

35 minutes ago, kacbru said:

Sounds more like someone trying (successfully) to create news out of nothing...That being said, I wouldn't recommend Palmy as a tourist destination.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/2023-fifa-womens-world-cup-espn-journalist-behind-report-of-spain-controversy-speaks-out-about-the-international-incident/NCSU5F3YFJFNHDAOROKBRZDKIY/ 

It's pretty trivial,  but it is amazing how things can get blown out of proportion, for sure.

[kacbru]

Interesting to reflect on the teams that advanced to the round of 16, relative to their seeding - 6 from pot 1 (Germany and NZ only ones missing out), 3 from pot 2 (Netherlands, Japan, Norway), 4 from pot 3 (Denmark, Swiss, Colombia, Jamaica) and 3 from pot 4 (Nigeria, S. Africa, Morocco).  I think it points to two things - 1) the gap between top and bottom teams is narrowing and 2) FIFA rankings are not a good reflection of teams that improve in quality relatively quickly.

[BearcatSA]

Who gets the USWNT job? What are the FanDuel odds for potential candidates?

Tony Gustavsson probably leads the pack, in part due to being the assistant to Jill Ellis when she lead them to success.  

Unless the USSF bank up a Brinks truck to Wiegman's flat, of course.

Edited August 17, 2023 by BearcatSA

[BearcatSA]

Here's Tony himself thinking about my post

[BearcatSA]

I don't see Herdman's name on the American pundits' lists of candidates.

[RJB]

BBC was saying that the FA will reject any approaches for Wiegman, that she's contracted to 2025.  They acknowledge that the USA likely has her top of their list.  Interestingly, there are rumblings that she may take over once Southgate departs. 

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66530873