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[BullNBear52]

Alex Morgan says USWNT's game must 'evolve' after Mexico loss
Cesar Hernandez
Mar 1, 2024, 10:36 PM ET
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Days after a stunning 2-0 W Gold Cup loss to Mexico, United States forward Alex Morgan said the national team must "evolve" as it prepares for Sunday's quarterfinal match against Colombia.

"Both tactically and technically, we need to evolve. The game is naturally evolving," the two-time World Cup winner and Olympic Gold medalist said during a news conference on Friday. "The game globally is growing so much."

Monday's group stage win over the USWNT at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif. marked Mexico's first win against the four-time world champion since 2010. The result, which followed a disappointing round-of-16 exit at the Women's World Cup and ensuing resignation of coach Vlatko Andonovski, marked just the second time that the U.S. has lost to Mexico.

"We see ourselves in a moment of some change and evolution that the game needs," Morgan said. "I feel very impressed with a lot of the young players who have come in and asserted themselves on this team. That's a reason that I wasn't on this team to start with. I got the opportunity because of an injury [to Mia Fishel]."

Morgan, 34, was left out of the initial W Gold Cup squad led by interim manager Twila Kilgore. The forward, who plays her club soccer for San Diego Wave in the NWSL, said that more hurdles could emerge for the USWNT.

"You're going to then see that there's going to be bumps along the road with games that you drop that I think are sometimes surprising to fans," Morgan said of the team's transition.

"But I think knowing where we are and where we need to be, there's just a sense of evolution that needs to take place... We're in a really good place, even though you know it's not the tournament we had hoped for."

The USWNT finished the W Gold Cup group stage with a 2-0-1 record in second place, with wins over Argentina and the Dominican Republic in addition to the loss to Mexico. The top two from each group, along with the two-best third place teams, were then re-seeded and placed in 1-8 knockout matchups for the quarterfinal stage.

After being reseeded at No. 4, the USWNT will face No. 5 Colombia on Sunday at Los Angeles' BMO Stadium. The U.S. holds a 9-1-0 record against the South American side that made headlines for reaching the quarterfinal stage of the Women's World Cup.

Despite the latest obstacles, both Morgan and Kilgore said they remain confident going forward.

"We're in a really good place," Morgan said. "Actually I think the way that the tournament unfolded with losing that last game to Mexico and the length in time in between games, [it] gave us the opportunity not only to kind of close the loop on Mexico and start to focus on Colombia, but also work on ourselves and supporting each other."

"It's also important to recognize that we're entering into almost another tournament," Kilgore, who's leading the USWNT until Emma Hayes's arrival after Chelsea's Women's Super League season ends, said of the knockout round. "We're moving into another phase and we leave the past behind us."

Aside from 2010's World Cup qualifying competition, the USWNT has won every single Concacaf tournament they've participated in as a national team, including Concacaf's W Championship in 2022.

Following the weekend's quarterfinals, the W Gold Cup will close out with semifinals (March 6) and a final (March 10) at San Diego's Snapdragon Stadium.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/39635173/alex-morgan-says-uswnt-game-evolve-mexico-loss

[fuagf]

Shucks. That buzz didn't last - WATCH: Subway Socceroos defeated in extra-time by Korea Republic
Kristian Bullock \\ Photo Credit: Aleksandar Jason/Socceroos Updated: 06:30am Feb 3, 2024
Australia have fallen in their AFC Asian Cup 2023 Quarter-Final tie 2-1, in extra-time to Korea Republic, despite a stunning first-half Craig Goodwin volley.
https://www.socceroos.com.au/news/watch-subway-socceroos-defeated-extra-time-korea-republic

[fuagf]

G'day champ -- Socceroos learn Asian Cup quarter-final opponents after nail-biting shootout

"Merry Christmas Buddy !! God willing see you in 4 years World Cup 2026"

Australia will play South Korea on Saturday morning (AEDT) after they knocked out Saudi Arabia on penalties.

By Jack Austin
31st Jan 2024, 06:59 AM

The Socceroos will play South Korea in the quarter finals of the Asian Cup after a thrilling penalty shootout saw Saudi Arabia dumped out of the competition.

South Korea snatched victory from the jaws of defeat after Cho Gue-sung equalised in the 99th minute of regular time to cancel out Abdullah Radif’s opener.

After hitting the crossbar twice in the first half, Saudi Arabia took the lead in the first minute of the second half to put one foot into the last eight of a competitions they hadn’t won in 28 years.

FREE TO WATCH HIGHLIGHTS. Create a free account and start watching instantly >>

But any plans made for facing Graham Arnold’s side were scuppered with Cho headed home from close range in the ninth minute of stoppage time to take the game into extra time.

Neither side could find the net again in the additional 30 minutes as the game went to spot kicks.

South Korea were perfect from 12 yards with all four takers, including Son Heung-min, converted while Sami Al-Najei and Abdulrahman Ghareeb saw their efforts saved as Saudi Arabia were eliminated.

It means that Australia now know the identity of their opponents in the last eight ahead of Saturday morning’s (AEDT) showdown.

The Socceroos have been handed a huge advantage ahead of the game, with South Korea now having just two days to recover from a 120-minute game plus penalties compared to Australia’s five full days to prepare.

The winner of Australia vs South Korea will go on to face the winner of Tajikistan vs Jordan in the semi-finals.

https://sport.optus.com.au/news/socceroos/os69253/socceroos-asian-cup-quarter-final-opponents-penalty-shootout-south-korea-saudi-arabia

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Socceroos sail into Asian Cup last eight despite 'nasty, naughty' moment

Australia beat Indonesia 4-0 to set up a quarter-final tie with either South Korea or Saudi Arabia.

By Jack Austin
29th Jan 2024, 06:27 AM

Australia are into the last eight of the Asian Cup following a 4-0 victory over Indonesia, thanks in part to a late show from Graham Arnold’s substitutes.

Indonesia, the lowest ranked team to reach the last 16 and a whopping 121 places below the Socceroos, put in a gutsy performance against an Aussie side who were somewhat flattered by the scoreline in the end.

Jackson Irvine’s impressive goalscoring run looked to have continued after just 12 minutes, although he was denied his third strike of the tournament with the goal awarded as an own goal by Elkan Baggott, who deflected in his cross from the right.

And the Socceroos got a second on the stroke of half time when Martin Boyle bravely threw himself at Gethin Jones’ bouncing cross to head into the bottom corner – although appeared to take a heavy knock to his head and shoulder in the process.

A Goody Goal and a Harry Header to round us out! 🤩

🎥 @10FootballAU#AUSvIDN #Socceroos #AsianCup2023 #DifferentBreed pic.twitter.com/WlvOAcyhSF

— Subway Socceroos (@Socceroos) January 28, 2024

Australia took their foot off the gas for much of the second half but a raft of late substitutes sparked fresh impetus as Craig Goodwin scored just two minutes after coming on before Harry Souttar got a fourth from the winger’s corner in injury time.

Speaking after the game, Irvine praised his side’s ability to take the sting out of the game before accusing Indonesia of some underhand tactics towards the end of the game.

“Overall, I’m especially really pleased with the second half performance,” he said to Channel 10.

“Sometimes in these games they play with a lot of emotion. As I say, they have nothing to lose, and you have to stay calm.

“They started getting nasty and naughty at the end. You have to remain cool and I think we did that well enough to see the game off, and a comfortable win.”

The Socceroos will now face the tough task of playing the winner of Saudi Arabia and South Korea in the quarter finals with Iraq, Tajikistan or Jordan waiting in the semi finals should they get that far.

https://sport.optus.com.au/news/socceroos/os69113/socceroos-asian-cup-last-eight-indonesia-highlights-goals-australia

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Socceroos’ huge Asian Cup test locked in as wild last-second comeback stuns tournament

VIDEO - South Korea complete epic comeback | 01:36

AFP from Afp
January 31st, 2024 7:50 am

Son Heung-min’s South Korea came back from the dead to beat Saudi Arabia 4-2 on penalties on Tuesday and set up an Asian Cup quarter-final with Australia.

After a nail-biting game ended 1-1, Hwang Hee-chan scored the decisive penalty for Jurgen Klinsmann’s side, who are aiming to end a 64-year Asian Cup title drought.

South Korea goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo was the hero in Doha, saving penalties from Sami Al-Najei and Abdulrahman Ghareeb in the shootout.

It means South Korea plays Australia in what is a rematch of the 2015 Asian Cup final in Sydney, won by the Socceroos.

It also pits Son — who played in that match — against the nation of his Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou, who was coaching Australia on that night.

More - https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/asian-cup-2024-football-scores-socceroos-to-face-south-korea-in-quarterfinals-as-saudi-arabia-beaten-on-penalties/news-story/62778c7e24f3a3974f96cab51e509bd3

Trust all is well.

[BOREALIS]

One week after sullying the Women’s World Cup, Luis Rubiales... is now a Spanish soccer outcast



By JOSEPH WILSON
Updated 6:25 PM CDT, August 27, 2023

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — One week after the president of the Spanish soccer federation kissed a player during the Women’s World Cup awards ceremony, his reputation is in tatters and he’s out of his job.
https://apnews.com/article/womens-world-cup-spain-rubiales-cb3ca505685f4230fdd03102b8b3601c


Luis Rubiales, whose leadership of Spanish soccer had already been marked by successes tinged with scandal, wrecked his career by offending millions worldwide with his conduct at the final in Sydney, Australia, when he also grabbed his crotch in a victory gesture.

“Rubiales cannot run Spanish soccer again,” Spanish minister María Jesús Montero said Sunday, a day after he was provisionally suspended by FIFA for 90 days.

“We had enough of him when he marred the great triumph of women’s soccer with his intolerable attitude.”

Rubiales was replaced by his vice president Pedro Rocha, who will act as interim chief in his absence. Rocha is considered to be a confidant of Rubiales. Rocha has called an emergency meeting of the soccer federation’s regional heads to discuss the crisis on Monday, when women’s groups will rally in downtown Madrid in support of forward Jenni Hermoso, who was kissed on the lips by Rubiales after Spain’s 1-0 win over England in the final.

FIFA moved against Rubiales after he refused to step down and defiantly told an emergency assembly of his federation on Friday that he was the victim of a “witch hunt” by “false feminists.”

On a day that will go down as one of the ugliest in Spanish soccer, Rubiales said that Hermoso had consented to the “mutual” kiss. Hermoso replied in two statements to say that was false and that she considered herself the victim of an abuse of power. She also accused the federation of trying to pressure her into supporting Rubiales. The federation hit back by saying she was lying and that it would take legal action against her.

As part of his suspension of Rubiales, FIFA disciplinary judge Jorge Palacio ordered Rubiales and the federation not to contact Hermoso.

Spain’s government is also pursuing his permanent removal in Spain’s Administrative Court for Sports. The court will meet in the coming week to consider the government’s lawsuit for an alleged abuse of power and for allegedly committing acts that tarnished the dignity and decorum of a sporting event. If found guilty, Rubiales could be ruled unfit to hold office.

Spain great Andrés Iniesta, a 2010 World Cup winner, said “after what has happened this week I would like to express my sadness, as a person, as a father of three girls, as a husband and as a soccer player.

“We have had to bear this president who clung to power, didn’t admit that his behavior had been unacceptable and was damaging the image of our country and our soccer before the world,” Iniesta said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Rubiales’ behavior has tarnished not only the greatest feat of Spanish women’s soccer, it has also torn apart his federation.

The only public support Rubiales has received came during Friday’s general assembly when he was applauded several times by parts of the mostly male crowd, which was made up of regional federation officials, coaches, referees and players from lower divisions.

[...]

https://apnews.com/article/spain-rubiales-womens-world-cup-hermoso-903f414821882c82bb8de64b2b65cdaa

[BOREALIS]

See the best photos from Spain’s win over England in Women’s World Cup final

By The Associated Press
Updated 11:03 AM CDT, August 20, 2023

The Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand showcased some of the best soccer on the planet — and some of the best photographs.
Associated Press photographers covered every match at the month-long tournament, which came to an end with Spain’s 1-0 win over England on Sunday.
Swipe through to see a selection of some of the best images from the final in Sydney.

"I could not copy the titles of photos"



















https://apnews.com/article/womens-world-cup-best-moments-photo-gallery-e721bdc494429972752473eca1263905

[BullNBear52]

Spain wins its first Women’s World Cup title, beating England 1-0 in the final
PUBLISHED SUN, AUG 20 20239:01 AM EDT
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/20/spain-wins-its-first-womens-world-cup-title-beating-england-1-0-in-the-final.html

[BOREALIS]

Women’s World Cup Guide: Results, schedule and how to watch

By The Associated Press
Updated 8:16 AM CDT, August 19, 2023

https://apnews.com/article/womens-world-cup-schedule-favorites-e8c1f23647768ddd41238c9c61efc3e3

[BullNBear52]

Well the USA coach and he should have. Why he brought Rapinoe into the game at the end was a mystery. All her corner kicks were short and the kick at the end was booted over the goal.

As for hearing I've lost 30% in each ear and my wife thinks I can hear around corners now.

When I watch TV I have to have CC on but that seems to be a problem for everyone.

Can’t Hear the Dialogue in Your Streaming Show? You’re Not Alone.
Many of us stream shows and movies with the subtitles on all the time — and not because it’s cool.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/17/technology/personaltech/subtitles-streaming-shows-speech-enhancers.html?unlocked_article_code=LCiyl3bzLH5KASCqDY3i0Vm2DH8eWsPIFzLFQzxrtFxQZW63ymBryxw_uCa00wFt-gBiu_mrGKydzALbOLK3LOQYH0EMgp8qYjLt8a5QkjaBKhtzqXydgk5cbP0hnOetpyHzVYwa5-KI4_OYvx9ra7bpX1JLbtBAWGWAxg3qU6DQMt0rGEu-4btz9STSmmh_SZQcKYjsUQLERe8UvaIM80QxdROuPsUmR2j7uLBzPDJFAcP17rxgU1I1q-tT-RE_EwpWhpcVtHnjZ9dfVFIBUp4h1SVUlbHSirKk9rupzQF9T5UIMb33PNG78kuq07ta4tibsVEVdr7Mb5Q0uZqlIuuHp8AHfXWIiG0X86mgzyEsnJw4ZO2eV0HNBO-0VySvK27U&smid=url-share

You should be able to read the link.

[fuagf]

Of course disappointing, still ranked only 10th so the victory over France was a bonus for me, and the loss to England no surprise.

Me too, have been thinking of testing a hearing aid for a couple of years. Right ear almost dead. The left hasn't let me down yet.

The left ear that is.

[BullNBear52]

That was a tough loss especially after the effort by the Aussie goalie in the last game.

After reading about her hearing issues I've decided to try some hearing aids after previously been tested.

[fuagf]

Matildas knocked out of FIFA Women's World Cup after 3-1 semifinal defeat to England

"[As it happened: England beat Australia in 2023 World Cup]"

By Simon Smale
Posted 10h ago, updated 8h ago


The brilliant Lauren Hemp put England ahead for the second time. (Getty Images: DeFodi/Sajad Imanian)

The Matildas are out of the FIFA Women's World Cup, falling to a 3-1 defeat to England in front of 75,784 fans at Stadium Australia in Sydney.

England deservedly led thanks to an Ella Toone strike in the first half, but Sam Kerr scored a stunning long-range leveller to give the Matildas renewed vigour.

However, Lauren Hemp capped a superb, player of the match performance with a goal midway through the second half, before laying a third on a plate for Alessia Russo to seal victory with five minutes remaining.

* 'That's a gift': How the internet reacted to the Matildas' heartbreaking 3-1 loss to England
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-16/how-the-internet-reacted-to-matildas-england-loss/102738164

England will meet Spain in the final, after they beat Sweden 2-1 in last night's first semifinal .. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-15/spain-sweden-womens-world-cup-semifinal-live-updates/102726322 , while Australia will play the Swedes in Saturday's third-place playoff in Brisbane.

[lineups image]

The Matildas stood in the centre of a packed Stadium Australia, heartbroken at how close they were to a maiden appearance in a World Cup final — but in truth they were second best for long periods of the evening against the reigning European Champions.

England, missing five of their best from that Euros victory due to injuries and retirements — and arguably their best player at this World Cup, Lauren James through suspension .. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-08/england-lauren-james-david-beckham-moment-fifa-world-cup/102701376 , had flattered to deceive at this tournament thus far, despite going through unbeaten.

However, England showed why it had only once tasted defeat in their last 38 matches — albeit against Australia earlier this year — and, after grinding out victories to reach this point, were far closer to their best when it mattered most.

The Matildas will be proud of the way they have united the country behind their goal, but will doubtless feel like they left a golden opportunity on the pitch, with Kerr in particular guilty of missing two huge second-half chances.


Sam Kerr's glaring miss led to England scoring a third goal 69 seconds later. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)

"It's conversion rate," Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson told Channel 7 after the match.

"In the 83rd minute and in the 85th minute we nearly scored two. It is one of those nights they were more clinical in finishing.

"We promised each other we would leave everything out there and they left it all out there.

"Unfortunately, tonight it wasn't enough."

The Matildas were dealt a blow before a ball was even kicked at Stadium Australia with Alanna Kennedy ruled out of the game through illness.


Lauren Hemp targeted Australia's centreback pairing of Clare Polkinghorne and Clare Hunt. (Reuters: Carl Recine)

Veteran Clare Polkinghorne, playing in her 162nd international, was an able and experienced replacement, but England immediately looked to target a pairing that were yet to play together at this World Cup.

Both teams had excellent chances in the opening ten minutes of the game.

Kerr, starting for the first time in this tournament, gave England a warning shot early, racing onto a long ball and firing into Mary Earps — although the flag then did correctly go up for offside.

Minutes later it was England establishing their dominance on the contest, testing the pace of Hunt and Polkinghorne and building 70 per cent possession in the opening quarter of an hour.


Lauren Hemp was superb for England in the first half. (Getty Images: FIFA/Mark Metcalfe)

Georgia Stanway volleyed straight at Mackenzie Arnold after a long ball over the top from Alex Greenwood.

Greenwood was issued a rare booking soon after for a crude challenge on Kerr — part of an England tactic to deny Australia's leader any space or rhythm at all, but England were gradually gaining some degree of control that saw them generate six shots on goal before the Matildas were able to muster their first shot on goal.

Steph Catley was forced to head behind a Rachel Daly cross as Lucy Bronze lurked, with Daly then heading over from the corner.

Alessia Russo had a brilliant chance off another long ball but could only find the side netting from an acute angle.

The Matildas eventually hit their straps, with Hayley Raso peeling off the back of the corner in the 30th minute before firing towards goal that was deflected behind.

Australia were always dangerous on the counter but England's lead, when it came, was entirely deserved.

Toone still had plenty to do when Russo turned the ball back towards the centre of the penalty area from the byline after Australia switched off at a throw in.


Ella Toone's strike was a stunner late in the first half. (Getty Images: Brendon Thorne)

Lauren Hemp allowed the ball to run under her foot, which despite not appearing to be deliberate, worked out perfectly for the Lionesses.

Toone, who scored in England's European championships final victory last year but has since played second fiddle to the suspended James, unleashed a stunning, inch-perfect strike into the top corner to silence the home crowd.

The Matildas needed a response in the second half and pushed up higher to pressure England's centrebacks, who had been given all too much free space to operate in the first half.

And largely they did, with Mary Fowler and Kerr both immediately more visible going forward

England were still a threat though. Arnold had to make a sharp save from Hemp — and then Millie Bright headed wide from the subsequent corner.

But Kerr's brilliant leveller re-ignited the crowd.


Sam Kerr's stunning leveller ignited the crowd. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)

Australia's talisman picked up the ball in her own half and drove into England territory, pursued by two defenders before unleashing a fierce drive towards goal.

It took a slight deflection off Bright, but it made no material difference as Kerr screamed in joy alongside the vast majority of the Stadium Australia crowd.

The Matildas looked to kick on from that moment — Kerr emboldened by her first goal of the tournament, looking immediately for another but seeing one shot blocked and another saved by Earps.

But that positivity evaporated when England nabbed their second, the brilliant Hemp deservedly getting on the scoresheet.

Ellie Carpenter should have done better, swinging twice in an attempt to clear with Hemp in close attendance, but when the ball fell to the English striker, she made no mistake and rifled past Arnold to restore England's lead.

The Matildas were never going to lie down, Fowler delivering a perfect cross for Kerr to head over from point-blank range.


Sam Kerr blazed wide with the score at 2-1. England scored just over a minute later. (Getty Images: FIFA/Elsa)

Cortnee Vine was then denied by a fine save by Earps, diving full stretch across to her left as Vine fired across goal, but England were there to clear and deny Emily van Egmond.

With five minutes remaining, Kerr again should have scored, volleying wide with the goal at her mercy — a miss she admitted would replay in her mind when she looked back at this game.

"I can't put all the blame on myself," Kerr said.

"I have to think of all the things the team have done and I have done to be where we are now and inspire a nation.

"It is really disappointing."

That miss was glaring, but what happened just 69 seconds later made it all the worse.

England broke through Hemp and laid the ball on a plate to Russo, who slotted home to finally silence Stadium Australia and put England into a first ever World Cup final.


Alessia Russo slotted home the winner to send Australia into a third-placed play off. (Getty Images: Pool/Carl Recine)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-16/matildas-knocked-out-of-fifa-womens-world-cup-semifinal-by-eng/102738604

[BullNBear52]

WWC Finals are set for Sunday.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/match/_/gameId/622586

Spain v England at 6 am.

[BullNBear52]

Women's World Cup Golden Boot: Who will be top goal scorer?
Despite Japan's round-of-16 exit at the hands of Sweden, Hinata Miyazawa remains the tournament's top scorer after the 23-year-old attacking midfielder left the tournament with five goals to her name.

However, with both the third-place playoff and the final itself left to be played this weekend, there are still several active players from the four teams involved who all stand a chance of overtaking Miyazawa at the top of the goal chart.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/38126910/2023-womens-world-cup-golden-boot-top-goal-scorer

[BullNBear52]

Australia's World Cup hero Arnold on dealing with hearing loss
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/38194929/australias-world-cup-hero-arnold-dealing-hearing-loss

SYDNEY -- With almost all the eyes in the country trained on her, Mackenzie Arnold -- "Macca" to her friends -- wrote her name into Australia's sporting legend with her gargantuan goalkeeping performance during the penalty shootout against France in the Matildas' Women's World Cup quarterfinal on Saturday.

Her saves during the longest round of penalties in World Cup history were the cherry on top of a near-perfect run so far this tournament for the shot-stopper. Arnold's life has also changed dramatically off the field this year, with the confirmation of worsening hearing loss that has led the 29-year-old to her first pair of hearing aids.

Quite the story with some inspiration from her brother.

Growing up with a brother, Sam, who had significant hearing loss from the age of 3, Arnold was well used to the sight of the medical devices peeking out from behind his ears. Her friends would joke with her about needing to have her own hearing checked, given her frustrating habit of responding, "What?" to them, family and teammates, but it wasn't until the start of the pandemic that things began to change for the goalkeeper. Only once those she interacted with on a daily basis had their mouths covered behind masks did Arnold realise she had been relying on her own ability to lip-read to help her get by.

"I think it was just something in the back of my mind that I was just like, I didn't think I wanted to believe it, but I think it was something [having her hearing checked] that I always knew I probably should get done," Arnold told ESPN.

When it came to the nuts and bolts of setting up an appointment, Sam took the lead at her request, as she admitted to not even knowing what she was looking for. Eventually she booked an appointment at a hearing centre he had found.

"I went and got checked and straight away she was like: 'You need to get hearing aids,'" Arnold recalled. "It obviously wasn't as severe as my brother's, but she sort of just said that if it wasn't something that I looked into getting now, it probably would just keep getting worse and worse over time."

But there was a degree of feet dragging from the goalkeeper, who didn't want to accept the inevitability of her situation.

Again, brother Sam's experience of a life with hearing aids helped Arnold.

"My brother really helped with that... he was just sort of like: 'You're not even going to realise it in a couple months and it's going to change your life,'" Arnold said. "So, yeah, I guess it was an easy decision after I had come to it, but I think it was just sort of accepting the fact at the start."

[BullNBear52]

As it happened: England beat Australia in 2023 World Cup
ESPN
Aug 16, 2023, 08:14 AM ET

Wednesday's semifinal didn't disappoint in the end, as England rode out a 3-1 win over co-hosts Australia to book their spot in Sunday's 2023 Women's World Cup final.

A first-half goal from Ella Toone set the tone for the Lionesses, though Sam Kerr's brilliant long-range finish gave the Matildas a chance after largely chasing the game. However, Lauren Hemp seized on a mistake to quickly give England the lead, with Alessia Russo putting it beyond doubt with two minutes remaining.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/38191085/england-australia-2023-live-updates-womens-world-cup-semifinals

[BullNBear52]

World Cup semifinal, as it happened: Spain beat Sweden
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/38191042/spain-sweden-2023-live-updates-womens-world-cup-semifinals

A thrilling semifinal in Auckland ended with Olga Carmona's thundering shot from distance in the 89th minute to give Spain a 2-1 win over Sweden at Eden Park. After sub Salma Paralluelo fired Spain in front after 81 minutes, a Rebecka Blomqvist finish just six minutes later looked as though it had sent this enthralling game to extra time. And then, from a set piece, up stepped Spain's captain to put them into the final.

Sad to Sweden miss out after an epic battle that was decided in the last 10 minutes.

[BOREALIS]

AP PHOTOS: Women’s World Cup highlights

By The Associated Press
Updated 9:01 AM CDT, August 12, 2023

The Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is showcasing some of the best soccer on the planet — and some of the best photographs.
Associated Press photographers are covering every match at the month-long tournament, including wins by Australia, England, Spain and Sweden to advance to the semifinals.


Spain’s Esther Gonzalez, left, and Netherlands’ Damaris Egurrola compete to head the ball during the Women’s World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Spain and the Netherlands in Wellington, New Zealand, Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)


Netherlands’ Stefanie Van der Gragt celebrates after scoring her team’s first goal during the Women’s World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Spain and the Netherlands in Wellington, New Zealand, Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)


A Japanese supporter poses for a photo ahead of the Women’s World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Japan and Sweden at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Cornaga)


Sweden’s Filippa Angeldal, second right, celebrates after scoring her side’s second goal off a penalty kick during the Women’s World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Japan and Sweden at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)


Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa, center, reacts at the end of the Women’s World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Japan and Sweden at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. Sweden won 2-1. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)


France’s goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, left, is replaced by France’s goalkeeper Solene Durand during the Women’s World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Australia and France in Brisbane, Australia, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)


Australia’s Sam Kerr celebrates after scoring during a penalty shootout during the Women’s World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Australia and France in Brisbane, Australia, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)


France players sit and stand on the pitch in dejection at the end of the Women’s World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Australia and France in Brisbane, Australia, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)


England’s Alessia Russo, center, is celebrated after she scored her side’s second goal during the Women’s World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between England and Colombia at Stadium Australia in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

[fuagf]

The France game: Matildas' World Cup quarterfinal win was a moment that stopped the nation

"AP PHOTOS: Women’s World Cup highlights"

Related: Spain beat Sweden in a thrilling finish to reach their first Women's World Cup final.
Captain Olga Carmona scored an 89th-minute winner to spark wild scenes of jubilation among their supporters at Eden Park, Auckland.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66495265

By Samantha Lewis
Posted Sun 13 Aug 2023 at 8:03am, updated Sun 13 Aug 2023 at 10:10am


The Matildas played a World Cup game that stopped the nation in their quarterfinal win over France on Saturday.
(Getty Images/FIFA)

Years from now, when someone asks you to tell the story of the night the Matildas made World Cup history, what will you say?

Which parts will you remember most vividly? Which parts will you forget? Which parts have crashed and swirled and fused together, lost in the rush of 120 delirious minutes, where we all clung to our seats and to our sanity as we tried to survive the hurricane of this thing?

Where do you even begin to tell the story of the France game .. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-12/matildas-beat-france-fifa-womens-world-cup-penalties-shootout/102723164 ?

https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/b0e00ccc6a87023b245ee631b3ac2f16?impolicy=wcms_crop_resize&cropH=3332&cropW=4998&xPos=1&yPos=0&width=862&height=575
The Matildas celebrated history, becoming the first Australian side, male or female, to reach the World Cup last four. (Getty Images: Bradley Kanaris)

Maybe you start with the setting; yes, the setting. Something concrete that takes you into the world. That is how a good story often starts.

Perhaps, like me, you were one of the 49,000 people who made their way to Brisbane Stadium on that warm Saturday afternoon, trickling out of houses and hotels and embarking on that sacred pilgrimage towards the Caxton Street intersection, lured by the beat of distant drums, watching the streets slowly fill with rivers of gold.

Or perhaps you were one of thousands more who gathered elsewhere around Australia — in parks and in pubs, on planes and around stadiums — eyes turned to a single screen illuminated in the fading light, surrounded by strangers who would soon become friends as you rode the highs and lows of a moment in Australian sporting history that you had never experienced but always dreamed about.

Or perhaps you were one of millions more who sat at home, nails dug into couch cushions or nibbled between trembling teeth, draped in scarves and wrapped in flags, watching the Matildas tear apart everything you thought you knew about football and taking it to places you never imagined it could go.

Maybe you could talk about the characters then: this cast ripped from the pages of fiction or fantasy, driven by revenge and desire, by passion and pride.

Two teams, Australia and France, caught between the tug of their pasts and the pull of their futures .. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-12/matildas-history-make-break-world-cup-quarter-final-france/102720344 . Two teams who have never quite fulfilled the potential they've always had, driven by the faith that they always could.

Matildas have history to make and break in Women's World Cup quarterfinal against France

They've never made it to the final four of a World Cup, and the Matildas could meet their match
in a former host out for redemption.
Sam Kerr of Australia's Matildas runs with the ball away from French players.
Read more > https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-12/matildas-history-make-break-world-cup-quarter-final-france/102720344

Two nations led by two iconic captains — one who has been on the pitch the whole time, the other who hasn't — but both of them colliding once they were in each other's orbit, the heavy gravity of each warping and bending space and time around them.

Other characters emerging from beneath their shadows: Selma Bacha tearing down the left, Élisa De Almeida shutting down the right, Grace Geyoro prowling through the middle, Kadidiatou Diani lurking everywhere else.

Mary Fowler appearing and disappearing, Kyra Cooney-Cross twisting and turning and falling, Clare Hunt muscling and manoeuvring, Katrina Gorry barrelling about. Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso flattened and pushed to the margins.

Maybe you could talk about why, about the actual football. But which part? There was so much of it. Games within games: years poured into hours, minutes, seconds.

The teams mirrored each other in form and style, pressing and counter-pressing, forcing each other wide and not through, wrestling each other for control of an uncontrollable middle. They used similar tactics, similar formations. Tried to let each other have the ball for a bit, realised that was bad, and tried to wrench it back.

But are those the bits we'll remember?

Probably not. We'll remember the way time slowed down as Alanna Kennedy shanked her clearance into the air, watching it spin in a wormhole as it fell onto the foot of Diani and fizzed past the far post.

We'll remember the way time sped up as the corner ball swung inwards towards the young French centre-back Maëlle Lakrar, who shinned it over the crossbar in surprise.

We'll remember the way Emily van Egmond somehow slipped the ball from beneath two French players and slid it into the path of Mary Fowler, who stood completely alone near the penalty spot, only to see her slow-motion shot cleared off the line by a desperate, diving Élisa de Almeida.


Mary Fowler had the most decisive penalty of the shootout. (Getty Images: Justin Setterfield)

We'll remember the way Katrina Gorry lifted her head and floated the ball onto the toe of Fowler, with only the goalkeeper to beat, but the goalkeeper beating her to it instead.

And we'll remember the way half-time seemed to take forever but also arrive suddenly; these moments of panic and possibility puncturing the thickness of the game around it, the tightness that pulled and pulled, poised to snap as soon as it had stretched too far.

And what about the sound? My god, the sound. The sound like a wave that carried every Matildas attack forward. The sound of the boos that haunted every blue shirt. The sound when Sam Kerr picked up her shin-pads and walked towards the sideline. The sound when she immediately ghosted in behind France's defence and take off down the left and breathed new life into a flattening side.

Fowler twisting away from three enraged French players, Kyra Cooney-Cross twirling and accelerating into the yawning green beyond, the 10-minute spell where it felt like the world was shifting on its axis, but then shifting back the way it came once Vicki Becho was on the field.

Do you remember extra-time stretching into infinity as their legs began to slow and it felt like both sides were one bad pass away from oblivion?


France and Australia locked horns in the quarterfinals. (Getty Images: FIFA/Chris Hyde)

And all this happened before the other game began — the mind-and-moment game — the game where heroes and horrors are immortalised.

Mackenzie Arnold standing on the goal line again and again, re-writing her own fairytale again and again, diving and saving, diving and missing, taking and missing, diving and saving.

The order of the takers is jumbled in our memories now, too many of them one after the other to name. All we have are moments: gasps, sighs, boos, whistles, the pings of posts and the thud of gloves. Clinging to whoever or whatever was near us as Kerr put her 2019 ghosts to bed and Steph Catley's empty legs brought them back.

Blow for blow, one exhausted player after another, stretching this out for as long as they could without snapping. The substitute Becho stretches it to the impossible, the sound of the ball hitting the post as clear as a bell, the sound the whole world had been waiting for.

And then it's Cortnee Vine walking towards the penalty spot. Cortnee Vine placing the ball in the grass. Cortnee Vine taking three steps backwards and pausing. Cortnee Vine snapping the tension, the net bulging, her pale limbs wheeling off into the night.


Cortnee Vine was Australia's hero of the hour as she scored the winning penalty against France.
(Getty Images: Justin Setterfield)

Tens of thousands erupting in the stands, nobody knowing what to do, losing ourselves in the rapture of the hurricane.

This is how it feels to be taken to the horizon of what football can be and then flying straight off its edge, feeling your stomach drop, your chest thump, your senses alive to every aching moment.

And yet none of those words — not the setting or the characters, the complications or the climax — will get close to telling the true story of this.

Because you just had to be there. You had to live it. You had to be in this moment with millions of others, transfixed by the game that stopped the nation.

And those who watched it will remember where they were, who they were with, what they were doing. They'll remember the trembling, the distant drums, the sound of the future holding its breath.

Years from now, when someone asks you to tell the story of the night the Matildas made World Cup history, what will you say?

The France game. Maybe that will be all you'll need to say. And everyone will know exactly what you mean.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-13/matildas-world-cup-win-over-france-game-stopped-nation/102723254

Apology for not contributing here earlier. Slipped the mind.

[BOREALIS]

AP PHOTOS: Women’s World Cup highlights

By The Associated Press
Updated 8:49 AM CDT, August 3, 2023

The Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is showcasing some of the best soccer on the planet — and some of the best photographs.
Associated Press photographers are covering every match at the month-long tournament, including Morocco’s win over Colombia that sent them to the knockout rounds and Germany’s tie with South Korea that eliminated the No. 2-ranked team in the world.


Morocco’s head coach Reynald Pedros, left, and his players celebrate after the Women’s World Cup Group H soccer match between Morocco and Colombia in Perth, Australia, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Gary Day)


Sweden’s Caroline Seger, right, and Argentina’s Camila Ares Gomez compete for the ball during the Women’s World Cup Group G soccer match between Argentina and Sweden in Hamilton, New Zealand, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Cornaga)


Panama players celebrate in the stands after the Women’s World Cup Group F soccer match between France and Panama at the Sydney Football Stadium in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)


United States’ Alex Morgan, center, reacts after missing a shot during the second half of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Group E soccer match between Portugal and the United States at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)


United States players from left, Crystal Dunn, Lindsey Horan, Megan Rapinoe, Lynn Williams and Alana Cook walk out onto the pitch ahead of the Women’s World Cup Group E soccer match between Portugal and the United States at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)


Morocco’s Hanane Ait El Haj, right, watches as Colombia’s Manuela Vanegas, down, challenges Morocco’s Sakina Ouzraoui during the Women’s World Cup Group H soccer match between Morocco and Colombia in Perth, Australia, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Gary Day)

https://apnews.com/article/womens-world-cup-best-moments-photo-gallery-8ea74dc47eea332e766bb66c60a4ec3e

[BullNBear52]

Megan Rapinoe, USWNT Coach Vlatko Andonovski Called Out by Fans After Loss to Sweden
JEFF SMITH1 HOUR AGO
Following the USWNT’s loss in penalty kicks to Sweden on Sunday in Melbourne, there was plenty of backlash from the team’s supporters. But although the U.S. fell 5-4 in penalties after a 0-0 draw through regulation and extra time, forward Megan Rapinoe and manager Vlatko Andonovski received much of the early reaction, and there were virtually no positive vibes being sent to either.

Andonovski already had received backlash from supporters for numerous decisions during the team’s mediocre performance during group play. But his decisions in the round-of-16 loss to Sweden came with immense scrutiny from the fan base. For Rapinoe, a picture can be worth a thousand words.


Rapinoe’s struggles after being subbed in late during the match against Sweden drew heat from fans on social media, and the team’s manager wasn’t far behind in the comments from fans.

https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2023/08/06/uswnt-sweden-loss-megan-rapinoe-vlatko-andonovski-reactions

Plenty of reactions on Twitter. Here are a couple,

Everyone watching Rapinoe kick those 3 corners #USWNT #USA #USAvSWE pic.twitter.com/8lV0QuXAqi

— Cloud9ineDreams💫 (@Cloud9ineDreams) August 6, 2023

?

Since Megan Rapinoe has come in for the #USWNT in the #USAvSWE match... she's fumbled a 1v1 out of bounds, missed a shot rebound, and kicked a corner into the side netting.

It has been four minutes... https://t.co/NguDhHw2bm

— Brad Groux (@BradGroux) August 6, 2023

?

That Rapinoe sub will go down as one of the biggest blunders in US soccer history! Three terrible corners, terrible free kick and a lack luster penalty! Oh well three Saturdays till CFB! #USWNT

— Josh Mooney (@thejoshmooney) August 6, 2023

?

[BOREALIS]

US loses to Sweden on penalty kicks in earliest Women’s World Cup exit ever

By ANNE M. PETERSON
Updated 7:49 AM CDT, August 6, 2023

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The United States played its best game of this Women’s World Cup and it’s wasn’t good enough to stop the two-time reigning champions from being eliminated from the tournament.

The Americans’ bid to win an unprecedented third consecutive title ended Sunday night on penalty kicks when Lina Hurtig converted and Sweden knocked the United States out of the World Cup 5-4 after a scoreless draw.

It is the earliest exit in tournament history for the United States, four-time winners of the World Cup.

“Just devastated. It feels like a bad dream,” said captain Alex Morgan. “The team put everything out there tonight, I feel like we dominated, but it doesn’t matter. We’re going home and it’s the highs and lows of the sport of soccer. So, yeah, it doesn’t feel great.”

U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher fruitlessly argued she had saved Hurtig’s attempt, but it was ruled over the line. The stadium played Abba’s “Dancing Queen” in the stadium as the Swedes celebrated.

“We just lost the World Cup by a millimeter. That’s tough,” said Naeher, who successfully converted her own penalty kick. “I am proud of the fight of the team. We knew we hadn’t done our best in the group stage and we wanted a complete team performance and the team came out and played great.”

She praised Sweden goalkeeper Zecira Musovic, who had 11 saves to eliminate the United States in the Round of 16 for the first time in team history. The American’s worst finish had been third place, three times.

“We didn’t put anything in the back of the net,” sobbed Julie Ertz after the loss. “The penalties were tough. It’s just emotional because it’s probably my last game ever. It’s just tough. It’s an emotional time. It obviously sucks. Penalties are the worst.”

The loss was somewhat expected based on the Americans’ listless play through three group stage matches. But they played their best game of this World Cup against Sweden, only to have it decided by penalties.

Megan Rapinoe, Sophia Smith and Kelly O’Hara all missed penalty kicks that could have given the United States the win.

“I am proud of the women on the field,” said U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski. “I know we were criticized for the way we played, and for different moments in the group stage. I think we came out today and showed the grit, the resilience, the fight. The bravery showed we did everything we could to win the game. And, unfortunately, soccer can be cruel sometimes.”

It was the first match at this World Cup to go to extra time.

It was the was the fourth time the Americans went to extra time at the World Cup. All three previous matches went to penalties, including the 2011 final won by Japan. The U.S. won on penalties in a 2011 quarterfinal match against Brazil, and in the 1999 final at the final at the Rose Bowl against China.

Sweden knocked the United States out of the 2016 Olympics in the quarterfinals on penalties.

Sweden goes on to the quarterfinals to play Japan, the 2011 World Cup winner, which defeated Norway 3-1 on Saturday night.

Sweden has never won a major international tournament, either the World Cup or the Olympics. The closest the team has come is World Cup runner-up in 2003. They finished in third in the 1999, 2011 and 2019 editions, and won silver medals in the last two Olympics.

The result ended the international career of Rapinoe, the Golden Boot winner of the 2019 tournament who is retiring after the World Cup. She had taken on a smaller role for the Americans in her final tournament and was a substitute in the United States’ first and third games of group play, and didn’t get off the bench in the middle match.

She came on in extra time against Sweden and in her final game and few minutes of action, she failed to control a ball played in deep, whiffed on a rebound, hit the side of the net with a corner and then missed the penalty that would have won the game for the United States.

The Americans struggled through group play with just four goals in three matches. They were nearly eliminated last Tuesday by first-timers Portugal, but eked out a 0-0 draw to fall to second in their group for just the second time at a World Cup.

The Americans looked far better against Sweden, dominating possession and outshooting the Swedes 5-1 in the first half alone. Lindsey Horan’s first-half header hit the crossbar and a second-half blast was saved by goalkeeper Musovic, who had six saves in regulation.

Sweden won all three of their group games, including a 5-0 rout of Italy in its final group match. Coach Peter Gerhardsson made nine lineup changes for the match, resting his starters in anticipation of the United States.

It was tense from the opening whistle.

Naeher punched the ball away from a crowded goal on an early Sweden corner kick. Three of the Swedes’ goals against Italy came on set pieces.

Trinity Rodman’s shot from distance in the 18th minute was easily caught by Musovic, who stopped another chance by Rodman in the 27th.

Horan’s header off Andi Sullivan’s corner in the 34th hit the crossbar and skipped over the goal. Horan was on target in the 53rd minute but Musovic dove to push it wide. Horan crouched to the field in frustration while Musovic was swarmed by her teammates.

The United States was without Rose Lavelle, who picked up her second yellow card of the tournament in the group stage finale against Portugal and has to sit out against Sweden.

In Lavelle’s absence, Andonovski started Emily Sonnett, who was making her first start for the team since 2022. The addition of Sonnett allowed Horan to move up higher in the midfield.

Sweden pressed in the final 10 minutes of regulation. Sofia Jakobsson, who came in as a substitute in the 81st minute, nearly scored in the 85th but Naeher managed to catch it for her first save of the tournamen

https://apnews.com/article/womens-world-cup-sweden-united-states-penalty-kicks-d9e30c1d4cbe185aaf015b2e7915261e

[BullNBear52]

What a heart breaker for the USA women. To play as well as they did then lose on penalty kicks. I'm not sure why they brought in Rapinoe at the end of the match since she didn't help the team then missed a penalty kick that would have won it for the USA.

[BullNBear52]

Round of 16 Bracket.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/bracket/_/league/fifa.wwc

USA Plays at 5am est. Get up early.

[BullNBear52]

USWNT boss Andonovski warns 'no room for mistakes' vs. Sweden
Caitlin Murray, ESPN
Aug 5, 2023, 05:18 AM ET

MELBOURNE, Australia -- United States women's national team coach Vlatko Andonovski and striker Alex Morgan said on Saturday they need to be better against Sweden in the round of 16 as they put the country's worst-ever Women's World Cup group stage performance behind them.

"It's the knockout stage and there's no room for mistakes, so we have to be ready to be our best in this game," Andonovski said.

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

The USWNT won just one of their group games against Vietnam before drawing to both Netherlands and Portugal as they inched out of their group. Before this tournament, they had never won fewer than two games or emerged from the group with fewer than six points.

"We've broken down what went wrong," Morgan said. "How we can fix that in possession, out of possession -- how we can capitalize on the chances we have in front of goal, how we can create more chances, how I can put away the chances I'm given."

The Americans will face world No. 3-ranked Sweden on Sunday, a team that handily beat the U.S. in the 2021 Olympics group stage and knocked the U.S. out of the 2016 Olympics in the quarterfinal. At the last World Cup in 2019, the USWNT beat Sweden in the group stage.

"What's happened against Sweden in the past is in the past," Morgan said. "We obviously take away a lot of things in terms of their playing style and how to break them down, but I don't think that there's any feelings towards the games we played against them in the past that we're bringing into tomorrow."

The U.S. will be without midfielder Rose Lavelle, who started the tournament on a minutes restriction, coming in as a substitute in the USA's first two games. Andonovski had said Lavelle changed the games when she came in, but after starting and picking up a second yellow card in the final group stage match, she will be ineligible to play against Sweden.

Andonovski said Savannah DeMelo and Ashley Sanchez can step in to that attacking midfielder role, but he declined to say who would take her place, saying "we'll have to see what will be the best fit for the game plan that we have."

"Rose is a great player -- one of the best players in the world -- and not having her is definitely going to change some of the ways we're going to approach the game," Andonovski said. "At this same time, we have a great roster of players who are here for a reason, for moments like this and are ready to step in."
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/38137845/uswnt-boss-andonovski-warns-no-room-mistakes-vs-sweden

[BullNBear52]

I got up early to watch the match. To three peat they need some work. They came close to being eliminated when a shot my Portugal hit the post.

U.S. Settles for Draw With Portugal, Knowing It Could Have Been Worse
The Americans advanced to the round of 16, dodging a near collapse, and will face a more difficult road with its second-place finish in Group E. The Netherlands finished first by routing Vietnam.
Aug. 1, 2023
Updated 10:32 a.m. ET


Alex Morgan called the U.S. draw with Portugal “unlucky.”Credit...Andrew Cornaga/Associated Press

For more than a generation, the United States women’s national team has played out some of its best moments on the world’s biggest stages, in front of the biggest crowds in women’s soccer. World Cup finals. Olympic gold medal games. The team has, over the years, won many of those games, a long line of days to remember.

On Tuesday, though, on a chilly night in the depths of the New Zealand winter, the Americans almost endured a day they would never be able to forget.

The ending did not, in the end, go completely wrong: The United States players held on desperately to preserve a 0-0 tie with Portugal, a result that delivered them, safely but scared out of their wits, to the knockout rounds of the Women’s World Cup.

That will have to do after a game in which the United States failed to create enough scoring chances, wasted the ones it did and then flirted with catastrophe as a Portuguese shot hit the post and caromed out in second-half injury time.

The near miss was perhaps symbolic of a night that qualified as the same, of a game in which the United States, a four-time winner of the World Cup, came within inches of a stunning — and, for them, unprecedented — group-stage exit.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/08/01/sports/womens-world-cup-uswnt-portugal

[BOREALIS]

AP PHOTOS: Women’s World Cup highlights

By The Associated Press
Updated 10:14 AM CDT, July 31, 2023

The Women’s World Cup .. https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup .. in Australia and New Zealand is showcasing some of the best soccer on the planet — and some of the best photographs.
Associated Press photographers are covering every match at the month-long tournament, including Zambia’s Lushomo Mweemba celebrating a goal against Costa Rica and Morocco’s Nouhaila Benzina becoming the first senior-level Women’s World Cup player to compete wearing a hijab.


Zambia’s Lushomo Mweemba celebrates the first goal of the match during the Women’s World Cup Group C soccer match between Costa Rica and Zambia in Hamilton, New Zealand, Monday, July 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Juan Mendez)


Players warm up during half time during the Women’s World Cup Group H soccer match between Germany and Colombia at the Sydney Football Stadium in Sydney, Australia, Sunday, July 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

. . .

https://apnews.com/article/womens-world-cup-best-moments-photo-gallery-27b551ba9035928c5d5a7e538d333f89

[BullNBear52]

Flash of Anger Led to a Moment of Brilliance for U.S.

Lindsey Horan of the United States sprinted away from the Netherlands defense to head in the tying goal. Credit...Ritchie B Tongo/EPA, via Shutterstock

Juliet Macur
By Juliet Macur
Reporting from Wellington, New Zealand

Updated
July 27, 2023, 6:16 a.m. ETJuly 27, 2023
July 27, 2023, 6:16 a.m. ET
Lindsey Horan was still curled up on the field when she decided, enough already.

Enough of getting kicked by players from the Netherlands. Enough of letting the Dutch dictate the game. Enough of the United States women’s team, the two-time reigning world champion, not playing its best at this Women’s World Cup.

Horan and her team were an hour into a physical match against the Netherlands filled with sharp elbows and powerful shoves, and they were losing it by a goal. Now Horan, a United States co-captain, had just been hip-checked hard by a Netherlands counterpart, Danielle van de Donk. So after several minutes of being examined by medical staff, and another moment of being lectured by the referee for shoving van de Donk, Horan did exactly what her teammate Julie Ertz had just begged her to do.

“Just score this goal,” Ertz had whispered as they lined up to await a corner kick from Rose Lavelle, “to shut everyone up.”

And that’s just what she did. As Rose Lavelle’s corner screamed into the penalty area, Horan sprinted for the precise spot where it would arrive. “An absolute dime,” she called the pass from Lavelle. She jumped to meet it, snapped her head and sent the ball straight into the net.

“I don’t think you ever want to get me mad because I don’t react in a good way,” Horan said. “Usually, I just go and I want something more. I want to win more. I want to score more. I want to do more for my team.”


Horan’s goal lifted the United States to a 1-1 tie with the Netherlands, with one more group match game to play for each team. At the moment, the teams are tied with 4 points from a win and a draw, but the United States holds a slight edge on goal difference because it beat Vietnam by three goals and the Netherlands beat Portugal by only one.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup
The soccer tournament runs through Aug. 20, with matches at 10 stadiums in Australia and New Zealand.
A Team in Transition: The United States will enter soccer’s biggest stage with one of the most inexperienced teams it has ever taken to a World Cup. Yet Coach Vlatko Andonovski remains confident.
Can He Fix France?: Hervé Renard has led two men’s teams to the World Cup. But in taking over France’s talented but troubled women’s squad, the well-traveled coach may have his toughest job yet.
The Curse Stalking Women’s Soccer: The World Cup is missing some of the sport’s biggest stars because of a knee injury epidemic. No one can say for sure why it’s happening, or how to fix it.
A Weakened Champion: The Lionesses, the English women’s team, won the Euros in 2022 and is among the tournament’s favorites. But injuries and recent results have raised some concerns.
The winner of the group will be decided after the third and final matches in the group, which will be played simultaneously on Tuesday. The U.S. will face Portugal, and the Netherlands will play Vietnam.

The United States will enter that game with a new spring in its step, and Horan is the main reason for that. All it took, it turned out, was a bit of rage.

“That’s when you get the best football from Lindsey,” Horan said of herself.

She is not the first U.S. women’s player, of course, to take it upon herself to personally change the team’s trajectory at a World Cup, to will it to victory on soccer’s biggest stage. Think Megan Rapinoe in 2019, or Carli Lloyd in the 2015 final, to take two recent examples. In each case, and in Horan’s on Thursday, a key player suddenly came to personify the team’s history and legacy — four World Cup titles, four decades atop world soccer — and turn the momentum her team’s way.

Image
Danielle van de Donk of the Netherlands and Lindsey Horan of the United States falling to the turf with a soccer ball ahead of them.
Horan and Danielle van de Donk of the Netherlands, whose foul led to shoves, shouts and the only U.S. goal.Credit...Buda Mendes/Getty Images

On Thursday, even Horan’s teammates sensed something was about to change. Forward Alex Morgan said that when she saw the referee pull Horan and van de Donk aside after the two exchanged shoves and heated words following the foul, and just before the corner kick that ensued, she “felt like something was going to happen.”

United States Coach Vlatko Andonovski said the response was typical of Horan.

“She gets fouled, kicked, hurt and obviously it’s a very difficult moment,” Andonovski said. “And instead of crying about it, she just goes and makes a statement, and basically that shows everyone in the world the direction that the game is going to take.”

Andonovski said he was especially proud that Horan and other veterans had continued to press for a winning goal after Horan tied the score, showing the younger players on the U.S. team how to take control of a game. Horan and players like Ertz and Lavelle, he said, “carried the younger ones, or in a way showed the younger ones what this game is all about.”

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One of those players, the 21-year-old Trinity Rodman, said she had been impressed by Horan’s ability to “flip a switch” and go “from trash talking to putting a ball in the back of the net.”

It may have been why Andonovski chose to make only one substitution in Thursday’s game, sending on Lavelle for Savannah DeMelo at halftime to try to inject some energy into the U.S. midfield. He refrained from making more changes, he said, “because I thought we had control of the game, I thought we were knocking on the door of scoring a goal.”

Image
Lindsey Horan holding up her right index finger while being surrounded by her teammates after scoring a goal.
Horan, center, celebrating her goal.Credit...Buda Mendes/Getty Images

“We were around the goal the whole time,” he added, “and I just didn’t want to disrupt the rhythm.”

It was only after Horan’s goal, though, and after being outplayed in the first half, that the United States began to look crisper and more determined.

Andonovski suggested that the final 30 minutes, not the first 60, were representative of what he and fans could expect as the team moves deeper into the tournament, and as the connections between players young and old start to get more familiar.

“What you saw in the second half is what you’re going to see going forward, as a baseline,” he said. “I think that we’re just going to get better from game to game, and we’re going to be a lot more efficient as well.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/27/sports/soccer/us-netherlands-lindsey-horan.html

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What else do I need to know?
The game is being played at Wellington Regional Stadium in New Zealand and kicks off at 1pm local time, making the game more accessible for USWNT fans at 9pm ET/6pm PT/2am BST.

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USWNT vs. Netherlands preview: What to expect from the World Cup final rematch

By Kimberly McCauley
4h ago
7

Fans have been anticipating a rematch of the 2019 women’s World Cup final ever since the group stage draw was made, but the United States and the Netherlands won’t be playing out anything close to a copy of that match. The U.S. has undergone some notable changes, but the Oranje barely resemble the runners-up from four years ago, and will face the Americans with a completely different gameplan.

Nevertheless, it’s still something of a grudge match with Group E supremacy on the line.

“They are incredibly organized,” USWNT striker Alex Morgan said of the Netherlands this week. “They have a very expansive shape, in the attack. They don’t give you much space at all to receive and turn or get off the dribble. They’re very quick to close down space…Defenders are very physical, very aggressive and pressing what’s in front of them, so I know I’m going to have a lot of pressure on my back.”

Here’s your crash course ahead of the headline match of the USWNT’s group stage slate.

Women’s World Cup — live news and updates
Full Women’s World Cup schedule

Becky Sauerbrunn and Vivianne Miedema will miss the rematch due to injury (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
What’s changed for the Netherlands?
The biggest difference from the team we saw in the 2019 final comes from a change necessitated by injury — The Netherlands’ star attacker Vivianne Miedema has missed out on this World Cup due to an ACL injury. She’s usually a center forward, but in the 2019 final, Miedema was moved from center forward to central attacking midfield in an attempt to get her on the ball as often as possible.

No matter which position Miedema plays, she’s been the focal point of the Netherlands attack since she was a teenager. In her absence, Dutch manager Andries Jonker has opted not to find a replacement at all, setting set up his team in a 3-5-2 formation with no true striker. Lieke Martens and Lineth Beerensteyn, two players who operate on the wings when Miedema is available and for their club teams, have been partnered together in a bit of a makeshift front 2. But late Wednesday local time, Jonker confirmed Beerensteyn will not be available against the U.S. due to an ankle injury.

Jonker appears to be following a philosophy of finding a coherent way to get his best players on the field, but the jury’s still out on whether or not a move away from the 4-3-3 the Dutch are well-known for is going to produce positive results. The Netherlands got the job done in its opener against Portugal, securing all three points, but the Oranje scored just one lone goal (off a set piece), and generated only 12 shots in that game.

The USWNT was a bit more convincing in its opener, a 3-0 win against Vietnam, but still has plenty of questions to answer.

Sophia Smith vs. Sherida Spitse
Dutch captain Sherida Spitse is the Netherlands’ all-time most-capped player with 213 appearances, and she’s still a key part of the team at 33 years old. But with Spitse perhaps having lost a step of pace, while younger players have improved over the past 4 years, the Netherlands now has some better options at her natural position in midfield.

In response, Jonker has made the bold decision to shift Spitse to the right center back role in his back three, making her a bit less responsible for covering quick accelerations in space on counter-attacks as she would be in a defensive midfield role. Playing in this role also gets her more time and space on the ball to progress the ball from deep, which is arguably her best quality. Spitse completed 36 of 44 passes against Portugal, including a team-leading 11 completed passes into the final third.



Center backs do have to do some defending, though, and Spitse’s going to face a massive challenge in that area if she gets the start against the USWNT. She’ll likely end up in a lot of 1-v-1 battles with Sophia Smith, probably the last player on the planet that you want to face off against if you’re a player whose primary weakness is a lack of pace.

Smith is an expert at running the channels between fullbacks and center backs, as she showed on the USWNT’s opening goal against Vietnam.


Having someone with the pace and dribbling skills of Smith regularly running at Spitse is a complete nightmare for the Netherlands, so much so that I have to wonder if Jonker will change up his lineup for this game. It’s such an obvious matchup for the USWNT to exploit that it’s hard to stomach letting it happen, unless the Netherlands think they have a very good way to deny Smith the ball in the first place.

Will either team change midfield shape?
Against less-talented and more inexperienced opponents, both the USWNT and Netherlands have opted for setups featuring a single defensive midfielder with two midfielders pushed forward ahead of them. If neither team changes shape to deal with their opponents’ attacking midfield threat, we’re going to get an extremely entertaining match. If both teams shift to a double pivot, moving one of their midfielders into a deeper role, we might end up watching something that’s more of a staring contest than a soccer match.

I don’t know how either team will start, but I wouldn’t be surprised if both teams change between single and double-pivot midfields throughout the match depending on how individual players are performing or the state of the game. This could be a continuous chess match that decides the match itself, and I’m not sure if these managers are closer to Magnus Carlsen or to me blundering my queen by move 10.

The USWNT doesn’t need to make a personnel change to switch between formations — Lindsey Horan regularly shifts between a holding and box-to-box midfield role — but the Netherlands probably should. The team didn’t get punished defensively by Portugal for having attacking midfielders Jill Roord and Danielle van de Donk on the pitch at the same time ahead of Jackie Groenen at defensive midfield, but it’s easy to envision that group getting overrun by the Americans. The Oranje would probably be well served by dropping one of those more-attacking players for defensive midfielder Damaris Egurrola and moving Groenen into a more flexible midfield role.

Can the USWNT get more from its fullbacks?
Left back Crystal Dunn and right back Emily Fox weren’t exactly needed to do any ball progression work against Vietnam. Center backs Julie Ertz and Naomi Girma were granted lanes to move the ball forward, and they took them, rarely involving their fullbacks in buildup play. This played out to the eye and in the stats; Ertz had twice as many progressive passes plus carries as Dunn and Fox combined.



The lanes available to the USWNT in buildup are likely to be quite a bit different in this game. Vietnam played with a lone center forward, but the Netherlands look likely to play with two up front, and should have regular 2-v-2 pressure on the American central defenders. Expect the Netherlands to filter the ball wide during the Americans’ build-up, then try to trap Dunn and Fox and force them to either go long or go backward.

This will put a lot of pressure on the American fullbacks to make difficult plays in tight spaces in order to advance the ball and start dangerous attacks. Dunn and Fox are undoubtedly capable of this, but they didn’t get a chance to show it in the opener, mostly because they weren’t asked to.

If the USWNT are going to record a comfortable win against the Netherlands, the positions of its fullbacks and center backs on the above graph probably need to be flipped.

What else do I need to know?
The game is being played at Wellington Regional Stadium in New Zealand and kicks off at 1pm local time, making the game more accessible for USWNT fans at 9pm ET/6pm PT/2am BST.

FOX have the broadcasting rights in the U.S. while BBC will be showing the game in the UK.

https://theathletic.com/4721741/2023/07/26/uswnt-netherlands-world-cup-preview/

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Meet the U.S. women’s national team’s 2023 World Cup roster
By Steven Goff and
Artur Galocha
July 18 at 9:00 a.m.



19
The process of assembling the U.S. women’s national soccer team roster for the World Cup was both easy and hard.

Coach Vlatko Andonovski was blessed with a player pool deep enough to field two competitive lineups this summer. In that sense, he couldn’t go wrong.

Yet he had to weigh long-term injuries, players returning from substantial absences and the rise of youngbloods. More than 18 months of training camps, international games and club performances offered insight and answers, culminating with his selection of 23 players for the month-long tournament shared by Australia and New Zealand.

While veterans form the foundation of the squad — some of whom have already hoisted the World Cup trophy twice — a set of players poised to make their World Cup debuts will bolster the campaign for an unprecedented third consecutive title.

Here is a closer look at the squad.

Filter by position

Select...
Player picture
Aubrey Kingsbury
GK, Washington Spirit
Hometown: Cincinnati
Age
31
Caps
1
Goals
0
The NWSL goalkeeper of the year in 2019 and ’21 received regular call-ups throughout 2022 and debuted vs. Uzbekistan. Early this year, she fell behind Adrianna Franch for No. 3 on the depth chart and seemingly dropped out of World Cup contention. But with Kingsbury in good form for the Spirit and Franch not playing for Kansas City, they swapped places again.
Player picture
Casey Murphy
GK, North Carolina Courage
Hometown: Bridgewater Township, N.J.
Age
27
Caps
14
Goals
0
The Rutgers graduate began her pro career with Montpellier in France before returning stateside to play for OL Reign in 2019 and 2020. She was traded to North Carolina for U.S. teammate Crystal Dunn. Murphy earned her first U.S. match assignment in late 2021 and has strengthened her roster spot with several spectacular performances.
Player picture
Alyssa Naeher
GK, Chicago Red Stars
Hometown: Stratford, Conn.
Age
35
Caps
91
Goals
0
A back-up to Hope Solo at the 2015 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, Naeher won the starting job at the previous two major tournaments. Four years ago in France, she conceded three goals and recorded four shutouts in seven World Cup matches. In the semifinal against England, the former Penn State all-American stopped a potential tying penalty kick in the 84th minute of the 2-1 victory.
Player picture
Alana Cook
DF, OL Reign
Hometown: Far Hills, N.J.
Age
26
Caps
25
Goals
1
The center back, via Stanford, began her pro career with Paris Saint-Germain before transferring to the NWSL in 2021. She has been named to the league’s Best XI twice. While Cook was a fixture in the U.S. youth national team program, she was eligible to represent England because of family ties. She accepted a 2019 invitation for training purposes only, but she debuted for the U.S. senior squad later that year.
Player picture
Crystal Dunn
DF, Portland Thorns
Hometown: Rockville Centre, N.Y.
Age
31
Caps
132
Goals
24
Few players in the world are as good as Dunn defending one-on-one and, with her innate offensive skills, sparking the attack with a run down the left flank. She has prospered in the NWSL as an attacker — 2015 scoring champion and MVP with the Washington Spirit — but to her frustration, she has been the U.S. left back for years. Her playing time has been gradually ramped up since she returned from maternity leave last fall.
Player picture
Emily Fox
DF, North Carolina Courage
Hometown: Ashburn, Va.
Age
25
Caps
29
Goals
1
The graduate of Stone Bridge High School and North Carolina overcame ACL injuries to both knees in college and an inauspicious start to her international career as a teenager to become the squad’s most versatile outside back. She is comfortable starting on the left or right side, sometimes switching during games. Drafted No. 1 overall in 2021, Fox starred for Louisville for two years before being traded this past winter.
Player picture
Naomi Girma
DF, San Diego Wave
Hometown: San Jose
Age
23
Caps
16
Goals
0
After winning an NCAA title at Stanford and being the top overall pick in the 2022 NWSL draft, the center back parlayed her youth national team experience into a leading role with the senior squad. She broke into the national team last year and earned starting assignments. In the NWSL, she was voted rookie of the year and named to the Best XI all-star team.
Player picture
Sofia Huerta
DF, OL Reign
Hometown: Boise
Age
30
Caps
30
Goals
0
The dual national began her career with Mexico in 2012-13 and even played in a match against the United States. In 2017, FIFA approved her request to represent the U.S. program. She was among the team leaders in matches played in 2022, appearing in 16 of 18. A natural attacker, Huerta was converted into a defender by former U.S. coach Jill Ellis and became a regular figure at right back.
Player picture
Kelley O’Hara
DF, Gotham FC
Hometown: Fayetteville, Ga.
Age
34
Caps
157
Goals
3
O’Hara was part of two World Cup championship squads and evolved into one of the sport’s top right backs. Injuries, however, sidelined her for the second half of 2022. She also missed the first two camps of 2023 before returning for the April friendlies. O’Hara’s extra-time goal won the 2021 NWSL title for the Washington Spirit, and this past winter, she signed a free agent contract with Gotham FC.
Player picture
Emily Sonnett
DF, OL Reign
Hometown: Marietta, Ga.
Age
29
Caps
75
Goals
1
With the ability to play outside back, center back and midfield, Sonnett remains a valuable and versatile option. Since joining the national team in 2016, the Virginia graduate has made about the same number of appearances as a sub as a starter. Her first goal came last summer in the Concacaf W Championship semifinals. A member of the Washington Spirit’s 2021 championship team, she was traded this past winter.
Player picture
Savannah DeMelo
MF, Racing Louisville
Hometown: Bellflower, Calif.
Age
25
Caps
1
Goals
0
Receiving a World Cup roster slot with no senior experience — and few call-ups to training camp — is uncommon. But DeMelo’s breakout season in the NWSL this year thrust her into the mix. She was voted the league’s player of the month in May and displayed the type of attacking prowess that could translate internationally. She was a member of the 2016 and ’18 U-20 World Cup squads.
Player picture
Julie Ertz
MF, Angel City FC
Hometown: Mesa, Ariz.
Age
31
Caps
118
Goals
20
Until her surprising call-up for the April friendlies, Ertz seemed off the national team radar after taking maternity leave in 2022 and remaining an NWSL free agent into the spring. The resumption of her career was welcomed by the U.S. staff, which covets her tenacity, physical presence and experience. She started all seven matches, at center back, at the 2015 World Cup and six of seven, in defensive midfield, in 2019.
Player picture
Lindsey Horan
MF, Olympique Lyonnais (France)
Hometown: Golden, Colo.
Age
29
Caps
129
Goals
27
A starter for most of seven years, Horan uses her technical skills and vision in a central role to set the tone and keep opponents off-balance. She was, however, not part of then-coach Jill Ellis’s plans in the 2019 World Cup final, despite starting the semifinal against England. Between stints in France with Paris Saint-Germain and now European champion Olympique Lyonnais, Horan logged six years in Portland.
Player picture
Rose Lavelle
MF, OL Reign
Hometown: Cincinnati
Age
28
Caps
88
Goals
24
Technical, clever and unpredictable, Lavelle is one of the world’s premier midfielders. An emerging figure on the 2019 World Cup squad, she rose to the forefront in the final against Netherlands with a late goal that clinched the title. FIFA awarded her the Bronze Ball as the tournament’s third-best player. The key is keeping her healthy; she has had periodic setbacks throughout her career.
Player picture
Kristie Mewis
MF, Gotham FC
Hometown: Hanson, Mass.
Age
32
Caps
51
Goals
7
It has been a long World Cup wait for the older sister of injured U.S. star Sam Mewis. Kristie Mewis debuted with the national team in 2013 but did not become a regular until Coach Vlatko Andonovski reintegrated her two years ago. She has provided central midfield depth and made two appearances at the 2021 Olympics. Her club career has taken her to six NWSL teams, plus stops in Australia, Japan and Germany.
Player picture
Ashley Sanchez
MF, Washington Spirit
Hometown: Monrovia, Calif.
Age
24
Caps
25
Goals
3
A youth national team star, Sanchez took the next step amid an impressive start to her NWSL career. She left UCLA early, became the No. 4 overall pick in the 2020 draft and helped the Spirit win the 2021 title. Her creative skills, deceptive footwork and speed have made her one of the league’s most exciting players.
Player picture
Andi Sullivan
MF, Washington Spirit
Hometown: Lorton, Va.
Age
27
Caps
45
Goals
3
The Spirit captain has helped fill the void in defensive midfield left by two-time World Cup veteran Julie Ertz, who paused her career to start a family. Last year, Sullivan started 15 of 18 U.S. matches and displayed the vision and leadership required in that position. The Stanford graduate was the top overall pick by Washington in the 2018 draft and started almost every match her first four seasons.
Player picture
Alex Morgan
FW, San Diego Wave
Hometown: Diamond Bar, Calif.
Age
34
Caps
207
Goals
121
After 13 years with the national team, two world titles and an Olympic gold medal, Morgan continues to perform at a high level and produce goals. She is up to No. 5 on the U.S. all-time list, and her goals per game is among the highest in history. Last year, she won the Golden Boot as the NWSL’s scoring champion and finished second to FC Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas for FIFA player of the year.
Player picture
Megan Rapinoe
FW, OL Reign
Hometown: Redding, Calif.
Age
38
Caps
199
Goals
63
Her accomplishments off the field have matched those on it, and as she enters her final World Cup, Rapinoe promises not to go quietly on either front. With her best playing days well behind her, she has settled into the role of prime sub at left wing. Expectations four years ago were tempered as well, yet she ended up winning the Golden Ball as World Cup MVP.
Player picture
Trinity Rodman
FW, Washington Spirit
Hometown: Laguna Niguel, Calif.
Age
21
Caps
18
Goals
4
Rodman’s raw abilities have been on display for two-plus NWSL seasons, earning her regular U.S. call-ups. Ruthless on the right flank, she has begun refining her game to become more than just a great athlete. The challenge has been to become more technical and polished in and around the penalty area. She was the 2021 NWSL rookie of the year after helping Washington win its first trophy.
Player picture
Sophia Smith
FW, Portland Thorns
Hometown: Windsor, Colo.
Age
22
Caps
30
Goals
12
The former Stanford star will have a hard time topping her 2022 campaign: 11 goals in 17 U.S. matches and MVP of both the NWSL’s regular season and championship game. Smith recorded 18 goals in 25 Portland matches overall, including the opening goal in the final against Kansas City. She was voted the youngest U.S. Soccer player of the year since Mia Hamm, also 22, in 1994.
Player picture
Alyssa Thompson
FW, Angel City FC
Hometown: Studio City, Calif.
Age
18
Caps
4
Goals
0
The first player to join the NWSL directly from high school, Thompson was the No. 1 overall draft pick last winter. She scored 11 minutes into her first league match. Already well-established in the U.S. youth system, including a role at the 2022 U-20 World Cup, the flashy winger made her senior debut last fall. In April, she replaced injured Mallory Swanson on the roster and started against Ireland.
Player picture
Lynn Williams
FW, Gotham FC
Hometown: Fresno, Calif.
Age
30
Caps
53
Goals
15
The quick winger enjoyed a terrific 2021 with both the North Carolina Courage and the national team, posting 12 combined goals. But a leg injury in early 2022 sidelined her for the entire NWSL season and cast doubt on her chances of making her first World Cup squad. She returned to U.S. duty early this year for two friendlies in New Zealand and played in all three SheBelieves Cup matches.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/interactive/2023/uswnt-womens-world-cup-roster-2023-lineup/

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World Cup

https://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/standings/

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Welcome to the World Cup of Sophia Smith
Henry Bushnell
Senior soccer reporter
Sat, Jul 22, 2023, 9:59 AM EDT·6 min read
https://sports.yahoo.com/welcome-to-the-world-cup-of-sophia-smith-135918513.html

[fuagf]

Here we go! Champions League final updates, 8pm BST match kick-off


Manchester City go through their warm-up routine ahead of the Champions League final. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2023/jun/10/manchester-city-v-inter-champions-league-final-2023-live-score-updates

Hope all is well. That your family, your coaching and your son's team are all good.

[BullNBear52]

Everything to know about the ManU sale and then some.

Sheikh Jassim’s Manchester United takeover bid, the Qatar issue and what it means for Ratcliffe
Adam Crafton, Laurie Whitwell and more
Feb 17, 2023
161

The sale of Manchester United took a significant step forward late on Friday when the Glazer family received a bid from the son of the former prime minister of Qatar.

Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the chairman of Qatari bank QIB, submitted a bid to complete a full takeover. He is going head-to-head with Ineos billionaire Jim Ratcliffe for ownership of the club, although it’s possible there are other unknown bidders in addition to them.

It is unknown how much Sheikh Jassim, who says he is a lifelong Manchester United supporter, has offered and much of the conversation in the coming days and weeks will be about whether the bid is, as he claims, truly independent of the Qatari state.

Raine Group, the investment banking firm in charge of the sale on behalf of current owners the Glazer family, had set a soft deadline of 10pm UK time (5pm ET) for official interest to be formalised in writing. But at this stage the bid is an indicative one, meaning a more precise valuation will be made if United invite them in to look at the club’s numbers. Sheikh Jassim has provided proof of funds as part of this soft deadline, but no deposit.



A statement from the Qatari banker read: “Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani today confirmed his submission of a bid for 100 per cent of Manchester United Football Club. The bid plans to return the Club to its former glories both on and off the pitch, and – above all – will seek to place the fans at the heart of Manchester United Football Club once more.

“The bid will be completely debt free via Sheikh Jassim’s Nine Two Foundation, which will look to invest in the football teams, the training centre, the stadium and wider infrastructure, the fan experience and the communities the Club supports.

“The vision of the bid is for Manchester United Football Club to be renowned for footballing excellence, and regarded as the greatest football club in the world.

“More details of the bid will be released, when appropriate, if and when the bid process develops.”

Now the Glazers will decide if any of the proposals appeal to them and whether to proceed with the process. There is no particular time limit for them to do that.

So who is the sheikh, what happens now and what does this all mean for the club and Ratcliffe? Stick with us — there’s a lot to explain.

Analysis by Adam Crafton, Laurie Whitwell, Matt Slater and Dan Sheldon.

Who is Sheikh Jassim and what is this bid about?
Sheikh Jassim’s bid was submitted for consideration just a couple of hours before the soft deadline.

On Friday night, sources close to the bid who spoke on the condition of anonymity insisted Sheikh Jassim is a Manchester United supporter and said his vehicle to buy the club is named the Nine Two Foundation because of the club’s famous Class of ‘92 generation featuring David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, the Neville brothers and Paul Scholes. The same sources were unable to specify when Sheikh Jassim attended a match at Old Trafford but said he has previously visited Manchester United’s home ground.

The link to the Class of ‘92 opens obvious questions as to whether David Beckham, a paid ambassador of the Qatari state, is involved in the bid but sources both close to the bid and to Beckham insisted on Friday night that was not the case, with the bid also insisting that no other member of the Class of ’92 has been approached.

Sources close to the Class of 92, who wished to remain anonymous to protect their relationships, told The Athletic that they had received no approach from people connected to the Qatari bid to become involved.

At this stage, a valuation of the bid has not been disclosed but reports have oscillated between £4-6bn since United were put up for sale in November. At this stage, the Qatari investor is yet to have his bid accepted and is also not required to put any money down as a deposit just yet.

The club made some information available to prospective investors but it was limited and the Qatari will now, if invited, receive broader access to United’s finances and undergo due diligence. The bid, at this stage, has not been accepted or declined.

As for the man himself, not too much is known of him yet but the press release on his behalf last night said that he was educated in the UK at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and graduated as an officer cadet.

What is he claiming he will deliver if successful?
According to Sheikh Jassim, United will become free of debt, one of the major causes of unrest among fans under the Glazers. The American family’s leveraged buyout plunged United into the red and the total owed currently stands at £580m. This has impinged on transfer spending, even though United are still one of the biggest spenders in world football.


Sheikh Jassim has bid for United
He is also vowing to invest in the local area and improve the stadium and training facilities. Old Trafford has not seen major renovation since 2005, while Carrington has fallen behind the best in class. United have enlisted master planners for the stadium, with a cost for rebuilds — depending on the scale of work — estimated at £1bn to £2bn.

Is this really separate from the Qatari state?
If you loved the Newcastle soap opera, then you’ll be rushing back for more with this one.

The bid insisted on Friday night that all the money for this multi-billion cash purchase of arguably the most popular sports team on the planet is coming from the pocket of one private individual through his foundation.

However, The Athletic has previously reported that the Qatari Emir, Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, decided in the latter stages of the World Cup (perceived as a giant success on domestic soil) that Qatar should grow its ambitions in sport further.

The Qatar Sport Investment fund (QSI) already owns Paris Saint-Germain but the Emir decreed that Qatar needs boots on the ground in the biggest domestic league, the Premier League. This mission was initially sent down to the QSI chief (and PSG president) Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who was tasked with initially exploring minority stakes in Tottenham, as well as an interest in Manchester United.

The problem, however, is that Qatar is not yet ready to give up on PSG and UEFA regulations complicate matters because two clubs majority-owned by the same entity cannot compete in the same European club competitions. As such, QSI could not have acquired Manchester United and continued to enter both PSG and Manchester United into the Champions League at the same time.

It should be said that Ratcliffe may face similar issues if he were to take control of Manchester United, since he already owns Ligue 1 club Nice, which has qualified for the Europa League and Champions League in recent seasons and is currently competing in the Europa Conference League.


The World Cup was deemed a big success in Qatar despite some of the controversies around it regarding human rights (Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
The Qatari experiment then stretched further, with QIA (the Qatar Investment Authority, of which Al-Khelaifi is also a board member) reported to be exploring moves for United but perhaps satisfying separation between QSI and QIA may have been a more robust challenge than creating an entirely new vehicle under Sheikh Jassim.

On Friday evening, the bid insisted that its funding will not come from the government of Qatar and that money from the club will not be returned to the state of Qatar, but rather profits will be invested into Manchester United as part of a strategic long-term investment plan. The bid also say they are confident that their lawyers have sufficiently understood the rule book and that there is no overlap between QSI, QIA and Sheikh Jassim’s vehicle and that in terms of the legal definition of control, they believe they will comply with both Premier League and UEFA regulations.

Sceptics of the takeover may point out that Sheikh Jassim, while portrayed as a private individual in Qatar, is also the son of a former Qatari prime minister and the chair of Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), of which the Qatar Investment Authority (the sovereign wealth fund of the state of Qatar) retains a 17.17 per cent stake. The bid will be seeking to persuade UEFA, the Premier League and the more curious parts of the media that he is not benefiting from any state investment.

Are there concerns over human rights?
Well, it depends if you accept the proposition that Sheikh Jassim and his fund are entirely separate from the Qatari state. If you do, then the most interesting connection would be that he is the son of the former Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.

If you are less convinced by the claims of separation from the state of Qatar, then it is a case of recalling the controversies that surrounded the 2022 World Cup hosted in the country.

The tournament was dogged by allegations of abuses of the migrant workers who built the infrastructure and stadiums for the tournament.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino told the European Parliament in 2022 that only three migrant workers died in the building of the eight World Cup stadiums in Qatar, based on numbers supplied by the host nation.

Yet Nicholas McGeehan of human-rights organisation FairSquare previously called that figure a “wilful attempt to mislead” as the stadiums only account for about one per cent of World Cup-related construction in Qatar.

Human Rights Watch said the correct number will never be known because “Qatari authorities have failed to investigate the causes of deaths of thousands of migrant workers, many of which are attributed to ‘natural causes’.”

Nepal’s labour ministry alone says 2,100 of its citizens died in Qatar of all causes since 2010 — the year the 2022 World Cup was initially awarded to the country.

Hassan Al-Thawadi, the Qatari official responsible for delivery of the World Cup, caused further confusion when he said the number of migrant workers who have died on World Cup-related projects is “between 400 and 500”.

“The estimate is around 400,” Al-Thawadi told TV news show Piers Morgan Uncensored. “Between 400 and 500. I don’t have the precise number, that is something that is being discussed.”

The Qatar World Cup’s chief executive Nasser Al Khater also responded to a question about the death of a migrant worker during the World Cup by telling reporters that “death is a natural part of life,” as well as saying journalists shouldn’t “bang on” about the topic.

Separately, the Qatari state has been criticised for its victimization of the LGBT community, where homosexuality is outlawed, and for its treatment of women.

On Friday, Rainbow Devils (the officially recognised LGBT Manchester United supporters group) released a statement on social media. They said: “Rainbow Devils believe any bidder seeking to buy Manchester United must commit to making football a sport for everyone, including LGBTQ+ supporters, players and staff. We therefore have deep concern over some of the bids that are being made. We are watching the current process closely with this in mind.”

What don’t we know?
The bid amount is not being shared yet. Those involved in the bid indicated they would not overpay for the club even though it is a rare chance to own one of the world’s biggest clubs. On the flipside, the Glazers are determined to get the highest price possible and insiders claim they are prepared to keep control of United if their valuation is not met.

The timeline for possible purchase is also yet to be established.

What about Ratcliffe?
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS were the only potential bidder to publicly confirm their interest in buying the club ahead of Friday and they then submitted their bid before the deadline, claiming they would put the ‘Manchester back into Manchester United’.

“We have formally put ourselves into the process,” a spokesman for Ratcliffe confirmed to The Times last month. A key part of Ratcliffe’s bid is that anything borrowed to buy the club will be borne by Ineos rather than United, meaning there will be no new debt on their balance sheet.

Ratcliffe, a lifelong United fan, also made a late attempt to buy Chelsea last year. In addition to Nice, INEOS also owns FC Lausanne in Switzerland and Racing Club Abidjan of the Ivory Coast.

Ratcliffe is a petrochemicals billionaire and one of Britain’s richest people.

His INEOS company has annual revenues of $65billion (£54bn) and Ratcliffe’s own net worth is £6.1bn, according to the 2022 Sunday Times Rich List.

Jim Ratcliffe has been linked with a move for Manchester United (Photo: Getty Images)
Jim Ratcliffe has also bid for Manchester United (Photo: Getty Images)
The 70-year-old hails from Oldham, Greater Manchester and told the Financial Times in October: “I’m a lifelong Manchester United fan. I was there in that most remarkable match in 1999 in Barcelona. That is deeply etched in my mind”.

Ratcliffe appears to be a hands-on owner.

“Jim is involved in all decisions,” one former Nice employee recently told The Athletic.

His younger brother Bob is too, running INEOS’ football operations.

We have a couple of reads about United’s potential new owners so feel free to make a cup of tea, find a comfy spot and get stuck in.

How has he done with his other clubs?
What kind of owner would he make?

What now? What’s the timeframe?
Friday, February 17 was only a ‘soft’ deadline.

As it is the Glazers running this show, there would be nothing to stop them from extending the deadline should the offers fail to meet their aspirations.

Raine was targeting a price of £6billion to £7billion ($7.2bn to $8.4bn), and there remains scepticism in the industry about that fee being achieved.

If there are proposals that appeal, however, the bidders will be granted full access to United accounts so proper due diligence can be carried out. There is no time limit on this step, although some feel everything ought to be wrapped up before the football season is over.

Aren’t Newcastle owned by a sovereign wealth fund?
Two Premier League clubs are linked to sovereign wealth funds. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (the PIF), owns 80 per cent of Newcastle United. Manchester City are part of the City Football Group, which is majority owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the board of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund and half-brother of the president of the UAE.

In Manchester United’s case, if the QIA — the country’s sovereign wealth fund — were to push forward in their attempts to purchase a stake in Manchester United, establishing — and proving — a separation between them and QSI, who own PSG, would be central to adhering to UEFA’s club ownership regulations. That QSI is a direct subsidiary of QIA and that Nasser El Khelaifi sits on the board of QIA while being chairman of QSI illustrates how difficult that may prove. Though Newcastle had no such problems despite the PIF being chaired by Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Are owners allowed to own multiple clubs?
Yes. And no.

Of the 20 current Premier League teams, 10 are part of a multi-club model. Across Europe, other leagues are already wise to the trick. A combined 20 clubs from Italy’s Serie A, Ligue 1 in France and La Liga are part of multi-club models, with the former, replete with its own American investment, leading the way.

Even the German Bundesliga, famously resistant to outside investment and home of the 50+1 ownership model, has three clubs with links to others — Augsburg, Kaiserslautern and RB Leipzig.

Clubs view the strategy as a tool that can help to circumvent post-Brexit Governing Body Endorsement rules, while also being a useful way to develop academy players who would otherwise not be able to play first-team football.

However, under UEFA regulations, if two clubs majority-owned by the same entity qualify for competitions such as the Champions League, only one of the teams is allowed to enter.

That is the result of a landmark case from 2000 involving ENIC — the company businessman Joe Lewis purchased Tottenham Hotspur through. It was ruled that ENIC’s minority shareholding in Greek club AEK Athens and its majority stake in Slavia Prague meant that both couldn’t play in the same European competition.

That would mean any investment related to PSG’s owners into the Premier League would have to come with “non-decisive influence” or a reduction in influence in Paris for both to be eligible to participate in Europe.

The Premier League board has the power to suspend a club “if either directly or indirectly a person acquires a significant interest in that club while such person either directly or indirectly holds any holding in any class of shares of another club.”

The Premier League considers “significant” to be anything more than a 10 per cent shareholding.

So this doesn’t affect Qatar’s ownership of PSG?
QSI sources, who wished not to be named when relaying private conversations, previously insisted to The Athletic they have no intention in the short-to-medium term to step away from PSG. They have pointed to the fact club president Al-Khelaifi is attempting to oversee a cultural overhaul at the club and Sheikh Jassim’s eagerness to prove that this bid has nothing to do with QSI means change at PSG is very unlikely.

In his address to staff in January, Al-Khelaifi spoke of plans for the next decade. He has shaken up his board and a new training ground will open this summer, which is a desperately needed improvement on the Camp des Loges, which has been criticised by several former head coaches for its paucity of top-class innovations and facilities.

Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain’s president Nasser Al-Khelaifi with Kylian Mbappe (Photo: Gao Jing/Xinhua via Getty Images)
There are intentions to sell small stakes in PSG during this calendar year, with up to 15 per cent likely to be sold in total, possibly across two investors. Al-Khelaifi told CNN during the 2022 World Cup that his fund is open to selling “minority shares, strategic shares”.

The club are keen to bring in more know-how in their investment base, especially in building a global business. Ambitions to grow in the US are seen as crucial in the lead-up to the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada.

Didn’t Qatar want Tottenham too?
In the first week of January, Al-Khelaifi met in London with the Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy for exploratory conversations, as first reported by CBS. On the agenda was a possible minority investment into Tottenham by Qatar, with percentages of up to 15 per cent initially on the table. Al-Khelaifi spent two weeks in London overall.

Tottenham chairman Levy believes Tottenham are worth at least the same as Chelsea, considering the club’s state-of-the-art stadium, training ground, London location and frequent qualification for the Champions League in recent years, meaning that a valuation of around £2.5bn ($3.1bn) — as Chelsea sold for — has been mooted.

Tottenham acknowledge that Levy and Al-Khelaifi frequently meet when they are in the same city, but categorically denied that the pair have spoken about the equity of the London club.

Have I seen Sheikh Jassim’s father in the news for anything else?
Possibly. Last year, The Sunday Times revealed King Charles III — then Prince Charles — accepted three lots of cash, totaling €3million (£2.7m; $3.2m), between 2011 and 2015. On one occasion, it was reported the money was delivered in Fortnum & Mason carrier bags.

The funds were deposited into King Charles III’s charitable fund and there is no suggestion the payments were illegal. Sheikh Hamad’s lawyers declined to comment when approached by The Sunday Times.

Sheikh Hamad served as Qatar’s prime minister between 2007 and 2013, overseeing the oil-rich Gulf state’s investments in Harrods and London’s Olympic Village.


US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sheikh Hamad, Sheikh Jassim’s father, in Doha in 2010 (Photo: KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)
Remind me how we got here in the first place?
The Raine Group, an investment banking firm, is acting as United’s exclusive financial advisor, which means it has a brief to get the best deal for the Glazers. The person leading these talks on their behalf is Joe Ravitch, co-founder and partner of Raine.

Ravitch, a New Yorker, had the same role in the Chelsea sale this past summer and informed people believe the blueprint in place then will be followed again.

Despite being a distressed asset due to the UK government sanctioning outgoing owner Roman Abramovich, Chelsea sold for £2.5billion because several bidders joined the auction. That figure was above expectations and as the dust settles, members of hierarchies at rival clubs have let it be known they feel Todd Boehly and his consortium overpaid.

Nevertheless, that market appetite to own a Premier League club is said to have encouraged the Glazers, and Ravitch is described as confident a much larger sum can be achieved at United.

Raine is aiming for a full sale in the first quarter of 2023 at a price between £6billion and £7billion. Pushed for an update in Doha, Avram Glazer said: “That’s the update, it’s the process and the process is proceeding.”

Whether that money and timetable can be achieved, only time will tell — and there are people in the City of London who believe such a valuation far surpasses reality.

Why are the Glazers selling now?
After riding through so many storms, from the green and gold protests of 2010 and the parallel campaign by the Red Knights, to the risky IPO launch on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012, to Mancunian billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s proposals in the summer, the lingering question is: why have the Glazers decided to sell now?

More specifically, why have Joel and Avram become open to the idea? Because the other four Glazer siblings have wanted to cash in for a long time. One source, who remains anonymous to protect their position, says that rather than go through the tortuous process to take United public 10 years ago, Edward, Kevin, Bryan and Darcie Glazer would have preferred to sell up entirely then.

Undisputed is that Joel and Avram tried to buy out their siblings last summer. That is what those talks with Apollo, a private equity firm, were really about, rather than finding funding for a stadium rebuild. Joel and Avram would have needed to raise an enormous sum of money, however.

The other four siblings hold between them 71,701,268 of the Class B shares that are worth 10 times the voting rights of the Class A shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The share price on August 17, when news broke of the Apollo talks, was $13.67, meaning the cumulative portion for Edward, Kevin, Bryan and Darcie was worth $980million. Darcie also has 603,806 Class A shares, equating to another $8.3million.


Avram (left) and Joel Glazer will decide who to sell to (Photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
The theory is that Joel and Avram felt letting their brothers and sister go would free them to run United in a more unified, streamlined manner. Having four voices on the board whose focus has been on realising the value of their stakes, rather than the betterment of the club — be it infrastructure redevelopment or squad spending — clogged progression.

That would be a generous reading for Joel and Avram, given they have not shown any determination to implement genuine, lasting improvements at personal cost.

So why now? Only the Glazers know though the inability to buy out their siblings, the significant cost of improving Old Trafford and the club’s rising debt are all seen as factors.

What sort of profit would the Glazer family make if United are sold?
The Glazers bought the club for £790m in 2005, using £270m of their own money and leveraging the rest as debt on the club. In the years since they have combined made £450m from the IPO, share sales, and dividends, while still retaining 69 per cent ownership of the club.

Were they to achieve their targeted £6bn price, their share would equate to £4.14bn. The jump from £270m to £4.59bn means they will have made their money 17 times over.

Why are United worth so much more than Chelsea?
Eyeballs, it is all about eyeballs. Measuring clubs’ fanbases is a notoriously unscientific exercise — you basically claim as many as you can plausibly get away with — but whichever method you use, Manchester United have more fans than Chelsea. By some measures, they have more than anyone. So, that is more merchandise, more tickets, more memberships, more noodle partners.

How do you buy a Premier League football club?
Anybody wishing to buy a Premier League club must first take the ‘Owners’ and Directors’ Test’ (OADT). In the Premier League’s own words: “The Owners’ and Directors’ Test outlines requirements that would prohibit an individual from becoming an owner or director of a club”.

Essentially, the test is a list of requirements any prospective owner, part-owner or club director must meet, in order to keep crooks or other untrustworthy people out of the game. The most important element of the Owners and Directors test is a checklist of “disqualifying events” that would rule out a potential owner or director.

The vast majority of these are pretty obvious: Are you allowed to be a director under UK company law? Do you have control or influence over another English club? Do you have an unspent conviction for an offence of dishonesty? Are you on the sex offenders’ register? Have you or a company you are involved with gone bust? Are you and your money allowed to enter the country? And so on.

Anyone found guilty of a betting-related offence or who has been banned by a sporting body will also struggle to pass and, in 2018, a section was added to exclude agents from owning clubs or serving as directors.


Old Trafford is in need of serious upgrading (Photo: OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
As most of us love a good crime drama, the most interesting element of the test is probably the section on criminal convictions and the test’s intention is to be both broad and specific.

So, if you have committed “any offence involving any act which could reasonably be considered to be dishonest”, regardless of the actual sentence imposed, you are at risk of being rejected.

But the OADT is not — as the Premier League’s former executive chairman Richard Scudamore was so fond of saying — a “cut of your jib test”. His point was always that if you are allowed to own a British company, you are probably allowed to own an English football club. The Premier League is not running a country club.

What do United fans want?
Two-thirds of Manchester United fans want to see Ratcliffe take charge, according to a recent fan survey published by The Athletic.

Of those linked with buying United — including Twitter chief Elon Musk and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos — Ratcliffe claimed 66.2 per cent of the vote, with Qatar investors second on 16.9 per cent.

One respondent wrote: “It has to be Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the lesser of all evils.”

Pressed on whether a takeover from a sovereign wealth fund would be palatable, only half of fans who responded said no, with 27 per cent saying they would be open to that, and 23 responding ‘maybe’.

What was overwhelmingly clear in our survey was desire for the Glazers to go. Only 1.8 per cent of those surveyed said they either did not mind the current owners staying on, or thought minority investment would be acceptable.

Do the fans get any say in the outcome?
No.

Will the Glazers definitely sell?
Of course not. Only if they get enough money to make it worth their while. And there are plenty of people in the sports business industry who feel that this process might end with the Glazers staying put.

(Top image: Sean Reilly)
https://theathletic.com/4220360/2023/02/17/manchester-united-qatar-sheik-jassim-bid-explained/

[BullNBear52]

Soccer’s Premier League accuses Manchester City of breaching financial rules
PUBLISHED MON, FEB 6 20237:44 AM ESTUPDATED AN HOUR AGO
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Jenni Reid

KEY POINTS
The organizing body of the top-level English men’s league said this included its rule that clubs must provide it with accurate financial information representing a “true and fair view of the club’s financial position,” particularly relating to revenue.
This was alleged to have been breached in each season from 2009-10 to 2017-18.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/06/premier-league-claims-manchester-city-breached-financial-rules.html

[BullNBear52]

Messi and Ronaldo Stage a Zany Finale in Riyadh
Ronaldo scored twice and Messi scored once in a Riyadh exhibition as the two men took the pitch together for what is likely the last time of their careers.

Lionel Messi, left, and Cristiano Ronaldo took the pitch together for what appears to be the last time on Thursday.
PHOTO: STR/SHUTTERSTOCK
By Joshua RobinsonFollow
Jan. 19, 2023 2:41 pm ET

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—The rivalry between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo played out for over a decade in the cathedrals of European soccer. They clashed at the Bernabeu in Madrid, Camp Nou in Barcelona, the Olimpico in Rome, and Old Trafford in Manchester. The stakes were Champions League trophies and Spanish league titles.

But on Thursday night, the final installment in a series that dominated the world’s most popular sport unfolded more than 2,000 miles from any of those storied places. When Messi and Ronaldo took the pitch together for what appears to be the last time, it was inside King Fahd Stadium, a tired relic on the edge of Riyadh. There was nothing on the line for either of them.

And yet, in this exhibition between Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain and Ronaldo’s specially assembled team of Saudi league all-stars, everyone was out to make a point.

No one was more emphatic about it than Ronaldo, who has spent the past two months being told he was finished in top-level soccer. While that is probably true—he has said his days in Europe are over—Ronaldo still put away two goals to Messi’s one as the overmatched Saudi side, officially known as the Riyadh Season team, lost 5-4 to PSG.

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“This won’t be a practice match,” PSG coach Christophe Galtier had said before kickoff. “There are so many personalities and competitors on the field that we’ll have a high-level game. This won’t be like a charity game.”

Galtier was right. The standard was much higher, more entertaining, and occasionally nastier than your average in-season friendly—despite the improbable setting and the postgame fireworks and laser show. Even if it had been a kick-and-giggle send-off for the Messi-Ronaldo era, it could hardly have been scripted any better.


Paris Saint-Germain’s Lionel Messi scored the opening goal of the match.
PHOTO: FRANCK FIFE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Messi opened the scoring in the third minute at the end of a balletic move from his teammates Kylian Mbappé and Neymar. Then Ronaldo, making his Saudi debut, tied the game in the 34th from the penalty spot. Even once PSG took the lead back through Marquinhos, Ronaldo tied it again just before halftime—he hit the post with a header and put away his own rebound.

Before Thursday night, Messi and Ronaldo had lined up across from each other in 36 matches and both scored in eight of them, according to Opta Sports. Though Riyadh Season vs. PSG won’t count as a competitive game, it marked an unofficial ninth appearance for them on the same scoresheet.

This one just happened to also include the player who might be their successor, France’s Mbappé. He scored a penalty kick to give PSG a 4-3 lead and after that, the part of the match that 68,000 fans had paid to see was over. Both teams made wholesale changes in the 61st minute, pulling Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, and Mbappé out of the game. The night’s only public interaction between the aging giants remained a polite handshake and some Spanish chitchat before kickoff.

How the two men with 12 Ballon d’Or awards between them even wound up here on a Thursday night in January, in the middle of their respective seasons, goes a long way to explaining the forces that shape global soccer today. PSG showed up because of a lucrative contract for an exhibition game it originally agreed to play a year ago—and remained in the country for less than 24 hours following a speedy visit to Qatar. Conveniently, Messi also happens to be a Saudi tourism ambassador.

Ronaldo, meanwhile, became the biggest star Saudi soccer has ever known when he joined the Al Nassr club earlier this month for a reported salary of $200 million a year as the Kingdom attempts to burnish its image in the world. So when Al Nassr joined forces with its bitter rival Al Hilal to field a single select team against PSG, Ronaldo was always going to inherit the captain’s armband.

Life after their final clash will now look very different for Messi and Ronaldo. Messi, 35, will continue chasing another Champions League title and has entered negotiations to extend his contract at PSG.


Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals in the match.
PHOTO: HUSSEIN MALLA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ronaldo, two years older, feels much closer to the end. No longer in a major European league, his best prospects for one last major trophy lie with the Portuguese national team—if they’ll have him. Ronaldo was demoted to the bench by the end of Portugal’s World Cup campaign, which ended with a stunning loss to Morocco in the quarterfinals, and the team’s new manager hasn’t made him any promises about playing at the 2024 European Championship.

“He’s been in this team for 19 years,” Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said after taking the job this winter. “He deserves to be spoken to and to be respected.”

But as it turned out, only Saudi Arabia could guarantee Ronaldo the same regard he holds for himself.

Write to Joshua Robinson at [e-mail]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/lionel-messi-cristiano-ronaldo-saudi-arabia-riyadh-friendly-psg-11674157253

[BullNBear52]

Take the money and run.

Cristiano Ronaldo signs with Saudi Arabian soccer club Al Nassr for reported record-breaking salary
PUBLISHED FRI, DEC 30 20226:21 PM ESTUPDATED FRI, DEC 30 20228:19 PM EST
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Natasha Turak

KEY POINTS
The 37-year old Portugal team captain is a free agent after leaving major British club Manchester United following a dramatic fallout with some of its management.
The news of Ronaldo’s signing Friday follows months of rumors and speculation as to whether he would join a Saudi team, as he had already received offers for lucrative Saudi contracts in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/30/cristiano-ronaldo-signs-with-saudi-arabian-club-al-nassr-for-reported-record-breaking-salary.html

[AugustaFriends]

RIP PELE!!

[fuagf]

Live updating: Pelé dies aged 82: tributes paid to a football great – live updates and reaction

Pelé, one of football's all-time greats, dies aged 82 – video obituary

[...]

16m ago
06.53 AEDT

Richard Williams

The emergence of the teenaged Pelé during the 1958 World Cup opened a door to a new dimension of football. The brief televised highlights of the matches in Sweden were broadcast in a black and white that was actually more like blurred shades of grey but already the Brazilian prodigy seemed to be sharply focused and bathed in a golden glow.

The skinny 17-year-old with the flat-top haircut scored six goals, several of them executed with an impudent wit and a hitherto unimaginable level of technique, and then wept openly on the shoulder of Gilmar, the team’s goalkeeper, when the triumph was secured. For many of his new fans in foreign lands, Edson Arantes do Nascimento was the first complicated foreign name they committed to memory.

Twelve years after that first eruption of genius he won his third World Cup winner’s medal. The 1970 tournament was watched by many viewers on colour television sets, a high proportion of them purchased specially for the occasion. Football has never seemed as splendid as when Pelé – now a mature man of 29 – was at the heart of a team including Tostão, Jairzinho, Gérson, Roberto Rivellino and Carlos Alberto, an ensemble of masters surrounded by their own golden aura as they took the game to a new level of creative interplay, with the No 10 as their conductor.

Read the full tribute here:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2022/dec/29/pele-dies-aged-82-tributes-paid-to-a-football-great-live-updates-and-reaction

[fuagf]

I'll be here. Have a great day today!

[AugustaFriends]

Merry Christmas Buddy !! God willing see you in 4 years World Cup 2026

[fuagf]

Merry Christmas and Many More Happy New Years.

[fuagf]

Hope they get at least into the quarters next time. Would love it for Australia too, but we have a longer way to travel than you have. Haven't looked closely, but from ABC TV Australia yesterday it sounds like governments, some administrators, and the wider Australia community are not doing enough to help the the soccer community. Ok, here's one:

Where will the money come from? After World Cup euphoria, Australian football confronts harsh reality

With less money to be earned through TV deals than rival codes, grassroots football is increasingly funded through sky-high registration fees that lock out disadvantaged families


Many local football clubs in Australia say the high fees for juniors can be a barrier to participation. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

Mostafa Rachwani @Rachwani91
Sat 17 Dec 2022 01.00 AEDT
Last modified on Sat 17 Dec 2022 01.01 AEDT

Halil Hussein was gobsmacked when, on the day of the Socceroos’ historic round of 16 match against Argentina .. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2022/dec/04/fans-react-as-argentina-ends-australias-world-cup-hopes-video , a Melbourne newspaper ran an AFL story on the front page.

Hussein, a senior assistant coach at Hume City Football Club – one of the biggest in the Victorian NPL – could hardly believe that the Socceroos were not on front pages across the country.

“It’s just not right, the exposure that football gets, the coverage is just not there. Football doesn’t get the recognition that the AFL or cricket does, but we have a World Cup and we were in it.”

Hussein believes media priorities are one factor holding back football’s development, but lack of attention to the elite end of the sport is compounded by financial barriers at the grassroots level.

The Socceroos have woken the public to football but it won’t transform the sport immediately
Read more > https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/05/the-socceroos-have-woken-the-public-to-football-but-it-wont-transform-the-sport-immediately

“This is a sport that kids are playing, they’re involved in, and we need to give it the airtime it deserves, we need to give it the recognition it deserves. And we need to give it the funding it deserves,” he said.

In conversations with football coaches and administrators around the country, the lack of funding for grassroots football was a recurring theme.

Many said it contributed to a dearth of quality coaching, poor facilities and the exponential rise in costs for parents.

“The potential in this country is huge,” Hussein said. “But that is dependent on whether you can capitalise on that by supporting each family and each coach, to give them the development and incentives necessary.”

The 2021-22 Australian Sports Commission annual report .. https://www.sportaus.gov.au/media-centre/publications .. showed how far funding for football lags behind other sports, with athletics, basketball, cycling, hockey, sailing and swimming all receiving greater financial support.

That same report showed that football was among the sports leading the “sector’s Covid-19 recovery after recording significant increases in participation since 2019”.

Participation has always been the game’s strength, with 43.8% of juniors in team sports playing the game and more than 1.4 million players in total across the country.

But the game is plagued with financial challenges at grassroots levels, particularly for those with ambitions to make a career as a player.

Football Australia says it is trying to improve community facilities – particularly to increase club capacities – amid an expected surge in participation after the Socceroos’ heroics, but there is a lack of support from all levels of government.

The chair of the Granville and Districts Soccer Football Association in western Sydney, Steven Elriche, said the lack of financial support meant many talented young players didn’t get their chance.

“The biggest barrier for our kids is the affordability of playing football,” he said.

Basic youth-level registration costs several hundred dollars a season, a big imposition on some families struggling with the cost of living crisis, Elriche said.

“But if you’re talented and want to progress through the ranks, it could cost you between $1,500 to $2,000 a year.”

In NSW, registration fees at the elite levels of youth football can be as high as $2,850, depending on age.

“We see tons of talented kids, some from refugee backgrounds .. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jul/07/free-kick-for-fitzroys-youth-in-a-football-club-scoring-diversity-goals-a-photo-essay , who can’t pay. And I don’t think we’re getting the best of the best in Australia,” Elriche said.

Fees vary for junior registration in AFL and NRL clubs, but they are generally lower, typically well below $400.

Elriche said some clubs supported players who can’t afford the fees and make arrangements so that talented players can continue, but that hasn’t stopped some players missing out.


Socceroos thank fans for their support as they arrive home from World Cup – video

“From the elite perspective, it’s very disappointing, because a lot of players from migrant or refugee backgrounds are the talented players that miss out.

“I really think there needs to be an identification program that targets talented players from less fortunate backgrounds. More money needs to be filtered into grassroots football.

“The decision here should never be about money,” he said.

But solving the puzzle of football funding is not a simple one.

The president of APIA Leichhardt in Sydney’s inner west, Tony Raciti, said football struggled to secure lucrative revenue streams from broadcasting deals because TV audiences for the A-League lagged well behind those of competing codes .. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/broadcast-budget-hole-prompted-a-league-s-12m-grand-final-firesale-20221215-p5c6rv.html .

‘It’s about being ruthless’: 18-year-old Socceroo Garang Kuol is ready to take on the world
Read more > https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/nov/18/its-about-being-ruthless-18-year-old-socceroo-garang-kuol-is-ready-to-take-on-the-world

“Football in Australia doesn’t have mega TV rights deals like the AFL or NRL, so the governing body can’t filter that money down to grassroots levels and reduce registration fees.

“The clubs are not in a position to fund pre-registrations. Who’s going to pay all the costs of running a club, from the council fees, to the coach’s salaries, to the different kits? The costs right now are a necessary evil.”

Raciti said in some ways the game’s problems stemmed from its very popularity, with grassroots interest “exploding” across the country.

“Within two years, we’re going to have 50% boys and 50% girls in terms of participation. What other sport can do that? All clubs, across the country, are seeing registrations go up. It ticks all the boxes.

“Getting to that stage is an extraordinary achievement,” he said.

“And the Socceroos’ success absolutely is rooted in the game here. How much better could they have realistically done? Against footballing powerhouses? What they achieved was extraordinary.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/dec/17/where-will-the-money-come-from-after-world-cup-euphoria-australian-football-confronts-harsh-reality

[BOREALIS]

The best photos of the 2022 World Cup

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/20/football/gallery/world-cup-2022/index.html

[BOREALIS]

World Cup review: Best and worst of the tournament in Qatar

By STEVE DOUGLAS today

https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-sports-france-argentina-lionel-messi-7b3ddc53003264ee2b04ba9614451a2b

[BOREALIS]

2026 World Cup hosts take diplomatic handover from Qatar

today


The trophy is displayed on the pitch ahead of the World Cup final soccer match between Argentina and France
at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) — A diplomatic delegation from the three host countries of the 2026 World Cup were in Qatar on Sunday for a handover ceremony ahead of the final between France and Argentina.

The United States, Mexico and Canada will stage soccer’s biggest event in less than 3½ years.

“We could not be more excited,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who led a presidential delegation to the final. “We are already hard at work preparing for 2026 and we’re looking forward to welcoming fans from around the world.”

Greenfield told Sheikha Alya Al Thani of Qatar, a fellow ambassador to the United Nations, that the current host had “set the standards high.”

“The most important thing to remember is the World Cup transcends things and it plays an exceptional role in uniting people and countries and creating lasting friendships,” Sheikha Alya said.

The 2026 tournament will be played in 16 cities: 11 in the United States, three in Mexico and two in Canada.

Argentina won the title in Qatar by beating France 4-2 in a penalty shootout after a 3-3 draw.

___

AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-sports-canada-mexico-qatar-50ff8086247ba417c3b9a802a00328ac

[koolmc]

i actually stopped watching when argentina was up 2-0, lol. Rewatched the whole game. It's like leaving the 7th inning of baseball game when the other team is up like 7-8 runs but they managed to tie it then lose in the extra inning lol.

[koolmc]

yep i think last time usa hosted the cup they advanced past the group stage. I'm sure home field advantage played a part and kicked of football, erm soccer craze in the states lol.

[BullNBear52]

Hats off to Mbappe who single handedly kept France in the game. He definitely deserved the Golden Boot. Argentina because of their first half effort was playing on a different zone then France. The goalie from Argentina was simply incredible in his saves at the end which ended up making the difference.

[fuagf]

Right. The French coach underlined that today with his subs about 40 min. in. I stuck the 'well coached' comment in from a totally ignorant base. Thanks.