WWC23 | England v Spain - Spain win the World Cup - and Rubiales gets sacked

groovyalbert

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Great result for the tournament, but poor quality match - particularly the second half.
 

Rood

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Perfect start to the WC - upset from the hosts who have never won a match before

Hopefully generates some extra interest within NZ too
 

jojojo

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Good news for Ireland - Sam Kerr won't be playing for Australia today, injured.


Great result for the tournament, but poor quality match - particularly the second half.
Norway were shockingly poor for most of that match. They looked every bit as disorganized as they did when they lost 8-0 to England at the Euros. Poor match because one side didn't show up. It's a strange team - we're seeing some genuinely great attacking players either missing in action or squeezed out of it and some really sorry defensive work.

NZ - that was great work from them. Flashes of good team play going forward (including for the goal), solid defending and fit enough to still be spoilers when they had to be even after 100 minutes.
 

Jules_T

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Go the Ferns. I'm super excited by that win. I have tickets for the next NZ game on Tuesday. First ever win in the world cup and watched by the biggest crowd to ever watch a football game in NZ. Men or women's football.
Can we get through to the next stage?
 

Stack

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Just got back from the game against Norway. Obviously pretty happy with the result. The rain stayed away till the game finished which was great. Largest ever crowd to a womans game in NZ, in fact the largest ever crowd to a football match of any kind in NZ. This should help boost ticket sales for the games that NZ arent playing in here which is great. Im not sure what happened to Norway, I really expected them to outplay us, they looked like they were pretty one dimensional from where I was sitting. May have looked different on tv. Pretty nerve wracking last 20 minutes though.
 

Dazzmondo

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Pretty shocked Norway didn't manage to even get a goal considering the attacking players they have. Congrats to New Zealand. Gives me some hope we might get something against Australia, particularly with Kerr out. Come on Ireland!
 

maniak

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I couldn't get out of bed so early, hope this is a good one, c'mon Foord!
 

Massive Spanner

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Fecking hell the quality on RTE is abysmal and then commentary keeps repeating. But at least Tubz got his 500k a year.
 

Lay

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Great result for New Zealand. Didn’t expect that at all
 

Massive Spanner

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Spare a thought for those of us using the tech atrocity that is the RTE player

EDIT: Died completely within seconds of sending that post :lol: FFS
it already feels like i'm watching a football match played at half speed so i guess it doesn't matter too much.
 

jojojo

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Two counterattacking sides, both used to sitting back. Ireland look nervous when they have the ball for too long. Australia look confused about what to do when they've got it but they seem to be gradually working it out.
 

Massive Spanner

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I'm a WWC plastic fan. Hardly ever watch woman's football. It's not great, is it?
it's abysmal, let's be honest. Just feels so slow and unexciting. Honestly think the league of Ireland is better and more exciting and that's fecking saying something when these women are supposed to be the cream of the crop.
 

Pogue Mahone

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it's abysmal, let's be honest. Just feels so slow and unexciting. Honestly think the league of Ireland is better and more exciting and that's fecking saying something when these women are supposed to be the cream of the crop.
I spent most Sundays of the previous year watching U14 DDSL football, so I don't have particularly high standards. This is obviously better than that but, then again, my son isn't on the team so...
 

McGrathsipan

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it's abysmal, let's be honest. Just feels so slow and unexciting. Honestly think the league of Ireland is better and more exciting and that's fecking saying something when these women are supposed to be the cream of the crop.
the crowd whilst numerous are shit - the drone of chat is like a half time buzz
 

McGrathsipan

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it's abysmal, let's be honest. Just feels so slow and unexciting. Honestly think the league of Ireland is better and more exciting and that's fecking saying something when these women are supposed to be the cream of the crop.
I have to agree - game lacked anything of note.
 

jojojo

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0-0 at HT.

Ireland will be pleased with how that's gone - though it sounds from this thread that their compatriots won't be :lol:

Australia will be frustrated. They can't play their normal game of sitting back and breaking fast. Nor have they got Sam Kerr to find the space no one else sees. But they are getting into the penalty box a fair bit and it's almost inevitable that it'll work eventually, if only from a setpiece.

This isn't like Norway v NZ. NZ were genuinely the better team for most of that match despite being the underdogs, they were always the team playing with energy and urgency. No one can accuse either team of that in this match.

Let's hope the second half is a better watch - or that Ireland steal a point or more so it can count as a heroic result against the odds, even if the Irish posters don't care!
 

FrankDrebin

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Meh, I've seen sh*tter United games than this.

Edit: Like yesterday.
 
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Dazzmondo

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Don't think Australia are significantly better than Ireland tbh. The gap in quality is way less than I expected. Ireland doing a solid job, especially the defence. Have to say Carusa up front is really bad though, her touch and passing are woeful.
 

KiD MoYeS

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Amazing how physical a game can be without players rolling around the ground or screaming for bookings. :)
 

Pogue Mahone

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0-0 at HT.

Ireland will be pleased with how that's gone - though it sounds from this thread that their compatriots won't be :lol:

Australia will be frustrated. They can't play their normal game of sitting back and breaking fast. Nor have they got Sam Kerr to find the space no one else sees. But they are getting into the penalty box a fair bit and it's almost inevitable that it'll work eventually, if only from a setpiece.

This isn't like Norway v NZ. NZ were genuinely the better team for most of that match despite being the underdogs, they were always the team playing with energy and urgency. No one can accuse either team of that in this match.

Let's hope the second half is a better watch - or that Ireland steal a point or more so it can count as a heroic result against the odds, even if the Irish posters don't care!
I'm definitely emotionally invested in the result. I'm involved with a grass roots club whose girls teams have exploded in number over the last few years. So it's brilliant to see the Irish team playing football on the biggest stage. If we can nick a draw today it would be fantastic. I'm just struggling a bit with the spectacle. I'm a woman's football noob and have found the standard of football in the first half to be much worse than I expected. Oh well. I'm going to keep watching the GIG anyway.
 

jojojo

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Australian crowd will be relieved. I was expecting them to score from a setpiece, probably inevitable that it was from a penalty really.

Question now is where does the match go from here. Will it settle Australia down enough that they can start playing. Will Ireland be coming forward more and start opening themselves up to counters - or will they have the patience to keep looking for mistakes and lapses.
 

RedDevilQuebecois

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If Ireland hopes to find a goal, playing hoofball only against Australia is a recipe for a disaster.