FIFA has handed out their awards for the best players and teams of the 2007 Women's World Cup. Here are mine:
Deadliest striker: Marta, of course (BRA). Runner-up: Abby Wambach (USA).
Fastest forward: Lisa de Vanna (AUS), who should be called The Blur. Runner-up: Fatmire Bajramaj (GER), the speedy substitute.
Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!!!
Brazil will meet Germany in the Women's World Cup final on Sunday after both teams won their semi-finals handily. Although Norway was in control for most of the first half of their game against Germany, they had the misfortune of scoring an own goal, after which the Germans took the momentum and controlled the rest of the game, scoring twice more and looking unstoppable. It was a very enjoyable game to watch between two very good, clean teams.
The U.S-Brazil game was another story, one the U.S. team will want to forget. The American coach mystified everyone by replacing goalie Hope Solo, who had a perfect record, with veteran Briana Scurry; this turned out to be a terrible mistake. The scoring opened with a U.S. own goal, and then one of their midfielders was sent off after a second (and questionable) yellow card. The U.S. never looked strong, and as the game progressed and the goals mounted, the Americans just crumbled and Brazil rubbed it in.
It was a scrappy game, as you might expect from these two teams, with the U.S. being a physical team, and Brazil being as skilled in making and faking fouls as they are at controlling the ball with their feet. Marta was able to show off her incredible skills, much to the delight of the crowd. Commentators say that she is arguably the best player on the planet today, male or female. It will be a privilege to see her and Birgit Prinz on the field at the same time. Don't miss it!
For the woefully uninformed, that is 5' 10.5" Birgit Prinz, star striker for the title-holders, Germany, and three-time world player of the year.
Today's World Cup games, including Canada's must-win match with Australia, have been postponed due to the approach of Typhoon Wipha. I must say I'm a little glad to have a break from spending hours in front of the computer watching crappy video and getting a sore tuchus for my trouble. I haven't been posting much about the games because I'm still in a bad mood about CBC's decision not to air the majority of the games on TV. The playoffs will be televised, however, so my scowl should soon be replaced by giddy enthusiasm. Stay tuned.
Now we know what Santa does during the off-season. I wonder if he cheers for Norway as well as Sweden?
Today is day 3 of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. That is, my third day of sitting at my computer watching soccer on a crappy little web video player thanks to the Canadian Boys Club, I mean, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The picture quality is actually not too bad... as long as the players aren't moving. The rest of the time, i.e. when play is actually happening, the picture blurs, pixellates, or stutters. It gets worse as the action gets faster, i.e. as the action gets more exciting. [Click on the picture for an example.]
Sometimes there is commentary, sometimes there isn't, sometimes it starts or stops in the middle of the game. Whatever. Then there is the mysterious resetting. Once in a while, just for kicks, the video player likes to send you back to the beginning of the game. I have now learned to check the time on a regular basis so I can pick up where the piece-of-crap video player left off. CBC, you are giving me a headache.
As some of you may know, the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup starts next week,
and I thought I would take a look at the TV schedule to start planning out the
next three weeks of my life. Hmm, nothing showed up on the digital box. So I
went to a couple of soccer TV websites and nothing came up their
either. What gives? Finally I went to the source, the CBC, which has the rights
to broadcast all FIFA events in Canada until 2014. There I discovered to my
horror that they will only be broadcasting nine of the
thirty-two games, plus another three
on their digital channel. The rest will be shown on the web, which is fine if you don't mind watching pixellated players following a ball that blurs in and out of existence on a 5-inch screen. Contrast this to the last two Women's World
Cups, where every single game was broadcast in Canada on the sports networks. (And yes, I watched them all!)
Keep in mind that the CBC is taxpayer-supported. You would think that if commercial networks can make money airing women's soccer, it should be a no-brainer for the CBC . But no, apparently women's soccer isn't good enough for the CBC. It's a disgrace for a supposedly egalitarian society. Shame on you, CBC.
The 2007 FIFA Under-20 World is now officially over, and Argentina have handily won their sixth title. Other than Chile's little disagreement with the baton-happy Toronto Police, the tournament was a tremendous success. Canada broke the long-standing attendance record for the tournament, selling nearly 1.2 million tickets. For a country of 33 million, most of whom couldn't tell you what FIFA is, that's huge.
Unfortunately I slept right through the third-place match (though I will get to watch the repeat tomorrow) but I understand the Chile came back with great dignity to win the bronze medal. The final was quite good. The ref was able to keep a lid on the Czechs' physical style, while not falling for too many of the Argentinian dives. The Czechs showed more of the ability that won them their last game. Certainly they don't have the ball-control of the South Americans, but it would be an injustice to call them a simple punt-and-run team. They can pass when they want to. I also got an insight into their style of play after their one and only goal today. In most cases, teammates will rush up to the goal-scorer and give him a big hug. The Czech equivalent, apparently, is to rush up to the goal-scorer and slam him to the ground! If that's their idea of affection, then it's no wonder they play the way they do! The goal-scorer, by the way, rolled out of the body-slam and popped back up instantly, as the Czechs always do after being knocked down. You can't say that about South American footballers. The two sides could learn something from each other.
Argentina was certainly the better team today, and probably the best team in the tournament. I still regret that Japan was eliminated—I think they would have been a match for Argentina—but they did win the Fair Play Award, which confirms what I thought about their clean style of play. They'll be back.
So that's about it for soccer for a while. Just a while, though. In September it's the Women's World Cup in China, and the line-up of teams is very exciting. Every group will be hard-fought. I can't wait. Until then, it's back to the books!
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