World Cup: USA 13, Thailand 0

Great win!!

(No harm in taking your foot off the gas a little, however...)

(No harm in taking your foot off the gas a little, however...)

Actually...

https://deadspin.com/rob-stone-suggests-the-uswnt-shouldve-eased-up-gets-so-1835426788

The U.S. has every incentive to keep scoring, because goal differential could decide who finishes first in Group F. The U.S. and Sweden—who knocked out the USWNT at the 2016 Olympics—are the likely teams to finish first and second in their group. If they tie head-to-head, goal differential would determine who has to play Canada or the Netherlands, and who gets to play the second-place team in Group B. That’s worth the effort.

Personally, I think everybody should play their best regardless (as long as they are good sports about it and not gloating afterwards). I know they got in trouble and criticised for not easing up BUT I think you would just have had others criticising that they were being condescending or whatever else if they had decided to go easy on Thailand (for me, that would almost be more insulting I think).

Personally, I think everybody should play their best regardless (as long as they are good sports about it and not gloating afterwards). I know they got in trouble and criticised for not easing up BUT I think you would just have had others criticising that they were being condescending or whatever else if they had decided to go easy on Thailand (for me, that would almost be more insulting I think).

Bolded words are mine.

I agree with staying competitive and and scoring as many as possible, and beating Germany's record win of 11-0 in the 2007 World Cup. Doing it in style and not over celebrating or gloating would have been classy in my opinion.

Bolded words are mine.

I agree with staying competitive and and scoring as many as possible, and beating Germany's record win of 11-0 in the 2007 World Cup. Doing it in style and not over celebrating or gloating would have been classy in my opinion.

I didn’t watch any of it (just heard the news) so have no idea if they were over celebrating or not. If they were, that (IMO) would be totally inappropriate. Definitely fine as long as they went he classy route.


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I didn’t watch any of it (just heard the news) so have no idea if they were over celebrating or not. If they were, that (IMO) would be totally inappropriate. Definitely fine as long as they went he classy route.


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Here is a 4 minute video of the goals. You can make your own mind up on the celebrations once the goals got into double figures.  I didn't think they did any gloating.

I don’t know if I’d personally call it excessive as a whole as I imagine they were just really excited to be playing so well (especially if there was a potential to break records and even their own best records). Definitely not some of the over celebrations I’ve seen in other sports but then I guess it comes down to personal opinion with that one.


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I thought I understood the offside rule. I was wrong.

I thought I understood the offside rule. I was wrong.

I was a FIFA qualified ref for about 10 years and thought I understood the offside rule. But there have been 2 goals in the tournament so far where the player in the offside position was obviously interfering with the play but deemed to be not offside on review.

I blame Brexit.

I was a FIFA qualified ref for about 10 years and thought I understood the offside rule. But there have been 2 goals in the tournament so far where the player in the offside position was obviously interfering with the play but deemed to be not offside on review.

I blame Brexit.

VAR is weird too. I have always held the opinion that while refs make mistakes, as long as they are random, there is no unfairness.

VAR is weird too. I have always held the opinion that while refs make mistakes, as long as they are random, there is no unfairness.

Unfortunately ref decisions favour the biggest teams with the best support. I listened to a podcast on the subject and a huge statistical study plus interviews with behavioural scientists was pretty conclusive that despite the best intentions of the officials they cannot help but be swayed by large partisan crowds and big name clubs and players.

Hopefully they will get VAR fine tuned to the level it is in rugby and cricket.

There was another very strange offside decision in the last Germany game where, from a corner an attacker headed the ball from about 5 yards out in the centre of the goal while another attacker in a clearly offside position stood right in front of the keeper blocking her view. After a VAR review the goal was given.

There was another very strange offside decision in the last Germany game where, from a corner an attacker headed the ball from about 5 yards out in the centre of the goal while another attacker in a clearly offside position stood right in front of the keeper blocking her view. After a VAR review the goal was given.

I watched the match. A quick opinion: the big nations seem clearly very much ahead when it comes to pure physical fitness. I was expecting Germany to wilt first in that heat,  but Nigeria were gasping towards the end. Germany, England, the US...they look like Titans out there.

But regarding that header and the possible offside....a sports writer said it was like having a snake in the room, just it being there changes the atmosphere, it doesn't have to be hissing and striking...

I watched the match. A quick opinion: the big nations seem clearly very much ahead when it comes to pure physical fitness. I was expecting Germany to wilt first in that heat,  but Nigeria were gasping towards the end. Germany, England, the US...they look like Titans out there.

But regarding that header and the possible offside....a sports writer said it was like having a snake in the room, just it being there changes the atmosphere, it doesn't have to be hissing and striking...

I agree with you and also I like that analogy of the hissing snake, just the presence of an offside player so close to the action has defenders lunging or stretching for a ball where they don’t need to. Blocking the view of or distracting the keeper by moving across an incoming shot is also interference in my training.

VAR decisions aside, I have been enjoying many of the games so far.

That was one to put behind us!

That was one to put behind us!

I think that it is good to win a very testing game like this in the knockout rounds.  Should be a good game against France.