[Guardian]

Anyone else watching the Women's World Cup?

Exciting games so far! Most are on Fox or Fox Sports. Also can bee seen on Hulu apparently.

US plays on Tuesday. Watching England vs. Scotland right now.

[brian51]

okay this would be soccer right ?

[Guardian]

okay this would be soccer right ?

That's correct.

[brian51]

thanks I just checked the tv schedule on the upcoming games, to see which ones I want to watch

[Guardian]

WOW!

US just beat Thailand 13-0 setting a World Cup record (men and women) for biggest victory and most points scored in a game.

[brian51]

yes LOL

sometimes in womans sports, parity is still lacking
But it makes for some interesting scores, doesnt it

[Guardian]

Eh, people are bashing the team for celebrating after scoring. This, after beating a team that itself has beat teams 8-0, 12-2, 11-0, and so on.

The parity across the world is an issue, but this is the World Cup so its still the best teams in the world.

[brian51]

They really should not invite so many teams if there isnt the parity and your going to have games 13-0 and this gets so non competitive ?

My only idea is this is just another woman's sports thing , where they have to do it cause thats what the men do right ?

Seems a bit silly.. invite less teams until the world of woman's soccer gets more balanced in terms of ability

[Guardian]

Not at all. The benefit for the teams that aren't quite there, they all still get a cut of the global revenue, so in a way it allows those smaller teams to make more money to help build the sport in their country. Also, some nations don't have women's teams and there's no requirement for them to do so. FIFA wants them, as it helps build the game across the world and across all genders, but its not a requirement for anyone. The national teams see it as a way to bring more women into the sport, and hence more revenue. For the US it has worked more so than the men's teams. Canada and Australia being the others. If anything, the Canadian women's team is ahead of the Canadian men's team. Ours is on par, but on the global level is obviously more competitive.

Inviting less teams would hurt the teams that aren't on that level, as it cuts them out of the revenue. In other instances, the US plays most teams in the US, and pays the other teams to come over. The US usually get the win, and all the money from attendance. The smaller national team gets a paycheck to help keep funding their team.

[brian51]

Guardian,

thanks for explaining about the financial side to this

[Guardian]

No worries.

The Title IX concept that applies to college has skewed the US' opinion as to how it works.

[brian51]

England has already advanced to the knock out round

[Guardian]

So has the US! Group of 16 is coming along nicely.

Sweden, Canada, Netherlands... about halfway decided with all the teams.

[brian51]

Guardian , thanks for your latest update in here..

But yes, thoughts are now moving forward to the knockout rounds !!

[brian51]

Guardian ?

the usa have a very tough 1/4 final match against host France..

But overall we have some very nice 1/4 match ups between all the 8 remaining teams really

[Guardian]

Yes! Excellent games!

USA is on to the Semifinals against England after having beat France 2-1. It was a great game!

[Guardian]

The Netherlands beat Italy this morning, and Sweden just beat Germany.

Your semi-finals will be:

USA vs. England
&

The Netherlands vs. Sweden

[brian51]

yes, im going to go with a england vs holland final.

do you have a prediction guardian ?