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02 October 2003 — Women's World Cup (6)

Thanks to the generosity of Mr. Rich Meneghello, football freak and all-around good guy, I was able to catch the two quarterfinal Women's World Cup football matches that were played in Portland tonight. After picking up the latest football magazines from Borders, I met Rich at Pioneer Square and we took MAX up to Civic Stadium.

Our seats were awesome.

We were in bleachers set at the edge of the field, in the last (tenth) row, which meant that we had some support for our backs. We could also stand up without fear of blocking any of the other fans. Our seats were at the eighteen yard line (the top of the penalty area) on the end of the field where all but one of the night's goals were scored.

The first match of the evening featured the slick Germans versus the scrappy but overmatched Russians. Though the German women outplayed their Russian counterparts, they'd only managed a one-nil lead at the break. Then the floodgates opened. Russia started the second half in a tenuous fashion; they played hesitantly. In the 57th minute, a German striker doubled the margin. The Germans then scored twice more in the next five minutes, leaving the Russians demoralized. The Russian keeper was particularly upset, and began to harangue her defenders, scolding them after each goal. It looked as if the women in blue might have stabilized when they scored a goal in the 70th minute, but Germany soon renewed their attack, slotting home three more goals in the final ten minutes of the game. When the dust had settled, the Russians were on the losing end of a 7-1 drubbing.

I took my new pencam with me to the match. It doesn't take the best photos in the world, but it's small and fun to use. (Had I known our seats were so close to the field, I would have brought my real camera.) Click a thumbnail to view a larger image in a new window.

[photo of warm-ups]  [photo of kickoff]  [photo of keeper]

The second game was more exciting.

The Chinese women were clear favorites against a more inexperienced Canadian side, and they were clearly the better team on the field. For most of the game, the Canadians looked lethargic, and seemed be constantly on the defensive. Their chances at the Chinese goal were few and their shots often feeble. The Chinese attack was withering (they must have outshot the Canadian women by a four to one margin), and their footwork and ball control superb. Yet the Canadian defense, led by outstanding play from their number ten Charmaine Hooper, weathered the storm. Canadian keeper Taryn Swiatek made some fantastic saves to keep the clean sheet. And what with Hooper heading home a goal off a corner kick in the seventh minute, the Candian women saw themselves scratch and fight their way to a 1-0 victory. Though their were some boisterous Chinese supporters at the north end of the stadium, the crowd clearly supported the Canadians. I couldn't bring myself to join the mob, though, as the Canadian women were often vicious, throwing elbows, pushing, and tripping, and suffering little retribution from the referee.

It was a great time. I'm indebted to Rich for his generosity. Perhaps someday I can repay him with a trip to a Timbers game.

On this day at foldedspace.org

2004 — Thundarr the Barbarian   I loved Thundarr the Barbarian when I was a kid. It was the Best Cartoon Ever.

2002 — Colder   According to weather reports, some areas of the Willamette Valley were to expect freezing temperatures last night. The transition from summer to fall has been relatively sudden this year.

Comments
On 03 October 2003 (07:32 AM), Joel said:

We were able to catch the game (albeit through a great deal of static) on channel 51, a spanish-speaking network that I'd only ever paused at in the past during an especially passionate soap opera scene. It was a great game, and I really felt bad for the Chinese team. It was the kind of game that exposes the central unfairness of the sport of soccer. In American football or basketball if you're the better team, you play well, and you don't make many mistakes, you'll win. In this game, one brilliant header was enough to move the Canadians into the semis and doom China's chances. Now, obviously, the Canadians played very well (and very conservatively) in order to preserve their lead, but because goals are so hard to come by, the chance that a good defensive team can get lucky and win seemed a little too high last night.
Something they showed a lot of replays of on TV: late in the second half the Chinese striker Sun Wen was trying to settle a pass in the Canadian penalty area, a clear opportunity for a good shot, and a Canadian defender pretty much just knocked her down. If they'd gotten the call, the Chinese would have had a penalty kick, but the mauling went unnoticed.
Hopefully our American squad will win their next two games by a healthy margin!


On 03 October 2003 (07:41 AM), J.D. said:

Joel's analysis of the game is spot-on. To their credit, Canada changed their game plan in the second half in order to protect their lead. They had started the game in an aggressive stance, attacking the goal. Even after they'd scored, they continued to press, but as the first half wore on, it became clear that by attacking they were leaving themselves weak on defense.

To comepensate, the Canadians played the second half with an entirely defensive posture. They had one excellent chance on goal, but they never tried to mount a sustained attack. Their plan was not to score, but to prevent the Chinese from scoring. Their plan worked.

Also, there was a play directly in front of our seats in which a Canadian defender tackled a Chinese player who was passing the ball. This would be unremarkable except the Candian player through the player to the ground (not as violent as that sounds) and, as her opponent was falling, landed an intentional blow with her forearm (definitely as violent as that sounds). This cardable offense occurred directly in front of the assistant referee, but no call was made. The Chinese player was justifiably furious.

I'm not suggesting collusion. I'm simply saying that the game was physical, and that the Canadians might have gotten away with playing a bit dirty without having to suffer the consequences.

It was a great match, though, easily as good as any of the EPL matches I've seen recently.


On 03 October 2003 (10:33 AM), Rich said:

I would certainly take you up on a Timbers game, my friend!

I agree with your China-Canada analysis, but you left a very important part out. For the first 20-30 minutes, Canada was playing with incredible intensity and passion. It might have been because the crowd was very pro-Canada and pumped them up, or it might have been that their coaches got them good and motivated, or whatever, but it was palpable. The Chinese were technical, precise and skilled, but the Canadians had heart. They were very physical, indeed, but for the first half hour, the physicality was more along the lines of "we want this game more than you do." Canada squeaked in the goal because of that passion, and withstood the Chinese barrage the rest of the first half.

Their stalling game in the 2nd half made for at-times exciting play. Canada essentially stopped attacking, choosing to play 5 midfielders and 4 defenders, or 9 defenders. It made for some frenetic action. I cannot fault them for that style. When beating a more skilled team, you hunker down, stall, and hope for the best. But I can fault them for turning their physicality from "passion" to "out and out mugging." It became brutal in the 2nd half, as you say. All the soccer moms in the crowd saw a much different game than little Susie plays on Saturday mornings. Soccer is most definitely a contact sport at that level.


On 03 October 2003 (10:40 AM), J.D. said:

Rich's comments are right-on, as are the comments on the games over at timberlog.


On 03 October 2003 (10:43 AM), Rich said:

For some good crowd shots taken by FIFA-hired photographers with $10,000 lenses, check out http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/03/en/t/photos/fans/index.html. Not all from Portland, but many are. If you go to the "Photozone," link on that page, you can see match photos from each of yesterday's matches.


On 03 October 2003 (12:14 PM), timberlog said:

Interestingly the journalist at the official FIFA site comments that USA 2003 is a tournament for the more physical teams.

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/03/en/031003/1/buk.html
From the games i've seen so far I agree.

It's just the way of the world, but for a non-partizan fan it was a shame to see the skill of China leave the tournament last night.

Canada were all bluster and no finesse. The German team I thought were a lot better balanced with some really skillful players mixed in with the beef.
Germany v USA will be a really interesting game on Sunday!

Dave


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