WORLD CUP - France 2019
(Back to Main)


Summarizing some of my personal impressions and memories
of this tournament, which I followed with great interest and joy:

1. The most critical contributors to their teams' successes,
   and players that highly deserved the MVP award of the
   tournament, were Sari Van Veenendaal, Hedvig Lindahl
   and our own Rose Lavelle.
2. The player that gave a negative vibe in terms of behavior
   and lack of fair play and, in my view, cost her team in
   both results and reputation was England's Ellen White.
3. The most promising upcoming team to watch has been
   Italy and one of the best, but, somehow, underappreciated,
   players of the tournament was Sweden's Sofia Jakobsson.
4. The VARs usage, reviewing and communication as well
   as decision making, was significantly wanting, despite
   proclamations to the contrary by biased, and not exactly
   impartial and disinterested, actors, and a lot of effort has
   to be invested for improvements. Italy and Germany are
   States where the National Federations have done a very
   decent work to make VARs' usage exciting and successful
   and, I trust, during the 2019-2020 season, the FA will also
   make an effort to make VAR successful in its first season
   of trial in the Premier League. These Historic Leagues
   that every fan is following closely, may provide clues as
   to what to do, how to do things right and which pitfalls
   and perils to circumvent and avoid.
5. Finally, I would like to condemn the partnership and
   mixing of this Sporting Event, which is supposed to be
   a Celebration of Comradeship and Fair Play, with ads
   from companies like Wells Fargo, the worst and most
   unethical banking conglomerate in recent memory, and
   Volkswagen, the most unethical vehicle manufacturer
   of recent and not so recent times. I understand that
   the media are in need of advertising income, but one
   has to draw somewhere the line of incompatibility. In
   the same way that you would not put in prime time
   an adult movie with highly inappropriate content for
   general audiences, you should get into the habit of
   respecting the fact that sport and unethical and
   questionable behaviors are incompatible and that
   those companies that choose to behave in a blatantly
   provocative and rapacious way have no place around
   any sporting event.
   

...AND THE REST IS HISTORY!
Fourth overall and Second in a row.
WAY TO GO, GIRLS!!




The anticipated, exciting but not memorable, Final was played...






Let's go U.S.A.!! U.S.A. all the way!!


In an exciting, but not as exciting as expected, game,
the Netherlands deservedly won 1-0 against Sweden in
extra time to secure a spot in the Final against Team
U.S.A.. There were a few opportunities for both teams,
but the feature of the game were the excellent, simply
marvelous and awe inspiring, performance by the
two excellent keepers, who, not only kept their goals
intact for the entire regulation, but, in addition, were
leading their teams' defenses impeccably and were
a joy to watch and an inspiration for us all.

WAY TO GO, SARI! WAY TO GO, HEDVIG!







England was very righteously thrown out of the World Cup.
There are some players in whose demeanor and comportment
on the field one can discern a priority to cheat and force an
unfair advantage, even at times when they should have been
focusing on scoring and, by avoiding theatrics, they might
certainly have scored. England got what it wished for, at the
cost of having given up something more rewarding and fairer.
There is, however, a price to pay for gimmicks, and Divine
Justice intervened when it was important for this to happen
and when it would have been absurd and unjust had things
developed otherwise.
I repeat once again and once more: No team wants to be
given unfair advantage in its flight to the top, but, as the
other side of the same coin, no team wants to be deprived
of its advancement because of theatrics, refereeing mistakes
and other gimmicks and shenanigans.





  


Let's go U.S.A.!! U.S.A. all the way!!
  
Let's go U.S.A.!!

Germany also ran short of ideas and Sweden took advantage,
even though they were not extremely impressive either.


 
 

And now, getting into the last quarterfinal for the last spot in the
Final Four. Germany faces Sweden. Let's go GERMANY!!



As well and as dynamically as the girls played in the first half,
stamina and enthusiasm disappeared in the second half and
fatigue settled in, and the Netherlands were allowed to do their
job uninhibited and relatively comfortably. But, despite the
defeat, several players gave all: The keeper Laura Giuliani,
who almost saved even the two goals, Sara Gama, with her
excellent stamina and personality, Valentina Bergamaschi,
before her substitution, Barbara Bonansea and the other two
Valentinas, Cernoia and Giacinti, moving constantly up and
down and putting pressure on the opponents. ITALIA has a
lot to build upon for the next tournament and it will attain its
deserved position in the World stage and become, as befits a
Footballing Nation, a force to reckon with, a power house and
a consistent protagonist.




In a little over an hour ITALIA faces the Netherlands
and a little later Deutschland takes up Sweden.
ANDIAMO, AZZURRE!! FORZA ITALIA!!

  


The girls fulfilled their obligations and, by winning 2-1
against France in the quarterfinals, they set up a very
important tie with England.




In the next game, our Stars and Stripes are facing the
Hosts. one of the strongest and best prepared teams in
this tournament. Let's go U.S.A.!!



The Lionesses had the spark and all the ideas, while the
Norwegian Ladies were overbusy, uninspired and their
quiver had no arrows left... Well done, ENGLAND!!





The time has come. Let's go NORWAY


What did we learn from yesterday's press conference by Pierluigi
Collina and the other stooges of this despicable organization?
Very little to nothing:

1. They said that they are doing the best that can be done.
   Self-praise is redundant, but, unfortunately, the only
   thing that the deplorable FIFA knows how to do well
   and using consistently to avoid scrutiny from outside
   even for the bribing and other criminal activities at the top.
   
2. They said that VAR has 100% accuracy in those decisions
   that are ``black-and-white" and not subject to interpretation.
   Good, but anything else would have been a failure, since
   machines can do that perfectly and that is the whole point.
3. They claimed that Human referees are instructed to
   and are refereeing the matches as if VAR had not been
   there. First, we can accept the ``instruction" part, since,
   they may claim on that part what they wish. Second, why
   is it so difficult to accept that such a thing is not happening
   at all in the pitch and why is it such a terrible thing,
   especially from ardent supporters of VAR, to accept
   that that can never happen again and that, if, in fact,
   it is not happening, it is not such a bad thing after all?
   The goal here is to ensure FAIRNESS and, if there
   comes a moment in the History of the Game that
   absolute Consistency and Fairness can be enforced
   fully and completely by machine calls, then why would
   it be absurd to have the Human referee in the field with
   his/her sole role being to communicate the machine's
   decisions to the players and to monitor the Human
   discipline and compliance in the run of play?
4. No word about the ``non black-and-white" decisions
   and those ``subjective" calls, as Collina called them.
   If you do not talk about these and if you are reluctant
   to comment about successes and failures in these calls
   and what the top of refereeing officials and their body
   think about them, and to show some clips and enlighten
   on the rules by telling us what the failures were and
   where the rules could have been adhered to more
   faithfully, then, I hope you realize, there is very little
   you can actually convey, both in terms of useful and
   constructive information and in terms of instruction
   and education of the public on both the rules themselves
   and on your attitude and work concerning them. This
   last point was where Honesty and Transparency was
   depending upon and we heard not a single word on it
   but only a stark and gaping refusal.
   

I hope you think about these points and you do it better next time.
It is, however a good thing that you did something, even if it was
very little and rather uninformative.


We are now entering the quarterfinal stage of the competition and,
as had been expected, some of the most talented and best prepared
Teams are left. Tomorrow Norway faces England in Le Havre; on
Friday, in the Jewel of Paris, the Hosts are up to their hardest test
yet against our Stars and Stripes; Saturday, in Valenciennes, not far
from the Seats of our European Union, Italy, packed with talent and
History, faces the powerful and impressive Netherlands and, later
in the day, in Rennes, on the side of the Great Atlantic, two of the
Giants of the Game this year, Germany and Sweden, are crossing
their sharpened swords for a place in the semifinals.


I would like to include coach Takakura here for high praise for
her Team's Character and mesmerizing overall Appearance in
this tournament. Japan was a joy to watch and we are looking
forward to seeing them again in upcoming competition.
BRAVO, COACH!!


Yesterday's game in Rennes, in which the Netherlands won
2-1 against Japan and advanced to the quarterfinals of the
2019 World Cup, was, perhaps, the most exciting game of
the competition so far. Japan was the first team for which
I sincerely felt sorrow and heartache for their elimination.
I wish both the Netherlands and Japan could be in the final
four because they were both teams that deserve high praise,
high position and distinctions in this year's tournament, but,
as in Life, so in football, what we wish, cannot always pass.
Japan showed character, determination, stubbornness,
and distinguished themselves for their technique and their
athleticism. BRAVO, JAPAN!! CONGRATULATIONS,
NETHERLANDS!!




ITALIA fulfilled its obligations and, by defeating China
2-0 in Montpellier, they advanced to the quarterfinals to
set a tie with the winner of Netherlands vs. Japan. The
Netherlands have to perform their duty now!
Let's go Oranje!!




There are some more comments that are in order for this
year's World Cup in France:

1. The gap in the level of play between the Women's and the Men's
   game has been closing fast in the last few years. This makes the
   Women's Competition very enjoyable and a pleasure to watch
   and obliges one to Congratulate both the Girls and their Technical
   Teams for having achieved remarkable results in a short time with
   limited, I am sure, on many occasions, resources and at a much
   more reasonable cost and moderate means than at the men's side.
2. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the refereeing and
   this despite the introduction of the extremely helpful VARs.
   We saw, not only a significant deterioration of standards in
   comparison with previous competitions, but, in fact, rather
   a disastrous situation, the worst of any competition in recent
   memory. The World Federations have a responsibility to
   substantially increase funding and resources for training in
   that regard and, if need be, assign for the foreseeable future
   the same referees in the Women side of the Game at high
   level matches, such as the World Cup, as are refereeing the
   Men's side.
3. A last personal remark that has to do with garments and with
   apparel. I noticed that teams like Italy and Brazil, whose men's
   teams are highly decorated, are wearing on the shirts the number
   of stars corresponding to the Cups that their Men have brought
   home, unlike, e.g., Germany. I would urge all Teams to wear
   shirts with the number of stars corresponding to the Cups that
   the teams of the same gender have brought home. The reasons
   are very simple: First, it prevents in a reasonable and realistic
   way any chance of confusion in the fans' minds. Second, if, say,
   Italy's girls bring a Cup home, would the Men, then, wear 5
   Stars in the next World Cup or still 4? And, what about the girls
   themselves? Will they wear 1 Star or still 4 (or, perhaps 5) Stars,
   still following and sticking to the Men's Record?
   LET US ALL AGREE TO KEEP THE RECORDS STRAIGHT
   FOR THE SAKE OF EQUALITY AND FAIRNESS TO ALL!!
   

U.S.A., with some help from the worst refereeing in recent
memory, and SWEDEN fulfilled their obligations and, by
winning 2-1 and 1-0 against Spain and Canada, respectively,
advanced to the quarterfinals of the Women's World Cup
in France and set ties with the Hosts and with the ultra
powerful Germans, respectively. Today is the turn of
Italy and the Netherlands to do their job and complete the
Last Eight that will fight it out for the Ultimate Reward.
Let's go Azzurre!! Let's go Oranje!


I hear comments about the VAR needing reform or
that it needs to be scrapped. The VAR can make the
game swift and fair. Even if it takes a little time out
of play, there is nothing more important that Absolute
Justice and Unbiased Decision Making for the prestige
and the enjoyment of the beautiful game. BUT, WHAT
IS THE PURPOSE OF VAR WHEN, EVEN WITH ITS
USAGE, MANY DECISIONS ARE STILL CARELESS
AND, ON MANY OCCASIONS, BLATANTLY FAULTY
AND ERRONEOUS?


And a tribute to two of the best coaches in this 2019
World Cup, starting with the Hosts.


FRANCE also fulfilled its obligations and, by winning
2-1 in extra time against Brazil in Le Havre, advanced
to the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Our Lady Stars
and Stripes have now the responsibility to remind the
Globe that there is, on this side of the Atlantic, One Team
and One Nation, with the Footballing Intelligence, the
Determination and the Quality to Take All, that should
not be underestimated. Alongside, Sweden must do its
duty to eliminate Canada.
Let's go U.S.A.! Let's go SWEDEN!


ENGLAND fulfilled its obligations and, by winning
3-0 against Cameroon in Valenciennes, advanced to
the quarterfinals, where they are to meet the very
talented and stubborn Norwegians.
Let's go FRANCE! Do your duty as well!


NORWAY fulfilled its obligations and, by winning in
the penalty kicks against the Lady Socceroos, advanced
to the 2019 World Cup quarterfinals. Now it is time for
the FA Ladies and les Dames Bleues to do their part.
Let's go England! Allez les bleues!


GERMANY fulfilled its obligations and, by winning
3-0 against Nigeria, advanced to the quarterfinals,
where they are due to face either Canada or Sweden.
Let's go NORWAY! Do your duty as well!


I was very pleased to see our United States defeat
Sweden in the last match of the group stage of the
2019 World Cup in Le Havre. On the other hand,
it would not be appropriate to claim that the team
performed at its top level, which may be unfortunate,
on the one hand, but positive, on the other, since
this game was not among the most crucial and, also,
because winning a team as strong as Sweden without
giving all says a lot about the quality of Team U.S.A..
There is however, one additional comment that is
unfortunately needed here and that is that none of
us wants to be either favored or disadvantaged by
refereeing decisions and, especially so, by faulty
and erroneous usage of VARs. FIFA GET IT
RIGHT AT LAST! YOU MUST PAY VERY
CLOSE ATTENTION TO UNFORTUNATE
VAR USE AND SYSTEM MALFUNCTIONING
AND/OR MISUSE. How was it that the second
U.S. goal was not deemed an offside? Was not
Carli in a blatantly offside position and was she
not blatantly influencing the flow of play and the
efforts and reactions of the Swedish side during
the run of play? IF YOU CANNOT GET SUCH
SIMPLE DECISIONS RIGHT WITH VAR, THEN
WHAT CAN YOU GET RIGHT AND WHAT ARE
WE SUPPOSED TO EXPECT VARs' POSSIBLE
IMPROVEMENTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO
BE? Get serious and be careful about this!


Unfortunately, the VAR has been misused in this
year's World Cup in France. Several decisions that
have passed through VAR's ``scrutiny" have still
been made on the wrong side. I do understand that
there still is a Human factor entering into VAR
reviews and VAR decisions. Such a significant
amount of mistakes, however, means either that
the VAR officials and the referees have not yet
been adequately and satisfactorily trained in its
use or that there still is an underlying suspicious
political undercurrent that makes many decisions
biased and influences refereeing substantially.