Costa Rica got colonized again. By Spain….

3-0

Unlucky? It's not like she hit it upper 90 and it just hit the post and out. That's unlucky. This was 3 feet from the keeper and any keeper that guesses right saves that.

What is the general sentiment in ref circles about announcing the VAR results? It doesn't feel natural to me yet. Do refs practice their announcements like they do in American football?

Not a ref but I like it. It's obviously a work in progress. Would've been better to have introduced it in other competitions first to get some learnings first.

More like unlucky in the way that there were opportunities for both that neither took advantage of.

The keeper guessing correctly on a weakly hit PK was good on the keeper. It was a poorly taken shot and a missed opportunity.

The open goal where the Canadian keeper was out of position was a great save by the Canadian defender, but Nigeria had a chance to take the upper hand.

It was poor play all around.

When I use the term unlucky, it's not a polite, kind description by any means.

tysker said:

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What is the general sentiment in ref circles about announcing the VAR results? It doesn't feel natural to me yet. Do refs practice their announcements like they do in American football?

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It provides nothing of value and it's asking people to verbalize something not in their natural language.

Mathguy64 said:

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tysker said:

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What is the general sentiment in ref circles about announcing the VAR results? It doesn't feel natural to me yet. Do refs practice their announcements like they do in American football?

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It provides nothing of value and it's asking people to verbalize something not in their natural language.

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It's obvious some are uncomfortable with the language in addition to being a little winded from running and having a naturally elevated heart rate knowing they are making an important call, It's not as natural as talking directly to players using succinct expressions during the course of play.

Going forward, will they be in the host country's language, or will they go the Olympics route and stick to English/French? I imagine using the host country's language could be controversial in many venues.

English. They all have to take and pass an English competency exam at this level.

I mean they aren't providing any value. In the SUI-PHI match last night she literally said "after video review my decision is penalty kick". What is the point of doing that?

Mathguy64 said:

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English. They all have to take and pass an English competency exam at this level.

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I wonder if this will be an issue for refs from the country of What!?

Predictions for tonight?

I'm thinking 4-0 America.

jeffk said:

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Predictions for tonight?

I'm thinking 4-0 America.

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11-0 and they're going to act like it's their first time to score after every goal.

Lol. It's the World Cup. I hope they do celebrate every goal.

No joke live it up

No *****official game thread*****?

Our debut 2023 @FIFAWWC XI 🇺🇸 #USWNT x @Visa pic.twitter.com/u5xfcpGXcc

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) July 22, 2023

Is Rose healthy?

I don't care if she's not at her best but Julie Ertz is a damn national treasure.

Rudyjax said:

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Is Rose healthy?

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Andonovski says Rose Lavelle is "ready to play. We're not going to force lot of minutes from the very beginning, but we'll ease everything as we move on." #uswnt

— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) July 21, 2023

How was that not a foul there

Knucklesammich said:

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How was that not a foul there

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I thought she flopped.

They tryin to hurt us on purpose?

defenders and defensive midfielders love nothing more than taking a rebound and blasting a long range shot into the stratosphere

gambochaman said:

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They tryin to hurt us on purpose?

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They are just physically a step to slow, leading to a lot of fouls so far

She is hopelessly lost out there. At least 3 bad misses so far.

GOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!

Sweet sequence there

YokelRidesAgain said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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She is hopelessly lost out there. At least 3 bad misses so far.

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You mean the ref, I presume?

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Yep

At 17 there was clear retaliation by Horan. I mean she chased the Vietnamese player down 70 yards. And the ref played advantage as the ball went backwards.

She is so so lost out there.

Mathguy64 said:

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At 17 there was clear retaliation by Horan. I mean she chased the Vietnamese player down 70 yards. And the ref played advantage as the ball went backwards.

She is so so lost out there.

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Not to be sexist, but are there enough World class female referees in a big tourney like this? Seems like if your gender is a requirement, the pool to chose the best is significantly harder.

No. But it's the same for a Men's WC. You get the Kouman Coulibaly's of the world. But the WWC pool is definitely shallower.

Rudyjax said:

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Not to be sexist, but are there enough World class female referees in a big tourney like this? Seems like if your gender is a requirement, the pool to chose the best is significantly harder.

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In terms of female international refs who could do a good job at this tournament, probably not.

In terms of female international refs who could do a good job and satisfy FIFA rules regarding confederations, etc., I doubt it.

I suspect that the vast majority of qualified female refs come from UEFA and North America. CONMEBOL probably has a few. When you're dealing with CAF, AFC, OFC refs, well..

Does the ref have to be a woman?

That didn't look good for Horan

This ref is epically bad

But this offense looks berhalter-esque