Topic: The Push Square Football (Soccer) Thread

@Kidfried We have every match, just at awful times!

The second finish from Haaland was absolutely class, I can’t lie.

Going to quite annoyed if Eric Dier is our new captain tomorrow.

If it’s not Sonny then I’m starting a riot.

I've gotten right into the Women's World Cup so much so that I stayed up until 2am this morning to watch Spain v Netherlands. I've enjoyed it and it has improved a lot from years ago, especially the goalkeepers.
The Germany v Colombia match in the group games was a fantastic match.

Seeing Harry Kane in a Bayern Munich shirt feels like a fever dream. It’s absolutely mental that we’ve let him go the day before our season starts, but he should be playing in the UCL. He’s that good and his ambition wasn’t matched at Spurs so I don’t blame him leaving.

Australia!!!! One of the tensest penalty shootouts I’ve seen at the end of a really tight match, that’s proper knockout football. Might not be the most glamorous but that separates the World Cup winners from the runners up, being able to overcome tough, grinding matches where you aren’t at your best.

@QualityGeezer As a pretty disappointed fan of the USWNT, I could come at you throwing around "screw you" and all that crap, but I can't argue with your post. I was still obviously rooting for them, but I understand the hate too. It sucked to watch, but in the end the early exit might be good for them in the long run. Getting rid of the coach and Rapinoe retiring could all go a long way to not only improving the team but also their image. As great as she was, I blame her for a lot of their image issues. The cockiness was kind of earned when you're dominant for that long (aside from the Olympics and now the World Cup), but with that obviously comes backlash that I understand. There's no way around it though, they flat out sucked in the tournament. Losing Swanson in the SheBelieves Cup proved to be an even bigger blow to the team than I expected, and it's like they didn't care for some reason.

Good luck to your team, both you and @ApostateMage. It's been a strange World Cup with most of the games being extremely close and with several upsets, so hopefully they aren't another to fall victim to the upset.

@KilloWertz I want to like the USWNT because of course there’s a lot of people who hate them for reasons outside of football. I saw them beat Thailand 13-0 though and continue doing massive celebrations which just felt really disrespectful, it’s basic sportsmanship to dial it back a bit when you’ve routed a team in that fashion. It would be the exact same if a men’s team did similar, just reeks of arrogance.

@nessisonett I'll admit that it's hard to defend that or even argue that you're wrong, as you aren't, but I will say at least for the continued scoring I understand going for a record if the other team continues to be unable to stop you at almost every turn. Pugh/Swanson scored her first ever WC goal, so I understand that celebration (and it tying the record). Morgan's record setting goal was actually a more subdued celebration in comparison to others like Rapinoe's when she was spinning around and all that.

Like I said, I get what you're saying, but at the same time the actual team they did it to didn't have a problem with it. They were embarrassed and obviously cried, but they are the ones it was done to and nobody spoke out that they hated what the USWNT did in that game.

Not you specifically, but love them or hate them, women's soccer wouldn't be where it is today without a team that was as dominant as them. Obviously this year's team was an embarrassing shell of that team, and they have earned at least some of the hate (they get hate even in the US now), but they also earned the right to have at least some arrogance. Hopefully this year's debacle will put some things in perspective for them though, as obviously they lost the right to be as arrogant anymore.

@QualityGeezer You're fine. They deserved comments like that given how they seemed to approach this year's World Cup. Between a handful of the players refusing to sing along to the national anthem and the fact that it looked like some of them weren't even trying a lot of the time, it was a rough tournament for them and the fans.

Carli Lloyd got criticized for what she said, but I thought she was pretty much spot on. Like I said, it didn't look like they were putting in that much effort at times. Sure, they were missing a few key players, but between a lack of effort, poor coaching, and bad game plans, it was hard to watch and obviously extremely disappointing. Given how bad they were offensively in the Olympics and even in the SheBelieves Cup, it wasn't totally surprising that they would bomb out in the World Cup when they kept refusing to fire the coach, but still disappointing. They really needed Mallory Swanson, since it was clear outside of the first game that Sophia Smith is not ready for the international stage.

Anyways, this got a bit more longwinded than intended, but a lot of them still will be playing. Ertz and Rapinoe were the only two that announced their retirements already. Alex Morgan will be sticking around, and I don't blame her as that would be a horrible way to go out. Rapinoe retiring, as great as she used to be, is a huge blessing imo.

@QualityGeezer I try not to read too much about that kind of stuff, but as far as I know you summed it up pretty well by calling her polarizing. Obviously there's some hate for the wrong reasons, but while she was one of the best players to ever play on the USWNT (nobody can rightfully deny that), I doubt general fans will ever like her as much as some of the other all-time great Americans. Doesn't help that the country is about as divided as it can get politically, but I have a feeling Alex Morgan will be the more beloved player in the end now that the mantle is fully her's and is usually fairly quiet.

Almost reassuring to see Spurs are still the shambles they always are. Ange is clearly having an impact on their attacking play just as he did with us but Spurs have one of the worst defensive lines I’ve seen in the Prem.

@Nessisonett He's only been here a few months and it's the first game of the season. You can't expect him to iron out all the defensive issues and get rid of all the deadwood overnight. Give it a rest for once.

On the topic of Spurs, however, I thought we were relatively good today. A few shaky moments defensively and the deflection for Brentford's second goal was a bit unlucky, but I thought we played quite well — especially in the second half.

Bissouma was absolutely immense on the ball and was the best player on the pitch by a mile. Madders was really promising as well getting the two assists, and Destiny Udogie, my word, what a player. He's got a bright future ahead of him. Good signs moving forward but still a few glaring holes in the squad that need looking at.

This United performance gives me hope for this weekend.

@QualityGeezer Wolves were definitely hard done by there. Just lacking the quality up front but they deserved to win that — admittedly I only saw the last half hour.

EDIT: Also, how was that NOT a penalty?

Looks like De Byrne is out for a few months then. Will make much difference to Man City's season? I doubt it.

I forgot just how much I despise the English media during any sort of international tournament. Somehow I thought they would be more bearable during the women’s World Cup.

Lauren Hemp. Take a bow, dear. Take a bow. 👏