#argwnt

"as white as the team"

you're gonna look me in the eye and lie like that when more than half the team LOOKS LIKE THIS???

Let’s start strong with Germany! Did someone say kuntenserven?

Everyone’s seen this home kit and rightfully, everyone loves it. It’s just so sexy, how could you not? The crisp clean white paired with the classic adidas stripes, but with that sexy germany flag gradient? oh lord i’m weak at the knees. Naturally it’s helped by the fact that the germans have a pretty sexy colour pallete to work with, but still.Even the diamond detailing like oml. It just looks fire, literally. i love it. -9/10

The away kit meanwhile is kind of spinning my head a bit. I genuinely don’t know if i love it or hate it. in theory i love hot pink kits, but i also fucking hate the purple gradient. if the whole thing was pink i’d say absolutely yes because i genuinely love garish eyesores, but this is just not hitting the spot for me. also what’s with the pattern? this is what i imagine you would see if a hedgehog went down on you. undecided - 5.5/10

Wales’s sense of style reflects their Euros qualifications… in that i’m yet to see either

Argentina v South Africa | Group G | FIFA Women's World Cup 2023

Well hello everyone. Will this be proof that player interactions will get more notes than sports talk? We shall see!

Week one is over and we got a LOT of surprises, so without further ado here's the points table by group. (Yes, I made my own bracket tracker, let me live)((yes more opinions and notes no one asked for but I AM GONNA GIVE ANYWAYS BC WORLD CUP TIME IS MY TIME BABEEY))

Group A with a lil sprinkle of Week 2 for good measure. Norway absolutely showed some nerves at being in this world stage, and the Philippines is one of the few teams who I feel played better than the scoreboard reflects. There was a lot of beautiful tactical acumen in that game, and no spoilers for week 2 conversations but well... you can see the score there. Philippines is absolutely presenting us with a beautiful project and they do NOT want to be left behind. Group A is most definitely getting hairy out here.

Group B. No Sam Kerr for Australia didn't slow them down half as much as I think the pundits expected, and they managed a solid if not a little uninspired win over Ireland. There was a lot of physicality that allows ME to laugh in the face of that "the game was too physical" nonsense Ireland pulled with Colombia ahead of the cup. Canada very predictably is crumbling under their own weight--is it tactics (and their coaching), an aging squad, the quality of the other teams? Who's to say, but it shows. And Nigeria, I feel, only narrowly missed on a goal or two that would've made this score reflect the game a lot more.

Group C again with a spoiler for week 2 (by now the Spain and Canada games in week 2 have been played but I'm rewatching my recorded games bc I am an ADULT and cannot stay up/wake up early for these crazy schedules and be productive, so here we are). Spain had the good luck of getting to step into the cup with a relatively weaker team--they got the ideal game to settle into the fact that they're missing a lot of key pieces but they hit the ground RUNNING. It also showed that it might be time for Costa Rica to look for a different coaching strategy, and I say this as someone who's a BIG fan of Valverde. This team is leaving WAY too much space and playing all to the ball and not to the players looking for space and it showed in both the Spain game and the Week 2 Japan game.

I'll admit I didn't watch the Zambia game but I am not at all surprised that a squad full of speed and discipline kicked ass like they did. Rip Zambia there, do better damn it, I've seen the quality and grit in this team and I want to see it next week.

Group D. HOLY SPIRIT OF FUTBOL, BATMAN! That Haiti game was BEAUTIFUL. Of course England comes in with a lot of missing pieces into the cup, but Haiti capitalized on everything. Speed, decisiveness, dribbling, spaces, passes, it was beautiful. A dumb handball and a penalty really did them in. Sadly they're missing some decisiveness up-front, especially in that last kick at goal, but they showed they belong and they're here to stay.

China deserved better than what happened with that miracle goal. Denmark played a very weak game and China had every opportunity to win it, unfortunately this game is cruel and there's no such thing as "deserve", there is goal scoring, and that failed them. Excited for that China vs Haiti, and wishing a speedy recovery to Jennyfer Limage, ACL tears are brutal and getting to this stage and be taken out by such a bitch of an injury is painful for everyone involved.

Group E. I also didn't watch the US game, my apologies, but I won't be a hypocrite and say "well what happened with the team that won 13-0 last world cup?" because this is more a symptom that the gaps are closing between the superpowers of this game and the rest of the world, and I for one love to see it. (Yes, I choose to watch Oppenheimer over the game, no I am not sorry).

Portugal v Netherlands was a VERY physical game, and the Netherlands is showing cracks, especially in the midfield, but you can't argue with results and you definitely can't argue with the initiative in plays and the SPEED the midfielders kick off with to run at goal. That said, Portugal played with a lot of heart, but they're missing that final 3rd pass/game. Once they find it? They're gonna be amazing!

Group F. HOLY SPIRIT OF FOOTBALL PART 2, BATMAN! Jamaica man, what a fucking team! Starting from the beautiful kits and the spirit they played with, they absolutely nullified France. They were very patient, waited for France to get frantic and make mistakes, which they did, and absolutely went for this very VERY important tie. This absolutely keeps them in the running to make it out of group stages and, honestly, I wouldn't count them out. Heartbreaker double yellow but that's on poor team management, the bench needs to start learning to sub out cautioned players, but what else is new.

Brazil man, BRAZIL WITH EL JOGO BONITO. Dream world cup debut for Ary, roaring into the competition with a beautiful hatty. If they can stay healthy and show patience and willingness to stick with the strategy, they can go far. Exciting game up ahead in week 2!

Group G. What a fucking game that Sweden v South Africa game was! Honestly I thought South Africa had them for a moment. It became a matter of fatigue and the little mistakes that this can lead to in the end. Sweden needs to take this victory as a salve from the heavens and make some adjustments, and South Africa needs to shake this, because they absolutely have what it takes to make it out of this group.

I am not going to lie, I am heartbroken AND angry for/with Argentina. They played a good game from the midfield down, really good defensive lines, but what the FUCK happened in the final third? Banini was, as Andres Cantor likes to say "alone against the world", making amazing runs and having 0 support in the area for any crosses. If the midfield and the forward line don't start to play through her, as one Jamie Tartt taught us, this is gonna be a quick and painful ending for SUCH a talented and promising team. Get it together, this game could've been a win if there was better connection up ahead.

Group H. This one is, I think, the game that DEFINITELY isn't reflected by the final score. Morocco is really freaking good? Good through passes, very talented wingers, their defense, of course, needs a lot of work, especially in recognizing clear and present danger which the Germans absolutely exploited, but overall this ass kicking is not what I would've expected from the team I watched. Germany played their best edition of their game, let the other team hold the ball and batter themselves against your lines, exploit mistakes, use height and speed, and start knocking on heaven's door early and decisively. No notes. Alexandra Popp is the moment. The German team also have an ADORABLE crochet koala bear as their team mascot and I love it.

And now the moment I've been waiting for. Ehem. CAMPEON, COLOMBIA CAMPEON!!! Please tell me the English streams talked about Abadia serving a 2 game suspension because NOTHING says Colombia more than "the cup hasn't even started and your coach is already suspended" (he's was suspended following the Copa America final and this is the first time he can serve the games, but it's hysterical seeing him, sitting with the audience with his white board, angry as hell). Clearly they're shaking the nerves off, and Colombia gave South Korea a LOT of latitude. There were a lot of stupid mistakes (wtf was that ninja kick, miss Vanegas!?), they played a very physical game in the beginning (we will never win anything on fairplay and I've accepted this), but when it came time to put on the screws they delivered. What can I say about the Wunderkind too. Linda didn't even pick up her head for that senior world cup goal, she just knew it was right, and she was correct. They exploited South Korea's weaknesses and delivered results. Tighter lines and better discipline for the game against Germany and we might just make it very freaking far y'all!