Group C: Spain | Costa Rica | Zambia | Japan

Bananas

I did find that funny.

I mean Palmy is a nice place but if you were going to have an epic journey to NZ with your whānau I would imagine that the whole time stuck in palmy when you're not playing would get... Less exciting than you may expect.

And even as players training, not training too close to where you play heaps of games would be kinda sucky.

Are Spain really not returning to Massey at all? If not,where are they, have they managed to grab more access to Newtown Park?

Bananas

I did find that funny.

I mean Palmy is a nice place but if you were going to have an epic journey to NZ with your whānau I would imagine that the whole time stuck in palmy when you're not playing would get... Less exciting than you may expect.

And even as players training, not training too close to where you play heaps of games would be kinda sucky.

I've gotta applaud you Bananas, if you can even bring yourself to say that Palmy is nice then you must be the most positive person in existence. Glad we've got you in our corner.

theres been a retraction on the story suggesting that Spain are leaving cos it's boring...... it is, as you'd expect to eb closer to the Stadium where they'll be playing in the round of 16.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/fifa-womens-world-cup-2023/132644885/fifa-womens-world-cup-espn-reporter-causes-international-incident-over-palmerston-north-comments

theprof

theres been a retraction on the story suggesting that Spain are leaving cos it's boring...... it is, as you'd expect to eb closer to the Stadium where they'll be playing in the round of 16.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/fifa-womens-world-cup-2023/132644885/fifa-womens-world-cup-espn-reporter-causes-international-incident-over-palmerston-north-comments

Yeah but they would say that officially wouldn't they.

I spent two nights in Palmy for work last month and left with an existential crisis. 

My mother lives in Palmy. Nuff said.

One of the overlooked reasons for why NZ exceeded expectations in South Africa in 2010 is because we bypassed the FIFA selected accomodation of hotels in the cities in favour on some form of resort accommodation in a game park that was mentally good for the team .  When I saw the hotel allocations for this tournament I thought Portugal, Argentina might struggle with boredom in suburban hotels.  Should probably also have thought of cultures like Spain where things  typically open at the time things shut in NZ!

Should be a cracking game tonight, excited for the atmosphere!!!

Looks like a decent crowd on tele! But a cold proper windy Welly day? 

Hope it’s a good game for those who’ve got out for it! 

Gambare Nadeshiko!

Wow. Japan made the most team changes for this game. But 3-0 ,up at half time. 3 excellent counter attack goals.

Japan giving a masterclass in attacking efficiency when they have the ball.

They made that Spanish keeper look borrower-sized in the first half! 

Still had maybe the best chance of the half, but I wonder if, seeing 3-4 passes left unusually short, the wind is affecting them in the second half. 

First half every through ball found a striker and a goal it seemed!

Fark.  Gutted I missed this one.

Surely Spain were throwing that one to finish second in group and meet Switzerland?
Norway have found form..finally..and will pose more of a threat 

Spain players looked in shock at one point. But towards the end of the game there intensity dropped off. The fact Japan kept a clean sheet quite significant. Although they were set up 5-4-1. Spain never really looked that likely.

Surely the bigger path A/B scenario is avoiding the US, and there's no telling which side of the draw they end up on, Dutch could tonk Vietnam and take the group. If Spain were tanking it could end up biting them in the quarters. And frankly, I fancy Japan against Norway, Norway have been shark and it's tough to read into a win against a minnow, whereas Japan have sailed through with a +11 GD and none conceded. To me it looked like Spain's disfunction under Vilda coming to the fore as soon as they faced a side on their level.

Edit: if US top the group they'll be on course to meet Spain in the quarters. So unless Spain were really confident about the Dutch winning the group, I doubt they were tanking. 

FernieFan

Surely Spain were throwing that one to finish second in group and meet Switzerland?
Norway have found form..finally..and will pose more of a threat 

I genuinely think Spain just got smoked tbh, Japan were resting a bunch of their better players.

Spain had the same problem that stopped them from scoring more against Costa Rica, a complete lack of attacking urgency. It's no good to fluff around with the ball outside the box and do nothing with it.

FernieFan

Surely Spain were throwing that one to finish second in group and meet Switzerland?
Norway have found form..finally..and will pose more of a threat 

Don't think they intended to tank from the outset, but certainly weren't showing the urgency when 3-0 down (probably more thinking ahead to RO16). As the 2022 mens WC unfortuantely showed, teams already through seem to be happy to mess around in the last group game (Brazil, Portugal)

Ranix

Spain players looked in shock at one point. But towards the end of the game there intensity dropped off. The fact Japan kept a clean sheet quite significant. Although they were set up 5-4-1. Spain never really looked that likely.

Loled at the 92nd minute when a Spanish defender went down theatrically holding her head. She then tried to convince the ref that she’d been brutally elbowed in the head, perhaps as a desperate way to fight back. Or perhaps in the hope that it had really happened and would impair her memory of the game! 

In any case, it was too late to show resistance and the ref wasn’t interested at all. She blew the final whistle shortly afterwards. 

FernieFan

Surely Spain were throwing that one to finish second in group and meet Switzerland?
Norway have found form..finally..and will pose more of a threat 

Not at all. I think Spain underestimated Japan as they’d changed a few players and weren’t worried about Spain having possession. In the first half Japan scored every chance they had. Also I think the Spanish did not like the cold and the wind! 

Japan was all over them. Wish we had their two strikers in the Kiwis. That 3rd goal was oustanding.

Monto

Bananas

I did find that funny.

I mean Palmy is a nice place but if you were going to have an epic journey to NZ with your whānau I would imagine that the whole time stuck in palmy when you're not playing would get... Less exciting than you may expect.

And even as players training, not training too close to where you play heaps of games would be kinda sucky.

I've gotta applaud you Bananas, if you can even bring yourself to say that Palmy is nice then you must be the most positive person in existence. Glad we've got you in our corner.

What a bunch of jaded world-weary cosmopolitan naysayers. A sightseeing trip to visit Mt Cleese should be on everyone's itinerary.

I live in Palmy. Watched the game last night. Haven't laughed so much in ages. Thank you Japan.

Japan were so good.
Spain, 800 passes,but went next to nowhere.
Shows you how meaningless all the stats are that the media love to throw at you. They are pointless, I don't know why they bother.

Goals is the only statistic of any value.

What Spain were very very good at was winning the ball back when they lost it.

Being half Japanese, I loved that. Japan were epic, and harried the Spanish from the get go. The goals, especially that fourth, was excellent. For all their possession, they did absolutely nothing with it and I couldn’t really think of a save the keeper actually had to make? 

Decent crowd for a cold Monday night, and loved the active Japanese support. Nice and loud! 

Play like that, and they’ve nothing to fear against Norway, but they’ll have their tails up too. Bring on Saturday!