Off-season 2015

[Sweder]

I've been following the tournament avidly. Comparisons with the men's' game are unfair and, frankly, irrelevant. Apart from the difference in pace of play, there's no cheating, hardly any histrionics, zero disrespect for the (frankly awful) officials and a complete lack of amateur dramatics after every 50-50. Personally I could do without Jonathan Pearce's patronising observations on hair-band fashion. Where was all that bollocks when Zlatan was banging in four against England from beneath his Alice-band?

Spellchecker wanted to change 'Zlatan' to 'Satan'. That's brilliant.

I take issue with you on the passing, Dan. Canada shouldn't have had a sniff in that match once England went 2-0 up. Inexplicably senior players like Karen Carney started hacking the ball back to them instead of holding, passing short and making Canada come and get it. If England play like that against Japan you'll see death by a thousand passes, no doubt with a late-in coup de grace once the Lionesses are reduced to mesmerised kittens. Australia, if anything even fitter and more physical than England, succumbed in the 87th minute, having chased Japanese tails for far too long in debilitating heat.

That said, Mark Sampson impressed on Sportsweek. 'We've been looking at scenarios and factored in Japan for the semi's. We have plans for them and we'll be working on those in the coming days.' He's energised, focused and 'keeping it real', which is great to see. He's also young and British (Welsh). His tactics and selections have been criticised on social media, right up to the point when his team wins through to the next round. Goes to show you don't need to be almost dead, foreign or have a top playing pedigree to get the best out of a national team.

Speaking of the heat, it was over 100 degrees pitch-side for that round-of-sixteen match.
This is Canada, hardly the tropics. Qatar? Really? Ha.