Women's World Cup!

Hi Everyone!!!!

So, it kicked off last night, I did not see the game, I was watching Breakfast At Tiffany's with a friend, the lovely Audrey Hepburn starring with George Peppard, one of my favouritistical films! Almost makes me wish to darken my hair!!!!

Anyway, France beat South Korea in the opener, no surprises there really, coz the French have a great team, the midfielder Wendie Wotshername is a fantastic player and will be pivotal for the French, who strangely are the favourites in actual fact, I think the USA are myself, but the bookmakers make them second favourite. I'm watching China v. Germany now, quite a dull game so far but a nice German goal is winning right now. Norway play Nigeria tonight 8pm BST I almost forgot to say, should be easy. England v. Scotland looks good, I shall tape it and watch it another time as I have a very important day tomorrow!!!!

I placed my bet on Norway, daring to go into a betting shop for the first time in a high street ever! But they were very niced and asked me why I thought they would win, so I explained I was half Norwegian and Norway is one of only four teams to have actually won it, USA, Germany and Japan being the other three. And I got 33/1! I think that is great value!!!!!

Well, I shall do my usual amazitastical, mystical prediction type thingy that always seems to be right! I think it will be Winners: Norway! And the other three semifinalists will be USA, England and France, with USA mot likely to reach the final, but it is hard to predict that coz they might meet each other in the earlier knockout round, in which case Germany will feature as a semi-finalist....

Celia xx

I confess I have little interest in the tournament. I only ever had a light interest in football generally. So I won't be paying much attention to it. Maybe if Ireland was playing!

But I'm supporting Norway in your honour. First time in a bookies? Can't believe it. Years ago they were grim, smoky joints full of smelly old men. But they're much more welcoming now. Free tea and coffee even. I don't go in much these days. I prefer online but back in the day I would visit very often although never linger because actually I find them a little intimidating even now.

I managed to clean out a small bookies once. I knew of a gamble on a horse. I told my boss and he told everyone in the bar who decamped en masse to the Bookies next door. Wiped them out.

I fear your little bet may not have quite the same impact though.

Good luck Norway!

Well, I will win £680 if they win the trophy!!!

But, many years ago, I worked on racecourses, so I know the horseracing game very well. I never really liked it much though. I would say that there is the kinda aristrocraticical side of it, that's the owners, trainers, royals, Hoorah Henrys and Champagne Charlottes.

Then there is the other side, the drinking classes that dress awfully and of course, the bookies and the punters.

You see, a racegoing HH or CC you can spot a mile away at any course, it's usually only the big meetings and the big courses. They dress impeccably and bet a couple of pounds only for the most part, though not always. They drive rollers, Aston Martins, Porsche, Lambo or Ferrari.

Then there are the drinkers that don't go often, live locally and come on the bus. They are just there for a day out and the girls dress up terribly. All usually get drunk and do all their money.

Well, of course there's the bookies that dress well anywhere but at the courses. They drive Mercs and other expensive vehicles and live in big houses. Finally there is the punter...… drives a clapped out car or gets the train or bus and often is wearing the same old clothes every time you see the poor soul.

Come on Norway!!!! I am hoping for about 4-0 tonight!

Celia xx

I'm looking forward to Royal Ascot. I'd love to go and not in tops and tails. I love the pageantry. You've nailed the horse racing fraternity in England. But it's different here in Ireland. Yes we have our own toffs but it's more spread out here. We just love horses. My sister and her husband's company sponsored a race won by the Aga Khan recently. Her twelve year old son handed the trophy to the his highnesses representative. He also met and spoke to Prince Charles a week later. I hope he doesn't think it'll be like that all his life!
But anyway horse racing is more egalitarian here.
Next month we have the Galway races. It lasts a week and it takes over the city. It's party central. Beautifully dressed people are everywhere and the sky hums with the sound of helicopter rotors. In the city centre the streets are full of punters drinking. It's massive craic as they say.
An everyman festival.
Great fun.

Just clicked onto the a football channel, Norway v Nigeria. Nil Nil at the moment. We've a lot of Nigerians living here and I know they're a very determined people. So tough match for Norway. I also realise that my wife has a family name associated with the vikings as in Norway. In fact she looks Scandi. When we went to Iceland everyone assumed she was local. That means my kids have Scandi blood!

Goal for Norway!
3 nil now. Your bet is not so foolish. Fingers crossed.

Hi Marie!!!

Yes, Galway races are famous, though I have never been. The Nigerians did well, but they were not quite organised enough and were snatching at chances. 3-0 is good enough, I was truly hoping it would be 4, because France had 4. The French were supporting Nigeria and I don't blame them, everyone likes the underdog!

Well, the next game against France will be the real test! BTW, anyone can watch any game live on the BBC player.

I think the USA kick off on Tuesday, against Thailand, I would expect them to score at least six. I will at least watch the highlights, coz I need to know how strong the USA are this time, as if I don't know, many played in 2015.

The Germans have looked most impressive in defence out of the teams that have played so far, they will be hard to beat. I still don't rate France, they are favourite because they are hosts, but I think that game against them is key for Norway to get the easier draw in the round of 16. Of course, Norway will still go through if they lose to France though, because South Korea will cause the biggest upset ever if they beat us, I think we can beat France's 4-0 against Korea, so a draw against the French should be enough to win the group. Oh, I will stay 'we' when talking about England too.... Sleepybyes!!!! Goodnight!!!!!

Celia xx

Now you're pushing me to put a few quid on Norway. But it can go wrong. When Rangers was a good team I bet them to win 4 0 and 5 0. I was counting the money when they were winning 5 0 in the 90th minute. Then they got a 6th goal. Damm them.

I watched the finals match, USA v Japan, many years ago and I remember the poor, not very tall, Japanese goalkeeper standing at the edge of the penalty box waiting for her team to back up and a USA player launched a kick towards the Japan goal and the poor goalie was backing up and tripped and the shot landed square in the goal, with the goalie holding her head- USA wins.

Hi Everyone!!!

That was 4 years ago Miki.... USA beat Japan in the final. Four years earlier Japan won the tournament. Anyway England laboured to an awful 2-1 victory against Scotland today. Now Scotland are not terrible, but they are nowhere near England's rank in the game, so a poor start for England.

Looking forward to watching the USA on Tuesday, let's see just how good they are atm....

Celia xx

Celia Eriksson wrote:That was 4 years ago Miki....

How time flies!

Well, it's rained all day long and tonight there is thunderer and lightning, I always get very frit when it happens and it's been quite loud and persistent... I've turned up my TV and hopefully it will go away soon.

So Japan had a shocker tonight drawing with Argentina, that's good for England and Canada beat the Camaroonians which is a good start for them. USA v. Thailand tomorrow night is the one I'm looking forward to and hopefully Sweden should beat Chile though I'm working daysies tomorrow.. oh another bang.... oh dear!

Celia xx

In the San Francisco Bay Area, we might get a thunderstorm once a year. I love the storms, but if they happened almost daily like in Florida - not so much!

Hi Miki!

Some years we may get a lot and others hardly any thunderer and lightning. Depends I guess, last years unusual long hot and dry spell grew none during summer at least, but here it is summer when we get them more often, especially when it's warm and the rains come in.

So, back to the football and the USA were superbical tonight with their 13-0 victory, a World Cup record breaker! I did not expect to get emotional at all at the ruthless slaying of a much inferior team in what is after all just a game, but seeing a Thai player crying and then Carli Lloyd gice the poor forlorn Thai goalkeeper a hug I did get weepy and cried a little for the Thailanders.

But what can anyone take from the game? Well, the USA are neat passers of the ball and have oodles of talent and will be quite hard to beat, no doubt. Alex Morgan was sublime, a superb footballer and she was simply fantastic tonight, all the team played with credit. It will not be clear until they play Sweden just how good they are though.

Any faults to offer to other teams? Not much! I thought they should have played more aerial at first, the Thais were on average a foot shorter! But the USA kept their passing low and accurate, so I was wrong! I thought it was a shame, for Norway and England that is..... that substitute Carli scored, for when she first came on she was goal hungry and for the first five minutes she was selfish with the ball..... but then she reverted and passed well and of course scored. I was hoping she did not and would get goal hungry..... then there is the fact they are the oldest team, they may get tournament tired further in....

I think the Americans will be very hard to beat though. As a sidenote, it was nice to see Hope Solo on the BBC show, she was the best goalkeeper in the world and much respected.

So tomorrow it's France for Norway, I am working nights so will miss it, but I shall be checking the score throughout, when I get the chance! Come on Norway!!!!

Celia xx

I didn't watch the match but caught some of the commentaries afterward.

Some of the commenters said the US should have pulled back and simply passed the ball around. The other commenters, women footballers, said the Thais needed the lesson - wow!

I used to race motorcycles and I hated it when I got lapped. But, that did make me go faster, but never fast enough to get a podium. Oh, well!

Hi Miki!!!

Both of those commentators are wrong. The USA did exactly what they do, play football the best they can. The Thais would most agree with that too, but they will have gained zero from the match and certainly could have done without a 13-0 drubbing....

I have never been competitive in my life as far as I'm concerned. In fact there has been times when I let those that are of that mind win, I can't be bothered about winning.

Celia xx

I share your sentiment in your first paragraph.

BUT, BUT, BUT winning is everything - isn't it!?!?!?!?

I have never favored a zero-sum game, but much of life has morphed into that sort of environment. My favorite sport is baseball. I played it and was good at and I could have played at a pro level, maybe not the Majors, but certainly AA or AAA ball. But in baseball, there are no ties - you play nine innings or more until one team has more runs. It is always good to be the winner and never good to be the loser.

The last competitive game I played was more nuanced - residential land development. It may not seem like a game but it is - a game where the outcome is a balanced sum - the land seller gets a price acceptable to the seller and I, the land buyer pays what I can for the land. The seller will never sell for less and the buyer will never pay more than either is comfortable with the outcome. I would celebrate my win - a successful contract.

This is how life should be - not 13 - 0.

So it is half time in the England game and it is 0-0, England have underperformed, they are not passing in the last quarter, keeping and losing the ball and are snatching their chances. The penalty was awful and that could be there only chance against Argentina, a team that is negative, putting all 11 girls behind the ball, wasting time, tugging shirts, stepping on feet and not being very sporting at all....

As for the other night..... pooh!!!! No comment about VAR and penalties that should never be.... but Norway will still qualify!!!!!!!

Anyway, Norway face the easy game next against South Korea so I am not worried for Norway, but England will have to face Japan and if Argentina beat Scotland then England will need to beat Japan and I can't see that happening unless they up their game!

So England won 1-0.... #thanksforthebeautifulgameelevendefenceargentina

Well, Argentina are ranked below Thailand in the world rankings, what chance have England against the USA????

The Saturday games to watch are not thrilling, quite ordinary teams playing each other, one would think the best games would be put on a Saturday? Especially when it's my rare weekend off!!!! I'll not watch any. And.... they only put two games each day at the weekend???? (Three during the week!!!!). Who on earth is running FIFA? Oh, yes the EU European nations, particularly France....

Sunday sees better games, I will get back from the range and shopping on Sunday in time to watch Sweden play the Thais, I expect the Swedes to score 5 , then later in the afternoon the USA are in action, they play Chile and expect another display of perfect football! Sublime, I reckon the USA will win the competitiotion, but I'm still rooting for my Norway!!!

Celia xx

It seems that Norway is my POTUS's go to nation.

Donald Trump can only relate to white folk and Norway is a nation full of white people.

President Trump reportedly referred to Haiti and countries in Africa as “shithole countries” and called for more immigrants from places like Norway at an Oval Office meeting with lawmakers,

If somebody called from a country, Norway, “we have information on your opponent.” Oh, I think I’d want to hear it.

I will apologize for what my POTUS thinks of the good people, and mostly to Celia, of Norway.

Celia Eriksson wrote:Anyway, Norway face the easy game next against South Korea

Hmmmmmm, Celia: I think Son Heung-min who plays for the Spurs might take exception to your boast.

Yes, Son is a great player, unfortunately there is no Son in the women's team.... I expect Norway to clear 5.

As for Norway, it is a very rich nation and there would be few that would wish to leave permantly for the states. I have only known a couple of Norwegians that took up residence here without marriage or partnership. A chef, a complete nutcase called Denis that I have lost touch with, unfortunately and two women I met at a party. There are others, like my Father that have met English spouses and moved here, particularly during the war. There are of course, already many people of Scandinavian descent in the USA.

It may well be that nations such as Haiti and Africa are 'shitholes' as he eloquently describes, but it may be so because coz they were jumped upon from a great height by European interference. Cultures, empires and civilization are not entirely the domain of European invention FFS....

Incredible civilizations grew across the African continent, Sub Saharan, many will also be long forgotten never to be known of, which is such a shame I think. Some, for example, the Zulus, the well run empire is only known because it existed contemporarily with the intervention otherwise we would know absolutely nothing of it.

The few we do know of were the Songhai, Axom, Ashanti, Kush and many others that built amazing civilizations, some thousands of years ago! There have also survived at least a bit has, amazing stuff in Sub-Saharan Africa, pyramids, tombs, palaces and that. Of course, it is Sub-Saharan Africa is what those with little knowledge of facts, would call 'shitholes'.

Well, that may well be the case in some parts, but one has to wonder how that has occured, when the civilizations most certainly predate European civilization, even though they did not gain the benefits (?) of industrialisation.

I want to also add a fact that many do not realise, the African continent is not as densely populated as people imagine.. Sub-Saharan Africa has around 12-13% of the World's population.

It is germane to the point because some very daft people fear being 'swamped'???? The Africans just need the tools and a little bit of reparation to rebuild their nations and are the ones that, once rebuilt, would need larger populations, and also not having the west stealing their talented people...

Celia xx

Up until three hundred years ago, all civilization was agrarian based.

In the western (European) world the industrial revolution accelerated the movement of populations into villages, cities, metropolises. There is an inherent problem in putting a species (human in this case) into tighter and tighter areas and those problems lead to instabilities in the society.

It is my observation (with little basis) that the sub-Saharan populations manage to control their populations to keep up with the number of resources they could harvest to sustain their presence. When it became necessary to aggregate populations into tighter communities, problems arose.

While Europe managed to keep its large population centers in check by offering its growing populations some modicum of support through industrialization, the larger populations in sub-Saharan Africa didn't have the industrialize resources for support.

When the slavers brought the sub-Saharan Africans to places like Haiti, it was to assist in the production of crops. Haiti's prime crop was sugar which in the 1600-1800s was very labor intensive. Slaves provided cheap labor to make sugar a viable money crop. When the market for sugar collapsed, mainly because of better production methods and locations, the slaves were abandoned.

Without any means of sustaining economic equality, the Haitian population grew and became unstable and the monsters like the dictator Duvalier and his son kept the population under control by force at the same time stripping what little wealth Haiti could produce.

So, we end up with a 'shit hole' like Haiti, like some of the overpopulated coast cities of western Africa.

The Masai, a people who have learned to live with the cattle they raise are must be seen as a successful civilization. They appear to be happy without all the accouterments of modern society and want for very little. The appellation of 'shit hole' country certainly does not apply to the Masai.

Yes Miki, as I wrote, it is only the dumb that do not even try to think about what they are saying... I am certain the term 'shithole' is reserved by bigots for those nations and places where brown or black complexioned people reside. I truly despise bigoted ignorance.


Anyway, it is now half-time in the Sweden v. Thailand game and the Swedes, not too bad a team at all, but not expected to go far, are winning the game 3- 0. The Thais are having more of the ball of course and have had some chances to lay on a shot, but have been beaten by the sheer physiology of the Swedes, for they are much taller and stronger.

I reckon it was sheer skill of the players that yielded the USA 13, but it is so that the Thais have little chance against taller and stronger players atm. They need to watch and learn from Japan, a small team physically, but able to pass the ball superbly, with little aerial play.

So tonight is the USA!!! I simply adore watching the skill of the USA women, they are way ahead of the game and I imagine they will score between 6 and 9 against Chile. I would imagine that the USA will not put any brakes on, I expect them to field a similar team that defeated the Thais. I am looking forward to it very much!!!

Celia xx

I am not into watching women's sport, football or otherwise. There is much more physicality in men's sport that to me makes watching more enjoyable. (In a weird contrast, I don't like US football simply because it is too rough!)

As I am typing this, at minute 51, it is USA 3 Chile 0. I doubt that Chile will launch a miraculous comeback so it is back to watching Meet the Press (a very long running weekly program analyzing the current political news) waiting for the US Open to pop up on the TV screen in 45 minutes.

(While I was typing this the Chilean goalie just blocked two shots on goal - nicely done!)

Hi Miki!!!

I watch women's and men's sport, I like the big competitions mostly!

Well, I was wrong, the USA made 7 changes and in fact have now played every outfield player in their squad!!! But my score prediction was well short, or was it? As you say, Cristianne Endler, the Chilean goalkeeper made several superbical saves, the Americans hit the goalposts twice and Carli Lloyd missed a penalty that never was a penalty, so I was not so wrong!

The real test of the 'group stage', will be Sweden for you Americans.... as for the US Open, I don't get that on my TV package, so I am missing it!!!!  

Celia xx