Balls and Boots and Bangers and … Golden Tweets?

I’m late bringing you this as I was waiting for a Women’s World Cup all-star team to be announced first. One hasn’t been and likely won’t be. I guess FIFA just wasn’t interested in doing this anymore. Oh well. At least we still have the individual awards to celebrate and debate.

Sweden get revenge on Germany, book a spot in the semi-finals

What. Happened. Here? I mean, I know what happened but what happened. I’ve followed Sweden throughout this whole tournament this far and I’m still a bit stunned by what transpired. Twenty-four years of never winning v Germany and Sweden pull off a decisive victory in the quarter-finals of a World Cup. RESPECT.

The Daily Drool: Leonie Maier

RENNES, FRANCE – JUNE 05: Leonie Maier of Germany poses for a portrait during the official FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 portrait session at Domaine de Cice-Blossac on June 05, 2019 in Rennes, France. (Photo by Michael Regan – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Defender Leonie has represented Germany at the U17, U19, U20 and senior levels. She currently plays for Arsenal.

Germany move on with win over Nigeria

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Let me get this out of the way first… Fox commentators are the worst. I would rather listen to Ray Hudson, and we know how I feel about Ray.

Germany Win the Group

Germany had a resounding victory against South Africa to close out their Group stage play. Four goals allowed the Germans to exit group play as Group B Winners.

Exciting Germany comes out on top of physical China

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Y’all… It’s been SO long. It’s been so long since I’ve written (thank you hopechaser and Lozil for entertaining my desires to write) and so long since I’ve been excited for soccer. Leave it to the amazing women of this sport to rekindle my love!

The Daily Drool – WWC 2019 Group B – Germany: Lena Goeßling

Midfielder Lena has played for VfL Wolfsburg since 2011. She has represented Germany at the U17, U19, U20, U23 and senior levels. She has been capped over 100 times.

2019 Women’s World Cup: Group B Preview

I’m calling this the ‘bringing the heat’ group. South Africa is coming in hot. Spain is coming in hotter. Germany is coming in with renewed heat. China is slowly rebuilding the fire. If you’re placing money on which group holds the most kindling to ignite a full-scale football combustion moment, Group B is it.

Play Like a Girl: SheBelieves, Algarve, and Cyprus Cups

It’s almost March which means it is time to get ready for the Triwizard’s Cup of women’s football once more. But, not really. Over a 9-day period in March, three (3) tournaments are taking place in Cyprus, Portugal, and the USA for 28 national women’s football teams. Which is sorta like a Triwizard-esque event. But, again, not really. :^)

Cyprus Cup
Officially, the Cyprus Cup runs February 27 – March 9 though matches are taking place March 1 – 8 only. Unlike its companion tournaments, this Cup holds a group stage to determine group positions based on points followed by one day of classification matches to determine final rankings.

The twelve invited teams are split into three (3) groups. The participating teams are as follows, along with their current FIFA ranking:

Group A
Belgium, 25; Italy, 16; Korea DPR, 10; Switzerland, 17

Group B
Austria, 24 (current champions); Korea Rep, 18; New Zealand, 19; Scotland, 21

Group C
Czech Rep, 33; Rep.of Ireland, 34; Hungary, 40; Wales, 36

There are no announced broadcasts at the moment, though there was one stream available last year for the final.

Algarve Cup
Taking place March 1 – 8 in Portugal, the Algarve Cup is in its 24th year of operation. This year’s tournament should be a hotly contested one, with top EU teams gearing up for UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 in Netherlands in July.

The twelve invited teams are split into three (3) groups for a round-robin tournament with the winner determined based on the standard points systems. The participating teams are as follows, including their FIFA ranking:

Group A
Canada, 4 (current champions); Denmark, 15; Russia, 23; Portugal, 38

Group Two
Iceland, 20; Japan, 7; Norway, 11; Spain, 14

Group Three
Australia, 6; Sweden, 8; Netherlands, 12; China PR, 13

Eurosport has broadcast this tournament in the past; a search for this year’s schedule has proven fruitless thus far.

SheBelieves Cup
Is the unofficial slogan for this year’s SheBelieves Cup, “she persisted”? If not, it really, really should be. Timely and extremely relevant when it comes to women’s football. I highly encourage anyone able to attend any of these games to consider some signage.

Four of the top 5 FIFA-ranked teams are involved again this year: France (3), England (5), Germany (2), and the USA (1). This tournament is also a round robin, with the winner determined based on the standard points system.

Games are taking place in Chester, PA (March 1); Harrison, NJ (March 4); and Washington DC (March 7). Tickets for all the games are available through USSoccer.com.

It looks like Fox Sports will be airing the USA games only. French broadcasters D17 and Canal + Sport along with the BBC picked up all or some of the other games last year. Hopefully they will do the same this year.

If anyone is going to any of these tournament, we’d love to hear from you! Feel free to leave a comment below or connect on Twitter @hbandsandhbreak.

-hopechaser

The Daily Drool – Olympics Group F – Germany: Tabea Kemme

Tabea Kemme Spielerin des 1. FC Turbine Potsdam, aufgenommen am 03.12.2013, sie ist neue Botschafterin der Stiftung «Hilfe für Familien in Not», in Potsdam (Brandenburg). Foto: Patrick Pleul/dpa

Defender/midfielder Tabea has played for 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam since 2008. She has represented Germany at the U17, U19, U20 and senior level.