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2023 Women’s World Cup: Group E Focus

Jon The Blogcentric2 Comments

The funny thing about draws for the World Cups or any other major football event is that it can give you a lot of surprising results. In this very group, we have the two finalists from France 2019! How did that happen? Also in this group, we have two teams making their Women’s World Cup debut. This is the only group with two debut teams. Without further ado, here is my look at Group E of Australia/New Zealand 2023:

-United States of America (1): What can’t be said about the USA or the USWNT? Since women’s football got their own Women’s World Cup in 1991 and was added to the Olympic program in 1996, the Stars and Stripes have reigned supreme winning four of the eight Cups and four of the seven Olympic gold medals. As time goes on, they keep on churning out new legends. Many people here are expecting the American women to “threepeat.” The American women have often been the case that the only women that can defeat the American women are the American women. And they have done that in the past. Such as missing out on Olympic gold in the last two Olympics. There are team that know how to win against the United States and have done so unexpectedly. Even in the four years since their last WWC, the American women have had issues such as player conflicts within the team and pay discrimination. The latter issue saw a lawsuit launched against the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) in 2019 and the GOALS Act (Give Our Athletes Level Salaries) passed by congress in 2021 which allowed the USSF settle the lawsuit with $24 million for the players.

Since October 2019, the USA has been coached by a Macedonian: Vlatko Andonovski. All players play for teams for the NWSL except for Lindsay Horan who play for a French team. The team is full of legends and current greats like Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Horan, Julie Ertz, Crystal Dunn and Kelley O’Hara. The team also has some promising young players like Emily Fox, Sophia Smith and Emily Rodman. In the last 12 months, their play has been mostly wins. Their most noteworthy wins have been against Canada, Japan and Brazil. They’ve had a win and a loss to Germany as well as losses to England and Spain. The team comes to Australia and New Zealand with the biggest of expectations and they will be ready to deliver.

-Vietnam (32): To think the Vietnam women’s team didn’t officially start until 1990 and play their first-ever match in 1997. Since then, Vietnam has made themselves into a team to be reckoned with. At the South East Asian Games, the women’s football tournament is often a Vietnam vs. Thailand affair with Vietnam having won eight times. They’ve also won the AFF Women’s Championship three times. Their play in the Women’s Asian Cup through overcoming old rivals Thailand and Chinese Taipei allowed them to win the playoff round and qualify for their first-ever Women’s World Cup.

The team’s coach is Mai Đức Chung who first managed in 2003 and has coached off and on. All the players play for teams in the Vietnamese league except for captain Huỳnh Như who plays for a Portuguese team. In the past 12 months, all their wins have been to Asian teams. They’ve endured losses to Philippines, New Zealand and Germany. Australia/New Zealand 2023 is the perfect arena for them to prove to the world they’re capable of breaking new ground.

-The Netherlands (9): The last Women’s World Cup was a pinnacle moment for Oranje Leeuwinnen as the reigning Euro holders made it to the final for the Cup and played well against the US despite losing 2-0. Since then, the Netherlands appears to have lost some of their spark. They only made it as far as the quarterfinals at the 2020 Summer Olympics and were even out in the quarterfinals at the 2022 Women’s Euro.

The team is coached by Andries Jonker who was hired after last year’s Women’s Euro. The team play for various teams in leagues throughout Europe. Top names include forward Lieke Martens and midfielders Danielle van de Donk and Sherida Spitse. In the past 12 months, their wins include Portugal. Switzerland and Denmark. They’ve also had losses to France, Norway and Germany. This Women’s World Cup is a chance to regain their reputation as one of the best in the World.

-Portugal (21): If there’s one European team that has made a lot of improvements over the years, it’s Portugal. Despite hosting a major women’s football tournament The Algarve Cup, the women’s team has often been lackluster. It wasn’t until 2017 when they first qualified for their first Women’s Euro. In the two times they’ve qualified, they’ve never made it past the Group Stage. A breakthrough happened in UEFA qualifying for the WWC. They finished second in Germany which allowed them to progress to playoff matches against Belgium and Iceland and won both matches. Even then, they had to go through the intercontinental route to qualify. Their playoff was against Cameroon and their win granted them their first-ever berth!

The Selecção das Quinas are coached by Francisco Neto who has coached the team since 2014. Most of the team plays for teams as part of Portugal’s Liga BPI. The team consists of many well-capped players such as forward Ana Borges, midfielder Dolores Silva and defender Carole Costa. In the past 12 months, the team has had notable wins against Ukraine, New Zealand and Iceland. They’ve also had draws against England and Wales and losses to Japan, Netherlands and Sweden. Chances are possible Portugal could be one of the surprise teams of this Women’s World Cup.

My Prediction: It’s hard not to choose teams other than the big favorites. However my basic sense tells me the qualifiers from this group will be United States and Netherlands.

And there you go. That’s my prediction for the Group E of the Women’s World Cup. Hard to believe there’s less than a week to go. Already the national teams have arrived. The excitement just grows!

Oscars 2017 Best Picture Review: The Post

Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

Post
Merly Streep plays newspaper head Katharine Graham in The Post.

The subject matter of The Post doesn’t sound like the type of subject matter that would win a big crowd, but it is a film worth seeing.

The story goes back in 1966 during the Vietnam War. Military analyst Daniel Ellsberg is in Vietnam with General Robert McNamara to document the progress of the war. McNamara admits to Ellsberg and President Johnson that the war is hopeless but has confidence in the effort, leaving Ellsberg disillusioned.

Years later, Ellsberg is now working for a military contractor and comes across classified documents showing the US’s decades-long involvement in the conflict in Vietnam going back to just a few years after World War II ended. Ellsberg discloses the documents to the New York Times.

It’s 1971. Katharine Graham is head of the Washington Post. It’s been a position she mastered with a lot of difficulty as it’s commonly seen as a ‘man’s position.’ Even though her family founded the Post, the position of the head went to her husband Philip instead of her. It was right after Philip’s suicide that Katharine became head. It’s not easy for a female to be head of a newspaper. Especially someone like Graham who has a good work ethic, but lacks experience and is constantly overruled by the aggressiveness of the men of the Post. On top of that, she seeks to gain an IPO for a stock market launch to propel the Post to greater strength. The Washington Post however is second-fiddle to the New York Times which always has the biggest news scoops, even the scoops of what’s happening in Washington.

Editor-in-chief Ben Bradlee is one of the men who work for her. He tries in vain to be one step ahead of the New York Times in coming up with the latest scoops, but falls short each time. Meanwhile McNamara, who is a friend of Graham’s, confesses to her of how he’s the subject of bad news in the New York Times. It’s through their constant expose of the government’s deception of the American public. However a court injunction blockades any further publication of such news by the Times.

Ellsberg is willing to provide the documents and opportunity to the Post to publish the stories. As they look through the stories to publish, lawyers to the Post advise against publishing the story, fearing the Nixon administration will press criminal charges. Graham seeks advice from McNamara, Bradlee and Post chairman Fritz Beebe of whether to publish. It’s made even more frustrating when the lawyer note that since  the sources are the same as the New York Times, Graham herself could be charged with contempt of court. It’s a gamble. Graham risks terminating the newspaper her family established. Alternatively, the Post won such a legal battle, it would establish itself as a major journalism source, much on the same level as the New York Times.

She agrees to have the story published. The White House retaliated by taking both the Times and the Post to the Supreme Court to argue their case of publishing classified document information being a First Amendment Right. Both newspapers receive almost unanimous support from the other newspapers in the US and they win their Supreme Court battle 6-3. An infuriated Nixon bans the Post from the White House. And the rest is infamy… for Nixon.

The film is more than just about a top secret story that needed to be exposed and makes journalism history. The story is also about the newspaper behind the story. We shouldn’t forget that this came at a time when The New York Times was the newspaper that delivered the biggest news about what was happening in the Oval Office and the ones to do it first. Even though the Washington Post was the newspaper of Washington, DC, it was more of a second-fiddle newspaper like the newspapers of the rest of the cities. The New York Times lead and all other newspapers, including the Washington Post followed. This story allowed the Washington Post take pole position towards what was happening in Washington. This would also allow for the Washington Post to be the prime newspaper to go to upon the breaking of the Watergate Scandal. Even despite the Post competing against the Times, they united when they faced the heat of the freedom-of-speech debate and won together.

The film is not simply about a history-making story, a legal breakthrough or even a milestone for a newspaper. It’s also the personal story of Katharine Graham and how she had to achieve greatness for herself. Katharine Graham was born into the paper and assumed control of it right after her husband died. It was always tradition that a man headed the newspaper. After the suicide of her husband, she headed it. The paper her ancestors founded and the paper she wants to propel into marketability. This news story could help be the boost she needed, but the court injunction against the New York Times causes her to put it on hold. Basically she’s gambling everything with this touchy story: the Times, her status as a leader, her role as a woman with power, her role as a mother, even her own personal freedom. In the end, that one decision caused left all of us convinced she did the right thing. She did more than just allow a story. She did more than boost the profile of the Washington Post. She created a breakthrough in freedom of speech and freedom of press. On top of that, she earned the respect from her male colleagues. That was rare back in the early 70’s.

This story is very relevant to the present. We always hear those words ‘fake news.’ We have a feeling that Donald Trump is like a big brother monster who wants to control everything. There are often times in which I wonder if the times of Nixon were worse than the times of Trump. I know all about Nixon and his lust for control. Whatever the times, the story and the court ruling against government censorship of the press serves as a reminder to all citizens that the press has the right to publish the truth to the public. The ruling of the New York Times vs. The United States of America back then was clear: “‘In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.” That ruling still applies today.

Leave it to Steven Spielberg to direct a story that will capture our intrigue. Some would describe this type of story as a ‘boring story.’ Steven Spielberg knows how to direct it into something interesting and have us glued to the screens. The screenplay by Josh Singer and Liz Hannah also creates the right interest and intrigue. They’re able to take the chain of events surrounding the publishing of the story and turn it into a story of intrigue. Even a story from a humanist side.

Once again, Meryl Streep delivers in creating depth in a public figure. She gave Katharine Graham the right dimension and the right humanistic tone to make the story work. Tom Hanks also does an excellent job in his role as Ben Bradlee. He delivers in the character very well as he adds some dimension to Bradlee too. The supporting actors may have minor or limited roles, but they add to the film too. Janusz Kaminski does an excellent job of cinematography and John Williams again delivers a fitting score.

The Post is a journalism story that will keep one intrigued. It’s a story that’s very relevant today as it’s also about our own right to know the truth.