London 2012 Olympic Women's Football Tournament

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Comment by Ken Suzuki on August 22, 2012 at 14:38

Pardon me? “glasshouse” which means greenhouse? I see no relevance.

But I made a horrible mistake. Å is a hundred-MILLIONTH of 1 centimeter of course! Please don’t tell anyone I majored in engineering….

Comment by Ken Suzuki on August 22, 2012 at 13:35

“å” is not totally a stranger for me thanks to “Å” – a hundred-thousandth of 1 centimeter. I also saw “ö” in name of the physicist, Erwin Schrödinger. Not so sure about “ä” – maybe I saw it in some names in the Lord of the Rings?

Oh, I like to hear how Ogimi sounds in “Gothenburgian” !!

And I must add what I’ve just heard for the sake of being fair. A Japanese commentator, during the game against New Zealand, called the Young Nadeshiko’s opponent “Australia.” … No one is without sin to cast the first stone.

Comment by Gromit on August 22, 2012 at 11:18

@Ken - Ah ah, you post really made me laugh, I could hear in my head the commentators as you depicted them so well :o)

Comment by Ken Suzuki on August 22, 2012 at 11:09

As all of us perhaps already know, the entire London Olympic 2012 can be viewed in YouTube. Every minute of every game of every sport. I have just finished watching all soccer games Japan’s women team was involved. I enjoyed it so much as I can usually view games only with the Japanese commentators. (The YouTube commentators are from BBC?) I have also just obtained a video of the final match, USA vs. Japan, aired by NBC in the USA. What I found most funny with these comments by Americans and British is how each Japanese name was pronounced!

 

Obviously, the rule of thumb is; “the more syllables, the larger trouble.” A commentator for NBC calls #3 sometime “Iwashimizu” and sometime “Iwashizumu” until, in mid-point of first half, he got confident and began calling her “Iwashizumu” constantly. However, apparently he was corrected at halftime and for the second half he said “Iwashimizu” all time. Also her first name went back and forth between valid “Azusa” and invalid “Asuza.”

 

Equally funny was the BBC commentator who covered the quarter-final against Brazil. For him, #4 was “Kumagi.” He was very confident and never strayed away from his belief in “Kumagi.”

 

Likewise #9 had her name called in multiple versions – “Kawasuma,” “Kawakumi,” “Kawashima” and of course the legitimate “Kawasumi.”

 

Still another cause of laughter. In the second half of final, Japan let in 2 substitutes, first #14 Tanaka then #16 Iwabuchi. As soon as both were in pitch, NBC started to mix them up, calling both Tanaka. This was most extraordinary when Iwabuchi stole ball from Rampone and made a shot on goal which was super-saved by Solo. NBC yelled, “Tanaka! Into the penalty area! Tanakaaaaa! What a save by Hope Solo!” even though the player’s back, with the sign IWABUCHI, was large on screen. A great, commendable stubbornness.

Comment by Ken Suzuki on August 18, 2012 at 12:32

Allow me to be skeptic about the idea that World Cup and Olympic stand on different ideas and it is WC, not Olympic, that summons the best teams of the world.

 

Remember how the world was prior to WWC 2011. We had USA, the reigning gold medalist for 2 consecutive Olympics. And we had Germany, the reigning champion for 2 successive world cups. Which of them was ranked #1 by FIFA? It was the USA. I think women’s situation is different from men’s in that, Olympic spirit or not, Olympic is the more decisive test-ground than WC to determine who is the best. For this reason, the participants must be chosen by performance only, even if we end up with 4-5 European teams.

Comment by Gromit on August 18, 2012 at 11:10

@Ken

The Olympics is not a World Cup. A WC intends to have the very best NT of the world, with representatives of different continents.

In the Olympics (the Games, not particularly football but for all disciplines), the first aim is to have people or teams from all over the country participating and competing. In individual sports, if you are from a very obscure country and you assured  the minimum required performance, you go to the Games, either you come from Bahrein or Virgin Islands.

For Football, if you take only the best 12 (according, I suppose, to FIFA's ranking), you'll turn your back to Olympics spirit. SInce there can be only 12 teams, you must organize qualifications. Only Europe is not concerned because of its hevay calendar (Euro qualifications, heavy national leagues, Champion's League).

North Korea has been suspended for next 2015 WC because of doping but not from Olympics because the two competitions are different and ruled by different organizations (FIFA and IOC).

I agree with you that Germany's absence was a great miss. One can like or not Germany's style of playing, it's however the European Champion (5 consecutive times which is a record, men's and women's football taken together) and twice World Champions (as much as Usa). They were victim of the rule, being eliminated in 2011 WCQF that left only two seats for European countries (GB being the third as the host).

I agree that to qualify to Olympics for any European country is much, much more difficult that for USA or Canada, since  you have to qualify for the WC at first (hard, only four went to 2011 WC), then you'll have to finish amongs the best two Europeans... When USA and Canada meet third or even fourth and maybe fifth zone countries in a qualifying tournament... Of course, you know that USA and Canada will ALWAYS be at the Olympics.

It's much more difficult in Asia since the level of countries are high with Japan, both Korea, China and Australia.

Last point : I agree again - and only the blinds don't know the truth - with your statement about the way of playing of Usa and particularly Abby's elbows and shoulders.

Comment by Ken Suzuki on August 18, 2012 at 10:48

“If you want to grow the game world wide you have to give weaker sides a chance.”

 

Well, it sounds like a so-called affirmative action, or “quota,” a policy only a part of population supports. But here we are not talking how to overturn a social injustice that had oppressed a race or gender or religion. It surely makes sense to grow soccer worldwide. But FIFA needs a different plan to bring it about. Subsidize weaker sides? Send first-rate coaches? Perhaps. But competition participants must be selected purely on merit.

Comment by Ken Suzuki on August 18, 2012 at 9:25

@Lars

 

“North-Korea were there because they were in the Olympics.”

This statement may have some profound/metaphoric meaning. To my simple and straightforward ears, it just sounds like saying result is the reason of cause.

 

It is up to the Europeans how to select their representatives. My point is, it is not fair to give them only 2 seats in order to give other less-qualified continents seats. So, Europe is denied the number of seats they deserve because the leagues there have financial problem, and FIFA gives seats to the continents where soccer may turn to a lucrative business? It’s a very poor reason.

Comment by Ken Suzuki on August 18, 2012 at 6:04

I would like to add one comment to this Olympic-discussing forum. Maybe it was discussed before, and discussed hundred times. If so, indulge me please.

 

Are the 12 participating teams the right 12?

 

The current system is to qualify 2 each from 5 continents, 1 from South Pacific and 1 from the host. Is it fair to entire world and to all dedicated players who dream playing in a world stage? Why they don’t simply pick the best 12 nations regardless of continent?

 

More than anything, I find any top competition without Germany simply absurd. Even discounting their previous 2 world championships, they are still a quarter-finalist last year and won this year’s Algarve. Second only to the US in FIFA ranking. A certain Nadeshiko, most notably Saki Kumagai, has improved her skill marvelously after joining Bundes League. Do you know JFA subsidizes players playing there? Why such team must be punished just for being in a difficult continent rather than an easy one?

 

I also feel sorry for Australia, another quarter-finalist in Germany. OK I don’t know why they transferred from Oceania to Asia to begin with, and I believe North Korea shouldn’t be allowed in any tournament. Anyway, qualifying in Asia is such an Herculean task that Japan views it even more challenging than reaching knockout stage in WC/Olympic. Australia’s third place in Asian Qualification must be regarded and honored even if we turn our blind eyes to the fact North Korea’s staple diet is dope.

 

The level of football skill is so diverse from a continent to another, a fact that must be considered more deeply than it’s already is. Even North America is a sort of indulgent league. I respect Abby no doubt, but my respect to her 140-plus international goals somewhat waned after I saw the US-Dominican and US-Guatemalan matches at CONCACAF. A team of grownups was bullying a team of 14-years-olds.

 

We say, “the playing field must be leveled.” I agree.

Comment by Women's Soccer United on August 17, 2012 at 11:15

PHOTOS / USA V FRANCE:

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