Thought there was a thread on this but can't see it now.
So we're into the semi-finals, have won 4 out of 4, only 1 goal conceded.
I tried, I really tried, I watched the vast majority of the QF against France last night, but apart from a couple of sparks, it was of dire quality. Channel 4 had passing stats at about 70% for both sides, but they must have a different definition of passing to most, as the game was more ping-pong off heads and shoulders and legs than much else.
I'd heard Fran Kirby called the 'women's Messi', but she was totally absent from proceedings, made Jamie Cureton, on one of his particularly quiet days, look hard-working.
Our couple of sparks were Jill Scott in midfield - a bit of a Nemanja Matic, all arms and legs and crunching tackles; she got booked and will miss the semi-final. And Katie Taylor, who got the winning goal, did the running for both her and Kirby, albeit the ball bounced off her a hell of a lot. Lucy Bronze was a livewire too.
Appreciate this is a thoroughly sexist post, and congrats to the team for beating the 3rd ranked side in the world, and we're now favourites to win the whole thing. But having not watched the women's game for a couple of years I was surprised how far it hasn't come, quality-wise. Seemed to me that the players had got technically better as individuals - some of the close control and dribbling was as good as you'll see in the men's game, but neither side had much cohesiveness as a team.