So... my personal opinion of the game:
The final - I think as a neutral I rather wish the first 15 minutes didn't exist. The game was essentially over by 3-0, but kudo to Japan for not giving up after they stabilized with Sawa. This shouldn't change the end result much though - I expected USA to win by a 2 goal margin. It was a surprised to me that USA couldn't beat Japan in regular time last World Cup.
The whole tournament - I tried to watch a few Copa America but just hated it. While the women are slower and less skill, they have more passions and also sports{wo]manship. Other than a few exceptions there are no leg breaking tackles, roll on the floor crying in pain and dreadful time wasting.
USA - They are worthy winner overall. They peaked at the right time and have a good combination of physique, technique and athleticism. Despite all the criticism they started to perform in the China game and only got better down the road. Definitely a dynasty in women's football.
Plus, thanks for cracking down the corrupted FIFA.
Japan - USA pretty much exposed their weakness better than any other team - they are slow and lose almost every duel. Horrible defending is a surprise though - you would expect they have good teamwork in defending to overcome their slowness. Almost every American can outrun the Japanese - which is a huge problem as Americans also possessed good technical skills. Their midfield cannot shield the defense and left them horribly exposed without the ball. They performed much better in the second half - but probably partly due to the USA relaxed a bit. They would have been a formidable opponent if their defense is as good as China. The team is also old so they desperately need new blood from a rather small talent pool. Still, they bring a unique style and
Canada and China - Weird to group them together, but both of them are good at defending but dreadful offensively. Canada in particular has no clue with the ball at the opponent's half.
Germany - I have watched a few games and they are always good at first half but deflate in the second, disappointing. Also interestingly every world cup winner so far has to beat Germany at some point during the tournament - or Germany will win the whole thing.
France - they are very fun to watch, too bad FIFA rigged the group so they need to face Germany in the quarter. France v Japan in the quarter or semi should be a good game.
England - that own goal at stoppage time exceeded all previous "England" moment. Still they recovered well to win the bronze, which is not a small feat.
Toronto - You are an idiot for hosting a regional sport event that required multiple expensive new stadium, versus a truly international event for the most popular sport that would have cost much cheaper. BMO field is not suitable for the final but perfectly fine to replace Moncton for group games and quarter. Do you know what was the first sellout event in the Pan Am? The football final.
Women's League - I read an article from 538, the US/Canada/Mexico national team salary is subsidized in the women league so they make reasonable money (can be much more with endorsement). However the salary cap for everyone else is $200K - per team - so probably $10,000 each? Most of the players are just fresh college grads - makes sense since no matter how much you love the sport, you cannot live with just $10000 a year. If this is what happened in the US I can't think the situation for the rest of the world. Kudos to them.
FIFA - please don't rig the group anymore for ticket sales and use real grass, kthxbye.
(if you still don't believe FIFA rigged the group, just google it and multiple news source will explain how it was rigged).
