We know not everyone can make it to Canada this summer. So, we put together the a list of viewing parties and establishments in every state plus D.C. so you don’t have to cheer alone. Let us know if we forgot someone!
ALABAMA
Houndstooth Sports Bar (Tuscaloosa)
http://www.houndstoothsportsbar.com/Home_Page.html
Straight to Ale (Huntsville)
Women’s World Cup buzz is beginning to take over headlines as the first match of the tournament between Canada and China gets closer. The United States and Germany are favorites, but Japan is expected to give them a run for their money.
The U.S. Women’s National Team opens its World Cup play against Australia as part of the group stage on June 8th at 7:30 p.m. EST. Just like their gentleman counterparts, the Lady Yanks find themselves in the “Group of Death,” which given the worldwide love for the United States and by FIFA especially, I’m sure is purely coincidental. But have no fear patriots, our ladies are ready to battle. But are we ready as fans? To ensure that is the case, just as we did for the men last year, we must know and understand our group stage enemies. Let us begin with the Aussies.
With Canada 2015 finally knocking at our door step, The18 decided it was high time to release its prediction for how the whole shebang will play out.
This is the prediction of what I think is going to happen this Summer. It is not a dictation of the future. So, if you were planning on using this guide as the basis for a string of bets in Las Vegas, you have been warned.
That being said, Canada isn’t going to make the semis. I’m just sayin’.
Group Stages
Group A
As hosts of the 2015 World Cup, Canada will have throngs of boisterous fans willing them to victory no matter where they play this Summer, the kind of built in support that most nations would kill for. Yet, no team has won a World Cup on home soil since the United States’ women did in 1999. International power houses such as Brazil and Germany have both had their shots at winning the cup on home soil, and failed, with Germany failing to convert both a men’s and women’s World Cup into a victory. There are no guarantees in soccer, and home field advantage is no exception.
It’s impossible to think about the United States Women’s National Team without thinking about their shocking loss in the 2011 World Cup Final to Japan. They may have won gold at the 2012 Olympics a year later, but the Olympics are no World Cup, and their loss to Japan must have hurt far more than an Olympic medal could ever heal.
After a suspicious absence from the national team, Japan’s player of a generation, Homare Sawa, is back, and if anything can be read into the last time Sawa returned from quasi-retirement, this is a very, very good thing for Japan. In August of 2012, Sawa walked away from the international game.
What is there to make of France? On the surface they seem to just be another team that is capable of winning it all — a lame, but none the less accurate description. Like many of the other top seeds in each group, they were undefeated in group play, and, again, like many of the other top seeds, they weren’t just undefeated, they were unchallenged: averaging over 5 goals a game, and conceding just 3 in 900 minutes of soccer.
Brazil will be at the World Cup this Summer, and that is just about where all uninitiated preconceptions about what kind of team Brazil is will end. They are also talented — home to Marta, 5-time Player of the Year — but after that it is hard to say that Brazil are anything more than fool’s gold.
The following itinerary assumes you have a month of no commitments, a set of stadium passport tickets and a high threshold for non-stop women’s soccer.
The 4th to the 7th of June - Getting There