Week 1

We get into all the action from the first week of the tournament, as Karen travels from L.A. to Sydney (where she’s confronted with a “Sydney Tuna Burger” at FIFA FanFest), and Jennifer seeks out venues to watch in London, where she falls in love with Baller FC watch parties, before making her way to Montpellier, France.

Karen is Natlie Imbruglia’s TORN when Captain Riley’s New Zealand plays her beloved underdogs, the Filipinas, while Jennifer defends the use of Julie Ertz as centerback, despite vociferous calls to put her in the midfield. As usual we assess all of our ACFC players’ highlights, before providing extensive match notes on New Zealand vs. Norway, Australia vs. Ireland (including the emergence of sapphic-themed tabloid fodder), England vs. Haiti, Germany vs. Morocco, Colombia vs. South Korea, and Nigeria’s upset of the Matildas.

We also cover both USWNT matches, with special attention paid to the draw against the Netherlands. From our love of goalies, to talk of Oshouala’s Brandi Chastain-esque celebration after scoring a Super Falcons goal against the Matildas (despite FIFA’s anti-sports bra celebration rules), to a hard look at the paltry support certain WWC debutante or “minnow” teams have received from their home federations, we get into the nitty gritty things.

Plus, our matches-of-the-week (Jamaica vs. France, New Zealand vs. Philippines), AND highlights of our favorite coverage so far, like  Preath’s RE-CAP Podcast. Also, listen up for a chance encounter w/ more ACFC fans at Darling Harbor!