Plenty to Enjoy at the Women’s World Cup

Plenty to Enjoy at the Women’s World Cup

Plenty to Enjoy at the Women’s World Cup

image
By Oliver Sparrow, writing from London.

In the words of my unimpressed girlfriend as she caught me hunched in front of the computer screen in my darkened front room: “Bloody hell. You must be desperate!”

 And in a sense, I was. My girlfriend was disappointed, but I was starting to get football withdrawal symptoms. In a fallow summer devoid of any meaningful action for an avid England fan, I decided to tune in to the quarter-final of the Women’s World Cup in Germany between England and France – and I’m glad I did.

 I’ll be honest – I’ve been more than a little critical of women’s football in general over the years. The women’s FA Cup final has often been on terrestrial TV, and I’ve tried to watch it a few times with little success. It seems like football, and it seems competitive, but just not competitive enough to will my legs to stop wandering into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and read the paper. But before I kick off a raging AFR battle of the sexes argument – this isn’t a sexist thing at all. It’s just that the standard of football in every women’s game I had watched prior to the match last night was a long way from that which I am used to when watching Premier League matches every weekend. Just as I would be loath to watch a Nationwide Conference game as opposed to a Premier League or La Liga clash, I quite frankly couldn’t be bothered to sit down and watch a top-level women’s game when there is a better level of football to be watched elsewhere. The quality on offer just hasn’t been high enough to hold my attention. I know I’m spoilt, but I’m a Manchester United fan living near London – what can you expect? If I was a ‘real’ fan I’d be watching my local team St Albans City battle it out in the Southern Premier League (two leagues below the conference), but you’re probably more likely to find me down the local with a pint, watching the Premier League on Sky Sports. What a sham I am.

 However, last night I genuinely enjoyed watching. True, the level of skill and general standard of play was still not of that found at the top of the men’s game, but there were plenty of things to be admired. The first of which is something that’s not really an intrinsic part of the game itself – the crowd. The attendance figures for the World Cup this year in Germany have been very impressive. There was a mammoth crowd for Germany’s opening game against Canada of 73,680. There’s something about human nature that makes it a lot easier to get excited about something when lots of others are interested in it. Clearly I’m just jumping on the bandwagon, but is that such a bad thing? The more people that are interested in watching, the better. Hopefully the snowball effect of viewing figures can translate into more money and eventually better development in the women’s game.

 But getting back to the game itself, there were a few other things that the men’s game would do well to learn from. The spirit of the game was excellent. There were a few horribly mistimed challenges from both teams, but there were few histrionics to be found. Players were straight back on their feet, shaking hands, and carrying on. There were no Nani-inspired triple rolls followed by grabbing of the wrong leg or El Hadj-Diouf llama-inspired retaliations. Just good, fair play. It was truly refreshing.

 There was also a real sense of camaraderie amongst the teams. There was an overriding feeling that they were playing for each other rather than for themselves – unlike the England men’s team where perhaps a berth in the starting line-up is seen as a good way of engineering a move to a bigger club and a larger pay-packet.   Perhaps that would start to change if there were vast sums of money injected into the women’s game, but the cynic in me will just have to wait and see on that one. Last night it was a wonderful thing to observe.

 The skill level was a good in parts. There were still plenty of loose first touches and poor close control, but there were occasional flashes of brilliance that would impress any football fan. France’s equaliser was a magical shot from distance and England’s opener by Jill Scott wasn’t a bad effort, either. Better still, have a look at this delightful bit of skill and booming finish from Brazil’s Erika. I know Equatorial Guinea don’t have a fantastic women’s team, but it doesn’t really matter who that was against, it’s still a lovely goal to watch.

 The main sticking point for me when watching women’s football, though, is the goalkeeping. The standard is pretty abysmal. I don’t know whether the problem is due to poor training or a lack of talent at the top of the women’s game, but none of the ‘keepers I have seen in the World Cup seem to be at the level of their outfield teammates. Perhaps there are some better ‘keepers out there in the women’s game, but in my opinion the outfield players are being let down by those in between the sticks. There wasn’t a lot of diving to be seen in the penalty shootout last night; more casual sidestepping across the goal. The goal-kicks were also generally very poor – mostly landing adrift of the halfway line. It wasn’t that they couldn’t kick it that far, more that the technique and consistency needed a lot of working on. However, the only saving grace is that poor ‘keeping leads to more goals. We all like goals.

 All in all, I had a good time watching the game last night. Many of my feelings about the poor standard of play are still there, but there are other things about the women’s game that make it worth watching. There’s also nothing better than getting behind your national team, especially against the French! Needless to say, the disappointment of going out on penalties was all too familiar as an England fan, but they gave it a damn good crack. Bad luck England ladies, but congratulations to France. If you’ve missed out so far, try and catch the closing stages of the Women’s World Cup if you can – I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.