A record-breaking World Cup in the world’s most populous nation delivered plenty of surprises (some welcome, others not) but in the end it was the reigning champions Germany who went away with the trophy.
The opening game was, thankfully, misleading. Germany’s 11-0 destruction of Argentina was far from representative of an increasingly professional, sophisticated and competitive international women’s game. The gaps between the best teams and the good teams is appreciably smaller and the technical standard is rising all the time.
In terms of quality, questions remain over the general quality of goalkeeping. Keepers from Argentina, Ghana and even the US’s Briana Scurry gave performances they will be glad to quickly forget. Having said that, the runaway player of the match in the final was the penalty-saving German goalkeeper, Nadine Angerer.
The fact that the top four teams yet again included Germany, the USA and Norway makes the Women’s World Cup look a little like the closed shop of the English Premier League. Only Brazil posed a genuine threat to the “old guard”. The speed and flair of Marta, Daniela and Cristiane up front lit up the tournament and they fully deserved their “Most Entertaining Team” award. Next time they will look to add a true killer instinct to their play. For all their improved teamwork, they remain a side of great individuals rather than a great side.
FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter has been just one of those praising the increased techincal skills and tactical sophistication almost universally across the board. Argentina, Ghana and New Zealand particularly failed to impress, but most other teams were closely matched in the battle for the knock out stages.
North Korea did not quite produce the shocks expected – for all their strength and speed, they were unable to take full advantage of their chances on goal. England gave a much improved showing – they were the only team to stop Germany from scoring. Norway aside, Scandinavia was disappointed as Denmark and Sweden both crashed out in the first round. While the hosts China blew hot and cold.
The Brazilian team is an interesting case study for looking at the women’s game as a whole. As they collected their silver medals from the podium, a couple of them held up a banner begging for more support from their federation. The opportunistic announcement from the Brazilian football association (CBF) of a new women’s league was announced with glee by Blatter, who had faced criticism just days before over the CBF’s treatment of the women’s game. It has aroused a little more scepticism in the Brazilian media, who claim the details are far too sketchy to take seriously. Time will tell whether their commitment is a fleeting attempt to bask in the glow of their girls’ excellent displays.
FIFA’s 4th Women’s Symposium, held in Shanghai’s plush Grand Hyatt hotel and timed to coincide with the final games, tried to address these very issues of sustaining and developing interest in the women’s game. With near capacity crowds across China and high TV audiences all over the world (the UK’s first channel, BBC1 broadcast a women’s football match for the first time ever) there are certainly firm foundations upon which to build.
The Symposium gave plenty of concrete examples and proven principles for how to develop clear, strategic plans for development. FIFA’s specific funding allocation for women’s football is to be doubled from 10% to 20%. There will always be calls for more, but games like (among others) England v Germany, Brazil v Denmark and the final show that the women’s game is not merely an inferior side-show to the main event of the men’s game.
In fact, the men’s game could learn a few things from the women’s. You’d have to go back a long way to find a men’s World Cup with no straight red cards, and yet that is what this women’s tournament has achieved. No crowding of the referees, no spitting, no serious injuries caused by foul play.
The Local Organising Committee will be happy to claim a similarly clean record for themselves. Stadia were nearly full. Many may have been block bookings and discounted tickets for school children, but, as I have argued before, this is no bad thing. The local fans entered into the spirit of the tournament with volume and enthusiasm. This being China, there was some disappointing booing of the Japanese national anthem and even some of their players. Added to the trouble caused when China hosted the Asian Cup in 2005, this will need serious attention for next year’s Olympics.
Blatter has said that from all he has seen, he is in no doubt that China could, if it chose to, bid for the FIFA World Cup (the men’s competition, that is). Perhaps. Better English would be necessary. And the combined logistics of the largest single sport event in the world would certainly require better planning than the confused handling of fixture changes due to typhoon Wipha. There was also the largely uninvestigated “spying” scandal where Denmark’s training session before they faced China was disrupted. Journalists in Hangzhou also reported receiving uncomfortably close supervision from local authorities. Again, the eyes of a larger portion of the world will be much less forgiving with larger events like the Olympics and any future men’s World Cup.
Record TV audiences saw the final, and a record number of broadcasters picked up the whole tournament. It will be hoped this is a good stepping stone to getting more and more recognition for the women’s game across the world day by day. Not just every four years.
Posted by l 
Posted by l 