On a football World Cup
I watched England V Argentina and the latter were comically bad. For the first goal, the defender headed the ball into her own net under no pressure whatsoever. It was slow, non-league standard at best. The USA game might be interesting though as sawker is a woman's sport over there. I don't enjoy losing to them at any level.
I know you shouldn't plunder the comments in any blog for insightful remarks, but I couldn't resist the above, referring as it does to the standard of football found at the women's World Cup according to one (male) viewer. (I partly couldn't resist because of the anti-American sentiment; you'll not be surprised to find the views above being those of a Guardian reader.)
To lay my cards on the line: I don't agree with the comment above. Women's football, as evidenced by the World Cup, is not to the same standard as men's football — especially in defence and goalkeeping. Nevertheless, or eventhemore, the games are far more entertaining and much more enjoyable than their male equivalents. To my mind, that makes the women's world cup much better than the most recent men's.
Two examples will suffice, both of which were caught on the same edition of Match of the Day. China were 2–0 up against Denmark, only for the latter to rally and equalise with very little time left. Without a second thought, China promptly won the match 3–2 thanks to a 35-yard strike from their midfielder, Xiaoli Song. Similarly, Norway were 1–0 down to Canada when two late goals, one with virtually the last effort of the match, saw them to victory.
For both of these matches, the number of chances and goals made from poor defending and goalkeeping was enjoyable and very entertaining. Both matches reminded me of, respectively, Manchester United's victory over Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champion's League Final and Liverpool's victory over A.C. Milan in the same competition. Both of those games were characterised by dramatic goals, often following poor defending. All 4 games, however, kept me glued to the television.
It thus comes down to what you want to see when you watch any kind of sport. Given the requirements I have of watching sport, and especially football, the women's World Cup has done very well in meeting those expectations, and no amount of misogyny or moaning in the press about equal coverage / pay will change that. As such, I'll be tuning in to encourage the England team in their match against the USA on Saturday, and hoping they make it through to the semi-finals.
Filed in Sport