FIFA WWC'23 3 on 3 : Episode 7
I can’t believe we are almost done with the World Cup, but I suppose all good things must come to an end. We are down to the final two games now and while this is not yet an end-of-tournament reflection piece, there are perhaps a number of reflective observations here.
1. The Sam Kerr effect
After Nigeria beat Australia in the group stages and Australia had to win against Canada to progress, I thought a bit about Sam Kerr. A global face for not just women’s football but football per se, Kerr was playing in her home World Cup. And yet at that point, she had not yet made an appearance — had Australia been knocked out, a pre-opener calf injury would have robbed the world of her brilliance.
Sam Kerr, seen here vs. South Africa in a friendly at Kingsmeadow
(Author’s own image)
Thankfully the footballing fates were not that cruel — Australia progressed even though Kerr made limited appearances until the semi final and had yet to score. She did start against England, though, and gifted the world with what I thought was an un-Sam Kerr-like goal — but went even better. A curling shot from outside the box that dipped just right to beat Mary Earps in the England goal. So, so sweet. So good.
2. It’s not Home yet
To the annoyance of non-England fans, the fact that the team has made it to the final means that renditions of ‘It’s Coming Home’ will start ringing out at random. It’s a long-standing debate of where the ‘home’ of football is - ranging from China where the roots of the game began, to England where the codification of the rules as they are being played today was done in the late 1800s.
Truth of the matter is, the very fact that there is a debate perhaps may suggest that the real home of football is everywhere. Because it is in no doubt the number 1 most played game in every corner of the world. But until everyone gets the choice and the opportunity to play, without being excluded due to religion, gender, physical ability, age and other factors, can we say that football has come home? For me, no, not yet.
3. The Third place game
While I am not going to jinx my team by making any predictions about the final, I am happy to pontificate about the third place game. Who will take the ‘rose-gold’ place as the consolation prize?
What can we weigh things on? Well, Sweden have had some recent (successful) experience playing in the third place game, while Australia came fourth in the 2021 Olympics. Sweden had dramatic end of a semis against Spain game - when everything was decided in the last ten minutes; the action was more evenly spread in the Australia v England semi final. Sweden have had an extra rest day, but have had to travel farther to get to Brisbane — albeit only by an hour. But despite one less day’s rest, Australia have the crowd behind them.
The third-place game has to be one of the worst things in sport. I can’t imagine a worse feeling than having lost a well-contested semi-final, grieve that and simultaneously prepare for another game. Whenever I have lost semi-finals, all I want to do is go home, sit under the duvet and cry my eyeballs out. That’s why I feel the winner of the third-place playoff will be the mentally stronger of the two teams.
But if any of the above is an indicator, it is that success here is likely to be multi-factorial - just like the game itself: a series of moments that either fall your way - or they don’t. That’s part of the charm, the agony and the beauty of this deceptively simple invasion game of twenty-two people and a ball.