FIFA WWC'23 3 on 3: Episode 5

Megan Rapinoe, USA v England, Wembley 2022
(source: Author)

So.

That was the Round of 16. The group stages brought some amazing surprises, and if you thought things were going to settle down once the knockout stages came by….

1. The Big Gasp

For ardent fans of women’s football, perhaps first real big gasp happened during the penalties in the Sweden vs USA game. Megan Rapinoe walked up to the spot, took a shot — and missed. She has been the USA’s most consistent penalty taker ever. To my mind she has never missed for country, and as for club, the last time was in 2018 in the NWSL. And she missed.

The second real big gasp came a few minutes later when Lina Hurtig’s penalty kick for Sweden went to VAR: the first time I can recall that a penalty shoot-out shot had to resort to technology to ascertain whether it went in — or not. And after an agonising minute that felt like an hour, the ref came and ruled it a goal - by a millimetre.

Another big team were packing their bags for the airport.

Those who have followed the USWNT over the years know how dominant they have been in the women’s football landscape; partly driven by a program that was well established when other countries were just scraping teams together. To a certain extent we knew they were not going to be world champions forever as the rest of the world caught up - the evidence of which we have seen manifesting on the pitch in Australia and New Zealand this past fortnight. And that is a good thing for the game.

But the manner in which they exited perhaps warrants a dissection in itself. A lacklustre performance at the Tokyo Olympics that saw them come third; shaky performances against big teams in the run-up to the World Cup; unconvincing and uninspiring tactics and game management despite having perhaps the deepest roster at their disposal.

The good news though is that the playing personnel in that side is stacked with phenomenal talent. This isn’t the end of the USA, far from it. They will come back with a better managerial team — and with the rest of the world also uplifting their game, women’s football has everything to gain.

2. The Best of The Beat

Apart from the USA’s loss, for the most part the rest of the round of 16 went to script. Spain saw off what I felt was quite a lost Switzerland side, and Japan fended off a Norway side seemingly in its ascendancy after a disastrous start. Australia were in full stride against Denmark, what more with the return of captain Sam Kerr. France convincingly beat Morocco, and Colombia also booked their place despite a resilient Jamaican side matching them tactically and technically. England, though, played a dangerous game and it took penalties to enable them to qualify to the quarter-finals.

Major strides I felt were made by the relatively smaller footballing nations even though their journey have come to an end. The pick of the beaten for me are Nigeria, Jamaica and Morocco. For Nigeria and Jamaica, the teams go back to a funding dispute with their federations, whom I really hope have stood up to see that despite their (the federation’s) stand, the women have shown they are toe-to-toe with the World’s best, and at times, outplaying them. Seriously, imagine these teams with a USA-type program. *fire*

Morocco meanwhile continue the trailblazing journey of their men’s team, breaking barriers and winning fans where they went. Unlike other smaller nations, they have had a league in their country since 2001 - well pre-dating the WSL and the NWSL.

As a football fan, I hope the excitement at watching these teams grow, their tactical acumen and underdog spirit continue as we head into Olympics 2024 season.

3. The Eventual Winners

So now there are eight. Seven are some of the usual suspects in the latter stages of previous World Cups, with one not quite. Colombia, led by 18-year old Linda Caicedo in the front line and Mayra Ramirez Ramirez in the midfield (so good they named her twice) have won praises across the board for their performance. Not in the least outsmarting the world number two, Germany, in the group stages that ultimately saw the two-time winner go out of the tournament.

But ranked 25th prior to the championship, could they do the impossible and go all the way? Has this ever happened before?

Well it turns out I have seen this film before - in 2004 (before Caicedo herself was born, might I add).

In the Men's Euros 2004, we saw three big teams knocked out in the group stages: Spain, Germany and Italy. The knockout rounds had some of the remaining usual suspects -- and then Greece, the lowest ranked team left in the tournament then. They were then 18th in Europe and 34th in the world in the latest rankings just prior to the tournament.

Greece went on to knock out the remaining top ranked team and went on to actually win the tournament.

The Nouhaila Effect

A few people have asked me why I haven’t said anything about Nouhaila Benzina in these missives. It’s true I haven’t, largely because I am still processing. Her taking the field in a hijab is personal to me; highly emotional and means so much in different ways. She deserves a post of her own, because 300 words is nowhere near enough.

But I will say this: EA Sports just dropped an update that now features her in FIFA ’23. Recognition, representation. See it, be it, kids.

Now will the media also acknowledge that while it’s all good that she can now do this, the team she faced in the Round of 16 would not allow girls and women like her to play football?

Idlan Zakaria