Women’s World Cup: Canada, Nigeria and Spain Begin Their Runs
After Australia and New Zealand, the co-hosts of the Women’s World Cup, kicked off the event, the main focus now shifts to the subsequent video games of group play, and to 3 prime contenders taking the sphere: Canada, Spain and the United States.
Spain and the United States are not any strangers to the ultimate rounds of the Women’s World Cup, and so they should stand up to the stress of getting a goal on their backs. Canada faces a special type of stress: their so-far-unrealized expectations on the World Cup stage.
After these video games, there might be a clearer indication of which of those contenders are poised to make a championship run, and which have issues to deal with.
Nigeria vs. Canada
Both groups are battling with their federations over funding and equal pay. There had been some rumblings that Nigeria may boycott its opening sport in opposition to Canada, whose gamers are reportedly nearing a brand new contract with Canada Soccer. But either side arrived on the event saying they had been placing pay disputes apart and turning their focus to the pitch.
Canada, the reigning Olympic champions, made the quarterfinals of the World Cup in 2015 however has didn’t advance past that in subsequent makes an attempt. Nigeria has received the Africa Cup of Nations 11 occasions however will is dealing with a stiff problem in a bunch that features the host nation Australia.
Philippines vs. Switzerland
The Philippines, in its first Women’s World Cup, encompasses a roster with 18 American-born gamers. It will face Switzerland, a workforce with just one earlier Women’s World Cup look, in 2015. The two nations have by no means performed one another; neither is anticipated to advance far on this event.
Spain vs. Costa Rica
Spain, whose roster incorporates a number of gamers from the powerhouse European membership Barcelona, has misplaced solely as soon as within the final yr. Spain is yet one more program in a battle with its federation: A truce was known as earlier than the workforce set off for the event, however tensions stay.
When Spain and Costa Rica performed within the opening match of the 2015 Women’s World Cup, the Costa Ricans had been capable of maintain the Spaniards to a 1-1 draw, a efficiency they’ll be seeking to repeat.
United States vs. Vietnam
Vietnam, enjoying in it’s first Women’s World Cup match, has odds of profitable the event at simply 50,000 to at least one, however the workforce gave the extremely rated German workforce a scare on June 24 by holding a pleasant shut — the ultimate rating was 2-1.
The United States was criticized after its opening efficiency in 2019, when the workforce beat Thailand by 13-0. In the lead-up to this Women’s World Cup, none of this yr’s gamers would decide to refraining from an analogous purpose frenzy, and as a workforce seeking to make historical past with a 3rd straight title, the United State would take a win in any type.
The third time round, Megan Rapinoe’s response to a probably career-ending knee damage went no additional than an eye fixed roll. She had torn her anterior cruciate ligament. She might reel off the restoration schedule from the highest of her head. She might see, crystal clear, the subsequent 9 to 12 months spooling out in entrance of her.
The surgical procedure, the painstaking rehab, the grueling weeks within the health club, the anxious first steps on the turf, the sluggish journey again to what she had as soon as been. As she thought of it in 2015, she felt one thing nearer to exasperation than to despair. “I was like, ‘I don’t have time for this,’” she mentioned.
The first time had been completely different. She had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee at age 21, when she was a breakout star in her sophomore yr on the University of Portland. At that point, she felt what she known as “the fear” — the concern that it would all be over earlier than it had begun.
Over the final yr or so, that worry — and the looking out questions it prompts — has coursed by girls’s soccer. The sport has at occasions gave the impression to be within the grip of an epidemic of A.C.L. accidents, one so widespread that at one level it had sidelined 1 / 4 of the nominees for final yr’s Ballon d’Or.
Vivianne Miedema of the Netherlands, whose knee damage will preserve her out of the World Cup, identified that, this season alone, virtually 60 gamers in Europe’s 5 main leagues had torn their A.C.L.s. “It is ridiculous,” she mentioned earlier this yr. “Something needs to be done.”
Working out exactly what that may be, although, is extra sophisticated than anybody would love.
Source web site: www.nytimes.com
