Women's football Worldcup

Higgins

I know, many people - including myself - consider women's football not as football - it's a different kind of sports

Now, that the german team is out of the tournament, I have found some very funny remarks like this:


Translation:
After the worldcup-out:

Thank god, the wives finally come home!

Napoleon Plural

"You must forgive me, not being German I find your sense of humour a trifle difficult to understand..."

Higgins

sorry for having offended you Napoleon-Hugo

At least I did not loose a Space Shuttle

Wilde

Women's football is a non-event normally. I think we were only watching it in the UK as a final bastion of hope for sporting glory. Typically neo-British. National pride has, at least for the last 10 years, been almost entirely governed by what silver wear we bring home. Sad. -{

The Domino Effect

Never been a huge fan of women's football, I'm ashamed to say, but that Brazil v USA match last weekend was one of the top 5 football matches I have seen in the past 5 years. Yes, it was that good. There is some tremendous skill (the US equalising goal being a prime example that any Premiership, Serie A or La Liga player would be proud of), generally a better attitude (diving, moaning and pleading for yellows is extremely rare), and I must confess that I enjoy simply looking at some of the women players more than I do any of the men!

Thunderpussy

I never had much interest in Sport until the Olympics allowed Womens Beach volleyball.

Higgins

Thunderpussy, can it be, that you are my long-lost-and-missing brother? -{

Sir Hillary Bray

In the US, we like what we are good at. A decade ago, women's football was arguably a bigger deal in the US than men's football was (expat communities excluded). Of course, this is because for all of the 1990s we had the best national team in the world, topped off by the 1999 World Cup win and Brandi Chastain's iconic moment after the last penalty kick. In this country, like most, women have fewer opportunities than men for lengthy or lucrative athletic careers, and many of our best female athletes had been playing soccer since they were young children.

That was back in the days when you needed to find a bar with special satellite feeds just to watch an EPL game. Now that the internet and worldwide television have given Americans easy access to the best football in the world (i.e., European leagues) the men's game has massively overtaken the women's in terms of popularity here, even though our men's national team is still middle-of-the-pack. This has corresponded with other countries' women's teams catching up and surpassing the US, most notably Germany.

However, there is still a place for the women's game here, especially at the national team level. When I see young boys wearing jerseys, it's rarely Donovan's or Dempsey's US kit, but rather Messi's, Ronaldo's or Rooney's club shirt. By contrast, I still see young girls in Mia Hamm's US team shirt, and maybe this latest team will spur sales of replica Wambach, Rapinoe or Solo shirts - who knows?

The Domino Effect wrote:

Never been a huge fan of women's football, I'm ashamed to say, but that Brazil v USA match last weekend was one of the top 5 football matches I have seen in the past 5 years. Yes, it was that good. There is some tremendous skill (the US equalising goal being a prime example that any Premiership, Serie A or La Liga player would be proud of), generally a better attitude (diving, moaning and pleading for yellows is extremely rare), and I must confess that I enjoy simply looking at some of the women players more than I do any of the men!

I will echo this sentiment. One of the best games I have ever seen, men's or women's. Rapinoe's cross was one that any top male player would be proud to call his.