Greetings gentle readers.
And so the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup has finally resolved itself into its final weekend, with Sweden and hosts Australia facing off for the third-place spot on Saturday 19 August while England and Spain will clash in the final showdown on the following day. Or night, depending on your time zone.
In deference to my dysfunctional digits, I shall attempt to wrap up my observations to this point, cap some of the narratives within the competition, and set up a final conclusion.
Who Prepares Wins
As per previous comments, one of, if not THE critical features of successful teams in this competition is the management and coaching staff. Sweden's Peter Gerhardsson and England's Sarina Wiegman are notable in the way in which they juggled and rotated their squads in order to deal with injuries. Australia's Tony Gustavsson spent the entire tournament trying to evaluate how much playing time he could get from superstar strikers Sam Kerr and Mary Fowler, the former suffering from a calf injury and the latter recovering from a concussion suffered before the first game of the tournament.
In addition to managing the medical mishaps of their teams, the coaching staff of teams are responsible for tactical systems and training regimens. When I first saw Brazil's now legendary Marta play as a precocious young 16-year-old, her team were vanquished at the semi-final stage of the Women's Under-19 World Championship. As I told my father at the time, one team practiced penalty shots while the other team evidently did not. Gary Lineker's quotation could apply equally to that tournament as it did when he spoke about England's record in the 1990 World Cup and the 1996 European Championships.
Stuck a Feather in Her Cap and Called it Macaroni
One of the most notable results of the Round of 16 led to much gleeful celebration around the world, particularly in the United States. When Sweden defeated the United States Women's National Team in a penalty shootout to eliminate the Americans from the competition, there was much rejoicing. As Lineth Beerensteyn of the Netherlands said,
"From the start of the tournament, they had really big mouths and were already talking about the final. I was thinking you first have to show it on the pitch before you talk [big]," Beerensteyn said. "I'm not being rude in that way, I still have a lot of respect for them, but now they're out of the tournament, and for me, it's a relief, and for them, it's something they will have to take with them in the future."
Many American spectators did not fault arrogance and overweening pride for the failure of the two-time defending champions to retain their title. In fact, live online comments seemed to indicate that there was a sizable viewership on Fox who were awake at 3 AM EST specifically to hatewatch the USWNT and cheer on the Swedes. Television ratings and trends are discussed in THIS YouTube video.
In addition to those who despised the team for a series of mediocre and disappointing performances, there were those (like Megyn Kelly) who interpreted the team's actions during the national anthem and press conferences to be non-patriotic and possibly antithetical to the American national identity as a whole. Players like Megan Rapinoe in particular were pilloried for behaving as social justice activists first and sports players second. The underwhelming exit of the 2015 and 2019 World Cup winners on penalty kicks seemed to satisfy domestic fans who were tired of seeing their national representatives outworked, out-thought, and humiliated while enduring the accompanying self-righteous pontifications on TikTok, Instagram, and other online social media.
Former USWNT stars such as Carli Lloyd criticized the dethroned team as being disrespectful and entitled, and implied that the failure of the coaching and management staff to address the negative elements of the locker room culture was a primary cause for the earliest ever exit of the team from the Women's World Cup.
To Be Continued
And my failing extremities are causing me to abbreviate this session. I shall return ere long. Until then,
Good night England and the colonies.
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