Happy Women's World Cup Kickoff!
What's this? The Women's World Cup began this morning-ish at 3am Eastern time and you haven't heard a peep from me about it? Yes, that's right, I'm afraid. I just started a new job and it's been fun but also very demanding, so I haven't had much time to type up my thoughts. Even though I have many of them. But I must give the people (read: my mother) what they want, so here is a much less polished version of my first dispatch from the World Cup. Or, from Boston, where I'm watching on my couch.
Caveat: this is not my normal, deeply edited and linked out business, just thoughts off the dome.
First a little housekeeping:
Much like the men's World Cup last year, I'll be maintaining this spreadsheet with results and, if you make a copy of it for yourself, you can set the timezone and language to adjust to your needs.
I've already collected the data to complement this write-up I did for the men's cup and it's actually surprisingly different, so expect a comparison of the comparisons later.
So anyway, let's talk about day 1. Will I send one of these every day? No, don't worry. Unless you want that and are not one of my parents, in which case tell me, and maybe I can spin up a mini-subscription of quick daily things.
For the sake of my sanity, because you know how I feel about timezones, I will be talking about all of this as if we are all in Aukland. I must do this because not only is this Cup happening on the other side of the world, therefore today's opener kicked off at 3am my time, it is also being hosted across 4 timezones, one of which is UTC+9:30, which is just rude.
Match 1 was New Zealand vs Norway. I didn't really know what to expect here. Maybe tons of goals because neither team has been particularly strong offensively. But no, we only had one goal, but what a beauty it was. Check out the highlights here.
But if you know me, you know what I love above all else is a good story. And this match had it. New Zealand, despite qualifying for 6 of the 9 women's World Cups and 2 men's Cups, has never won a World Cup match. Ever.
The morning of the match, there was a mass shooting not far from the WWC area, which I can't actually process. I only mention it to say that the already high, high pressure took on a level of frisson, I cannot imagine what those players were feeling going in to the match.
After a scoreless, tense first half, New Zealand managed a beautiful breakaway and goal, and it was thankfully all they need to secure the win, which they celebrated like they'd won the whole cup. But honestly, I don't fault them. They secured the first ever win for New Zealand men or women in a World Cup. I cried, I'm not gonna lie.
Ali Riley, who has played at 4 previous Cups, and was among the 90,185 fans in attendance at the Rose Bowl in 1999 when the US beat China, has played her ass off, and she finally got her win. And at the end of the match, her emotion was palpable as she talked about what it meant to her.
The second match was another tense, low scoring match between co-host Australia and the Cup debutantes from the Republic of Ireland.This one was decided by a single penalty kick, taken by Steph Catley in the 52nd minute. Highlights here. Sam Kerr, one of the greatest active players, was on the bench with a calf injury, but that didn't stop the Matildas from joining the New Zealand co-hosts in winning their opening match.
I really want good things for the Irish team, and not just because there's a Fahey on the squad (my mom's side of the family) but because these players have earned it on and off the pitch. For just one example, Sinead Farrelly is back on the pitch after taking some time away from the sport entirely, due to the abuse she endured and witnessed under the disgraced coach, Paul Riley. She was one of the whistle blowers in the NWSL who stepped forward to help bring the much-needed change in the league and sport.
Day 2, which begins in a moment, will feature three matches:
Nigeria v Canada
Philippines v Switzerland
Spain v Costa Rica
More soon...