WWC 2023: Who are we rooting for?
My boss asked me the other day “Who are we rooting for?” and I really had to hold myself back. I only started this job a month ago, it’s not time to let the full chaos loose. I said basically, I want them all to win. Because I really do. Every match is joy and heartbreak for me. Every single player at this Cup has worked so hard, and unlike the men’s Cup, they have to battle to even be seen as legitimate.
Multiple teams are here with a cloud of controversy about player pay and/or treatment hanging over everything. Jamaica had to literally crowdfund their way to Australia (and still weren’t able to meet their goal of $75k). Spain is playing without many of their top players, who resigned in protest. Canada is on the verge of declaring bankruptcy.
Any news coverage you may have seen in the last 4 years about the USWNT fight for equal pay? Know that they are probably in the best shape of any team, as far as respect and equity goes.
All of this to say is that all these players have worked so, so hard to get here, so much harder than anyone at the men’s Cup. I don’t harp on this much, but as someone who has lived life as a woman, a man, and something in between, if you have never lived as a woman, you have no idea how different the treatment really is. In literally every facet of life. If you aren’t or haven’t previously been a woman, just trust me, everything you’ve heard? Multiply that by 100. So these players? To get to this stage? Incredible.
Putting aside the possible Cinderella stories (Will Morocco mirror the men’s team’s run to the semi-finals last year? Can Nigeria finally make something of this Cup, after attending every WWC so far, but never winning?) I still can’t say a favorite. At the top, it’s tight. Anything could happen. But I have a few I love more.
USWNT
We love ya, we love ya, we love ya, and where you go we’ll follow, we’ll follow, we’ll follow. But. As much as I love the USWNT, I’m not sure the triple crown is what I want. Of the 8 WWC so far, the US has won 4 of them. Other winners have been Germany (2), Norway (1), & Japan (1). I just feel like another US win won’t help the sport globally. I can’t really explain it, but another win for USWNT feels like it will lead to more funding in the US, but nowhere else. If they don’t win, the soccer incels will have a lot of fun with that, but it will pass, and honestly, they’re going to be awful regardless.
Canada XNT
Christine Sinclair is the GOAT. Messi who? I don’t know him. Sinclair deserves the Cup like maybe no other single player does. She has gotten so close. SIX TIMES. She’s 40 and she’s still starting. She is literally 3 years older than her coach! Give her the Cup! Plus, a Canada win will also give the sport:
The first ever trans World Cup winner in Quinn
Give the CANXNT more bargaining chips for better pay and better treatment. Let me remind you that the men’s team is GARBAGE and gets paid more.
Help support the nascent women’s league in the works in Canada
England
In January, I would have put my money on England to win it, but all their injuries have me less confident. But England’s team is something else. They won the last women’s Euros and I would absolutely LOVE if they followed that up with a WWC win. It’s coming home, ladies. Then every time the sexist asses say “We haven’t won since 1966” we can remind them that the women have, actually.
Spain
Spain men’s team is my men’s team. And I love the women too, even though it’s still hard to stream their matches here in the US, so I just don’t know them as well. I’m a little torn here though, because I worry a win will only bolster the management’s argument that they’re right.
Literally anyone other than USWNT
Look. Lavelle is one of my favorite living players. I am overly invested in all of these players’ success. But I also love women’s soccer in general, and I can’t help but feel a new winner would be good for the sport.