Sports After Dark

U17 Women’s World Cup: Pure football, pure enjoyment

Posted by Hamish McBrearty on November 3rd, 2008

After two rounds of the group phase, the Fifa Under 17 Women’s World Cup is proving to be a major success in New Zealand, drawing record crowds in a country notoriously dismissive of football, and showing that football in its purist form provides a wonderful spectacle.

Talk to the average Kiwi about football and the likely responce will be that they dislike the theatrics often seen at the top level, the diving and swarming around the referee, as well as the negative defensive play as teams try to sit on a 1-0 lead or attempt to play for the draw.

But has any of this been seen at the Under 17 World Cup? No, although one Brazilian committed an outrageous dive, had a free kick awarded against her and was just about laughed out of the stadium. Perhaps an isolated incident in an otherwise sparkling display of all that is good about football.

The skills on show, the emotions and the passion almost make you forget that you’re watching a group of schoolgirls playing the beautiful game with stunning strikes, amazing saves and tough tackling coming from all teams.

The hosts may be out of the tournament, with a dead rubber to play against Columbia, but they have also provided some of the most entertaining moments as well. They lost both their outings by a single goal to Canada and Denmark, but in both games laid siege to their opponent’s goal in the final 10 minutes and were unlucky not to pick up an equaliser.

The contenders in this tournament have also shown themselves to be a joy to watch, the Japan vs France game clearly the match of the tournament so far. Japan played absolutely magnificently, showing flair and class in abundance as they hammered the French 7-1, showing skills well beyond their years.

Germany have also sounded a warning to the rest of the tournament, with striker Dzenifer Marozsan leading the way as the tournament’s leading scorer. Marozsan’s play, combined with some outstanding play from midfielder Isabelle Linden, has propelled Germany into the knockout phase and shown them to be a real contender.

The other team showing they have what it takes to win this inaugural tournament is England, who are the only team assured of going through from Group D after beating Brazil and Nigeria so far. The play of striker Danielle Carter, who has been compared to her All Black namesake, against Brazil was breathtaking as she netted two goals and set up the third.

Finally, this tournament could be signalling a shift in the balance of power in women’s football as all three teams from Asia, Japan, North Korea and South Korea, have played outstanding football and are all capable of making the knockout phase. Japan’s drubbing of traditional powers France was nothing short of astounding.

Perhaps New Zealand will never be a football nation and rugby will alway be king here, but the standard of play in this tournament and the passion shown by the player will win over a lot of fans. And on a side note, the New Zealand team broke down in tears after their second heart breaking loss at the weekend, why did the Silver Ferns not do the same thing after their loss to Australia?