The FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off in Canada on the 7th June.
The Matildas are raring to go and will have their ‘send-off’ game at Kogarah Oval on Thursday before flying out on their journey seeking World Cup glory.
If you’ve had anything to do with women’s football, drama is never too far away. As a small sport, you can imagine, like a small town, there was plenty to gossip over and the big news was usually never about the game.
But times are changing. It’s the football drama that is now creating such intrigue in the women’s game. It is still a sport in its infancy – there was a ban on women’s football until 1971! – yet its rapid growth in participation, performance and professionalism is sky-rocketing interest around the world. This sleeping giant is awakening.
For the Matildas it’s been a massive step forward from the off-field dramas, even as recently as the player revolt debacle over former coach Hesterine de Reus, to the real football drama of the World Cup taking its rightful place. There’s still controversy surrounding selection shocks and coaching bias, but now the hot topics have become potential starting 11 combinations and predictions for the Matildas encounters in the ‘group of death’ and most of all having to face world giants USA in their first match.
What a storyline. It doesn’t get much more dramatic than this in a World Cup opening and as the spectacle unfolds I’m sure there will be many more twists and turns. Not only in the Matildas camp, but I predict the best ever Women’s World Cup for real football drama at its best, where it belongs, on the field.
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