After women’s World Cup co-hosts Australia and New Zealand kicked off the tournament, attention turned to the next match in group play and to the three leading contenders: Canada, Spain and the United States.
Spain and USA are used to reaching the knockout stages of the Women’s World Cup and will have to endure the pressure of having a target on their backs. Canada faces a different kind of pressure on the World Cup stage, with expectations hitherto unfulfilled.
After these games, it will be clearer which of these contenders are ready to go for the championship and which have issues to deal with.
Nigeria v Canada
Both teams are fighting with the federation over investment and equal pay.there was some rumbling Nigeria reportedly may boycott opening game against Canada, but Canadian players Close to signing a new deal with Canadian football. But both went into the tournament saying they would put salary issues aside and focus on the sport.
Reigning Olympic champions Canada reached the quarter-finals of the 2015 World Cup, but were eliminated in the round of 16 in 2019. Nigeria have won the Africa Cup of Nations 11 times but face a tough challenge in a group that includes hosts Australia.
Philippines vs Switzerland
The Philippines, who will participate in the Women’s World Cup for the first time, 18 American-born players. In 2015 she will face Switzerland, where she has only made one appearance in the Women’s World Cup. The two countries have never faced each other. Neither are expected to make much headway in this tournament.
Spain vs Costa Rica
Spain, which has players from Europe’s powerhouse Barcelona on the roster, lost only once last year. Spain is another program in the fight against the Federation. A truce was called before the teams departed for the tournament, but tensions remain.
Costa Rica were able to hold Spain to a 1-1 draw in the opening game of the 2015 Women’s World Cup, and Costa Rica wants to repeat that performance.
USA vs Vietnam
Vietnam, who are starting their Women’s World Cup opener, have just 50,000-1 chances of winning the tournament, but the team stunned the highly rated German side on June 24 by holding on to a close game – with a final score of 2-1.
The United States came under fire after the team beat Thailand 13-0 in the 2019 opener. Heading into the Women’s World Cup this year, none of this year’s players are going to put up with a similar frenzy of goals, and the U.S. will come out victorious one way or another as a team trying to make history with a third straight win.
One of the hardest things about watching this year’s Women’s World Cup might be figuring out all the time zones in Australia and New Zealand where matches will be played.
That would require a lot of calculations and possibly even a midnight alarm. So let us help!
Our friends at The Upshot have created a handy tool that makes it easy to check the World Cup schedule. accurately in the timezone of the device’s location.
For the third time, Megan Rapinoe’s reaction to a potentially career-ending knee injury was nothing short of spectacular. She had torn her anterior cruciate ligament. She was able to get the recovery schedule off the top of her head. She could clearly see her 9-12 months unfolding before her eyes.
Surgery, arduous rehab, grueling weeks in the gym, anxious first steps on the grass, a slow journey back to where it used to be. When she thought about this in 2015, she felt more resentment than despair. “I thought, ‘I don’t have time for this,'” she said.
The first time was different. She tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee at age 21 when she was a breakout star in her sophomore year at the University of Portland. At that moment, she felt what she called “fear,” the fear that everything might end before it began.
Over the past year or so, that fear and the exploratory questions it raises have spread throughout women’s football. The sport at times appeared to be plagued by an anterior cruciate ligament injury epidemic, but the injuries were so widespread that at one point a quarter of last year’s Ballon d’Or nominees were sidelined.
Netherlands’ Vivienne Miedema, whose World Cup is in jeopardy due to a knee injury, said earlier this year that around 60 players in Europe’s top five leagues had torn anterior cruciate ligaments this season alone. “Something must be done.”
But figuring out exactly what it is is more complicated than anyone would like.
