SoccerTipsters | Women World Cup 2019 Preview

Soccer League Preview / World Cup

August 15,2019
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Bruce Williams

Women World Cup 2019

Women's World Cup 2019 hosted in France is coming towards the end. We witnessed some great football throughout the tournament and now it's come down to four names – USA, England, Sweden and the Netherlands. The biggest takeaway from this World Cup is just how much women football has grown. Somewhere in the middle of the cup, after Barcelona invested heavily, Real Madrid is forming their own women's Team. Athletic Bilbao set the record attendance earlier in the season at the women's football match with 48,121 in a derby against Atletico Madrid. Foundations were laid out to bring the attention to this World Cup, and the ladies delivered.

We saw some upsets, with the main one being Sweden shock victory against Germany in the quarter-finals after Swedes conceded a goal early in the match. It was the first time since 1995 in women's football that Sweden were able to beat Germany. We also saw a lot of competitiveness; some of it may have crossed the line in England-Cameroon match, where Cameroon players showed a lot of aggressiveness and unsportsmanlike conduct. It's very important to keep these things out of the game as Phil Neville himself said: „I sat through 90 minutes today and felt ashamed. I’m completely and utterly ashamed of the opposition and their behaviour. I’ve never seen circumstances like that on a football pitch and I think that kind of behaviour is pretty sad. Think of all those young girls and boys watching.”

VAR Technology was also introduced to the competition, and along with the great organization of the cup, stadiums in near-perfect conditions, the French really proved that they can host the competition of the highest order. Players like Sarah Bouhaddi certainly make the interest level for this competition to go up as the French goalie is known for making risky moves with the ball at her feet – Manuel Neuer could learn a thing or two. USA's Rapinoe is another player who brought attention to herself. After distastefully celebrating late goals in 13-0 win against Thailand, Rapinoe sent a clear message to Trump that the team won't go to the white house, and after all the controversy, she managed to score a brace in quarter-finals 2-0 victory against the host nation. In the future ahead of us, this world cup could be looked at as the breaking point, where women earned the respect like their male counterparts as the world has never been this tuned in to follow Women's World Cup.

Some big steps have been made; for example, Adidas announced that all their women athletes who win the world cup will receive the same bonus as men. Nike announced that USA Women's jersey is the biggest selling football jersey ever sold on Nike.com in a single season. The tickets are sold out to most of the matches, which is a great sing of women's football going forward in more ways than one. With all the attention surrounding this World Cup, it's now culminating, and we can all sit back and enjoy the best of what women's football has to offer.