1. Changing of the guard
The USA monopoly is no more, with Spain crowned Women’s World Cup champions for the first time in their history.
La Roja beat European champions England 1-0 in yesterday’s final, and both sides look primed to dominate world football going forward. A golden era appears to be unfolding, particularly as Spain’s underage success translates, with Sweden, Japan and Australia among the others impressing.
The US ‘threepeat’ bid came crashing down at the last-16 stage. Vlatko Andonovski has since departed as manager, while Megan Rapinoe is calling time on her international football career. Other stalwarts, like Alex Morgan, are also nearing the end.
There’s also been a changing of the guard in terms of individual talent: while we say goodbye to the likes of Rapinoe, Marta and Christine Sinclair; Sophia Smith, Salma Paralluelo, Linda Caicedo and Lauren James have all burst onto the biggest stage.
An all-European final signals a shift in power, with three African nations reaching the knockout stages for the first time ever. The expansion to 32 teams has ultimately paid dividends.
2. High drama and shocks
That was the 2023 @FIFAWWC with Spain the champions after a month of action #rtesoccer #wwc2023 pic.twitter.com/PSoZa30R0A
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) August 20, 2023
Germany, Brazil and Canada were among the others consigned to early exits. The Euro 2022 finalists were right up there in terms of favourites, but bowed out at the group stages for the very first time.
Morocco progressed at the expense of Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s side, while Jamaica sent Brazil packing. South Africa, Nigeria and Colombia also went on fairytale runs and established themselves as emerging forces.
Two dramatic penalty shootouts stand out: USA-Sweden and Australia-France. They were absolutely gripping; full of twists, turns, quality finishes and agonising misses. There were millimetres in the difference as Lina Hurtig’s spot kick ended USA’s reign in the most dramatic fashion, while it took 10 rounds to separate the Matildas and France.
The tournament opened with a shock when co-hosts New Zealand beat Norway 1-0, with several other big results following suit: Australia 2-3 Nigeria, Japan 4-0 Spain, and Colombia 2-1 Germany among them.
3. Ireland’s involvement
The Girls In Green were appearing at their first-ever major tournament. They fell to narrow defeats to Australia (1-0) and Canada (2-1), before earning an historic first point against Nigeria (0-0). So close yet so far.
Katie McCabe’s Olimpico and Courtney Brosnan’s point-blank save were among the highlights, along with the entire occasion of the 75,000-plus sold-out Sydney showdown against Australia.
They acquitted themselves well and proved they belong on this stage, with fine margins the difference at the top level. That a penalty and own goal accounted for two of the three goals they conceded rankled, though improvements are needed going forward.
Ireland returned home disappointed — and amidst a cloud of controversy after a manager and captain over-and-back and a cryptic tweet.
Vera Pauw’s future had been in the spotlight already and it’s well and truly up in the air now. It’s reported an FAI review is wrapping up and a board meeting is due to take place next week, with clarity expected ahead of next month’s historic Nations League opener against Northern Ireland at the Aviva Stadium.
4. Records and controversy
This was the biggest Women’s World Cup in its 32-year history, with records tumbling left, right and centre. Ticket sales and TV viewing figures across the globe were at an all-time high.
A mammoth attendance of 75,784 was recorded three times at Sydney’s Stadium Australia and, according to Fifa, the average crowd across the 10 venues has been 28,900. That’s a huge increase from every other edition, including France 2019.
Despite time differences and games being played outside prime-time slots, Fox had 2.52 million viewers watch the USA’s last-16 defeat to Sweden; BBC One had 12 million viewers watch the final between Spain and England; and Ireland-Canada was the most watched women’s team sport event in Irish TV history amidst RTÉ’s impressive figures.
While there were plenty of positives, the negatives remain: the build-up to the tournament was dogged by controversy and internal tension for several countries — including champions Spain — while there has been no shortage of Fifa criticism from armbands to Saudi Arabia’s proposed sponsorship.
5. Goalkeeping improvements
While the standard has sky-rocketed across the board, one obvious area of improvement has been goalkeeping. England’s Mary Earps finished up with the Golden Glove award after a remarkable tournament.
Beforehand, the Manchester United shot-stopper revealed that Nike were not selling replicas of her shirt for fans. It was the latest instance of disrespect towards women’s goalkeepers, with widespread suggestions through the years that goals should be made smaller.
Australia’s Mackenzie Arnold, Netherlands’ Daphne van Domselaar and Sweden’s Zecira Musovic joined Earps in winning Player of the Match awards. Musovic’s display against the USA was on another level, the Chelsea player making 11 top-drawer saves over 120 minutes.
Ireland’s own Brosnan also had an excellent tournament, moving second on the all-time WNT list for clean sheets with 11. Her second-half stop against Nigeria was sensational.
