Why you should be watching the Women’s World Cup (July 2011)

As many of you know, the Women’s World Cup is going on right now in Germany. Sixteen of the best teams in the world gathered in four groups and now have been whittled down to eight for the quarterfinals. If you haven’t already been tuning in, here are six reasons you will want to watch the rest of the matches:

1.     No Diving—Unlike last year’s Men’s World Cup, the women have been playing soccer and not the referee. There have been very few appeals for fouls and no embellishing the contact. This is truly the joga bonita.

2.     Marta—The Brazilian is the best player in women’s soccer right now. While some say that the United States and Germany may be the best two teams in the world, Marta is women’s soccer answer to Lionel Messi. With her high level of ball skills and jaw-dropping plays, she will provide a huge challenge to Hope Solo and the United States defense in Sunday’s quarterfinal matchup.

3.     Bad Officiating—Where the prevalence of diving is different between the men’s and women’s games, subpar officiating has made it’s way into this World Cup as well. The biggest example occurred in the Australia-Equitorial Guinea game when a player caught and held onto the ball for several seconds and dropped it to her goalie without the referee or line judge noticing. Minutes later Equitorial Guinea evened the score at 1-1 when Australia should have had the chance to take a 2-0 lead.

4.     USA Women’s National Team—Nothing brings fans to a new sport like national pride. Millions of non-hockey fans rallied together when the US Men’s Hockey team went for Olympic gold last year and the same can be true this year. While the US Men’s team continues to break our hearts, the Women’s team has been a top three team for a long time and has a good chance to challenge the Germans and Brazilians for the title.  Uncle Sam demands that you tune in.

5.     No Vuvuzelas—Last year, the World Cup travelled to Africa for the first time in history. While South Africa did a great job at hosting the competition and it was an overall success, the Vuvuzelas seemed to take over the world and created the biggest buzz (pun intended) last summer. There is none of that this year; just good old-fashioned soccer and commentary.

6.     It’s the only thing on—Many sports fans will be forced to watch the Women’s World Cup because honestly, not much else is going on in the sports world. Wimbledon just ended, golf is without Tiger Woods, baseball is at the All-Star Break, and hockey’s season is over. Furthermore, the NBA and NFL are stuck in ugly lockouts that will only serve to alienate fans (poor billionaires). 

What better than to watch world-class athletes play their hearts out not for reasons other than money? Make sure to tune in to watch these women play for the love of the world’s game and the pride of their countries.