Facts: The WC scares
The group stage in the World Cup has offered a lot of unexpected results, both pure shocks and narrower victories than predicted. Here are some of the matches that stood out:
New Zealand–Norway 1–0.
Nigeria–Canada 0–0.
England–Haiti 1–0.
Sweden–South Africa 2–1.
France–Jamaica 0–0.
Italy–Argentina 1–0.
New Zealand–Philippines 0–1.
Australia–Nigeria 2–3.
South Korea–Morocco 0–1.
Germany–Colombia 1–2.
Wednesday’s opponent Argentina is one of the teams that has been a revelation for Magdalena Eriksson during the World Cup. She readily admits that she knew very little about the Argentine team before the tournament.
— I have only just learned what they are good at and how they play. I have been very impressed by Argentina. They have shown that they are ready to fight for their team for 90 minutes plus extra time. They have made it difficult for both Italy and South Africa so it will be a really exciting match tomorrow, and we have to be at our best, says Eriksson.
Reversed disadvantage
The South American team, ranked 28th in the world, almost snuffed out Italy by a point in the opener (0-1 in the end) and managed to go from 0-2 down to 2-2 against South Africa.
And Argentina is just one of many smaller nations, from a women’s football perspective, that have shown their forte during the tournament. Before the World Cup, there was concern that the expansion to 32 teams would lead to many crushing big victories, but instead the rattles have replaced each other.
Teams such as Haiti, Jamaica, Philippines, Morocco, New Zealand and Colombia have all provided entertaining as well as competitive efforts.
“It’s incredibly cool to see these younger nations, as you can call it, that haven’t had a women’s national team for so long, what incredible development they’ve made in recent years,” says Magdalena Eriksson.
“Where has she been?”
Olivia Schough has several times during the WC criticized the quality of the more unknown teams. When Colombia won against Germany 2-1, after 18-year-old Linda Caicedo delivered one of the World Cup’s most beautiful goals, she could hardly believe her eyes.
“This championship is incredible,” says Schough.
— I didn’t feel so super excited to see Colombia-Germany, but then I see that Colombia is very good, has incredible technique and that’s how Linda scores this goal. And then I think “Where has she been all my life?”. And then it turns out she’s 18 years old and you’re just like, ‘It’s not true that you can be this good already,'” says Schough.
Physics a factor
Sweden’s confederation captain Peter Gerhardsson is a strong advocate for the expansion of teams. He thinks that this summer’s soccer World Cup in Australia and New Zealand shows that it was the right decision to change from 24 to 32 teams.
— I saw the match between Germany and Colombia and that’s how the WC looks now. You can talk about certain teams as favourites, but that gap is shrinking, everything is getting tighter. I think this was a perfect situation to expand the WC to 32 teams, there have not been such large numbers in most of the matches, says Gerhardsson.
The physical development – players are getting stronger, faster, more enduring – is an explanation for more teams being able to stand up for 90 minutes, believes Gerhardsson.
And for WC supporter Magdalena Eriksson, it is only positive, even though it leads to tougher matches for Sweden.
— It bodes well for women’s football, it feels like there are exciting players popping up everywhere and it will mean that women’s football will only become even more competitive, and the sport will only get better and better. It’s great fun to see the journeys that many of these nations have made, says Eriksson.