By: Eric Liu

At any one of the football stadiums in Australia andr New Zealand, you can see many female players playing football competitively. They are all striving to do one thing, win the Women’s World cup for their country.

During day 4 of the Women’s World cup on Sunday, July 23, 3 games were played : 2 in New Zealand and 1 in Australia. Sweden won against South Africa 2-1, the Netherlands won against Portugal 1-0, and Jamaica ended with a tie with France.

Sweden vs. South Africa

During the game, 2 goals were scored, 1 from Hilda Magaia (South Africa) and one from Fridalina Rolfo (Sweden). With the score at a tie Amanda Ilestedt scores the winning goal for Sweden. Ilestedt, the winning goal scorer was asked about what she thought about the game she said, “South Africa made it hard for us, but I think we grew into the game and got better and better. In the second half we played better, but a victory in the opening game is what counts.” (Sky Sports).

Playing the game was a real challenge for Sweden in the first half, since South Africa played very well. This also shows the good sportsmanship between Ilestedt and the other players, as she pretty much says good game to the other players after she beats them in the game.

South Africa scored their 2nd goal in the tournament’s history during this match. The Goal was kicked by Hilda Magaia. Aimee Louis and Thomas Schlachter, writers of CNN news, wrote, “The Swedish team was far from its best but that should not distract from an impressive performance by South Africa, a team ranked 54th in the world” (CNN).

Despite losing to Sweden, South Africa put up a good fight against an opponent who was ranked way higher than they were. From an outsider’s perspective the fact that South Africa was able to score against Sweden was a huge accomplishment since Sweden is ranked number 3 in the world, which is exponentially more than South Africa’s rank.

The Sweden Team worked very hard for this victory. Peter Gehardsson, the Sweden football team coach said, “It’s no coincidence that we decided the match on a set-piece, it’s no coincidence because that’s what we practice a lot.” (Sky Sports).

This mainly shows how hard they worked for the win. They were very confident that they would win due to how much time and work they spent practicing for this event. This paid off since with all their practice they were able to edge out a victory over South Africa.

Netherlands vs Portugal

During the game 1 goal was scored, paving an easy victory for the Netherlands. The scorer of that point was Stefanie van der Gragt. While playing, her goal was initially ruled out but after reviewing the tapes they counted the shot as a goal. Van der Gragt talked about the process of that and said, “It’s always difficult to wait…But it doesn’t matter: We win, and that’s what is important.” (New York Times).

When a goal is scored, officials come in to see if the goal is valid or not and it usually takes a few minutes to validate it. Van der Gragt talked about the goal, and the excruciating long waiting time. She thinks that whether it is a goal or not she mainly cares, as it could be the difference to them winning or losing. This mainly also shows how dedicated she is as she is focused mainly to win.

With their new win, it could pose a challenge for the Americans. During 2019, the last time a world cup was played the Americans beat the Netherlands 2-0. Their win against Portugal could be setting up a rematch that the Netherlands could have a shot of winning. Not only is this an important game for the Netherlands to win to advance further but it also raises the stakes for if they do rematch the U.S.

Jamaica vs France

0 goals were scored during the game, but there was a standout player named Khadija Shaw. She received a red card during the end of the game. Lorne Donaldson, the coach for the jamaica women’s team said, “to lose a player of that stature is a big loss.” (New York Times).

This was to mainly show how good of a player Shaw is as she was not only good defensively and offensively. She charged at France’s defenses and ran towards players on the opposing team. She ran towards the players on the opposing team with pure determination. Without her Jamaica could’ve been scored on and they could’ve lost the game.

France was a team 40 ranks higher than Jamaica, and what caused their fall from grace? The New York Times wrote, “Torn apart by bitter feuds, it has in recent months lost players, welcomed them back, and then lost them again. It has changed coaches, changed approaches and changed tactics.” (New York Times).

This shows why the France team tied, without sufficient strategies and approaches to playing soccer. Many of their players were simply not the best since many of the best women’s athletes from France left due arguments. The France team is shown to be very fractured, with less time to prepare, which is why they ultimately tied against Jamaica.

Despite the fact that this remains a huge victory for Jamaica, France put up a good fight as they were able to have more control on the ball but ultimately fell short due to missing.