How many nights in a week can I go with only three hours of sleep? We might find out in the coming month with the world cup being played in New Zealand and Australia. The majority of the games are scheduled to start between midnight and three AM in my local time zone. I should be grateful the times are not during the work day. I don’t think I could spare the time away to watch at all if they were.
The first US game was Friday early evening against Vietnam. While I don’t think this US team has the same flare as the one in 2019, they are still fun to watch. The rest of the world is also catching up in quality, which is making for much closer matches than in the past. It’s exciting to see the progress of women’s soccer, and I hope that starts to better translate to things like jersey availability, broadcast contracts, and especially pay.
For the group stage, I have the US, Canada, and England on my calendar for reminders, and then all the games in the knockout round. A handful of players from the OL Reign were called up for the world cup to play for their countries, so I’m excited to see what they can do there before coming back to Seattle for the remainder of the NWSL season.
Rapinoe is still my favorite. She brings such energy to the game right along with her attitude. She might be younger than me, but I still want to be her when I grow up. The combination of confidence and consideration in the face of the vehemence she far too often receives is reflective of inner strength I can only imagine.
On the field, I would have liked to have seen more shots on target for the US. Given the control, opportunities, and skill, you would expect more fireworks. Vietnam put up a good effort, but it couldn’t stop the shots from eventually chipping away. That PK was weak though, so work on getting more power behind those.
Canada and England’s games were a bit lackluster with great showings by their opponents. No big upsets as there were at the men’s tournament late last year in the group stage, but the heavy hitters have some things to think about and kinks to work out.
The next US game is against the Netherlands on July 26th at 6 PM PST. It is one of the last chances to watch a game at a reasonable time of day in the Americas. The game will also be a test for the US with their opponent ranked fifth by FIFA. Other top-ranked teams have yet to play their first game, so I’m excited to see what the tournament has in store.
Catch the action on various FOX channels in the US and support your favorite players.
Tiffany Shearn 