The Women’s World Cup: a time where up and coming stars rise and legends fall. At this year’s ninth ever Women’s World Cup, many unexpected events occurred. The US Women’s National Team (USWNT) took the hype before the cup started as being the team to watch. But people slowly began to realize that the team wasn’t ready for the “3-peat” after winning two back to back in the years before. The roster lacked experience in places where they needed it the most. Plus having a coach that wasn’t willing to make use of his bench did not help this team make it past the Round of 16. Personally, I stayed up watching some of the US games that started at midnight (because of the time change from Australia and New Zealand). Let me just say, those are hours of sleep I wish I could get back. The team was not connected with their style of play and the mentality of the players was awful. The USWNT fans seemed to care more about the results of the game than the players on the field did. Maybe next World Cup we’ll see more out of the US team where they will have a new coach, and new inspiration. Other teams that we were told to look out for such as Germany, Canada, and Brazil had a quick stay in Australia and New Zealand this year as well. Some legends fell, but that means that up and coming stars also rose. Teams including Morocco, Jamaica, and Nigeria played on through the cup longer than the “star teams” had. Crazy things can happen at World Cups, it comes down to who has more heart and passion than the other.
After letters were sent to the federation by Spain players, the team was scared of coming into the cup; some of their best players had not been included on the roster as a way of protest. They did not want to play for a team and or country that had a lack of professionalism. They were not taken seriously while also being mistreated by their coaches and the Spain federation. Instead of backing the players, the federation backed the coach, Jorge Vilda, who seems to have been the root of all these problems. Some players went back when they were told things were getting better, but everyone realized that things had gotten way worse when Luis Rubiales (Spain FA President), forcefully kissed player, Jenni Hermoso, after winning the Women’s World Cup this year. The inappropriate interaction between the two surfaced on the web, and people were not responding to it well. The federation tried to back themselves up many times by idiotically claiming it was mutual. Players began saying “stand with Hermoso” to let her know that people want action to be taken. After all of this had happened, Rubiales still refused to resign. To make matters worse, he offered Vilda a new four-year contract. It is now left in the hands of the Spanish government to either control the situation by firing Rubiales, or have a team that’s even more broken apart, again.