Today the Guardian’s John Ashdown, who’s covering the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany for the Guardian, led off with a piece addressing the perception that women goalkeepers aren’t as good as their male equivalents. Midway through the article, Ashdown writes,
Take Sunday’s game in Berlin: Canada’s Erin McLeod was culpable for Germany’s first, utterly out of position as Kerstin Garefrekes nodded her side in front. But the cross was as inviting as a bath of warm cream on a cold day and the German striker’s miss in the second half was the greatest gaffe of the game. In the end both were overshadowed by Christine Sinclair’s sumptuous second-half free-kick anyway. More of that and there’ll be no need to talk about keepers.
If yesterday’s marquee match is any indication, there will be more of that. The stunning set-piece goal from the 28 year-old star Canadian forward underlined the well-matched skill on display. The main technical drawback had nothing to do with women goalkeepers (McLeod was solid for Canada despite Germany’s first goal) as much as some poor positioning from Canada’s defence, with the full-backs consistently caught out of position on the break. More lethal German finishing would have made the scoreline far less compelling.
Despite some poor defending in particular and Canada’s 2-1 opening game loss in general, Sinclair’s strike felt like one of those signature moments, like the Gordon Banks’ save on Pele’s header during England’s 1-0 defeat to Brazil. It was preceded by another indelible image, when, after retreating to the sidelines to get care for what looked like it could be a broken nose following an elbow to the face from Babbett Peter, Christine Sinclair shoved a member of the medical staff away in desperation to avoid any talk of substitution. She wanted to play for Canada.
All in all, it felt like a classic World Cup moment in a game packed with them: near misses, Germany’s desire to push forward in the second half despite a two-goal cushion, and plenty of sharp, incisive passes, at least in the midfield if not in the final third, from Canada. And with a packed stadium with 73,000 plus fans, it had everything you’d want in an international match at a major summer tournament.
Still, despite Ashdown’s even-handed assessment, the highest-rated reader comment on his piece was this: “Women tend not to be able to throw things, tantrums excepted, very well.” It’s clear the boring old jokes will continue to be told. Yet my hunch is this World Cup, which has already showcased a much more even technical playing field than even four years ago in China, will do much to dislodge the rampant sexism surrounding women’s football. Yes, the road ahead is long, but Sinclair’s wonder-strike and overall sporting character made it that much shorter.
Thought it was a great game. Some of the shots from distance were rockets – one of the crossbar shots by Germany and one of canada’s that just went over the bar (don’t remember the shooter’s name). Impressive. Some people have focused on Germany’s misses as obscuring the relative performances of the two teams, but that conveniently ignores Sinclair’s should-have-been-the-opener, and our missed shot coming off the set piece near the end. Yeah, Germany could have scored a few more, but we could have had a couple as well. Not to say that Germany weren’t the better team overall (they were), but the girls certainly gave a good account of themselves.
If playing the defending champions is an accurate barometer for quality, I think we have come a long way and are moving in the right direction. Too bad Lang wasn’t still around – I think we will miss her play for a while.
If England does well at the tournament, the Guardian’s readers will be more appreciative than they are now. I have a good feeling that the English women will win the World Cup much sooner than their male counterparts
I watched Canada-Germany, and I also watched Vancouver-KC from the night before…..Canada-Germany was a far better game.
I watched the second half and highlights of the first half as well as the England/Mexico game today. I found it very entertaining and was pleasantly surprised by some of the rocket shots that the girls are taking….Mexico’s goal was a wonderful shot regardless of sex/age/league. Alexandra Popp should come and play for the Whitecaps — loved the way she played.
Very proud of the Canadian Women performing as an underdog against the worlds best! Don Cherry is going to be a Sinclair fan for life after that gutsy performance….like Dougie Gilmour level!!!
Lastly, I hope KJ is watching some of these games because I seem to recall he was really downplaying the prospects of this being worth watching….
I’m throughly enjoying these matches even more so then watching some of the CONCACAF gold cup games (sorry canada vs Guadeloupe but that was beyond boring)
all the teams so far are very evenly matched
The cliché is there for a reason… just take a look at the Mexico / England game: While Williams’ header and Ocampo’s strike were very good efforts in their own right, both of them were far enough out and did not have enough pace to really beat the keeper… In the case of Bardsley, who did not extend herself the whole way, it seemed as though she was scared of hitting the post!
The broken nose heard round North America! Great strike by Sinclair. People are buzzing around that goal more than the German victory. Could see some men seriously changing their minds about women’s football