The FIFA Women’s World Cup has yet to kick off, and the wrangling and self-doubt has already begun in earnest. The CBC’s Anjali Nayar opened her coverage by describing the mood in Berlin ahead of Sunday’s opening match between Canada and Germany as “apathetic,” despite casually mentioning the end of her piece that the game, to be held in a 73’000 seat stadium, is sold out.

Nigel Reed gave Canada a great wallop on the back by accusing the CSA of rushing the deal with national women’s team head coach Carolina Morace, despite an already stellar record, winning the CONCACAF qualification tournament with 17 goals scored and zero against.

And Canadian Soccer News’ Duane Rollins wrote what amounts to an apology for not covering the sport more, right after blaming lack of interest in the Canadian women on a lack of coverage.

Oh Canada.

I’ve watched the Canadian women’s team for a while now, and reacted with heartbreak when Canada crashed out of the group stage of the 2007 WWC. Considering recent history, it would be hard to spin Canada’s recent successes under Morace as anything but positive.

Despite the achievement of the Canadian women, team coverage is still served up with a lot of familiar pessimism. Many of the same journalists who were quick to point to the Canada’s selection as hosts of the 2015 WWC as an enormous step in the growth of Canadian soccer seem content to resurrect the boring old story angles in women’s soccer—it’s not as popular as the men’s World Cup, the women’s club game is struggling, it’s still beset with sexism etc. etc.

These are all worthy angles and certainly in need of discussion. Yet sexism, fledgling professional leagues and Marta is not the sum total of women’s football, a sport that dates back to the age of Dick Kerr’s Ladies, an English team from the early 1920s that drew such large crowds the FA saw fit to ban women from playing the game out of fear crowds wouldn’t attend men’s club football. It is first and foremost a sport, like any other, not a political exercise (although one cannot also divorce politics from sport and would be unwise to attempt it).

It’s also among the fastest growing sports in the world, and the youngest. It’s funny to me that many of the same pundits who call for patience in the growth of MLS are quick to condemn women’s football for failing to capture the imagination (and TV viewers) like the mens game. The first Women’s World Cup was held in 1991. The world’s first women’s all-professional league, WUSA, wasn’t founded until 2000.

The sport is in its infancy, in a world still beset by extreme, often repressive sexism. The 2011 Women’s World Cup is really just part of the opening chapter of the women’s game, a chapter that Canada’s played a large part in writing, much like we did back when Canada won the first Olympic gold medal in the mens game back in 1904.

In some ways, the youthful nature of women’s football is an advantage to the viewing neutral.  The tournament is still 16 teams, rather than the bloated, 32 team behemoth that is the World Cup. There are still distinct regional styles and developmental gaps that make for interesting, high-scoring matches. And many of the players are as yet unknowns, ready to make their mark in history. This tournament’s best years are likely still to come.

So let’s relax, sit back, and enjoy. The fight for the women’s game isn’t over, but perhaps we can lay down the arms long enough to take in a few matches, no?