The Football Ferns celebrate their opening World Cup win over Norway at Eden Park. Photo / Michael Craig
The Football Ferns celebrate their opening World Cup win over Norway at Eden Park. Photo / Michael Craig
There’s been plenty of talking points in the first week of the World Cup. Michael Burgess picks his first XI of Cup moments.
Football Ferns feat goes global
The Ferns’ remarkable 1-0 win over Norway captured the imagination worldwide and has also given hope to other underdog teams in thetournament.
A Vietnamese journalist told the Herald the Asian team had drawn inspiration from New Zealand’s unlikely result, which translated into extra belief for their clash with the United States on Saturday, where they defied predictions of a hiding to emerge with great honour.
“The players saw New Zealand beat such a big team and thought that anything is possible,” said the scribe. “A lot of countries would have noticed and it had a big impact.”
The decision to use Fifa’s global feed for the Ferns’ tournament opener was perplexing – and unfortunate. If any game deserved a local context it was that one, while the future replays of Hannah Wilkinson’s golden goal will always be accompanied by an anonymous British voice. It’s such a shame. And this is not a Fifa decision. According to Fifa, Sky are free to use their own commentary team. So why not?
They would never broadcast an All Blacks or Black Caps home World Cup match without local voices, so how are the Football Ferns different? It would be good if Sophie Moloney would explain, preferably to the Ferns squad first.
It’s coming home ...
After all the angst about crowds before the tournament, the first few days have been impressive. Packed houses at Eden Park, along with 23,000 in Wellington for Costa Rica versus Spain plus a more than decent turnout for Switzerland v Philippines in Dunedin (13,711) which isn’t exactly box office material.
In the words of Buffalo Springfield, “Something’s happening here ...”
Crowd turnout has been impressive - despite early concerns. Photo / Dean Purcell
It’s just not cricket
The fiasco with the Netherlands’ training venue in Tauranga will take some explaining. It’s hard to imagine how the idea to use a field with a cricket pitch was approved by Fifa and the local organisers in the first place and even worse that it hasn’t been prepared properly. You have to feel sympathy for the Dutch, while behind the scenes Fifa must be fuming. As 2019 finalists, the Netherlands are one of the biggest teams in New Zealand and deserve much better.
Paying the VAR penalty
As bizarre as it sounds, there was a penalty awarded in each of the first eight games of this World Cup. Without going back through every Fifa tournament since 1930, you can be confident that has never happened before. It’s another unfortunate symptom of the trigger-happy boffins in the VAR booth, along with the rule changes that have gone a bit too far. Something needs to change and maybe this tournament will be the catalyst. A suggestion: potential VAR officials need to have some kind of playing background.
Horan to be a hero?
The American captain Lindsay Horan was superb against Vietnam – despite missing a few chances – and looks one of the best all-round players here.
The likes of Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Rose Lavalle and Trinity Rodman tend to get most of the attention but Horan, the only member of the USA squad based in Europe, is a genuine gun.
Slick Spain
Spain’s promising start – albeit against an overmatched Costa Rica – bodes well. They have been embroiled in turmoil, with widespread protests against the coach over the last year but have some superb players. If they can go deep into the tournament, it would be great for the sport, which has traditionally been dominated by northern and central European teams, along with the USA, Canada and Japan.
Haiti happiness
It is hard to think of another sport where Haiti could compete on a level footing with England, but that’s what happened on Saturday night. The Caribbean team, who had all kinds of issues in qualifying, were superb, continuing the strong impression they made in the playoff event earlier this year in Auckland and Hamilton.
God bless the USA
When the world champions were drawn to play in New Zealand – instead of Australia – local organisers were doing cartwheels. The past week has shown why. The USA have attracted massive coverage, with a large media pack in tow. They are a huge global brand and turn heads wherever they go; which other team could attract more than 40,000 to Eden Park for a match not involving the home side?
Lindsey Horan, captain of the US team. Photo / Photosport
Added time – getting too much?
The added time plague that hit the men’s World Cup in Qatar has been transferred to this one. It’s good that time wasting no longer goes unpunished but some of the durations are getting out of hand, epitomised by the 17 minutes tacked on to the USA v Vietnam clash.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino ran around in the rain with some former legends on Friday, at Seddon Fields in Auckland.
Good for them, but if you want to promote the tournament, why not invite some media to watch, given the ex-players have been flown out at considerable expense?
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.
