Australians have finally discovered (real) Football - FIFA WWC

[VickersVandal]

After decades of rugby being the only thing anyone here cares about (oh yes, apart from cricket) our FIFA Women's team, the Matildas, just beat out France in the FIFA WWC to go onto the semi-finals. The country has gone berserk...in a good way. The game was unbelievably tense and went to penalties, finally (after 20 shots) going to the Tillies in the Sudden Death round.

It's nice to see greater appreciation of The Beautiful game and especially of Women's sport in general. In Australia "football" means rugby....even though it doesn't use feet....or a ball for that matter. Just blokes charging into each other. Anyway, our men's team (Socceroos) have never been much to write home about and get eliminated pretty quickly so it's a new experience for us to be doing well in a FIFA comp. Soccer gets barely any money put into it here, which is why our men's team just isn't competitive. But our Tillies are punching well above their weight. and we love em to bits. Hopefully this leads to bigger and better things for Football in this country. Most kids are on a soccer team until high school but it seems to peter out after that.

They'll be going head to head with England next. Very tough competition but more and more we're feeling like they might have what it takes to make it to the top. We shall see. How well is women's football regarded over there?

[PaulBradley]

For those of us in the US, its been getting quite bit of coverage because of the historical performance of the USWNT, but they are in a transitional phase and were poor. With regards to viewing, the issue is that most of the games occur at 2 or 3am, our time, so I haven't watched any of the games.

England vs Australia ought to be a good game - I can see that one going to pens as well! I'll find out the score when I wake up!

[AndrewR]

This has been a really good tournament so far. An England - Australia final would have been nice The semifinal promises to be an excellent game.

[VickersVandal]

For those of us in the US, its been getting quite bit of coverage because of the historical performance of the USWNT, but they are in a transitional phase and were poor. With regards to viewing, the issue is that most of the games occur at 2 or 3am, our time, so I haven't watched any of the games.

England vs Australia ought to be a good game - I can see that one going to pens as well! I'll find out the score when I wake up!

Yeah, there seems to be a bit of controversy around the US team. Maybe that's just the way our media are presenting it though.

The viewing time is a big part of the reason football isn't popular here. If we want to watch anything live from a decent comp, we generally have to be up at some unearthly hour...like my mate who follows Liverpool and will be waking at 2am to catch the game tonight.

[iggie]

Although I haven't followed the competition, anecdotally it seems to be getting very good coverage and viewing figures here even with slightly inconvenient match times...
League attendance and TV coverage is growing well by all accounts so a good cup run will not hurt the growth of the game at all

[beany]

I watched the Matildas play France "live" at 8am here so not ridiculous early and found the shoot out to be very stressful but I'm glad they won as an ex-resident for nearly five years. That was followed immediately by our own game against Columbia and the odds were 7/1 in their favour at the bookies but we won anyway. Now being retired I don't care what time of day the matches are on TV but would probably have had to take leave from work otherwise for Wednesdays coming match! May the best Sheila's win!

[VickersVandal]

England one up at half time. Not what we were hoping for but we'll see how the 2nd half plays out...

[Stuart]

England one up at half time. Not what we were hoping for but we'll see how the 2nd half plays out...

Football..? Is that the thing where a load of people run up and down a field kicking each other (sorry the ball) surrounded by others screaming their heads off?

Lol! Go Lionesses!

[AndrewR]

One all now.

I do think a sport has "made it" when England vs Australia is the big match.

[Stuart]

One all now.

I do think a sport has "made it" when England vs Australia is the big match.

3-1? I take it it went to penalties?

England vs Australia is always good - we'll have to make it an annual event. It'll make up for them constantly beating us at cricket!

[VickersVandal]

3-1? I take it it went to penalties?

England vs Australia is always good - we'll have to make it an annual event. It'll make up for them constantly beating us at cricket!

Fair enough.

Yes, 3-1 but not on penalties. The Lionesses were very disciplined and the Matildas were a bit too messy, especially in defense. In the end the result was not a surprise. The ref was kind of rubbish, I have to say. There were so many fouls that should have been called - on both sides, though more by England. All the FIFA WWC matches I've seen so far had excellent reffing but not this one.

[Stuart]

...though more by England. All the FIFA WWC matches I've seen so far had excellent reffing but not this one.

That doesn't surprise me - I've been a little bit shocked by some of the activities of the lionesses during this torment - well from what I've heard about anyway, I've not watched any of it.

Surprising that - obviously someone if having an off day.

[VickersVandal]

Yeah, they seemed to have the aggression dialled pretty high. I think the Tillies were a bit taken aback and not quite sure how to handle it because none of the other teams they've met in this comp have played like that. I think they assumed the ref would be onto it but she definitely wasn't. It may have put them on the back foot a bit.

Anyway, they played well and it's the furthest Australia has ever gone. It's done wonders for the popularity of Soccer here and for women's sport so the overall outcome has been good even if we didn't make the final. As I say, England were definitely tighter and more disciplined and their win was deserved.