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The U.S. Women’s National Team opens its World Cup play against Australia as part of the group stage on June 8th at 7:30 p.m. EST. Just like their gentleman counterparts, the Lady Yanks find themselves in the “Group of Death,” which given the worldwide love for the United States and by FIFA especially, I’m sure is purely coincidental. But have no fear patriots, our ladies are ready to battle. But are we ready as fans? To ensure that is the case, just as we did for the men last year, we must know and understand our group stage enemies. Let us begin with the Aussies.
It is going to be difficult to think of the Australians as our enemy. Unlike many countries (most countries?), we have a pretty good relationship with the Australians. They’ve given us so many things that we have adopted as part of our culture, mostly actors that we know because they were pretending to be Americans: Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, the Hemsworths. Paul Hogan started the Australian cultural revolution in the 80s with “Crocodile Dundee,” but then Yahoo Serious derailed that momentum immediately with “Young Einstein,” so it was a wash.
The Australians have also made stellar contributions to our music, which lives on at our parties, both theme and fraternity, to this very day.
Unclear whether the ladies will walk out of the tunnel to this song, but they clearly should. Also that video has 16,867,000 hits. Think about that.
Australia is both a country and a continent, and as you may recall from a game of Trivial Pursuit, it was originally settled as an English penal colony in the 18th century. Its official title is the “Commonwealth of Australia,” which dates back to its British roots. But the Aussies have shed their convict past and developed into the world’s 12th largest economy. But most Americans do not know a ton about Australia other than “dude, you HAVE to go”, there’s Sydney, Melbourne, and that place where they filmed a season of Survivor. To say nothing of the region from which the native “Bloomin’ Onion” was birthed.
Australia currently ranks 2nd in the most recent United Nations Human Development Index, which is a global comparison of quality of life, opportunities, economic freedom, and protection of civil and political rights. Which basically means it is a pretty sweet place to live. What’s #1? Norway. So it’s obviously not a perfect study (the US is 5th).
Australia is a constitutional monarchy (as part of the Commonwealth it still recognizes Queen Elizabeth II) and is ruled by a prime minister and parliament, made up of representatives from its six states and several territories.
Australia’s national anthem evokes memories of our own national anthem in its imagery and melody. “Our land abounds in nature’s gifts, Of Beauty rich and rare, In history’s page let every stage, Advance Australia fair.” This beautiful song will be the perfect compliment to the Star Spangled Banner during the opening match.
But on June 8th, we must disregard all that we love about the land down under, as our ladies will be doing battle with the 10th ranked team in the FIFA Women’s rankings. The “Matildas” (from the song Waltzing Matlida) are led by co-captain Lisa De Vanna, who has tallied 35 goals in 99 appearances for her country. Australia advanced to the quarterfinals in the 2011 World Cup before losing to Sweden (who is also in this group o’ death). The Matildas also placed fifth in the Cyprus Cup (out of 12), an invitational tournament held in March of this year. They are known for their tenacity, so they will give the Americans all they can handle from the opening whistle and if the Americans are inconsistent the way they were against South Korea over the weekend, the Lady Yanks could find themselves in serious trouble. Crikey.
Given their success in the Olympics (winning the gold medal in the last 3 competitions), it seems inconceivable that the United States Women’s team has not won the World Cup since 1999. For the older members of the squad like superstars Abby Wambach and Hope Solo, this is their last chance to hoist the trophy that has eluded them for so many years. Anything less than a victory will be considered a failure, as evidenced by the disappointing penalty shootout loss to Japan in the 2011 final.
After the famous Brandi Chastain-winning penalty in 1999, many envisioned that it was the start of women’s soccer really taking flight in this country, but professional leagues have come and gone and only the national team really holds the nation’s attention. However, soccer is much more popular in this country than it was back in 1999, so this is an important moment not only for the players on the pitch, but for the women’s game as a whole. While certainly a disappointing finish will not doom the game or its prospects, were the women to win the World Cup, it could provide a tremendous boost to soccer overall in the United States. We at the18 are hoping that they can pull it off. And it all starts against the Matildas on June 8th. Get your red, white, and blue gear ready. We believe.
Follow Mike Smith on Twitter @thefootiegent
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