More than the results themselves, the whole competition has put women's football firmly on the map and given it respectability. The standard of play has been incredibly high and has firmly buried the idea that women's football is 'a joke'.
The competition started badly, giving succour to all the male dinosaurs who said it was a pantomime when Germany beat Argentina 11-0 in the very first game, the poor Argentine goalkeeper performing in a way which gave all the 'knockers' some weighty ammunition.
But from then on the competition improved in leaps and bounds until by the time it reached the semi final stages I was glued to the screen, loving every second of the matches..and I never ever thought I would say that about women's soccer. The competition has been a real eye opener for me and for a lot of other men too, I believe, in how far women's football has progressed in relatively few years.
OK back in the early 90s when the women's game was in its international infancy, much of the cruel joking could be justified. They looked clumsy, they couldn't trap a ball and much of the shooting looked like 6 year old's on a parks pitch. But that was before, certainly in Europe, proper leagues were introduced and a careful training and development scheme was put in place. But after that first world cup, when the women began to come through training schemes and had proper coaching academies the standards increased in leaps and bounds until we saw the results over the last two weeks of genuinely gripping competition.
OK you still get the 'knockers' in the pubs...'they wouldn't beat a men's non league team' etc etc...No maybe not. But why do we constantly compare women's sport against what men can do. It should be judged on its own merits and its own rate of development - and those have been fantastic.
It was interesting that some of the good and bad things inherent in the male game found their way into the play of their female opposite numbers. The American girls were strong, fit and very athletic..as you would expect American sports persons of either gender to be...but perhaps, this year, lacked a little finesse and harmony as a team. The Brazilians were fluid, wonderfully skilled attacking players..but they angered, particularly, their American opponents by celebrating joyously after getting a US player sent off in somewhat dubious circumstances, and were capable of nasty, niggling little fouls a la South American tradition. The Germans, eventual winners, played rather like their male counterparts too. They lacked the Brazilian flair but they were grimly determined not to give them space, not to give the ball away and to play in a disciplined team ethic..and it worked.
Abby Wambach (United States) testing the Brazilian defenceAnyway a wonderful competition...congratulations ladies on doing your gender proud..and may your game go from strength to strength!
The winning German team celebrate their World Cup Final victory
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