Competitive Level of Play

What has been very impressive in the Women's World Cup is how even the teams are. Most games have been low-scoring (e.g. 1-0 or 2-1) but that doesn't mean that the games have been boring. On the contrary, they have been intense, physical with open attacking soccer. Very entertaining. In the women games, there has been more displays of technical skills than you typically see in a men's game. If a man starts dribbling around his opponents, he is often mowed down. The women have more opportunity the play the game as it should be played. The environment at the games is also more fan-friendly. For example, at last night's game there were not many people drinking (a lot of) alcohol and very little rowdy behavior. We felt very comfortable with our daughters at the game last night.

Apart from the French victory against the Canadians, there have been no blowouts in this year's Cup. The teams here are equal which goes to show much progress has been made in women's soccer all across the globe. In this Cup there are 16 teams (as opposed to the Men's Cup that features 32 teams). With more and more girls playing soccer around the world and starting to play at an earlier age, the women's game will progress by leaps and bounds whereas you can debate whether the men's game has been progressing at all in the last 10 years.