Search for content in SoccerAware Online
Search results returned here
As preparations get in high gear for the Women's World Cup in Germany 2011, Ngeria's Super Falcons in South Africa today beat defending champions, Equatorial Guinea, 4-2 (1-0) to regain the African Women's Cup of Nations which they lost via a semi-final loss to Equatorial Guinea in 2008. Both nations automatically qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany 2011 summer. Nigeria had won every edition since inception of the continental championship. Equatorial Guinea with its 600,000 population, noted a blogger, doesn't qualify as one of Nigeria's top ten most populous cities. The gap in women's soccer is closing fast.
However, guess who's in trouble of failing to make it to Germany - the U.S.A.! Mexico beat U.S. 2-1 in the semi-final of the continental championship just over a week ago to automatically represent the Americas along with Canada. U.S.A. will now have to play Italy on a home and away set for a last shot at the quadrennial event.
I saw this coming and said it time and time again over a decade. Soccer program development in America is way too elitist! Parents who can't afford ridiculous amounts of money don't get their children in soccer programs. Compared to most other parts of the world, there's still a lot of job to do to make the sport the regular family's sport. That actually is where the most athletic talents abound. The fire, the hunger, the passion to elevate the level of the sport in the U.S. is yet to be harnessed.
Without taking anything away from those who've dedicated much to bring the sport this far especially in the women's ranks, watching women's professional soccer today makes it tough to debunk its critics; what with the low ratio of pass completion, the errant shot accuracy, spotty pace, and especially the minimal creativity of goal production. Something new needs to be done.
Women's tennis offers a helpful reference. Good as the WTA was coming to the end of the last century, things picked up with the introduction at the onset of the 21st century of the highly competitive pace and power out of the inner cities. Crowd packed the stands and fans were entertained.
In the U-20 women's championships in Germany this year, Nigeria knocked out the U.S in the quarter-finals. U.S. did not even qualify for the U-17 championships in TnT a couple of months ago. U.S.A. is missing out on tapping a huge pool of talent in the inner cities. If no action is taken to correct this anomaly, the country that has done so much to elevate the participation of women in the world's most popular sport will be playing second fiddle to the rest of the world shortly.
Bolaji Sojobi - Nov. 14, 2010
However, guess who's in trouble of failing to make it to Germany -
I saw this coming and said it time and time again over a decade. Soccer program development in America is way too elitist! Parents who can't afford ridiculous amounts of money don't get their children in soccer programs. Compared to most other parts of the world, there's still a lot of job to do to make the sport the regular family's sport. That actually is where the most athletic talents abound. The fire, the hunger, the passion to elevate the level of the sport in the U.S. is yet to be harnessed.
Without taking anything away from those who've dedicated much to bring the sport this far especially in the women's ranks, watching women's professional soccer today makes it tough to debunk its critics; what with the low ratio of pass completion, the errant shot accuracy, spotty pace, and especially the minimal creativity of goal production. Something new needs to be done.
Women's tennis offers a helpful reference. Good as the WTA was coming to the end of the last century, things picked up with the introduction at the onset of the 21st century of the highly competitive pace and power out of the inner cities. Crowd packed the stands and fans were entertained.
In the U-
Bolaji Sojobi -
International Women’s Soccer - Gap Closing Fast!
FIFA World Cup 2010 News Update
