My thoughts on that were abundently clear. Another nail in the coffin.
But I just cant shake the comparison, which is totally a me thing.
Standard went down in ET... But its rare that any game maintains quality in ET. The world cup final in 2022 was probably last one I recall.
No doubt people will reflect on yhe dire penalties, but was an enjoyable second half.
I think your reservations are valid. One can love women's football and still prefer the men's game.
Top-level women's international football is interesting. But there is no depth beyond a handful of countries - which is what you would expect in a developing sport. Some of the women have incredible skill - as good as any male player. It's not about a lack of skill in the top players or teams. It's the lack of physicality and depth that hurts it in comparison to the men. But, again, that's the same in most women's sports.
On its own terms, women's sport can be brilliant. Martina Navratilova v Chris Evert was every bit as compelling a rivalry as any in any sport. Two genuises with contrasting styles bringing the very best out of each other on every surface. Would they beat the men? Not really, no. It wouldn't be a fair match because of male strength. Were they as skilled as the men - oh, yes. On pure skill and mental strength alone, game on!
We wouldn't expect a middleweight to defeat a heavyweight boxer. We have weight classes to make sport safe and level the playing field for competitors. We divide players into men's and women's categories for the same reasons.
Women's soccer has developed incredibly well in recent decades. It's a success story. The men's game will always offer more in terms of physicality and depth. But one can enjoy a lightweight boxing bout as much as a heavyweight clash - and not see the smaller boxers as inferior. I mean, do we think Marvelous Marvin Hagler was an "inferior" boxer to, say, Lennox Lewis? I don't think so. We think Lennox would likely win a brawl to the death between the two purely because of his size, but technically? That's a different call.
Last night's penalty shoot-out was a farce. One can love women's soccer and still laugh at the ludicrousness of what we witnessed. It's not that women are "inferior" - it's that they have probably had fewer opportunities so far to cope with the pressure they experienced last night. The Swedish team experienced a mental collapse last night. They won that game at least four times - and blew it every time. England, who showed great courage at 0-2 to come back and give themselves a chance, won the game on the strength of their gutsy comeback and then the mental capitulation of the Swedes.
If women's football wants more respect from people, we do at least have to admit when the standard falls off a cliff - as it did in that shoot-out last night. It was the equivalent of Navratilova and Evert going hammer and tongs, one of them blowing three match points from a set up and both them proceeding to a tiebreaker and serving underarm to each other whilst netting every return. It was a joke. But that's developing sport for you. And say what you like, it was very entertaining.
Basically, that match lacked the hard-nosed professionalism of the men's game. But so what? It has a more human and relatable charm as a result. Is it the highest level of the sport? No. But neither was the Wimbledon final this year that ended in a double-bagel. Yet, we know women's tennis can produce magic.
