The decision to increase the 2023 Fifa Women's World Cup field from 24 to 32 teams has turned out to be a masterstroke, judging by the results of some of the minnow teams after five days at the global showpiece.
Back in 2019, when Fifa announced the increase in the number of teams, many feared the quality of the football would suffer because of likely mismatches. The expanded format meant that some teams, who do not normally feature in women's soccer premier tournament, would finally make it through to the World Cup.
After five days, there is no obvious evidence that the quality of football has suffered. Also, the expected flood of mismatches against debutants did not materialise.
Co-hosts New Zealand (world ranking 26) provided the first upset on day 1 when they defeated the former champions Norway 1-0.
A few days later, debutants Philippines (46) defeated New Zealand (26) 1-0.
Another debutant Haiti (55) was next to surprise after they went down narrowly to England (4), who have clocked third and fourth-place finishes in this tournament.
Jamaica weighed in with a shock goalless draw against France (5). This result captured the imagination of fans around the world. The Jamaica national team has been battling great odds for many months because of their federation’s lack of funds.
Ireland (22) stole its share of the limelight with a stout performance against eventual 1-0 winners Australia (10), who relied on a second-half penalty for a winning start.
The former World Cup runners-up Sweden (3) was forced to pull out all the stops against South Africa (54), who were playing in only their second tournament and have yet to win a match. In comparison, the experienced Swedes have played in every tournament since 1991 and trailed 1-0 early in the second half.
In the end, Sweden ran out 2-1 winners after snatching the decisive goal at the death, but the South Africans won great admiration for their brave performance.
There were mismatches, although they were limited to the clashes involving the African debutants Zambia (77) and Morocco (72).
Spain (6) hammered Zambia 5-0, who suffered the same scoreline against former winners Japan (11).
Morrocco took a 6-0 pasting at the hands of Germany (2) in another mismatch.
Despite these one-sided results, the losing countries will benefit greatly from their World Cup participation. Their players will pick up valuable experience, which will provide the heartbeat of future teams.
The teams participating in the World Cup have also enjoyed massive benefits from Fifa, which has forked out substantial sums of money to ensure that the federations prepare adequately for the tournament.
Fifa launched a pilot programme in 2021 to aid team preparation and support for 10 of the lowest-ranked participating countries. Vietnam, for example, was provided with a fitness and nutrition expert.
Despite the blowouts in the matches against Zambia and Morocco, the rest of the debutant teams showed that they deserve to be on the big stage, while several lower-ranked teams are proving to be substantially hard nuts to crack.
@Herman_Gibbs
IOL Sport