Love God Only

Yes, Marta. I haven't forgotten the women. I'll be watching whenever I can. I've seen you play a number of times and you're very good at it.

I am sure next summer’s tournament, just like the one in Russia, will be very well organised. I fully expect there to be a lot of great games, a lot of supporters attending the games and, of course, more media coverage – from TV, online and print – than ever before. Our sport is growing and this is our chance to show that women’s football is also exciting and attractive  .  .   .   .   .   .

Women’s football has made enormous strides in the past decades and I am confident that will continue. There is always a battle to get more coverage on TV, in newspapers and on websites – so it is up to the players to do what we can to help improve that, which is to play the best we can, do our job with love and affection and continually show to people that women’s football is attractive and engaging and, above all, a beautiful game. :

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/21/russia-world-cup-women-france-2019-marta

Indeed it is.

Marta Vieira da Silva (born 19 February 1986), commonly known as Marta, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for the Orlando Pride in the National Women's Soccer League and the Brazil national team as a forward. With 15 goals, she holds the record for most goals scored at FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments, surpassing Birgit Prinz's previous record of 14 with a goal against South Korea in Brazil's first match of the 2015 edition in Canada.

Marta is often regarded as the best female player of all time and was given the nickname "Pele in skirts" by Pele himself.[2][3][4] She was named FIFA World Player of the Year five consecutive times between 2006 and 2010. She was a member of the Brazilian national teams that won the silver medal at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. She was also awarded the Golden Ball (MVP) at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship, and won both the Golden Ball award as the best player and the Golden Boot award as the top scorer in the 2007 Women's World Cup after leading Brazil to the final of the tournament.

In January 2013 she was named as one of the six Ambassadors of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, alongside Amarildo, Bebeto, Carlos Alberto Torres, Ronaldo and Mario Zagallo.[5] She also appeared in the Sveriges Television television documentary series The Other Sport from 2013.

In August 2016, Marta was one of the 8 to carry the Olympic Flag in the Olympic Games in Rio.

As of 14 March 2017, Marta has become a Swedish citizen. She's stated that she'll keep her Brazilian citizenship.[6]

Years   Team   Apps   (Gls)
2000–2002   Vasco da Gama   16   (4)
2002–2004   Santa Cruz   38   (16)
2004–2008   Umeå IK   103   (210)
2009   Los Angeles Sol   19   (10)
2009–2010   → Santos (loan)   14   (26)
2010   FC Gold Pride   24   (19)
2011   Santos   12   (13)
2011   Western New York Flash   14   (10)
2012–2014   Tyresö FF   38   (27)
2014–2017   FC Rosengård   43   (23)
2017–   Orlando Pride

2002   Brazil U-19      
2002–   Brazil:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marta_%28footballer%29


FIFA Women's Ranking:

1   USA   
2   Germany   
3   France   
4   England   
5   Canada   
6   Japan   
7   Brazil   
8   Australia   
9   Netherlands   
10 Korea DPR


para .   .   .   .

Kerry - ^

I think FIFA might want the women to ride off the popularity of the men as to the timing. If they go for two, it conflicts with UEFA's Euro.

para .  .  .  .

Kerry -

If that's the theory, it's not working too well.   Lots of games have already been played, and I  didn't hear about any of them.   I checked  at goal.com and they had a few stories that were remotely connected.  There were only two stories from 2018.   

http://www.goal.com/en-us/womens-world-cup/1/8x62utr2uti3i7kk14isbnip6

3/22/18  How the USWNT's next star got back on track

1/23/18 Neville deletes Twitter account after sexist tweets

No stories about the matches that have already been played.  No stories about who's been eliminated already.

Lookin' for love in all the wrong places  .

Kerry, I'd say most people don't follow or care about qualifiers. I'd venture to say that many sporting people don't as well. Just tell me if they made it to the World Cup they might say. There's a range of interest from very mild to those who follow almost everything there is to follow in the sport. I think I've mentioned it already but if I haven't I remember sitting next to someone wearing an Italy kit-shirt and we talked about soccer. This was a few months before this World Cup. I asked him who he thought were most likely to win and he told me that if his kit-country gets knocked out, he won't watch, he doesn't care for the rest of it. Conversation over.

So, you might run into someone like me who cares a little more about the sport and tries to find the pearl:

https://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/teams/index.html

and might know where to look about the female aspect of the game which in many sports isn't as popular as the men's unfortunately but the media's trying and doing better but people want the steak in the end, the World Cup Finals and if people are not interested in qualifiers, they'll keep their fingers crossed and hope their nation will get into the Finals. That's just the way it is here in North America where soccer is something like the fifth most popular sport.

There's been interested generated in the sport by the Men's World Cup and FIFA are probably hoping that having the Women's just a year off might generally rub off on the women's game. Now, that's not meant for me since I'll watch what I can of the women when I can. Yesterday, for instance, I watched the Special Olympics Women's Unified Cup Final from Toyota Park in Chicago between Brazil and Slovakia and enjoyed it.

As Marta strongly suggested, there's work to be done in informing the public of the beauty of the women's game. You see how she timed her statements with the close of the Men's World Cup.

That's a men's event, isn't it?   I don't see much of a conflict.

You don't want a competition between the two as to who's watching what if the tournaments coincide. You don't want to have people to choose between them. The women should have their own show-piece and their game should be enjoyed and stand on its own merits instead of always being compared to the men's in terms of viewership and male v female aspects. The women's game is skillful, artful, and engaging on its own.

So far:

AFC qualified teams (5)

    Australia
    China PR
    Japan
    Korea Republic
    Thailand

UEFA qualified teams (3)

    France
    Italy
    Spain

CONMEBOL qualified teams (2)

    Brazil
    Chile

So, just reading this Kerry, you know more about it than most sporting North Americans I'd say  .




Ol' yeller nail para .   .  .   .

Kerry - ^

How much did you hear about the SheBelieves Cup 2018 or the upcoming Tournament of Nations?

They're not World Cup qualifiers and only involve teams that you can count on one hand but they have the number one ranked woman's national team globally there. They too can give some idea as to who might be representing the USA in France next June.


Ol' "hello, operator?" para .   .  .  .

The Venues:

Stade des Alpes  -  Grenoble

Stade Océane  -  Le Havre

Stade de Lyon  -  Lyon

Stade de la Mosson  -  Montpellier

Stade de Nice  -  Nice

Parc des Princes  -  Paris

Stade Auguste-Delaune  -  Reims

Roazhon Park  -  Rennes

Stade de Hainaut  -  Valenciennes

https://www.roadtrips.com/soccer-packages/2019-womens-world-cup/venues/

Looks gorgeous to me  .


para .   .   .   .