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
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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.htmland 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
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Ol' yeller nail para . . . .