“When I was young, I watched women’s soccer matches and (one team) scored 12 goals. It’s interesting and fun to watch such a fierce game. You don’t know how it will turn out.”

Lena Oberdorf of the German women’s soccer team gave her opinion on the recent women’s soccer trend at a press conference on the 2nd, the day before the 2023 FIFA World Cup group stage 3 match with Korea.

She analyzed that there is a ‘power leveling’ between teams around the world to the extent that Oberdorf can’t predict the match ahead of time.

Coach Martina Posteklenburg, who attended the press conference together, also said, “The level of women’s football is rising.”

Sadly, Germany immediately proved this.

Germany, who drew 1-1 with South Korea, failed to advance to the round of 16 due to Colombia and Morocco. It was Germany’s first group stage elimination since the first tournament, the 1991 China Tournament.

On the 8th, the teams that advanced to the quarterfinals of this tournament were confirmed, but the names of the United States and Germany, which are ranked 1st and 2nd in the FIFA rankings, cannot be found.

The “World’s Strongest” United States also suffered a loss after a penalty shoot-out against Sweden in the round of 16.

Kang-ho is not the only one who turned away lonely. Canada, the winner of the Tokyo Olympics (ranked 7th), and Brazil (8th), led by the “legend” Marta, packed their bags in the group stage.

Sweden (3rd), England (4th), France (5th), Spain (6th) and the Netherlands (9th) advanced to the quarterfinals, but Europe is still strong, but their journey was also difficult.

England, the winner of last year’s European Women’s Football Championship (Women’s Euro 2022), reached the quarterfinals after a penalty shoot-out with 40th-ranked Nigeria.

Spain also suffered a crushing defeat to Japan (ranked 11th) 0-4 in the group stage.

On the other hand, Colombia (ranked 25th), who beat Korea 2-0 in the first match of the tournament, managed to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time in history. It is the first time that a team outside the top 20 in the Women’s World Cup has advanced to the quarterfinals.

In addition, a total of three teams from outside the Americas and Europe remained in the quarterfinals, including Australia (10th place), the host country, which is considered a ‘traditional powerhouse’, and Japan, the 2011 champion team.

It is a different aspect from the previous World Cup in France in 2019. At that time, in the quarterfinals, all seven teams except for the United States in the first round were European teams.

In 2015, it was ‘Familiar Names’ that reached the quarterfinals.

France (3rd), Japan (4th), England (6th), Canada (8th), Australia (10th),

In this World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, there is no picture that all strong players are on the verge of victory.

For the first time since the women’s FIFA rankings were established in 2003, the first and second placed teams did not make it to the quarterfinals. Up to the previous tournament, the first and second place teams passed the round of 16 without incident.

Even if we expand the scope to the round of 16, ‘teams from the periphery’ have risen the most in this World Cup.

As the number of participating countries increased to 24, only two teams outside the 20th place in the rankings passed the group stage, from Canada in 2015 when the round of 16 tournament took place, to France in 2019.

This year’s tournament has increased the number of teams outside the top 20 to five. Colombia, Nigeria (40th), Jamaica (43rd), South Africa (54th) and Morocco (72nd) advanced to the round of 16.

In particular, Morocco set a historic milestone by becoming the first Arab country to step on the stage of the Women’s World Cup finals, and achieved the feat of becoming the first team in the top 70 to reach the round of 16.

Colin Bell, head coach of the Korean women’s national soccer team, analyzed that even before the opening, the power leveling had been achieved to the extent that up to eight teams were selected as “candidates for the championship.”

Coach Bell said at a press conference on the 5th of last month, when the final list was announced, “There were 2-3 teams to win the previous tournament, but this World Cup has increased to 6-8 teams.”

Even on the 29th of last month, when they were defeated by Colombia and ahead of the match against Morocco, coach Bell diagnosed that the era of ‘fighting for concentration’ had arrived, saying, “You can see this World Cup match, but it is very fierce and can flow in any direction.”

Leaders around the world, including coach Bell, see this phenomenon as proof that women’s football has continued to develop.안전놀이터

Denmark coach Lars Sönergor commented at a press conference on the 27th of last month, “The competition is getting more and more intense. Teams that are not ranked high are playing more and more rough.” “All aspects of women’s football are improving.” .

Australia’s ‘legend’ Claire Polkinghorn, who participated in 161 A-matches (matches between national teams), welcomed the ‘change of perception’ in women’s soccer.

Paul Kinghorn, who is active in the 5th World Cup, said at a press conference on the 3rd, referring to Jamaica and South Africa’s progress to the round of 16, “This is the reason this tournament was so successful. Every game is unpredictable. It just seems crazy.”

According to the British daily Guardian, Nigerian striker Ifeoma Onumonu, who turned around at the threshold of the quarterfinals, predicted a ‘counterattack’ at all.

Right after the game against England on the 7th, Onumonu said, “There are many teams that catch up (to Kang Ho) by playing a lot of international matches.