Soccer’s Summer

We are back!! Yes folks after a summer break, FBJ and the Frankly Speaking column have returned to try and spread a little sunshine to life. Well that is the hope anyway. Right then, while one was away what has been happening in the football world.

Well to those who were around me when many of the European leagues were drawing to a close last May, I was beginning to look at upcoming football offerings to see how my rejuvenated football taste buds would be satisfied over the summer. With my supported team in Liverpool having such a strong finish to the season after a tumultuous start, and the awe-inspiring Champions League Final where Barcelona defeated Manchester United 3-1 at Wembley stadium, my football world seemed joyful again.

To tide me and the average football fan until the club season began again; we had the Under-21 European Championships, South America’s Copa América, and the Women’s World Cup during the off-season. I mention the three tournaments in this specific order for a particular reason which I will remark upon in a little while.

Reviewing each competition, the Under-21 European Championships was a consistent tournament, but hardly compelling. Spain and Switzerland were plus points of the event held in Denmark, with both teams playing attractive football en-route to the tournament’s final. However the competition seemed to lack any real spark or imagination from the other competing teams, and the tournament suffered as a result. Moderately staged, but definitely would not go down as a stellar tournament.

What we did discover is beneath the established and successful Spanish stars of Iker Casillas, Xavi Hernandez, and Andrés Iniesta in the senior setup, lays a talented core group of young players waiting in the wings. Names like David de Gea, Juan Mata, and Thiago Alcântara showed that they are ready to try and continue Spain’s current monopoly on the major international honours for many years to come. A frightening thought eh? Plus the Swiss senior team potentially have a bright future too, with some exciting prospects coming through the ranks with Xherdan Shaqiri, and Jonathan Rossini performing well in the tournament.

As this competition reached its end, footballing eyes shifted across the Atlantic Ocean to South America and its continental championship, the Copa América. This year’s tournament took place in Argentina, a nation historically known as a football superpower and could call upon the likes of Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez, and Sergio Aguero amongst its current ranks. It would have been very easy to assume that the tournament both on and off the field would be set alight by such a partisan football country.

Well the Argentinean fans did their bit for the tournament, and supported their national team admirably. Unfortunately their side and its pool of quality players which on paper, is on-par with World Champions Spain if not better, once again flattered to deceive. But they were not the only ones to frustrate, as Brazil were equally atrocious to mirror their flat 2010 World Cup campaign. The tournament was competitive to a degree but was so awful to watch, devoid of quality and flair that we come to expect of South American football.

A series of grim matches perhaps summed up by Paraguay, who navigated a path to the final without winning a single match in 90 minutes or in extra time. One positive aspect is that we had two new teams contesting the final for the first time in eight years. No sight of Brazil and Argentina in battling it out like the previous two tournaments, as Paraguay and eventual winners Uruguay took centre stage. Solidifying both teams good runs at the 2010 World Cup, and showing that football truly is and global game. Most teams both at club and international level around the globe are well organised and process solid quality, and if you are a supposed big name team, the days of an easy fixture are almost non-existent.

But the big shock to me of the footballing summer was how fantastic the Women’s World Cup was, this year held in Germany. The country and its fans embraced the event like any other major tournament, and flocked to the stadiums in their droves to watch high quality and exciting games. I will freely admit that this tournament was not even on my radar, and had no plans to watch the tournament during the summer. Now before I get abuse from the ladies at my omission, and astonishment at how good the tournament was, allow me to explain.

Indeed I had been a fleeting watcher of women’s football at international level for a few years whenever shown on television. This included the 2007 Women’s World Cup. In the UK, the main television broadcaster of that event was the BBC, and credit must be given that they tried to present solid coverage with some matches being shown on its main channels. But in the intervening years, women’s football has been treated as nothing more than a quiet whisper.

Coverage of this year’s World Cup was simply put on the backburner by the BBC with a lack of reference, and gave the event interactive coverage as opposed to being included on main programming. So with a growing sport given little chance to shine, quite frankly I had no set plan to watch the tournament at all.  How wrong was I when I viewed it accidentally with an exciting game between Brazil and the USA at the quarter-final stage. I was amazed at the high quality of play, and this standard heightened throughout the remaining matches in the tournament with Japan crowned as winners. Expansive, tremendously skilful, and thrill-a-minute are key words I would describe the tournament as I watched. It was a damn sight better to view than the weak play the Copa América was serving up.

With the English FA creating a Super League for its domestic clubs, and staged during the summer whilst being televised by ESPN, perhaps the exposure and coverage the women’s game needed certainly on British shores will start to become more apparent. Perhaps people will judge the sport on its own merits as opposed to comparing it to its male equivalent. I definitely now subscribe to this theorem, and if this year’s World Cup was anything to go by, I look forward to Canada 2015 and wonder how far the women’s game can grow to?