There had been 14 men’s World Cups before FIFA gave in to mounting demands and organized a women’s tournament.
However, for fear of tarnishing the prestige of the tournament, soccer’s governing body dubbed the inaugural 1991 edition the “FIFA Women’s Soccer World Championship for the M&Ms Cup.”
The competition soon abandoned the patronage of the confectionery and has grown in size and influence over the decades since. Here are the biggest victories that the world competition has achieved over the years.
The transformative United States coach, Anson Dorrance, appreciated the relentless edge of his world champions. “We didn’t back down and visit the bunker and twiddle our thumbs,” he would yell. “We go outside, we reach out and try to grab you by the throat and squeeze the fucking air out of you.”
With this unwavering approach, the United States racked up seven return goals in the quarterfinals of the inaugural tournament against Taipei. It remains the largest margin of victory of any tie in the competition.
Canada had had two months to train as a team before the 1995 World Cup. However, no synergy could compete with the relentless might of eventual champion Norway.
Ann Kristin Aarones was the competition’s top scorer, scoring half of her six goals in the Canadians’ loss.
For legendary Chinese star Sun Wen, trophies were not the priority in her playing career. “For me,” she has said, “the precious memories are the fantastic teamwork, the atmosphere in the stadium and the interactions with the fans.”
By that logic, there will be few days as sweet as June 23, 1999. Sun opened the scoring against Ghana on ten minutes and completed his hat trick shortly after the break. A flurry of goals from Zhang Ouying and Zhao Lihong doomed Ghana to history, but Sun, as a joint winner of FIFA’s Women’s Player of the 21st Century award, will forever be part of football’s rich tapestry.
Sweden started the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup on the right foot, dishing a torrent of goals to Japan just three days into the competition.
Fortunately, the Americans were willing to share their rations with Sweden, which helped the Scandinavians reach third place. After the United States won the competition, the two teams celebrated with a song made up on the fly by the Swedish captain, Pia Sundhage.
More news about the 2023 World Cup
After losing to the United States in the 1991 final, Norway responded with 17 goals in the group stage of the following tournament, in which Hege Riise’s men opened with an 8-0 thrashing of Nigeria, the perennial African representative.
Norway would lift the trophy two weeks later, but it disappeared in 1997 during renovation works for the Norwegian Football Association.
Fabienne Humm, a part-time employee at a tech company, saved enough days off to travel to the 2015 World Cup.
Humm didn’t let up outside the office, scoring a hat-trick in five minutes against Ecuador that remains the fastest in World Cup history, both men’s and women’s.
The German forwards showed no mercy on the pitch in their 10-0 win over the Ivory Coast, and their coach, Silvia Neid, didn’t mince words after the game either.
“We had judged them better than they have been today,” Neid analyzed coldly. As the lowest-ranked team in the competition, 66 places below world leaders Germany at the time, Neid could not have had high expectations in Côte d’Ivoire.
José Carlos Borrello would not have slept well after the opening match of the 2007 World Cup.
The Argentina coach lamented: “It was a nightmare start for our team” when reigning champions and eventual world champions Germany took a 4-0 lead after half an hour. It only got worse, however, as a Birgit Prinz-inspired team mercilessly exploited “a lot of open space,” according to the legendary forward.
Vanina Correa did not have a very good time under the three sticks, and her coach did not hesitate to criticize her: “She made two mistakes that cost us two goals. Today was a nightmare for her.”
Too many people’s immediate reaction to the United States’ historic 13-0 defeat of Thailand in 2019 was not to admire the skill of the victors, or even to question the resolve of the losers, but to criticize the manner of victory.
From their parents’ basement bedrooms, many onlookers lashed out at the US team for celebrating the 11th, 12th and 13th goals with as much enthusiasm as the first three. Did they really need a dozen?
But it wasn’t disrespectful, as coach Jill Ellis explained: “To be respectful to your opponents is to play hard against your opponents.”
CONTINUE READING: All the UEFA Champions League finals of the 21st century, ranked
#Biggest #wins #Womens #World #Cup #history