The Women’s World Cup Through the Eyes of Thucydides, Gide and Aragon 

By Laurent Bellaiche

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup (FWWC), co-jointly held in Australia and New-Zealand, is now over after one month of festivities. How does one talk about it after so many journals and blogs around the world have already done so? The Beautiful Game: Dispatches from the Hill is lucky because three celebrities have returned from the grave to share their thoughts with us. The first  is an Athenian historian and general born circa 460 BC, Thucydides. The second celebrity is André Gide, the French writer who received the 1947 Nobel Prize in literature. The last person is a surrealist French poet, Louis Aragon.

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Thucydides is proud to recall that the sentence “ l’histoire est un perpétuel recommencement,” which translates in English in a less eloquent way as “History repeats itself,’’ is often credited to him. He has thus decided to prove his point by comparing facts, teams and players at this 2023 FWWC with previous events and personalities in men’s soccer. To start , two enormous surprises that occurred during the first group stage this year was the elimination of the current Olympic champions, Canada, as well as the European vice-champion, Germany. Thu-Thu (I should have indicated that Thucydides and I became good friends, which explains this excessive familiarity) correctly remarked that the Olympic men’s champions of 1980, Czechoslovakia, did not access the second stage of the 1982 World Cup after finishing third of their group behind England and France. The vice-champion of the 2012 men’s Euro, Italy, was also out of the tournament after the first group stage of the 2014 World Cup. Moreover, the New Zealand women’s team was eliminated at the World Cup tournament it organized after finishing third in its group, which is similar to the South African men’s team in 2010. For their first qualification ever for a FWWC, Philippines, the Republic of Ireland, Haiti, Vietnam and Panama finished last in their groups, which was also the misfortune endured by the men of Iraq and Canada in 1986. On the other hand, the 2023 FWWC newcomers Portugal and Zambia while also missing the qualification to the round of 16, finished third in their groups, exactly as the men of Cameroon did at their first World Cup participation in 1982. Furthermore, Costa Rica lost all its games of the group stage this year, like Chilean men’s team at the 1982 World Cup. South Korea did slightly better with one draw and two defeats, like the male players of Sweden in 1978. China was also out of the group stage after winning one game and losing two, just like the 1978 French men’s team.

The Norway of Caroline Graham Hansen and Ada Hegerberg, the Switzerland of Ramona Bachmann and the Denmark of Pernille Harder all went home after the round of 16, counting too much on their aging stars, exactly like the Italian men’s team of Cabrini, Scirea, Conti and Altobelli in 1986. On the other hand, Jamaica was a pleasant surprise at this world tournament by finishing second in front of Brazil in its group to qualify for this round of 16, where the Caribbean island was defeated by Colombia. Another women’s team that exceeded expectations was South Africa, which also finished second of its group, eliminating both Italy and Argentina, before succumbing to the Netherlands in the knockout stage. In that regard, Jamaica and South Africa both bear resemblance with the men of Costa Rica in 1990, who also ended up being a surprising second of their group before being eliminated in the round of 16. The women of Nigeria also had a rather good World Cup run, first qualifying for the knockout stage at the expense of none other than the heavily-favored Canada before being eliminated by the lottery of  penalty kicks against England that then reached but lost the final. A similar situation happened to the men of Morocco in 1986, who first made Portugal go home in the group stage before being kicked out by the finalist-to-be of Germany after a tough battle.

My man Thu-Thu also compared the rapid elimination of the U.S. women’s team who won the last two world cups with the epic failure of the Brazilian men’s team at the 1966 world cup, who was out of the tournament only one week after their first game, while also having brought home the most-coveted trophy in the previous 1958 and 1962 World Cups. Homie Thu-Thu further made the point that the women’s team of Morocco succeeded to qualify this year to the round of 16 (and were eliminated at that latter round) after having been thrashed and having conceded six goals during one game of the first group stage, which is precisely what happened to the men’s team of Uruguay at the 1986 World Cup. As a matter of fact, Morocco lost 6-0 to Germany in this 2023 FWWC while Uruguay suffered a 6-1 defeat against Denmark in 1986.

Thucydides also made us realized that Japan arguably played the most beautiful soccer this year, though they went home after the quarterfinals. This was unfortunate for fans of brilliant collective moves and fair play (Japan won the FIFA fair play award). Such facts also happened in 1986 when the marvelous Brazilian team of Zico, Careca and Socrates could not overcome the French team of Platini in a dantesque quarterfinal of the World Cup. Interestingly, the winner of this women’s Japanese team was Sweden, which was then eliminated in the next stage of the semi-finals before finishing third, exactly like the French men’s team in 1986.

Australia at this 2023 FWWC also shares several similarities with the men of South Korean at the 2002 World Cup, in the sense that they both co-organized their tournament with another country in a continent that is neither Europe nor South-America (the co-organizer was New-Zealand for the Mathildas versus Japan for South Korea); they had an enthusiastic entire country between them; they defeated a favorite on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw in the quarterfinal (France for Australia, and Spain for South Korea); were eliminated in the semi-final by a team that will then lose the final (England for the down under country and Germany for the land of the morning calm); and they both finished fourth of their own World Cup.

Moreover, England lost the 2023 FWWC final after having won the previous European Championship, precisely like West Germany of 1980-1982. The Spanish women’s team became world champion this year by playing a delicious game made of passing and even after being defeated in one match of the first round by Japan. This reminded Thu-Thu of the Spanish men’s team that was crowned champion of the world in 2010, despite having lost against Switzerland in one of their group matches. Spain is now the second country, after Germany, to have triumphed in the World Cup both for women and men.

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It is now time to talk about some players who shone in this 2023 FWWC. For that, we interviewed André Gide, who is the author of the famous adage “l’intelligence, c’est la faculté d’adaptation’’, that is: intelligence is the ability to adapt. To look sharp, Dédé (affectionate nickname of André) decided to adapt himself to the soccer world by adopting the philosophy of Thucydides. Therefore, he provided a list of female playersand offered a comparison with previous men’s soccer glories. Dédé invites the readership of The Beautiful Game: Dispatches from the Hill to read more about these former male players in the soccer literature. Some will be the subject of articles here in the coming months.

Two goalkeepers of this 2023 FWWC were particularly brilliant. The Swedish Zećira Mušović is the main reason behind the elimination of the US team in the round of 16 with 11 saves during that game. She is the worthy successor of the great Ronnie Hellström, who was remarkable with Sweden in the 1970s. The England’s Mary Earps was also key to her nation’s nice journey. Her decisive stops during close games, including the penalty saved during the final, were reminiscent of Gordon Banks, who was world champion with England in 1966 and who made one of the greatest saves in football history (nicknamed the save of the century) by deflecting a header from King Pelé during an England-Brazil World Cup game in 1970. The latter would snote: ”Today I scored a goal, but Banks stopped it”. It is thus of no surprise that she was awarded the Golden Glove for the best goalkeeper of this 2023 FWWC.

Regarding the defenders, two other Englishwomen had a good World Cup overall. They are Lucy Bronze and Millie Bright (whose family name could only imply her shining in Australia and New Zealand, of course). Ironically, their style of play is reminiscent of two male players from an arch-rival country, France. Bronze and Manuel Amoros share  being good defenders (even if Bronze was quite disappointing during the final of the 2023 FWWC) but also conducting rapid counterattacks, and  have both won the European championship (in 2022 for Bronze,1984 for Amoros). Millie Bright is a rock that is almost impossible to pass through, exactly as Marcel Desailly was for the French team that also disputed the final of a World Cup (in 1998) and of a Euro (in 2000). Talking about France, Sakina Karchaoui was particularly impressive against Morocco in the round of 16, which is to be commended since her parents come from that African country. It thus bears resemblance with Luis Fernandez who played and won the 1984 Euro final with France against the country of his father and mother, Spain. The latter country is Olga Carmona’s, a left-back who scored the only goal of the final, exactly like Andres Brehme for West Germany against Argentina in 1990. Olga Carmona was elected Player of the Match for the final. Furthermore, the propensity of scoring goals, especially with headers, for Sweden’s Amanda Ilestedt brings back memories of the Argentinian center-back Daniel Passarella.  Ilestedt was voted the third best player of this FWWC. The Dutch defender Stefanie van der Gragt was also impressive during this World Cup, and the U.S. was only able to score against the Netherlands when van der Gragt was off the field because of an injury. During the quarter-final against Spain, van der Gragt first made a terrible mistake by conceding a penalty after touching the ball with her hand but then rehabilitated herself by scoring the equalizing goal. These down and up moments were also felt by the Dutch defender Ernie Brandts during a World Cup game against Italy in 1978 since he first scored an own goal before equalizing for the flying dutchmen.

In midfield, the Haitian Melchie Dumornay was simply astonishing against the superpower of England in a first group match. She was everywhere, showing her incredible technical and physical skills and was the absolute star of that game. She must have made Emmanuel Sanon very proud, who likely watched the game from the heaven of soccer players and who put the ball at the back of the net twice for Haiti at the 1974 World Cup; one against Argentina and the other against the Italy of the legendary Dino Zoff, while this latter was unbeaten in his last 19 games for his country. Katie McCabe also made history for Ireland by scoring its first goal ever  in a World Cup game. What is particularly striking is that she accomplished this feat from a delicious corner kick that directly found the net of Canada, thanks to her diabolic left foot. One fantastic Yugoslav player,  Dragan Džajić, also had  the foot of the angels that allowed him to score numerous direct corner kicks. The 20-year-old Aussie Mary Fowler made a name for herself during this FWWC too. Fowler is entertaining, appears to be all sugar and spice with her teammates, has one parent from an island (her mom is from Papua New Guinea) and lived in the Netherlands. She thus reminds Dédé  of the Dutch Simon Tahamata, whose family originates from the Maluku Islands, also nicknamed the Spice islands.. Rachel Daly was also interesting to watch, with her activity and crosses with her right foot having played an important part in the successes of England. She went from being the weakest English link as a left-back at the 2022 Euro to becoming an instrumental left-midfielder at this World Cup. The repositioning from left-back to left-midfielder, while having a natural right foot, also occurred in the career of Léo Junior with the Brazil of the 80s. Both Daly and Junior are also recognizable by their haircut, with Junior being nicknamed capacete (a Portuguese word that translates as helmet) due to his afro hairstyle. Two Frenchwomen also attracted attention in midfield during some games of this World Cup, Grace Geyoro and Selma Bacha. The former French midfielder of the 80s, Jean Tigana and  Geyoro are both born in an African country (Mali for Jeannot and Democratic Republic of Congo for Princess Grace), and display a particularly rare tactical intelligence coupled with an excellent physical condition.  Bacha was quite active on the wings of the field, as was Franck Ribéry at his peak. Mariona Caldentey was a crucial element for Spain to win the tournament. Her number 8, activity, control of the ball and current team of Barcelona make us remember Iniesta. Regarding Aitana Bonmati, her unique vision of the game and technical gifts, as well as the fact that she plays for both Barcelona and the Spanish national team with the number 6 on her jersey, bring ineluctable comparison with Xavi (Hernández). Bonmati was selected as the best player of the whole tournament and is a clear favorite to win the next women’s Golden Ball to be awarded by the magazine France Football.

Another Spanish player who was enjoyable to watch is Jennifer Hermoso, who got the Silver Ball award in this 2023 FWWC. Hermoso has the particularity of neither being a true center-forward (such forwards typically wear the number 9) nor a true playmaker in midfield (the jersey of these playmakers usually has the number 10 on its back) but rather a combination of both, which is sometimes known as a 9.5 – as a result of the average between 9 and 10. A particularly excellent “number 9.5’’ was the Danish Michael Laudrup, who shared elegance on the field with Hermoso.

Concerning forwards, the German Alexander Popp again showed  her ability to score goals (she got the Bronze Boot for her four  goals) and the incredible power of her headers. Consequently, she may be considered as the female equivalent of Horst Hrubesch. Sophia Smith also demonstrated that she will be soon one of the best players, by twice putting  the ball at the back of the net and having an assist during the win of the U.S. against Vietnam. Smith surely dreamt of a better World Cup for the U.S. and her. She also appeared to be nervous from time to time, as demonstrated by the yellow card she received against Portugal. In that sense, it is reminiscent of the first World Cup of Diego Maradona in 1982, where he was extraordinary against Hungary with two goals but  then red carded against Brazil. Another player to watch in the coming years is the 18-year-old Colombian Linda Caicedo, who had made suffer many superpowers of women soccer such as Germany and England. Her fast-moving feet, dribbling, acceleration and her current club (Real Madrid) call for memories about a young Robinho. Ary Borges scored a hat-trick during the game of the group stage against Panama, which was not enough for Brazil to go to the second round. This is somehow similar to the situation experienced by Oleg Salenko with Russia in 1994, who had a tally of four goals against Cameroon. Mina Tanaka is rather reminiscent of her compatriot Hidetoshi Nakata, who was particularly brilliant at the 1998 World Cup, because of their technical and scoring abilities, passing and impressive vision. Her teammate, Hinata Miyazawa, received the Golden Boot for being the top scorer of this 2023 FWWC with five goals, precisely like the Czechoslovakian player Oldřich Nejedlý at the 1934 men’s World Cup. The Silver Boot in the Australia-New Zealand tournament was won by a Frenchwomen, Kadidiatou Diani, for scoring four goals and providing three assists. Her appetite for making the net shaking, speed and power, as well as the fact that she played for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), call for comparison with the Congolese Francois M’Pelé – who he is still up to now the all-leading goal-scorer of the PSG men team in the French Cup competition. The Spanish Salma Paralluelo, who was chosen as the best young player, is a little bit more difficult to compare with a particular male player, and may, in fact, be thought to be a combination of two former Liverpool players: Steve Heighway for the quality of the left foot and frenetic speed, and David Fairclough for scoring important goals as a substitute coming from the bench.

Dédé also pointed out that two Laurens have been particularly impressive for England, Lauren James and Lauren Hemp (but the author of this article is wondering why both forgot to add a `t’ at the ends of their first names). The first one was the best English player of the group stage but was banned for two games after having stepped on the Nigerian Michelle Alozie and receiving a red card. Such ban and red card for stepping also happened to another very gifted player at the 1998 world cup, namely the great Zidane Zidane who stamped on the back of Fuad Amin during a France-Saudi Arabia game.  Hemp had moments of pure brilliance during this FWWC and possesses a fantastic left foot, but was unfortunate to hit the crossbar during the final. Such brilliance and bad luck are reminiscent of the Dutch left-winger Robby Rensenbrink whose shot in the dying moment of the regular time of the 1978 World Cup final between the Netherlands and Argentina arrived on the post, before moving away from the goalframe.

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Let us now turn our attention to our third guest, Louis Aragon. He famously wrote in the poem “Le fou d’Elsa’’ that “La femme est l’avenir de l’homme’’, which translates as “Women are men’s future.’’ Loulou (a diminutive of Louis only allowed for use by his besties) was obviously thinking about the 2023 FWWC when stating this sentence, by contrasting some of its nice gestures with annoying features occurring in men’s soccer nowadays. For instance, he indicated that it is refreshing to see supporters of opposite teams sitting close to each other and smiling rather than fighting during games. It is also enjoyable that theatrical actions like dramatic rolls on the ground are basically nonexistant during women’s games, while they are now often part of competitive men’s matches. Loulou also emphasized that the group spirit seems a particularly common trait of women soccer, as demonstrated by the Japanese players celebrating goals of this World Cup with the substitutes near their bench. This spirit is further evidenced byan interview given by the English captain, Millie Bright, one day before the World Cup final and where she said:  

“It will be an honour to become the first woman to lead England out in a World Cup final. It’s massive but it’s massive for the team. It’s ‘we’ before ‘me.’ It’s a huge privilege and honour. It will be the biggest moment in our careers. Nothing is individual. It’s a dream come true to be in the World Cup final. Leading the girls out is a special feeling.”

This mentality seriously contrasts with the big egos that some male players now cultivate. It is also comforting that, until now, women mostly respect the referees and favor technical skills and tactical thinking over physical strength. Louis Aragon therefore asked to follow his philosophy and have men now adopting the nicest behaviors of women in soccer games. For that, he recalled some lyrics of the French song “La femme est l’avenir de l’homme’’ by Jean Ferrat:

Le poète a toujours raison [The poet is always right]
Qui voit plus haut que l’horizon [Who sees higher than the horizon]
Et le futur est son royaume [And the future is his kingdom]
Face à notre génération [Facing our generation]
Je déclare avec Aragon [I declare with Aragon]
La femme est l’avenir de l’homme [Women are men’s future]

 

 

Laurent Bellaiche is a Distinguished Professor in the Physics Department and Institute for Nanoscience and Engineering, as well as the Twenty-First Century Endowed Professor in Optics, Nanoscience and Science Education (for more details, please see: ccmp.uark.edu). His favorite team is Paris Saint-Germain, especially that of the first trophies (French Cups) in the 1980’s, with the three Dominique’s (Baratelli, Bathenay and Rocheteau) and two jewels (Safet Susic and Mustapha Dahleb). His two favorite male football players of all time are Diego Armando Maradona and Robby Rensenbrink. His current three favorite female players are Grace Geyoro, Melchie Dumornay and, of course,  Sophia Smith. His favorite soccer/football quote is one from Bill Shankly, “Some people think football is a matter of life and death – I assure you, it’s much more important than that.”