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The FIFA Women's World Cup soccer tournament begins on Thursday, July 20. This year's Women's World Cup will be held in Australia and New Zealand and is expected to garner more interest in the game than ever.
TPR's Jerry Clayton spoke with Colleen Pitts, assistant coach for the women's soccer program at the University of Texas at San Antonio, about the upcoming Women's World Cup.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Clayton: Can you talk to us about the increasing popularity of the Women's World Cup over the years?
Pitts: I think you go back to not the very first star on the jersey, but you talk about the 99ers, the biggest group and biggest push — I think — ever. [I'm] very fortunate to know somebody who actually played for the 91 World Cup. Her name's Linda Hamilton. She's been a great advocate. And then you get into the 99ers — the Rose Bowl packed against just great competition. And all of a sudden, there's this growth of women and there's somebody that looks like you. And I think that's been a massive thing for females and girls in general.
They’re somebody that represents you. For you to be a part of a bigger game. And I think that's what's kind of the growth of it all — is this inclusivity of everything for girls. And that's kind of what spurred the next one and the next one and the next one. I think you can actually see that go forward between several of the World Cups that the U.S. hasn't won, whether there's a natural disaster that's brought a country to life.
More girls in Europe, more girls across the world are saying, I can be a part of this. I'm good at this. I can grow and develop. And it actually gives girls the ability to have more confidence, which then spurs into society, into the workplace. I think it's just the sport itself has been growing since 1999, especially in the U.S. but it has been taken over by the world for every female.
Clayton: Are there significant differences between the way the men's team plays and the women's team plays?
Pitts: Everyone has their different sides of the story, whether it's a genetic thing, biological, physical, tactical, mental, all those things are all very different. Yes. But at the end of the day, I think when you look at both programs, U.S. soccer is trying to create this platform of "this is us, this is our brand. This is what America is about. This is how we want to play." And every year, we have to function in a way of, "does this fit us now? What's the next generation hold? What does the game hold? What is every country doing? How do we continue to take what our brand is, our identity?"
And they're taking that and growing from it. So I would say, not necessarily. There's a massive difference if you want to look at the tangible right now, there's four stars on the women's crest, right, versus the men's. But at the end of the day, I think they all want to do better. They want to grow better. They want to have a platform to give boys and girls the ability to speak and grow and be confident and have a safe environment.
Clayton: The women's team has done fairly well over the years. What do you think their odds are this year? What players should we be keeping an eye on?
Pitts: I would say for the U.S. you've got Megan Rapinoe's last year. This is it for her. So it's kind of a going away present for a lot of them. Probably what they feel. It's a very unfortunate matter that we don't have Becky Sauerbrunn as the center back. So who's the next center, back for the national program? Who's going to step in and step up?
So you've got a few different people, to be honest with you. It's great. You've got Alex Morgan and her kind of stepping into this leadership role. Now you've got the young faces like Melissa Thompson, very young player, but she's kind of your up and comer.
So what does that look like? Honestly, I think the whole U.S. team is going to be great to watch. It's how they're going to intermix. It's a new generation, it's a new vibe, but they're still competitive. They still want to win, they're hungry every day and that just goes back to what the programs are doing.
